According to Briana Taylor, Coordinator at Easthampton City Arts, "The main appeal of this project was that it is public art. Mt. Tom's Homemade Ice Cream in particular "has seen increased profitability over his entire business due to the Bear Fest," according to Taylor. Briana Taylor expressed her pleasant surprise at the success of the event in this way: "We were hugely satisfied by the response from the community and visitors alike. Marketing Committee: Stephanie Gibbs, Trace Meek, Marcia Morrison, Jean-Pierre Pasche, John Polak, Briana Taylor Co-Facilitator: Sharon Keene, Marcia Morrison, Jean-Pierre Pasche, John Polak, Denise M. Riggs, Briana Taylor

Briana Taylor agrees. She's a painter and quilter who rented a studio in Cottage Street Studios seven years ago. She loved the city so much that she sold her home in Holyoke and moved to a tiny apartment in Easthampton until she could find a larger place to live. In 2005, she was working three hours a week at Easthampton City Arts. Today the organization has grown so large that her position has become a full-time job. "I moved here because the artists' community I found at Cottage Street and the small busisnesses on the street were so caring about their customer's needs," she said.

Briana Taylor, standing in front of works by artist Terry Rooney | Doing Business in: Easthampton | Read the full story | 0 Comments Briana Taylor, standing in front of works by artist Terry Rooney Briana Taylor, standing in front of works by artist Terry Rooney, says Easthampton City Arts strives to make locally produced art more accessible and more visible. Briana Taylor is the coordinator for the ECA, and she agreed that the economy generated by arts in the city has implications for the community at large. "One of our missions is to make what is happening here visible to the community," she explained, by securing a role as a destination, encouraging commerce at other city businesses. Taylor said that the arts scene in the city has been "a long time coming." "Artists have been here working in numbers since 1 Cottage Street began," she said, "but in the last 10 years, the arts have been more visible on the streets. Nashawannuck Gallery opened around 12 or 15 years ago, across the street, and people give them credit for first making the arts visible. People were making it for decades, but this was the first time people outside the arts community could see it." From the beginning, artists hosted open studio sales, offering the community a chance to see into that world, but Taylor said that initially there was some hesitation. "This was a blue-collar, hardworking community," she explained, "and art didn't necessarily go hand in hand with that." But one of the principal missions of the ECA is to make art accessible to the community and, to that end, make it more visible. Last year's Bear Fest, with 35 painted bear sculptures by area artists prominently displayed throughout town, was the height of that effort. Taylor said that the results were amazing, and not just for the artists. "People that might not normally look at art were out on the streets," she said, "and, sure, some of the bears were cute, but there was some serious art to be seen. It made the community gel. I saw people crying in the streets. People said, 'I've lived here my entire life, and I've never seen anything like this before.' It really was special." Taylor said that a new marketing program from the ECA is underway to further bridge any gap between artists and community. Calling it a drive to "buy local art," scheduled for October, she described the campaign. "I'd say that it is public education of how to see the art here, and how to buy it," she said.