The Little Local Conversations Podcast released a pair of special episodes recently. One is on the upcoming 250th anniversary of Treaty Day, and the other comes from the recent Creative Chats Conference.
Hosted by Matt Hanna, Little Local Conversations focuses on the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. Hanna speaks 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.
Event Highlight: Treaty Day 250
“Did you know that the United States’ first international treaty was signed right here in Watertown?
For this episode, I sat down with a group of people involved with putting together the big Treaty Day 250 commemoration happening on Saturday, July 18th at the Mosesian Center for the Arts starting at 2pm. We chat about the history of the Treaty of Watertown and what to expect at this year’s special Treaty Day.
Guests:
Erin Rathe, Senior Planner for Economic Development, City of Watertown
Joyce Kelly, Board Member, Historical Society of Watertown
Marilynne Roach, President, Historical Society of Watertown
Matt Jatkola, Associate Executive Director, Mosesian Center for the Arts
Tyler Cote, Director of Communications and Community Engagement, City of Watertown”
Creative Chats Conference, Panel 1: Art & Money
“How do we support a healthy local arts ecosystem?
This was the question that drove the first Creative Chats Conference that happened at the Mosesian Center for the Arts on June 4th, 2026. This recording is from one panel of the event that focused on the intersection of art and money. The interactive panel featured 3 panelists and their questions:
Cat Bennett (Visual Artist and Teacher) – How can artists inspire the public to learn more about art and feel confident, even excited, about buying it?
Matt Jatkola (Associate Executive Director, Mosesian Center for the Arts) – How do we reinforce the value of art in a culture that often expects it to be cheap or free?
Jan Taylor (Fundraising Strategist & Consultant) – How do we fund art creatively?
The conversation was also aided by Sheri Kennedy, a local artist and graphic facilitator, who graphically notated the panel discussions to provide us with some visual overviews and notes to see as we went along. The episode image features the drawing she did while listening to this panel on art and money.”