“The Worker” fountain sculpture by Elliot Schwartz and is located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts.

NEA Arts is the quarterly magazine of the National Endowment for the Arts. Lowell is featured in the current edition in an article entitled – “Building  on the Past: The Creative Rebirth of Lowell, Massachusetts.” Author Rebecca Gross wisely chose Rosemary Noon and Paul Marion as her sources! Rosemary – among her other credits – was the first director of the Lowell Office of Cultural Affairs and is currently the assistant director of the Lowell Plan and director of Public Matters – a leadership academy. Paul – author, poet, cultural affairs guru –  joined the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission staff in the early 1980s and is currently the executive director of Community and Cultural Affairs at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The couple capture the realities of this important Lowell history and current state of cultural affairs. Along with telling the Lowell story –  the author notes:

From Paul Marion: “It’s a heritage of innovation,” said Marion, explaining the city’s predisposition to reinvention. “Lowell was famous in the 1820s because it was the place where something happened first. It’s that attitude that needs to drive the city forward. And that’s why creative economy is such a good fit, because it’s about invention, imagination, innovation.”

From Rosemary Noon:  “The challenge is to make sure that the people who are in their 30s don’t take this stuff for granted,” Noon said. “You must get involved in your city. You can’t just sit back.”

Read the full article here: http://www.nea.gov/about/nearts/storyNew.php?id=02_building&issue=2012_v1