Rebecca Richards is a 25 year resident of Belmont. Her professional background includes serving as executive director for several small and mid-sized nonprofit arts organizations in the greater Boston area, including StageSource and Women in Film and Video/New England. For ten years she was a contributing features writer and guest editor for “Imagine” news magazine, a media arts publication.
Richards is a founding board member of Belmont World Film and director of its Family Film Festival. The publicist for the Belmont Gallery of Art, Richards also sits on its administration committee. She is also a member of the Belmont Cultural Council and previously served as its co-chair. For the last nine years she has been an instructor at Boston University’s College of Communication.
Richards is a mother of two and stepmother of two. She is passionate about all the arts: visual, literary and musical as well as nature and the other things that make interesting. Visit wickedlocal.com/belmont/blog/intheloupe to learn more.
How did I become interested in the arts?
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when I got interested in the arts. It likely started when I was a girl, going to the movies and the theater with my family. As an adolescent, I was in several school musicals, including “The Wizard of Oz” (which remains one of my favorite films). Books and music were also an important part of my life growing up. My mom made it a point to take her children to the library at least once a week, where we would check out at least a dozen books at once. (A habit that mostly continues for me to this day.) And making art, which I loved to do from a very early age–one vivid memory I have is of using my freshly painted pale lavender bedroom walls as a six-year old to draw life-sized drawings of people and animals…And I loved to write poems and stories throughout my adolescence. As I got older and became an adult, those early interests developed more cohesively into a love of storytelling and filmmaking. I still love to write and paint and try to find the time to do both when I can.
Tell me about your interests/hobbies?
Where do I begin? I remember a favorite professor of mine my junior year of college seeming exasperated by how many interests I had when he asked me what I wanted to do after graduating. I could never understand that…how can one ever have “too many interests?” A handful of mine would include writing and illustrating children’s books; making and watching animated films; painting and printmaking; listening to music of all kinds, from rock, jazz, country and classical—and getting to concerts when I can; gardening, (I don’t have a natural green thumb, but I keep trying and hoping); spending time by the ocean in Rockport, long a family favorite.
Why did you decide to start a blog?
I have a natural curiosity about people, places and things that I’d like to share with others. I also like the idea of offering bits of information or a story to readers that may make them want to go try something I suggested, think about an issue in a different way, or sometimes simply smile in acknowledgement regarding a topic we all can relate to. I’d like to share my perspectives on life with other people.
How did you come up with name for your blog?
In the Loupe. I chose my blog name both because of its French origins (a nod to my own ethnicity) as well as how “loupe” is defined: it’s a “simple, small magnification device often used to see small details more closely.” In today’s technology-driven, fast-paced, often impersonal society, I think it’s important that we take time out to enjoy some of life’s little pleasures and small details, whether that be savoring the delicious meal you had at a local bistro, sharing a new-found treasure at a local shop, viewing or listening to art that moves your soul, or experiencing a moment in nature that awakens your senses—it’s important to not lose sight of these things…it might simply take a reminder from someone.
What can visitors to your blog expect?
Visitors to my blog can expect to read about people, places and things that make life uniquely interesting.