The Resistance Revival Chorus celebrates Juneteenth at Promenade Hill Park in Hudson
Hudson— On Saturday, June 17th from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Resistance Revival Chorus Celebrates Juneteenth at Promenade Hill Park in Hudson.
The Resistance Revival Chorus is a collective of more than 60 women and non-binary singers who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices. The collective headlines the 4th Annual Hudson Juneteenth Celebration with a free outdoor concert in Promenade Hill Park.
Chorus members are based in New York City and work as touring musicians, film and television actors, Broadway performers, solo recording artists, gospel singers, political activists, educators, filmmakers, artists, and more, representing a multitude of identities, professions, creative backgrounds, and activist causes. The chorus centers women and non-binary folks in music, and addresses how historically marginalized women have been in the music industry.
The Resistance Revival Chorus calls for justice and equity for women, and all humans, across racial, ethnic, economic, sexual identity and religious lines. They aim to be intersectional in their feminism and reveal that all social justice issues overlap heavily with women’s issues; to harness the collective power of women to help change the world; to celebrate each other through song; and to embrace poet Toi Dericotte’s idea that “Joy is an act of resistance.”
The concert is on Saturday, June 17th from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Promenade Hill Park on North Front Street in Hudson. Tickets are pay-as-you-wish and may be purchased online.
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Berkshire Pride Parade and Festival
Pittsfield— On Saturday June 3rd, head to downtown Pittsfield for Berkshire’s Pride Festival!
Join the LGBTQIA+ community and allies starting with a Pride parade that kicks off at 11 a.m. on Eagle Street and heads directly to the Common Park for the festival!
Invite your family and friends to spend the afternoon in front of the most diverse entertainment the Berkshires has to offer or shop your heart out with the Berkshire’s best local makers and small businesses. Get ready for a day of family fun, inspiration and strength as we come out loud and proud in The Berkshires!
The festival is on Saturday June 3rd. The parade from Eagle Street to the Common park starts at 11 a.m. Entertainment on the Common Park MainStage starts at noon. For more information, visit Berkshire Pride online.
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Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) has announced two showings of ‘Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls’, filmed locally at Ventfort Hall in Lenox
Great Barrington/Lenox— Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) has two showings of “Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls”, filmed locally at Ventfort Hall in Lenox.
“Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls” follows Onyx, who joins a group of fellow occultists to attend a dark ritual at the mansion of their idol, Bartok. Suspecting Bartok’s nefarious intentions, Onyx is suddenly immersed in a world of monsters, mystery, and mayhem.
The movie was filmed at Ventfort Hall in March and April of 2022 in many rooms inside the house as well as many areas on the exterior of the house, including inside the walled garden.
“Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls” will be released in theaters this fall. The film originally premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January of 2023 and has since also been featured in Glasgow Film Festival/Fright Fest. Calgary Underground Film Festival, Chattanooga Film Festival, and now BIFF.
“Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls” will be screened on Friday, June 2nd at 7:15 p.m. at the Triplex (#2) on Railroad Street in Great Barrington, and Saturday, June 3rd at 4 p.m. at the Tanglewood Linde Center on West Hawthorne Road in Lenox. To order tickets, visit BIFF online.
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Baseball in the Berkshires presents “Bats Across the Border”
Guilderland— From June 3rd to June 29th, Baseball in the Berkshires, in cooperation with the Guilderland Public Library, is proud to present an historical baseball exhibit entitled “Bats Across the Border”.
Baseball is truly America’s Game, and in the Berkshires, baseball has some roots and some very strong branches. Baseball in the Berkshires is a non-profit whose mission is to present exhibits and educational programs that will assist in telling the story of baseball in the Berkshires. This historical display features artifacts and stories that originated from the county’s residents and visitors, and tells the history of baseball in the Berkshires and how it contributed to the famed history of baseball in America.
History sometimes seems to elude us even when it’s all around us. Baseball is a natural way to learn about history because it parallels what is going on in the world today. We can see this parallel between baseball and history from the spreading of the popularity of the game during the Civil War, to the fight for civil rights and Jackie Robinson, to the acceptance of the Negro Leagues and the unrest still felt across the world today.
The exhibit runs from June 3rd to June 29th at the Guilderland Public Library on Western Avenue in Guilderland and can be viewed during normal library hours. For more information, visit Baseball in the Berkshires online.
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Bennington Museum and Southern Vermont Arts Center present “For the Love of Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection of Vermont’s Art Golden Era 1920–1960 by the Proprietor of The Vermont Country Store”
Bennington/Manchester— From July through October, the Bennington Museum and Southern Vermont Arts Center present “For the Love of Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection of Vermont’s Art Golden Era 1920–1960 by the Proprietor of The Vermont Country Store”.
More than 200 works of art that capture Vermont’s unique character, people, traditions and landscape prior to the 1970’s from the collection of Lyman Orton, proprietor of the Vermont Country Store, will be unveiled to the public in an unprecedented collaboration by two of Vermont’s most celebrated museums, Bennington Museum and Southern Vermont Arts Center. Bennington Museum is displaying 50 works of Vermont art from the Orton Collection, and at the same time, Southern Vermont Arts Center is showing nearly 200 more paintings, drawings, prints, and mixed media works from Lyman Orton’s collection of Vermont Art.
Along with the opening of the exhibition, a 220-page book tells the story of how Orton assembled the collection over many years while running the Vermont Country Store. It is also packed with photographs of the paintings, as well as stories of the artists and their love of Vermont. “For the Love of Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection” by Anita Rafael (in collaboration with Orton) will be available for purchase.
The exhibit will be on display from July 1st to November 5th at the Bennington Museum on Main Street in Bennington with an opening reception and meet-and-greet on July 15th from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The exhibit with be on display from July 22nd to November 5th at the Southern Vermont Arts Center on Southern Vermont Arts Center Drive in Manchester with an opening reception and meet-and-greet on July 22nd from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
More information can be found by visiting Bennington Museum or Southern Vermont Arts Center online.
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Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds, Inc. presents a series of bilingual co-op business workshops for co-op business start-ups and self-directed movement building groups
Pittsfield— This June through September, Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds, Inc. presents a series of bilingual co-op business workshops for co-op business start-ups and self-directed movement building groups.
The workshops are Friday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the following days:
June 30th: What is a co-op? We’ll discuss the following co-ops: worker, producer, consumer, hybrid/multi stake, housing, and social. Familiarize yourself with the seven principles of co-ops. Play a quick game of Co-opoly, created by Tools and Education for Social Action (TESA).
July 14th: Complete your business plan using the lean business canvas.
July 28th: Complete your website landing page web site using WIX and connect that with your business or group Facebook and/or Instagram.
August 11th: Complete your pro-forma budget and projections excel sheets – leave with a general budget and 3 year projections to better support grant and funding applications.
August 25th: Building your board and consensus decision making and peer leadership to better equip your self-directed not-for-profit or co-op business in democratic leadership.
September 8th: Learn more about key strategies for conflict resolution in co-op businesses and in movement building groups.
The two-hour workshops are located at O.U.R. Resurge on Fenn Street in Pittsfield. The workshops are bilingual and are facilitated by both an English speaking and a Spanish speaking facilitator. Sessions are open to the community for a total cost of $60 with scholarships available. No one is turned away for inability to pay – email contactus@rootsandmustardseeds.com for assistance with tuition. For more information, visit Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds online.
If you’re interested in the structural development of community run programming, co-op housing, and/or starting or joining a developing cooperative business please email contactus@rootsandmustardseeds.com, and come on over to these community sessions!
