It’s happened before — but never like this.

This year, New Bedford is grabbing ArtWeek and running with it into the end zone like it just caught a Super Bowl pass from Tom Brady.

Here’s the 411: ArtWeek is actually a 10-day, statewide festival of arts and culture. It runs from Friday, April 26 through Sunday, May 5. It packages a range of arts-related events under the ArtWeek umbrella for easy consumer consumption during this defined time period.

Since 2013, ArtWeek has been produced by Boch Center, the Boston-based theater and cultural group. It launched the festival to highlight the larger role the organization plays in the arts. Highland Street Foundation has also been a presenting sponsor since 2013, and now Mass Cultural Council and Massachusetts Travel and Tourism (MOTT) joined in on the fun.

What began as a Boston-centric event grew each year, until communities throughout Eastern Massachusetts participated. And now, communities throughout the entire state take part in ArtWeek in some form or another.

New Bedford has dipped its toe in the water over the past several years — but nothing like the plunge into arts and culture that constitutes this ArtWeek New Bedford over the 10 days from April into the first week of May.

ArtWeek activities are defined as those which largely are “unique and unexpected experiences that are participatory, interactive, or offer behind-the-scenes access to artists or the creative process,” according to artweekma.org.

There are no shortage of those sorts of activities in New Bedford, as even the casual arts patron is aware, but the difference this year is ... the city has a plan!

As in the Arts and Culture Plan.

And, a creative strategist, Margo Saulnier, to help guide, form and package all its culture into a city-wide experience that puts New Bedford on the ArtWeek map — and thus makes it a destination within the region and for all of Massachusetts.

This is the natural evolution of a high-performing cultural community like New Bedford. The ability to seize the possibility something like ArtWeek presents to the city for its creative residents, cultural patrons and visitors.

ArtWeek this year showcases a whole lot of what makes New Bedford’s creative community “an engaged and powerful partner, inspiring social, economic, and cultural growth” in an authentic seaport city, as written in the arts and culture plan’s mission statement.

All the ArtWeek events available at press time accompany this column. (Keep ahead of updates at calendar.artweekma.org; enter keyword “New Bedford” in the search field.) But, here’s a few cherry-picked items that illustrate the width and breadth of ArtWeek 2019 in the city…

IN THE SOUTH END: Your Theatre, Inc. will hold an open, free rehearsal of their next production, “A Man For All Seasons,” on Monday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. Currently, the company is operating out of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church at 136 Rivet Street at the cusp of the South End.

A goal of the New Bedford Arts and Culture plan is to highlight creativity in neighborhoods throughout the city, and ArtWeek is a perfect forum to further that goal. In the not so distant future, Your Theatre will anchor the magnificent Steeple Playhouse downtown on William Street in the First Baptist Church, undergoing a WHALE renovation right now. But its roots run deep into the city wherever it calls home.

DOWNTOWN: The Zeiterion Performing arts Center launched the street festival Viva! Portugal several years ago to instant success. The day-long event on Saturday, May 4 coincides with ArtWeek — and helps place Portuguese culture squarely within an arts and culture context.

The music, dancing and literature highlighted during Viva! Portugal as part of ArtWeek allows more people to discover the profound impact the Portuguese have had as part of New Bedford’s heritage.

IN THE NORTH END: Hatch Street Studios caps off ArtWeek as only it can — by throwing open the doors and welcoming the entire region inside to meet its more than 65 professional visual and performing artists.

The Hatch Arts Weekend takes place Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The weekend will feature live music, behind-the-scenes tours, demonstrations, special installations, puppeteering, face painting, storytelling, make-and-take activities, a community art project and more.

Again, bringing ArtWeek to New Bedford’s North End reinforces the fact that the city’s artistic reputation resides in every neighborhood and can be claimed by any of its citizens as a defining characteristic of living here.

In the final analysis, ArtWeek 2019 — with it’s plethora of events big and small, visual and musical, interactive and engaging, belongs in New Bedford in a big way and this year, is helping to define the city now.

New Bedford’s ArtWeek is about to finally arrive on the scene the way it should. As a showcase of the reality that is the city’s role moving into the future as a creative hub and cultural force on South Coast and for all of Massachusetts.

Steven Froias blogs for the coworking facility, Groundwork! at NewBedfordCoworking.com. Email: StevenFroias@gmail.com.