Events Calendar

To Cruz with CV Vibes to Perform Cape Verdean Music of the 70’s & 80’s at Gallery X, Saturday, May 24, 2025

NEW BEDFORD, MA – Enjoy traditional and popular music of Cabo Verde from the 1970’s and 1980’s, a time of struggle and independence when Schooner Ernestina (now SSV Ernestina-Morrissey) was refitted and returned to New Bedford. Both lively and mournful tunes of Cabo Verde have been sung and played on her decks. Now they will reverberate at Gallery X.

Five musicians, To Cruz with CV Vibes, will perform during a free concert on Saturday, May 24, from 4:00 to 6:00PM as part of Ship Shape II, an exhibit of maritime art featuring works using discarded material connected with the SSV Ernestina-Morrissey. The exhibit celebrates the schooner’s resilience and reuse as the Official Vessel of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, now in the fleet of Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Sailed from New Bedford to Cabo Verde in 1948, the Ernestina served as a packet to and from New England and among the islands. Given by Cabo Verde to the people of the United States, it was sailed home in 1982 and has been beloved sight in New Bedford Harbor, regional waters, and beyond since then.

Gallery X, located at 169 William St. in New Bedford, traces its own history to participation of some of its founders with a festival and regatta organized by the Schooner’s crew and staff in 1990. Ship Shape II will be on view at Gallery X from Wednesday, May 14, until Saturday, June 7, with an opening reception on Saturday, May 17. Check the Gallery X Facebook page or entertainment calendars for other events during the exhibit.

This program is supported in part by the Wicked Cool Places grant funded by the City of New Bedford through its Arts, Culture & Tourism Fund, and is facilitated by New Bedford Creative at the NBEDC. Additional support received from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, through its Festivals & Projects Program.