About us.

The Dartmouth Cultural Center is a community-built arts and culture center in the historic 1889 Southworth Library on Elm Street in Padanaram Village. We host exhibits, workshops, talks, and gatherings year-round — and we're sustained by the people who love this place.

Our Mission

The Dartmouth Cultural Center exists to save and steward the Old Southworth Library, and to make it a living center for the arts and culture of the South Coast.

We do this by hosting gallery exhibits of local and regional artists, running classes and workshops in everything from poetry to plein air painting to Nantucket basketry, welcoming musicians, poets, beekeepers, and other neighbors who bring their craft and curiosity to share, and keeping the doors open Thursday through Saturday for anyone who wants to walk in. Without community action, the building could have passed out of public hands. Today it's a place where artists, makers, writers, and neighbors come together to learn, create, and share.

Our History

The Old Southworth Library was built in 1889, designed by Robert H. Slack and given to the town of Dartmouth by John Haywood Southworth. For 79 years it served as the intellectual center of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. The Richardsonian Romanesque building has remained essentially unaltered since its construction and is included as one of the major contributing buildings in the National Register Padanaram Village Historic District. In 1987, the building itself was nominated to the State and National Register of Historic Places.

By the 1960s, the library had outgrown its home. The Town of Dartmouth constructed a new library on Dartmouth Street, which opened in 1969. Since then, the old Southworth Library has been used by a variety of civic organizations, including the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.

Today, after a community-led effort to preserve the building, it is home to the Dartmouth Cultural Center — and a whole new chapter in its history. More history?
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Our Board

We are grateful to the dedicated volunteers whose work makes the Dartmouth Cultural Center possible.

Pauline Santos — President
Enid Silva — Vice President
Elizabeth Antonell — Secretary / Volunteers
Patricia Stringer — Treasurer
Jill Law — Gallery Director / Communications
Thomas Leverett — Grants
Leonard Santos — Assistant Treasurer
Mary Lou Frias
Beverly Pusateri -
Barbara Wenc

Our Benefactors and Supporters

We are grateful to the businesses, organizations, and individuals whose donations, gifts in kind, and service make our mission possible.

Grants & Cultural Partners

Massachusetts Cultural Council
Dartmouth Cultural Council

Business Sponsors

BayCoast Bank
Colonial South Automotive Group
Jill Law Design
South Coast Artists

Individual Sponsor

Elizabeth Antonell
Jill Law
Pauline Santos

Join Us

The Dartmouth Cultural Center is open to all. Your membership, volunteerism, and donations directly support exhibits, programming, and the historic building itself.

Become a Member →
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