It’s not the Estuaries Project, but a project based on the estuary; the first annual collaborative arts retreat working under the title of the Great Pond Project. Unlike the long-awaited scientific research, Vineyarders will quickly see the results of this arts retreat on Edgartown Great Pond: on Friday, August 27, at 3 p.m. is a performing arts open house presented by the contributing artists.

The open house will be held at the home of Patrick Gage, 69 Kanomika Road (off of Meeting House Way) in Edgartown.

At an annual Native American speaker series held at Tufts University last winter, Aquinnah Cultural Center program director Linda Coombs saw a performance by a women’s musical group that simply blew her away. Of course, she wasn’t yet the program director at the time, but when she took on the role in May of this year, she knew she wanted the group, Ulali, to be part of the cultural center’s summer season schedule.

The thing Martha’s Vineyard NAACP branch president Laurie Perry-Henry likes best about the jazz band Pieces of a Dream was their sense of togetherness and common purpose.

“That’s our theme for the NAACP, is One Nation, One Dream,” said Ms. Perry-Henry in an interview this week. “It’s almost prophetic in nature,” she said of the common values shared by the national civil rights group, and the smaller, musical one.

Benefit for Seniors

Flatbread Pizza will donate part of their sales tonight to the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living. Each Flatbread pizza sold on Tuesday, August 24 between 5 to 9:30 p.m. will benefit this association helping Island seniors. There will also be a silent auction table at the restaurant at Nectar’s at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

The Surgeon General of the United States will be on hand in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, August 28, for the 22nd annual Sullivan 5K Run/Walk Road Race for Health and Fitness. Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., will join former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., and E. Ginger Sullivan at the U.S. Track and Field Association certified 5K course.

Tower Grants

The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation recently awarded $12,265 to Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools. One of the goals of the foundation is to enhance service delivery for children, adolescents, and young adults up to age 26 with developmental disabilities.

This initiative was designed to provide funds for the purchase of specialized equipment and/or assistive technology for use by kids in school programs.