Work or Play at the Salem Waterfront Hotel & Marina

The Salem Waterfront Hotel & Marina is a great place to stay, whether it's for work or play.  

Coming to play?  Check out their packages at SalemWaterfrontHotel.com!  Options range from "Pool & Pizza" for families to a very snugly romantic package, to the "Salem Sampler," which is perfect for anyone who is visiting Salem for the first time. 

Coming to work?  You will find luxurious guestrooms and great meeting space options.  The Sales office is running a special right now - stop by for a tour of the property, and receive a $25 gift card to the Regatta Pub, just for stopping by!  And if you book an event, you will get another - bigger - gift card to the Regatta Pub! Events costing $500-$1,000 will earn you a $50 gift card, and events over $1,000 have a $100 gift card reward.  Gift cards for booked events will be sent to you the day after our event.  This offer is good only until April 30, 2011, so now is the time to consider the Salem Waterfront Hotel & Marina for your next meeting!  Call the sales office at 978-619-1115 to schedule a tour or book your meeting.

The Massachusetts Poetry Festival is coming to Salem!

The poets are coming! The poets are coming!

Mark your calendar for the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, which will come to Salem on May 13 - 14, 2011.  There will be more than thirty programs, workshops, readings, concerts, slams, and a small press fair throughout downtown Salem as part of the festival. 

Festival Highlights...

Friday evening will feature a program of music and poetry headlined by soldier poet Brian Turner, acclaimed author of a collection of poems entitled Here, Bullet, written after serving for seven years in the U.S. Army. He was an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq with the 3rd Styker Brigade Combat Team, and Infantry Division. Prior to that, Turner deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovnia with the 10th Mountain Division (1999-2000). Here, Bullet, won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award, the New York Times “Editor's Choice” selection, the 2006 Pen Center USA "Best in the West" award, and the 2007 Poets Prize, among others and Turner was selected as one of 50 United States Artists Fellows for 2009. 

Turner will be joined on Friday evening by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, an Asian American poet, best known for her jovial and accessible reading style and lush descriptions of exotic foods and landscapes. Nezhukumatathil draws upon her Filipina and Malayali Indian background to give a unique perspective on love and loss, and the land. She is  the author of At the Drive-In Volcano (Tupelo, 2007), winner of the Balcones Prize, and Miracle Fruit (Tupelo, 2003), winner of the ForeWord Magazine Poetry Book of the Year and the Global Filipino Literary Award.

On Saturday, there will literally dozens of performances by poets and musicians throughout downtown Salem. There will be a Small Press Fair, featuring more than 30 Presses that publish poetry in Old Town Hall. The main performance stage will provide a continuous program of music and poetry, and the Massachusetts finalists for Poetry Out Loud will recite their poetry.  In addition, there will be musical perfromances by singer/songwriter Kim Richey, New England Conservatory students, and others. 

Downtown Salem will be infused with poetry from Haiku to Hip Hop, Shakespearean sonnets and spoken work, Elizabeth Bishop at 100 and an intercollegiate Poetry Slam, and much, much more.

For complete information on the festival, visit MassPoetry.org.

Artists & Authors on display at the Hawthorne Hotel

The art scene of Massachusetts’ North Shore area has always been progressive and trend-setting. Artists like Winslow Homer and Mark Rothko visited often for inspiration and relaxation. The Salem Arts Association, relatively new to the North Shore arts association community, is active and helping the other more established arts associations continue to cultivate artists from Salem to Gloucester and from Rockport to Cape Ann. 
 

The Hawthorne Hotel, always active in the local community, has a great way to brighten up this long, cold winter. The hotel will host An Evening with Artists and Authors on Thursday, February 24 in the Grand Ballroom. From 5pm-9pm, the hotel will showcase some of the area’s most talented artists and authors, both new and established, while local orchestra Special Edition provides musical entertainment. 

An Evening with Artists and Authors is free and open to the public. Some of the artists available to meet and greet and who will have their work on display include: Ellen Hardy, Wendy Snow-Lang, Charles Lang, Elaine Snow, Jan Condon, Nancy Barnes, Dan Browne, james bird, Vicki Ryder, and Karen Hallion. Authors include: Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin, Matthew Fraser, Kristie Poehler, and the North Shore Writers Group. Salem poet, Claire Keyes will be doing a poetry reading.

Books and art work will be for sale. 

Specials will be available in the Tavern and Nathaniel’s that evening and visitors are encouraged to have a bite to eat after they have spent time in this exciting exhibition.

Salem Film Fest is two weeks away

We have an amazing festival schedule in Salem.  I know I'm biased, but really... arts, literature, heritage, Halloween, holidays, Chocolate & Wine, film... we know what and how to celebrate!

Next on the agenda is the Fourth Annual Salem Film Fest (Four, already! It seems like just yesterday the red carpet was being rolled out for the first time.), which will open on March 4.  Salem Film Fest is emerging as a leading American all-documentary film festival, showcasing a rich and diverse collection of the year's best work from all over the world. 

This year, the week-long festival (March 4-10) will feature a remarkable selection of films that tell stories from our global community, including Pakistan, Russia, Tibet, New Zealand, Finland and Mexico. Topics include art, poetry, religion, and love, to name a few. There will be Jihad, Cabaret, imprisonment, gardening, music, drugs, and nudity.

I'm painting a big picture. These are broad strokes.  Visit SalemFilmFest.com to get excited for the festival.  You'll find everything you need on the web site, including ticket information, schedules, and interviews with filmmakers.



Come to Salem. See the world.

Make reservations for the annual Princess Tea!

Calling all moms, aunts, grandmothers, godmothers, and fairy godmothers!  Bring your princesses to tea at the Hawthorne Hotel. . . . And by the way, dads, uncles and grandfathers are welcome too!-- as the historic Hawthorne Hotel, a member of Historic Hotels of America, announces the Annual Princess Tea on Saturday, February 19, 2011 from 12-2pm.  

The event will take place in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom and will include tea, music, and photos with the “Hawthorne Hotel” Princesses. Songs provided by Princess Kate. Children are encouraged to wear hats, gloves and pink attire, and although it is optional, it is always in good taste. 

Ticket Prices

Children 3-12 are $18.50

Children 3-under are $12 

Grownups are $28

Reservations can be made by calling 978-825-4311.  
 

Still Making History

On Thursday, Destination Salem unveiled its new logo and tag line, and we can't wait to use it just about everywhere we can!

Click here to see our announcement video.   

Salem is...

If you are not seeing the video / slide show, please click here to see it online. 

17th-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings Debuts at PEM

Get out your passports, because this month the Peabody Essex Museum is transitioning from China to the Netherlands.  The incredible Forbidden Palace exhibition, which closed in January, brought thousands to Salem and to the museum. As sad as we were to see it leave for New York, we always knew it was a seasonal romance, and that we would have to say goodbye after the holidays.

Still Life with Roses in a Glass Vase, c. 1619

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621)
Oil on copper
11 x 9 inches (28 x 23 cm)
The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection
Image courtesy Peabody Essex Museum

And say goodbye we did.  And then it snowed.  And it snowed some more.  And it the temperatures dropped to downright frigid levels.  Our focus turned to shovels and ice melt.  But spring is coming!  And it is being heralded by tulips. Fabulous Dutch tulips!

On February 26, the PEM will open the world premiere exhibition of the complete Van Otterloo Collection of Dutch and Flemish Masterworks.  This is one of the world's best private collections of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings, and includes masterworks by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Gerrit Dou, Jan Steen and others.

The PEM describes the exhibit, Golden: Dutch and Flemish Masterworks from the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection, as a collection of paintings, furniture and decorative arts exceptional for their quality, superb condition, and impeccable provenance.  As exemplars of the Dutch Golden Age, the works are distinguished not only for the glowing quality of light achieved by the most talented artists of the time, but also for their place in an unsurpassed period of artistic, cultural, scientific, and commercial accomplishments in the Netherlands.


You can read the entire release on PEM.org. 

Golden opens on February 26 and runs through June 19.

Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632.

Rembrandt (Harmensz.) van Rijn (1606–1669)
Oil on panel
The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection
Image courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Harlem Quartet to play at Salem State University

Here is one of the many reasons we are so lucky to have Salem State University - the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts brings fantastic talent to Salem throughout the year.

Tonight, the Harlem Quartet will perform.  This young, urban, diverse and nationally acclaimed group advances diversity in classical music while engaging young and new audiences by featuring a varied repertoire and highlighting works by minority composers.

Here's the how, when, and where:

Monday, February 14, 7:30 pm. 

Salem State University Recital Hall

Central Campus, 71 Loring Avenue

$20 general / $10students and seniors / Free with Salem State student ID

Purchase online at www.salemtstatetickets.com.  (If available, tickets will be sold at the door one hour prior to performance) 

Additional information: 978-542-7890.

The 2011 Salem Guide is out!

It's here, it's here!  The 2011 Salem Guide has been printed and is making its way to hundreds of homes as I write! 

 

You can request one at Salem.org, or flip through the pages of the Guide online. 

The 2011 Salem Guide is a great resource for people traveling from near and far (I keep one in the kitchen, and one in the car - it's great for restaurant phone numbers!). If you are planning a visit, a reunion, a wedding, a group tour we would be happy to send you one guide, or twenty-one guides (or one hundred and one, for that matter!).

Visit the pages of Salem.org for the online business listings and information about Salem, and if you are an iPhone user, download the free Salem App in the App store.


The Guide is out, which means spring must not be too far away.  Happy New Year!

Physical Storytelling to come to Salem State University

This is a calendar listing I have to share - this looks to be a truly unique theatrical experience.  Mark your calendars for the end of the month!  

 

Through physical storytelling, Ghosts of Troy crystallizes moments of story as the cast imagines the warrior Odysseus explaining to his son what it means to go to war.  The primary focus is on physical manifestations of the actors, who have rigorously trained since last summer to perfect their craft.  This visual experience for the audience allows for a deeper connection to the stage, celebrating the imagination of both actors and audience to complete the story.  The style fuses dance, theatre, mime, improvisation, music, drumming, and visual artistic elements.   The direction team includes Professors Kate Amory and Celena Sky April, with Jesse Mangan, ’11, who earned a Summer Artistic Development Grant from the Center for the Arts last year to study with PUSH Physical Theatre in New York. 

February 24, 25, 26, March 3, 4, 5, 7:30 pm

Sunday, March 6, 2 pm

Callan Studio Theatre, Salem State University

$15 general/$10 students and seniors/Free with Salem State student ID

salemstatetickets.com

978-542-7555