Fresh Starts

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A new year holds so much promise. You set out with the best of intentions, only to abandon kale, the expensive gym membership and daily phone calls to your mom shortly thereafter. Next time, you say. Well, it’s about that time—perhaps you need a bit of inspiration. These local movers and shakers have running starts planned for 2015, with new jobs, new projects and new goals. Here, they count down their professional and personal aspirations for the coming 365 days.

The Central Library is set to unveil the first part of the Johnson building renovation in March, with revamped children and teen areas, plus a new workspace and reading area for adults. “I hope every person…finds something exciting and relevant that brings them back again and again,” says Michael Colford, director of library services. As for a personal resolution, Colford is aiming for something most New Englanders can get behind: “I’d like to spend more time in warmer climates.”

After 10 years at Providence’s Farmstead, chef Matt Jennings is bringing his award-winning food back to Boston. In 2015, Jennings hopes to continue spending time with his family, keep up with boxing and, perhaps more importantly to some eager diners, “To get this damn restaurant open!” Townsman is slated to open later this winter on the ground floor of Radian, where you’ll be able to dig into dishes like Vermont quail schnitzel.

Jo Frances Meyer’s new post as executive director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra combines her two passions: music and community outreach. The current director of development at Rockport Music switches gears in the beginning of January, hoping “to help the orchestra reach, in a meaningful way, more residents of Boston, both children and adults, through its concerts and education programs than ever before.”

Eva Respini’s first order of business after finishing her 15-year run at the Museum of Modern Art in March? Finding a place to live here. “After that,” says the ICA’s recently appointed Barbara Lee chief curator, “it’s to get to know individuals across the arts community in Boston, from artists to curators at sister institutions to professors at the area art schools.”

The movie adaptation of Dick Lehr’s Black Mass hits theaters in September. (You may recall Johnny Depp wandering around town, sporting a receding hairline as mobster Whitey Bulger.) This year, the Boston University professor and former Globe reporter plans to finish his first young-adult novel and run a half marathon. “And, while recovering, read the books stacked on my desk and night table,” he adds. The lineup: Stewart O’Nan’s West of Sunset, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Ron Rash’s Something Rich and Strange.

The Edward M. Kennedy Institute opens its doors in March, aiming to educate the public about U.S. government with a replica Senate chamber, exhibit halls, seminars and training for incoming officials. Fittingly, institute president Jean MacCormack says she’d like to help more young people get engaged in public service. She adds, “As a Dorchester girl who spent many years living in Dartmouth”—including 13 years as chancellor at UMass—“this year I resolve to get out more and renew my personal and social contacts here in Boston.”

 


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