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At the recent AHA! Night: Kids Rule, Kim Goddard wore a bright yellow shirt and a pin with the arts and culture organization’s flag on her black jean jacket. She walked among the about 10 pop-up vendors and anointed new volunteers with their own pins.

Goddard, who has been the executive director of AHA! since 2023, says collaboration is the heart of the nonprofit organization. “That’s our success, everyone decides they want this to happen. People plan around it,” she said. 

Exhibits, bookstores, and galleries all come out for AHA! Night, the monthly celebrations of arts and culture that transform downtown New Bedford into one big, walkable exhibit.

Before AHA! started in 1999, downtown was a different place, Goddard said. “It wasn’t as welcoming. Business owners, centers of worship, education leaders, and people in the cultural [and] art realm recognized that they needed to come together and figure out how to help downtown.” AHA! Night was a result of this, encouraging locals to head downtown on the second Thursday of every month to enjoy the city. 

In the last two years, Goddard has completed her own transition from the corporate world to community-based work, and now she is leading AHA! into its next phase.

Earlier this year, the nonprofit received a $180,000 grant from the New Bedford Economic Development Council. Goddard and her team are using these funds to create a sustainable financial model and incorporate more community feedback into their event planning. They’re also taking on new responsibilities and developing new ideas to beautify the downtown area. 

Originally from California, Goddard leads the three-person team that connects about 50 local organizations for AHA! Night. She moved to the Greater New Bedford area in 2015 to be closer to her husband’s family, and credits her mother-in-law, Helen Goddard, with introducing her to the rich history of the city. 

AHA! has evolved and now includes operating the mayor’s Summer Sound Series, the free outdoor concerts held on Friday evenings in downtown. 

“We were very honored they trust us to execute … the scope of the request. We now have to add to that [financial support] to continue doing these projects,” she said. 

Goddard and her team are also working with the city to enable free symphony experiences on the weekends and are planning to launch a monthly initiative that will encourage locals to help to clean the downtown area. 

Before her transition to the nonprofit sector, Goddard worked in the advertising and marketing industry. She used to commute to the Boston area for a marketing job at Bose. In 2018, she decided to “switch gears” and start connecting locally.

Goddard’s mother in-law, Helen, who passed away in 2015, was her inspiration to change career paths. Helen Goddard worked for the Waterfront Historic Area League, a nonprofit focused on restoring New Bedford’s historical architecture. She was the one who deepened Goddard’s appreciation of New Bedford, she said. 

“I feel really fortunate and close to her because she introduced me and she was so invested in New Bedford,” Goddard said. “She was a creative soul. She expressed herself through floral design and arrangements. I feel like I’m carrying on that tradition she started in a way. At least I like to think so.” 

After leaving Bose, Goddard worked at Superflat New Bedford, an artist-led art revitalization organization, and at the SouthCoast Community Foundation. At Superflat, she met her AHA! co-worker and now close friend, Mandy Fraser, the current “partner liaison” for AHA!

Working at these organizations in New Bedford’s cultural scene led Goddard to cross paths with the executive director of AHA! at the time, Lee Heald. After Heald retired in the summer of 2023, AHA! was looking for its next leader. 

“They were looking for someone to come and help lead the program and evolve it, and I was like ‘Yeah, I would love to.’ It was a thrill to be asked to come on board,” Goddard said.

Fraser, who officially became a part of AHA! in 2022, recalls her reaction when Goddard was considered for the position. “I was like ‘Ohhh yes! Good idea!’ I was psyched because what I know of Kim, she’s the real deal,” Fraser said.

One of the downtown organizations that participates in AHA! is the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center. Its program manager, Joe Ritter, said that the AHA! has helped his organization to succeed. 

“Mandy and Kim are both awesome to work with and they have always taken great strides to create a fun, creative, and collaborative environment for all New Bedford organizations to feel welcome in,” Ritter said. “AHA! has been a really important partner that has helped build our audience and promote our events.”

Other partner organizations will reach out to AHA!, asking how to participate. Partners receive a log in for the AHA! website, where they can add their programs to upcoming events. 

On a typical event night, Goddard does the rounds, checking in on partners, closing streets if necessary, and being a point person for volunteers. She emphasizes the importance of her team members — Fraser, AHA!’s marketing specialist Liz Aragao, and a “whole host” of volunteers — in being able to conduct these events. 

Afterwards, Goddard and her team gather feedback from partners and attendees, reflecting on how the event went and brainstorming on what’s next.

AHA! organizers are launching a survey this month to collect feedback from the community. They will meet in September to further discuss the projects on their to-do list. 

AHA!’s original spark — promote and grow the New Bedford community — will live on into its next chapter, Goddard said. “AHA! got started to help New Bedford stay vibrant and to thrive. It’s an ecosystem, everything helps one another,” Goddard said. 

Goddard herself wanted to become an artist and still enjoys photography. She said that her job allows for an intersection between art and business. 

“For me, I try to balance that creative side … and also my experience in the management side of the world in business and marketing,” she said. “It’s a combination of keeping us organized and finding new ways for us to be efficient.” 

The next AHA! Night – Summer in the Seaport – takes place Thursday, Aug. 14.

Avary Amaral is a summer intern with The New Bedford Light, as part of the South Coast Internship program, designed for local students.

6 replies on “Kim Goddard leads AHA! into its next chapter”

  1. Lest anyone forget, AHA! would not have come into existence if it were not for the vision of the late George Saulnier. In early Spring of 1999 it was George, inspired by the then popular Gallery Night Providence, who took a handful of those Providence brochures and walked the streets of downtown NB, convincing a cadre of artists, galleries and institutions that NB could do something like that, and be better at it.

    It took a lot of his effort, but when George convinced them and got them all together it was decided to “just do it.” One member invented the name, others suggested flags, the Whaling Museum (i.e., Anne Brengel) decided to open for free, as did the Art Museum, ArtWorks! and Gallery X. A handful of others (most gone now) simply agreed to open their business and studio doors from 5-9 on the second Thursday. Joanna Weeks of the S-T put the information in print, and people came.

    We should never forget that George Saulnier made AHA! happen.

    1. Thanks for the backstory John. I had no idea how AHA got it’s start, but it sure had a major impact in making downtown the great gathering place that it is today.

  3. Thank you John!
    Growing up there was plenty to do downtown: Saltmarsh; Kresge’s; Star Store; Mr. Peanut; the Zeiterion…etc. Unfortunately major openings of places like the North Dartmouth Mall, and loss of business like the mills closing… saw downtown struggle. The vision of the founders and participants of AHA help breathe life back into the area! Thank you again John for sharing!

  4. I thought a polity AHA might work since we need to increase political participation. Lately I was thinking that a political doc night at the Zieterion might work since taxpayers are rehabilitating the place.

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