June 15th–September 8th 2024
350 Medford Street, Somerville, MA
The City of Somerville will keep Gilman Pop-Up open in a limited capacity until redevelopment begins.
While the space remains open, scheduled programming has ended and some infrastructure has been removed. The site is accessible from 8 am–10 pm daily and functions as a public park. CultureHouse is no longer involved with the project.
What happened
Working alongside the City of Somerville, we transformed a vacant lot in Gilman Square (also known as the Homans lot) into a three-month outdoor community space. Gilman Pop-Up was a gathering space for local organizations, a hangout space for residents, and an opportunity for development for local businesses, artists, and creatives.
For the summer, Gilman Pop-Up was active with music, games, food, drinks, and so much more! There were over 4,000 visitors to the park while we were present, and countless more who stopped by when our staff were not on site. People came to enjoy the various events or just hang out in a hammock for the afternoon. This activation connected Gilman Square with the rest of the city, brought back vibrancy to the square, and tested out future uses for similar vacant spaces in Somerville.
Final report
While Gilman Pop-Up was open, we spent time interacting with visitors and learning from their experiences. We gathered these insights in a report that offers recommendations for development in Gilman Square as well as for future temporary activations in the city of Somerville.
Partners
This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP1753 awarded to the City of Somerville MA by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
