OLLI presents ‘Finding Your Rootsilience’ with Samantha Anderson and Rimi Chakraborty
Pittsfield— On Tuesday, March 12th at 2 p.m., OLLI presents “Beyond Resilience to Rootsilience: A Revolutionary Women’s Leadership Framework for Balance, Well-Being, and Success” a book talk by co-authors Samantha Anderson and Rimi Chakraborty.
Our body shows us when we’ve been stretched beyond our limits and knocked out of balance. What can we do about it? How can we recognize those first signs? The book integrates positive psychology with ancient wisdom to help women decode signs of being overwhelmed to restore well-being and purpose.
“Beyond Resilience to Rootsilienceis” co-authored by West Stockbridge-based Samantha Anderson and Rimi Chakraborty who lives in the Azores. Chakraborty is a keynote speaker, author, yoga teacher and leadership consulting coach for groups, teams, and individuals dedicated to developing conscious leaders. Anderson is a board-certified health and wellness coach with decades of experience working with women leaders as a nonprofit and philanthropy consultant.
The hybrid talk is on Tuesday, March 12th at 2 p.m. in Room H-202 at Berkshire Community College on West Street in Pittsfield and also on Zoom. It is free and open to the public. Registration and more information can be found online.
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OLLI presents ‘Art and Auschwitz: A Dialogue on a Last Expression’
Pittsfield— On Monday, March 11th at 2 p.m., the OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents “Art and Auschwitz: A Dialogue on a Last Expression,” with David Mickenberg.
It is difficult to imagine that amidst the horrors of the holocaust, art survived and was called upon by both perpetrator and victim. Amid the desolation of the camps, some found a way through art to express love, tenderness, emotion, humor, sexuality, aesthetic concerns, political ideology, or religious fervor. Through drawing and poetry, painting and performance victims expressed empathy for the past, hope for the future, and engaged in resistance. Such creative action might never be received by its intended audience or had no intended audience other than its author. This presentation will look at the array of roles that the arts played in the camps, Auschwitz in particular.
David Mickenberg has served as the Director of both the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and the Director of the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He was also President and CEO of both the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia, and the President and CEO of the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was a faculty member at the Getty Leadership Institute in Los Angeles, California, Co-Chair of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts at Northwestern University and adjunct faculty in art history and museum studies at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. He currently is President of the Lehigh Valley Arts and Cultural Alliance in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is the co-editor of “The Last Expression: Art and Auschwitz” and co-curator of the exhibition of the same title. He is one of several authors of the book, “Printmaking in American, 1960-1990” and author of “Songs of Glory: Medieval Art 12th through 15th Centuries.”
The hybrid talk is on Monday, March 11th at 2 p.m. at Berkshire Community College on West Street in Pittsfield and also on Zoom. Tickets are $15 and $10 for members. Registration and more information can be found online.
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OLLI presents ‘Telling The Truth Through Fiction’ with Jennifer Browdy
Pittsfield— On Monday, March 11th from 10 a.m. to noon, OLLI presents ‘Telling The Truth Through Fiction,’ a virtual workshop with Jennifer Browdy.
Join award-winning memoirist and popular teacher Jennifer Browdy, PhD, for an online workshop exploring how sometimes telling the truth is easier in fiction than in memoir. The workshop will include instruction and writing exercises/prompts. As Jennifer wrote in a recent essay, when we “shift purposefully from memoir to fiction, we not only do no harm to the still-living people who inhabit our memories, but we also ignite the process of transforming the coal of true but painful stories into diamonds that can shine a bright light for ourselves, and for others.”
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network. Her latest book, “Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future,” was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, “The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir,” won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award and her memoir, “What I Forgot …And Why I Remembered,” was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
The virtual workshop is on Monday, March 11th from 10 a.m. to noon on Zoom. Admission is $20 and $15 for members. Registration and more information can be found online.
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Williamstown’s Public Library celebrates 150 years with an open house
Williamstown— On Saturday, March 9th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Williamstown’s Public Library celebrates 150 years with an open house.
In 1874, the citizens of Williamstown voted to establish a public library, supported by funds collected from dog licenses. From its modest beginnings in a corner of Cole’s General Store on Water Street, the Milne Public Library now boasts a collection of 53,500 books, 6,700 card holders, and a circulation of over 100,000 last year.
Trio Café Budapest will entertain with toe-tapping music; Davis Bates, award winning singer and storyteller, will present two programs of participatory folk songs and stories for all ages; and Robin Brickman, nationally known illustrator and school workshop leader, will present two one-hour bookmark-making workshops for children. There will be cupcakes and lemonade from M & J’s Taste of Home Events and Catering, and a free drawings for a variety of great prizes.
The open house is on Saturday, March 9th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Williamstown’s Public Library on Main Street in Williamstown. It is free and open to the public. More information can be found online.
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Race Brook Lodge presents DJ Nickodemus, Masayuki Hirano (aka BIGYUKI,) and Deejay Theory
Sheffield— On Saturday, March 9th at 8 p.m., Race Brook Lodge presents legendary DJ Nickodemus, visionary keyboardist Masayuki Hirano (aka BIGYUKI), and tropical-afrobeats specialist Deejay Theory.
Nickodemus is a traveler at heart, a connector of worlds, scenes, and people. At the helm of the Wonderwheel label, he’s a veritable encyclopedia of planetary parties. As a DJ, he can connect the dots between twenty or thirty genres in a single set, molding a synergetic dance experience that sets him apart as a leader in global fusion and heavy beats. He is also the founder of Turntables on the Hudson, a legendary, iconic expression of the NYC party scene. His music has long thrived on the close relationships and mutual respect of friends across continents, felt through the worldly potions he cooks up in the studio, spanning electronic sounds rooted in Latin, African, and Eastern instrumentation. His latest album “Soul & Science” is the culmination of this musical connective tissue he’s established.
Japanese keyboardist and songwriter Masayuki Hirano is referred to in the industry as “NYC’s secret weapon.” He’s the musical equivalent of a savant linguist with a talent for all the vernaculars. Wild juxtapositions inhabit BIGYUKI’s performances: heavy beats laced with classical flourishes and techy low-end bleeps expressed through a heart-shaped sieve. Best known for composing three cuts on A Tribe Called Quest’s most recent album and recently found on tour with José James, Kamasi Washington, and Antonio Sanchez, Masayuki is a heavily sought-after performer and composer with an infectious and beautifully weird palette of music.
A New England native by way of San Francisco, Deejay Theory has been fearlessly carving his lane in music as a forward-thinking producer, DJ, label boss, and all around badman/nice guy. His sets track some interstitial magic between tropical bass, hip-hop, disco, dub, funk, reggae, reggaeton, amapiano, and other global dance genres. Forever pushing the boundaries while always keeping the vibes, Theory approaches music through a universal lens sparking inspiration from all corners of the planet and dancefloors we share. His decade-plus span of highly sought-after remixes and custom edits have become go-to secret weapons for some of the highest profile DJs in the world.
The event is on Saturday, March 9th at 8 p.m. at Race Brook Lodge on South Undermountain Road in Sheffield. Tickets are $20. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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‘Paper Cities’ exhibit to open at The Clark Art Institute
Williamstown— From March 9th through June 23rd, The Clark Art Institute presents “Paper Cities.”
Cities can take varied and fascinating forms when they become the subject of an artwork, transitioning from objective sites of study to creative expressions of places an artist has perhaps never physically experienced. When artists portray an existing city, they often highlight or conceal certain aspects in order to fashion an intentional message about that place. Paper Cities examines representations of well-known cities works on paper created between the late fifteenth and the early twentieth century.
“It’s fascinating to explore the ways in which artists have portrayed cities over the centuries – ranging from straight documentary images to those that are romantic, moody, or fantastical. This exhibition is equal parts a historical journey back in time, a travelogue, and a wonderful opportunity to explore cities old, new, and imagined,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark.
The exhibition is on view March 9th through June 23rd in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper in the Clark’s Manton Research Center on South Street in Williamstown. More information can be found online.
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Berkshire Lyric presents ‘Happy Trails, Music from the American West’
Pittsfield— On Saturday, March 16th and Sunday March 17th at 3 p.m., Berkshire Lyric presents “Happy Trails, Music from the American West,” their annual “Kick The Winter Blues” pop concert.
The two identical concerts will feature well known and traditional standards and cowboy songs from the old west. The music will range from Gene Autry to The Chicks. The Berkshire Lyric Chorus, the Lyric Children’s Chorus, and Melodious Accord will be joined by guest instrumentalists Bobby Sweet, Eric Martin, and Dan Broad. The choruses are led by Jack Brown and accompanist Joe Rose. The concerts will conclude with a sing-a-long, and the audience is encouraged to dress in western apparel.
The concerts are on Saturday, March 16th and Sunday March 17th at 3 p.m. in the Lenox Town Hall Auditorium on Walker Street in Lenox. Tickets are $25 and free for children. Advanced ticket purchasing is strongly recommended. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Berkshire Community College to hold open house
Pittsfield— On Saturday, March 9th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Berkshire Community College (BCC) will hold an open house.
Thinking about college, but not sure where to start? Earn an associate’s degree from BCC, a great way to get a quality education, save money and transfer to a four-year school or enter the workforce
Prospective students and their guests are invited to meet one-on-one with BCC representatives from various offices. Participants can speak with faculty about the programs that interest them, take a campus tour and learn about paying for college, transferring to a four-year school, internships and career opportunities. All attendees will receive a breakfast, a discount at the BCC Bookstore and a chance to win BCC swag.
Learn more at BCC’s Spring 2024 Open House on, including a financial aid workshop at 10 a.m. The event takes place in the Connector on BCC’s main campus, located at 1350 West Street, Pittsfield. To register for the free event, visit www.berkshirecc.edu/openhouse. For more information, contact the Admissions Office at (413) 236-1636.
