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Discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown, MA. Visit littlelocalconversations.com to see all episodes, upcoming events, and more. Join Matt Hanna as he has conversations with various businesses owners, community leaders, creatives, and other interesting folks in Watertown to learn about what they do and get to know a bit about the people behind the work.
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118 Episodes
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In this mini Gallery Stories episode, discover the stories behind Nina Nielsen's art exhibition up at Storefront Art Projects here in Watertown. Take a listen then go visit the gallery and experience the art yourself! To see images of some of the pieces mentioned and more details about the show, go to www.littlelocalconversations.com/episodes/gallery-stories-mini-march-2026. Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything...
Listen to the latest conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. See links for things mentioned in episode at www.littlelocalconversations.com/episodes/local-government-update-march-2026 Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the ep...
The Perkins School for the Blind’s Early Connections Conference is a two-day event in May for families, educators, and medical professionals of young children with vision loss, deafblindness, and blindness to come together and find resources, support, community, and expert guidance. Two of the people who organize the event, Rachel Bennett and Amy Ferreira, invited me over to the Perkins campus to share the history of the conference and why it exists, stories that show the impact of turn...
This episode is a little bit different, what I'm calling a reverse podcast. I had a number of people start asking me about when it's my turn to be on the podcast and have my story told. So I finally decided to do that. But I didn't want to pick one person to do that. There were a few people that I had sit down and interview me about my story and the podcast's story. So this is the first one of those. There'll be a couple more and each of the conversations went in a little bit of a different d...
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. I sat down for a live conversation with multidimensional entrepreneur Erykah Chanel to dig into the question: What does the next level actually require of you? Erykah shares her personal journey to discovering a framework (which she calls the Life of E's) that prioritizes things such as rest, clarity, and support rather than constantly going with the hustle. Then we open it up to audie...
Discover the stories behind 5 art exhibitions going on in Watertown then go visit the galleries and experience the art yourself! To see images of some of the pieces mentioned and more details about the shows, go to www.littlelocalconversations.com/episodes/gallery-stories-february-march-2026. Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter ...
Listen to the latest conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. Links mentioned in the episode: State House Testimony City Council - January 27th Civics Academy School Committee - January 26th Watertown Food Pantry Snow Ordinance Info Learn About Boards and Commissions Watertown P...
Meet Laura Murray! She's the Constituent Services Director for the city of Watertown, which means she runs the 311 service center. In this conversation we chat about her early customer service lessons from a pizza shop to insurance call centers where she discovered she enjoys helping people even through their angry or confused moments. Then we get into what is 311, what went into launching the service, what are the most frequent questions she gets, success stories, and things she's learned th...
Want to know how ideas get turned into murals, festivals, and even a river race? I sat down with Watertown’s Public Arts and Culture Planner, Liz Helfer, to get a look into what's coming up for projects, but also to shed a little light on the process behind public art: where concepts start, how partners align, and why the best projects involve conversation between neighbors and experts. Sign Up for the Watertown Arts and Culture Bulletin City of Watertown Public Arts and Culture Webpage...
Meet Sarah Newhouse! She's a Watertown resident and founding company member of Actors' Shakespeare Project, a longstanding Boston-area theater company that is now company-in-residence at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. In this conversation we get into Sarah's career from her first lead at 11 in The Saving of Little Sarah (a play her music teacher wrote), to being taught in high school by the playwright of Driving Miss Daisy, sharing the stage with Cicely Tyson and Hector Elizondo in the Ber...
Meet Benita Chelagat! She's a Watertown resident and founder of Coffee Plus 254, a Kenyan coffee brand. In this conversation we talk about growing up in Kenya, splitting time between the capital city, Nairobi, and her grandma's farm in Kericho. Then we get into her moving to the US for school and her coffee journey. You'll hear about her getting to know farmers back home in Kenya and their challenges with the coffee business and how Benita's set herself up to try and bridge the gap between th...
Listen to the latest conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. Links mentioned in the episode: City Council - December 9, 2025 The City of Watertown Inauguration Ceremony - January 2, 2026 Information About the Alternative Pathway Program for Firefighter-Paramedics Shoveling Ordi...
The River of Light is a celebration of light in winter. Presented by the Public Arts & Culture Committee and the Mosesian Center for the Arts in partnership with the Watertown Cultural Council, the lantern-making workshops and wintertime parade build community and bring light, joy, and festivities during the darkest season of the year. Listen to this conversation with Roberta Miller, Chair of the Watertown Public Arts and Culture Committee to learn more! Saturday, January 17th, 4-6pm at t...
Meet Roberta Miller! She's currently the Chair of the Watertown Public Arts and Culture Committee, but she's had a hand in many things in the city over the years. In this conversation, we cover a lot of ground from growing up in North Dakota and being an exchange student at a historically Black college in the South, serving on the first Watertown town council then later traveling the country developing and sharing new facilitation techniques as a consultant to other city councils. We talk abo...
This is a recording from a series for the podcast at the Mosesian Center for the Arts called Creative Chats. This conversation was with artist, musician, and community organizer Marija Draskic Brancazio. The conversation digs into how she started and grew a successful open mic series from Zoom to her backyard to a lively and packed event at the Mosesian Center. We talk about how to create an environment for events that encourage attention and dedication to long-time artists and beginners alik...
This is a recording from a live podcast event in November 2025, hosted at Italian Design Interiors in Watertown Square. Watertown’s Open is a series of live podcast events that bring local businesses and local business advocates together to share their stories and knowledge. The project is a collaboration between the City of Watertown’s Economic Development Planner, the Little Local Conversations podcast, and the Watertown Business Coalition. The conversation was on the topic of the state of ...
Listen to the latest conversation with Tyler Cote, the Community Engagement Specialist for the City of Watertown, and Victoria Weichel from WCA-TV to discuss things that have happened during the past month in Watertown through key moments, success stories, and important numbers. Links mentioned in the episode: Special City Council - Nov. 18th City Council - Nov. 25th Everbridge Emergency Alerts Winter Parking Info Free Public Skating Support the show Head on over to www.littlelocalconversatio...
Meet Jenna Bancroft! She's the Director of Human Services for the City of Watertown, a new department in the city. In this conversation we talk about how when she was a teenager her family helped foster young kids and how that experience led her to want to get into a career to improve social services. We talk about her early work in Watertown at Wayside Youth & Family Support Network and how that direct work with people led her to want to step up in scope to try and affect things higher u...
This is an arts and culture roundtable episode where we talk about things that have been going on in Watertown arts and culture recently, what's coming up, hidden gems, and more. The discussion was with Liz Helfer (City of Watertown, Public Arts and Culture Planner), Jamie Kallestad (Communications and Design Specialist for the Watertown Free Public Library), Kristen Kenny (Chair of the Watertown Cultural District), Gavin Kleespies (Executive Director of Gore Place), Lydia McCoy (Watertown Se...
This episode is a sponsored event highlight for SOLSTICE, a reflective light and sound experience happening at Mount Auburn Cemetery this December. I sit down for a conversation with Matthew Stephens, the President and CEO of Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Sam Okerstrom-Lang, the co-founder of Masary Studios and the Creative Director of SOLSTICE. Give a listen to hear about how the non‑denominational winter tradition came to be, what to expect as a visitor, how they craft the mood and tone for a ...
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