Merrow Manufacturing, 502 Bedford St., quietly launched the Merrow Incubator this month. Charlie and Owen Merrow, the fifth generation makers of industrial strength Merrow sewing machines, opened the first floor of the Pepperell Mill to practicing and aspiring artists.

Kevin P. O'Connor Herald News Staff Reporter @HNKPO

FALL RIVER – The cars buzz by on the highways – 195 and 24 – the people inside barely glancing in our direction.

The Merrow brothers believe the city can change that.

It starts with art.

And art can start as their neighbor, Charlie Merrow said.

“It is an arts and culture incubator for short and long term projects,” Charlie Merrow said. “The short term will be bringing in large format, public art. Everybody in the city will be able to enjoy it.”

In the long term, there will be classes for city students, teaching them how to play musical instruments, how to draw or work in metal or wood.

“It is about money and space,” Merrow said. “We will create a space and a funding resource to let things happen.”

The brothers purchased their family company a decade ago and moved it to one floor in the granite mill at the corner of Bedford Street and Plymouth Avenue.

Their sewing machine business has grown. They have also expanded to design and manufacture athletic wear, operate a contract sewing shop and run an apprentice program for people who want to learn the textile trade from the ground up.

The idea for an incubator has been kicking around for a while, Charlie Merrow said. They spoke with the two people who are the spine of the city: former senator Joan Menard and Nick Christ, president of BayCoast Bank. With that, the incubator became more than just an idea.

“In the SouthCoast, and especially in Fall River, you have an incredibly narrow funding base for philanthropic assistance,” Merrow said. “Basically, it is Joan and Nick.”

Christ and Menard helped the Merrow brothers raise enough money to hire an executive director, Lindsay Richardson. She is a graduate of Brown University and had been working as a film producer in New York.

With her help, the funding base expanded, Charlie Merrow said.

The city’s reputation should expand, too, he added.

“People from Newport and New York and Boston drive through the city and never give it a thought, but they would if it were pointed out to them,” he said. “We need to make people aware of how remarkable Fall River is.

“I’m hoping we can create a point of pride. I see Portugalia Marketplace and realize how Michael Benevides created a point of pride for Fall River with the store. We want to do something similar to that.”

The incubator will hold an official launch in May. It will also bring in two sculpture projects. Loving Stones by Joseph Wheelwright will spend the month on the grass plaza between Government Center and the post office downtown. Todd McGrain’s Lost Bird Project will go onto a lot on Central Street on the approach to the waterfront.

The project is working with the city schools and the mayor’s office to coordinate its efforts with theirs, Merrow said.

“We need to be thoughtful about how we grow this programming,” Merrow said. The programs they run need to fit with work already underway in the city, he said.

“We want to add to the fabric of Fall River,” he said.

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.

From sewing strength, Merrow creates Fall River arts incubator