Member Profile: Manuel Bonifacio Written by Lisa Smith

Manuel Bonifacio (also known as just Bonifacio) joined Somerville Community Access Television 12 years ago after assisting a friend who was videotaping a Halloween event at Somerville’s Public Safety Building. After the shoot, Bonifacio came back to SCAT and was very impressed with the SCAT members. “I met so many interesting people,” he says, “a lot of different people— very arts orientated.” Bonifacio was hooked and signed up to become a SCAT member that very week.

He remembers it was easy to get involved at SCAT with group productions. “When I started, the people here motivated me,” Bonifacio recalls. “There was a feeling of teamwork, where everyone would help each other with shows.”

Bonifacio first started out by videotaping events within the city and editing them for Channel 3. He didn’t have a regular series. “It was fun, and I felt powerful. I would go to an event with a camera, and people made me feel like it was a big deal for me to be there. I felt appreciated.” Bonifacio adds that his SCAT experience of covering Portuguese events helped connect him into the local Portuguese community, “I had been living in Somerville for seven years and, before (joining) SCAT, I did not know many people in the Portuguese community because I didn’t frequent the Portuguese clubs."

Bonifacio was working at the Massachusetts Alliance for Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) when he started his first series MAPS: The Voice of the Community that dealt with health issues concerning the Portuguese community. The show ran on SCAT for two years. Since then Bonifacio has become a producing dynamo. At one point, he was overseeing up to four series: a Portuguese puppet show, a Sunday Mass in Portuguese, along with other shows that targeted the Portuguese-speaking community. “Owning my house-painting business gave me the flexibility to produce so many shows,” he shrugs.

Then, in 2000, Bonifacio “cut back” to one, Aqui Fala-se Portugues, the series he has produced consistently for 10 years. The title, meaning Portuguese is spoken here, refers to businesses that would hang cards in shop windows to let Portuguese speakers know the merchants spoke their language. On the program, Bonifacio interviews people from the Portuguese community. He says that he is planning on changing his show, with his wife interviewing folks from other cultural backgrounds. “She will interview people in English … I want to talk to other people, and (we will) show the Portuguese people other cultures.”

Asked what he likes about being a SCAT producer, Bonifacio replies, “It makes you a creative and productive person to the community.” But he also adds, “ I don’t understand why people don’t take advantage of the (SCAT) facilities. It is a creative medium. You can involve people. Being a producer is a big thing. It’s a great feeling. You always feel that the best is yet to come. You are always improving.”

Not only is Bonifacio improving as a producer, he is also giving of his time. When SCAT began recognizing Volunteers of the Year in 2000, Bonifacio’s name literally topped the list. He has consistently given back to SCAT with a helping hand, paintbrush, or screwdriver. In addition, Bonifacio eagerly assists other SCAT producers on a myriad of portable and studio shoots. He successfully blends his own work with that of community volunteerism by lending a helping hand to those around him.

You can catch Aqui Fala-se Portugues on SCAT Channel 3 Thursdays at 8 PM and Saturdays at 2 PM.

Somerville Community Access Television
90 Union Square, Somerville, MA 02143
Phone: 617-628-8826 | Fax: 617-628-1811
Email: info@access-scat.org
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