Downtown Pittsfield… It’s Alive! A Halloween Festival
Pittsfield— Attend Downtown Pittsfield… It’s Alive! A Halloween Festival on Friday, October 21 from 4 to 8 p.m. The Festival will include activities for all ages, vendors, live music, performances, games, crafts, and an after-hours Zombie Pub Crawl from 7 p.m. till midnight. Retailers and restaurants downtown will also be open late. 20+ local vendors will be offering jewelry, clothing, candles, art, Halloween gifts, and more for sale.
There will be a Kids’ Fun Zone on the St. Joseph Church Lawn, 414 North Street, from 4 to 6 pm and all activities are free. There will also be a free Kids’ Monster Hunt sponsored by CozQuest from 4 to 8 pm. Kids will follow a map and scan QR codes on a smartphone to claim Halloween treasures at every downtown stop. The Monster Hunt is open to ages 1-15. Treasures include candy and Halloween toys. Dressing in costume is encouraged but not required. You must visit cozquest.com to play.
As part of It’s Alive, there will also be online voting for best decorated windows in downtown from October 21 to October 31. Vote for Best Overall Decorations, Scariest Decorations, and Most Creative Decorations in downtown Pittsfield at https://tinyurl.com/itsalivepittsfield.
For more information on and a full schedule of events for Downtown Pittsfield… It’s Alive!, visit downtownpittsfield.com or call 413-443-6501.
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Seeing Art History from the Caribbean Conference
Williamstown— On Thursday, October 20, and Friday, October 21, the Research and Academic Program at the Clark Art Institute hosts a Clark Conference, Beyond Boundaries: Seeing Art History from the Caribbean. The conference begins at 9 am in the Clark’s auditorium. The program is free and open to the public.
“Why has art history—a discipline often defined by its relationship with shifting terrains of theoretical critique and analysis—been slow to engage with Caribbean writers and thinkers, to take seriously their multidisciplinary, multi-theoretical, and multi-lingual voices? This conference asks what a deep engagement with the nuances of Caribbean intellectual thought could mean for art history.”
Speakers include: Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Anthony Bogues, Petrina Dacres, Aldeide Delgado, Andil Gosine, Yanique Hume, Deborah Jack, Erica Moiah James, patricia kaersenhout, Daniella Rose King, Charl Landvreugd, Tessa Mars, Wayne Modest, María Elena Ortiz, Jerry Philogene, Marcel Pinas, Veerle Poupeye, Adrienne Rooney, Nicole Smythe-Johnson, David Scott, and Andrea Chung.
For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
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FilmColumbia Features Curated Lineup of Films
Chatham— FilmColumbia, the county’s premier cultural event held annually at the Crandell Theatre, will kick off its opening weekend on Friday, October 21 through October 30. FilmColumbia will feature a highly curated lineup of Hollywood, independent and international films.
Attend a special screening at 4:30 p.m. of Ang Lee’s award-winning classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on October 21. After the show, the festival will celebrate Sony Pictures Classics’ 30th anniversary with a free Q+A featuring co-founder and co-president Tom Bernard.
Day passes are $11 for Members and $13 for the Public. Evening passes are $14 for Members and $17 for the Public. Tickets are available here: https://crandelltheatre.org/filmcolumbia/ticket-info-2/
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Social Justice and Inclusion Symposium
Great Barrington— Bard College at Simon’s Rock will host the Symposium on Social Justice and Inclusion, October 22-29.
This Symposium is an annual program sponsored by the Council for Inclusive Community (CIC). It provides designated time and space for the Simon’s Rock community to deconstruct barriers to action on important social justice issues — in the classroom and in day-to-day life, using a theme. This year the theme is “Healing.”
This year’s keynote speaker will be Lesley Martinez on Tuesday, October 25th at 7:00 p.m. in The McConnell Theater, located in the Daniel Arts Center. Martinez’s keynote address is titled “Healing is an Iterative Process like Learning.”
Additionally, the Symposium Teach-In & Workshop Day at Simon’s Rock will take place on Wednesday, October 26. Workshops based on the theme of healing will take place throughout the day and will be led by Simon’s Rock faculty, staff, and students. These events are open to the Simon’s Rock community.
The event is in- person and open to the public. The event can also be streamed virtually on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82285208304 More information about the full week’s schedule of events for the Symposium on Social Justice and Inclusion will be available on the Simon’s Rock Event Calendar.
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Grand Opening of LitNet Headquarters
Lee— The Literacy Network of South Berkshire (LitNet) announces the grand opening of the Susan Weintraub Tutor Resource Center at the LitNet headquarters, 32 Park Street in Lee, Massachusetts. This new center will be an optional gathering and working space for LitNet tutors and learners as well as the LitNet staff home base. A grand opening ceremony and gathering of Weintraub’s family, friends, and the LitNet staff and board will take place on Sunday, October 23 at 2 p.m.
Susan Weintraub, who passed away on February 19, 2022, was a longtime LitNet tutor and supporter as well as a board member for eleven years.
This new space (located just below LitNet’s current operational office) is a three-room suite: an entrance office; a meeting room that will serve as workspace for tutor-learner pairs to meet, for LitNet staff to enroll new tutors and learners, and that will house four computers with ready-to-use language-learning resources; and a third room that will house LitNet’s library collections.
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Family Friendly STEAM Challenge Night
Pittsfield— Flying Cloud Institute (FCI) will lead a free night of hands-on science and arts exploration for students in grades K-8 and their families at Hancock Shaker Village on Thursday, October 20, 2022, from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Students and their families will spend the evening problem-solving together in ways that involve exploring, tinkering, and creating. Several local organizations will be leading challenges. Flying Cloud Institute will present an array of activities including robotics, a Laws of Motion Derby and circuitry artmaking workshop.
For more information visit: https://www.flyingcloudinstitute.org/news/steam-challenge-night
