Gloucester Public Art


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You can find Gloucester’s unique WPA-era murals in Gloucester’s City Hall and the Sawyer Free Library. We are fortunate to have such holdings and we are committed to preserving this part of Gloucester’s history. The CFTA is grateful that the City of Gloucester continues to invest in our city’s arts and culture. 

With the help of generous individuals and foundations, the CFTA was able to restore some of the murals in 2014. We would like to thank the Belinda Foundation at the Boston Foundation, seARTS with the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the City of Gloucester CPA funding, and the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation. Thank you for this support!


Public Artworks in Need


The City of Gloucester allocated $5,000 towards the CFTA for fiscal year 2013. If you would like to join the effort to care for the irreplaceable city art, including the historic murals and the work of the CFTA, contributions can be mailed to:

The Gloucester Fund (Committee for the Arts)
45 Middle Street Gloucester, MA 01930

Please be sure to make the check out to ’The Gloucester Fund’ and to put "Committee for the Arts" on the memo line of the check.

Gloucester has two cultural districts designated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council:

Screenshot_060914_111029_AM.jpgDowntown Harbortown Cultural District and Rocky Neck


Poet Laureate


The City of Gloucester Committee for the Arts establishes awards and honors to recognize local artists including the position of the City of Gloucester Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate is dedicated to building community through poetry.

Many fine poets live and write in the city of Gloucester and their poems have been widely published. The honorary post for the City of Gloucester was created in 1998. There have been 4 Poet Laureates, which you can learn about by visiting the Gloucester Poet Laureate website. 

There is an annual youth outreach for poetry. The Poet Laureate participates in Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free’s Poetry Without Paper Competition and during the month of May, participates in Gloucester Education Foundation City-Wide Arts Festival. 

  • Carry a Poem, Share a Poem, and look for the annual National Poem in Your Pocket Day each April.
  • A self-taught poet and former Poet Laureate, Peter Todd wrote more than 800 poems and shared them humbly and generously, often in honor of family and community. View the Tribute to Peter Todd, created by former Rainbow and Gloucester resident.