[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 30 (Thursday, March 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO THE SOMERVILLE ARTS COUNCIL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 8, 2001

  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the Somerville 
(Massachusetts) Arts Council and to Cecily Miller, who served as its 
director for fifteen years. Ms. Miller transformed a small, under-
funded coterie of art lovers into a powerful community force. It is no 
exaggeration to say that Ms. Miller used art to forge community. 
Somerville has historically been a city of immigrants and working 
people. During the decade I served as Mayor, Somerville experienced 
some gentrification but no loss of neighborliness. Cecily Miller played 
no small part in-that achievement. To bring people together, she 
created ART BEAT, an annual celebration of arts, crafts, music, and 
dance that draws large, orderly, and animated crowds to our public 
squares.
  In addition to the public festivals, I would like to cite three of 
her most imaginative projects:
  (1) The Garden Awards--each year Somerville gardens are displayed in 
brilliant photographs, and the gardens are as different as our 
citizens. Some of the backyards are restrained and minimalist, some 
explode with flowers and vegetables bursting through chain-link fences. 
The photograph in my Longworth office shows an exuberant man, in ripe 
middle age, holding aloft dahlias. People have different ideas of the 
way they want their own yard to look, but no difficulty in recognizing 
the beauty of their neighbors'.
  (2) The Illumination Tour--Somerville householders illuminate their 
homes and gardens for the winter holidays. Cecily Miller recognized 
these decorations as a genuine art form, and organized a trolley tour 
of the most spectacular installations. Again, she helped citizens to 
share and celebrate their neighbors' observances.
  (3) The Mystic River Mural--a public housing projects abuts an inter-
state highway that obscures the Mystic River. Cecily Miller raised 
grant money so that teenagers from the project could work with 
professional artists on a mural. They covered the barrier with 
imaginative approaches to the water. Now, instead of graffiti, we see a 
river and a riverbank: reeds, herons, people fishing, swimming, 
chatting. Most important, young people learned that they could 
transform an ugly scene into a thing of beauty.
  I regret that Cecily Miller is leaving the Somerville Arts Council. I 
am deeply grateful for all that she has done for the people of 
Somerville.

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