BITS & BYTES: Hub New Music at The Clark; Chrissi Poland at Indigo Room; Curious Festival of Unfinished Works at Adams Theater; Abir Saksouk at Fisher Center; Bonney Hartley at MCLA; Jurian Hughes at Wander

Clark Art Institute presents world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s new piece ‘Mirage’ given by quartet Hub New Music

Williamstown, N.Y.– On Sunday, February 22nd at 3 p.m., the Clark Art Institute presents the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s new piece “Mirage” given by the quartet Hub New Music.

This immersive new work seamlessly blends electronic and acoustic sounds, and is inspired by the cultural phenomena surrounding UFO-sightings. Using a bit of sci-fi fun, the composer asks the more existential question, “Are UFOs just products of our imagination, projections of our hopes, or something truly alien?”

The concert is on Sunday, February 22nd at 3 p.m. at the Clark Art Institute, located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, N.Y. Tickets and more information can be found online.

***

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents ‘Forever Muscle Shoals’ with acclaimed vocalist and songwriter Chrissi Poland at Indigo Room

Great Barrington– On Saturday, February 21st from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents “Forever Muscle Shoals” with acclaimed vocalist and songwriter Chrissi Poland at Indigo Room. She will be joined by special guest Matt Cusson.

“Forever Muscle Shoals” celebrates the songs and sounds recorded in Muscle Shoals, Ala., in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, where soul, blues, rock and country converged to create some of the most important recordings in American music. Deeply inspired by sharing the stage with Muscle Shoals icons like Mavis Staples, Ronnie Wood and more, Chrissi Poland is bringing her vocal power, interpretation, and stories to songs from Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Cher, Bob Dylan, and beyond. With the album due out in March 2026, don’t miss the chance to witness Chrissi Poland and this soul-stirring catalogue of music.

The concert is on Saturday, February 21st from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s Indigo Room, located at 20 Castle Street in Great Barrington. The seating is café table style. Tickets and more information can be found online. 

***

Inaugural ‘Curious Festival of Unfinished Works’ presents developing puppet theater projects at Adams Theater

Adams– On Saturday, February 21st at 7 p.m., the inaugural “Curious Festival of Unfinished Works” presents developing puppet theater projects at the Adams Theater.

The festival, created by New England Puppet Arts in collaboration with the Adams Theater, pairs artists with established mentors to develop their ideas for the stage. The final ingredient needed to test this creative soup is an audience. In culmination of a ten day residency at the Adams Theater, eight puppeteers and object performers will present work they’ve spent time developing.

“I love this part of making theater,” says David Lane, the theater maker and artist who is working with the Adams Theater to present the festival. “This is how theater is made. When you see a piece of theater in New York, it’s gone through years of readings, workshops, rewrites. It feels like it’s unfolding for the first time in front of your eyes, but there’s always a process behind it. Giving artists access to share their work in a venue and for an audience is an important part of the process.”

The festival is on Saturday, February 21st at 7 p.m. at the Adams Theater, located at 27 Park Street Adams. Tickets and more information can be found online.

***

Fisher Center Lab and Center for Human Rights and the Arts presents ‘Mapping and Documentation as Tools Against Erasure,’ a talk with Abir Saksouk from Public Works

Annandale-On-Hudson– On Wednesday, February 25th at noon, the Fisher Center Lab and Center for Human Rights and the Arts presents “Mapping and Documentation as Tools Against Erasure,” a free, virtual talk with Abir Saksouk from Public Works.

Moderated by Tania El Khoury, and based on “In Search for Justice Among the Rubble,” an exhibition by Public Works, Saksouk will narrate cities and towns targeted by the ongoing Israeli aggressions on Lebanon as sites of contestation between conceived plans and lived realities, underscoring the power of documentation, material evidence, and mapping in deconstructing dominant discourses around places and their reconstruction.

Abir Saksouk graduated as an architect in 2005, and later did her master’s in Urban Development Planning. She is the co-founder and co-director of Public Works, a multidisciplinary research and advocacy studio engaged critically and creatively with a number of urban and public issues in Lebanon. Her primary focus includes urbanism and law, property and shared space, and the right to the city of marginalized communities.

The free, virtual talk is on Wednesday, February 25th at noon on Zoom. Registration and more information can be found online.

***

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts presents ‘Tribal Historic Preservation in the Stockbridge-Munsee Ancestral Homeland’ with Tribal Historic Preservation Manager for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Bonney Hartley

North Adams-– On Wednesday, February 25th at 5:30 p.m., Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), as part of their Green Living Seminar Series, presents “Tribal Historic Preservation in the Stockbridge-Munsee Ancestral Homeland” with Tribal Historic Preservation Manager for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Bonney Hartley.

Hartley’s presentation will explore the Community’s ongoing work to protect Mohican and Munsee cultural sites and repatriate sacred items and ancestral remains. She will highlight landmark achievements including the 2021 return of Papscanee Island, a 156-acre nature preserve along the Hudson River that served as the center of Mohican life for thousands of years, and the 2024 acquisition of 372 acres at Monument Mountain in the Berkshires, returning ancestral homelands to tribal stewardship. The Stockbridge-Munsee Community’s ancestral homelands span the Hudson and Housatonic River valleys. Today, the federally recognized tribe is based on a reservation in Wisconsin, where approximately half of its 1,500 members live.

For ten years, Hartley has served the historic preservation interests of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community from an extension office in the tribe’s homelands in Massachusetts. An enrolled member of the Community, she leads the work to protect Mohican and Munsee (Lenape) cultural sites and repatriate cultural items, often serving to transform museums’ understanding of tribal cultural patrimony.

Hartley holds a Master of Social Science degree in International Relations from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She serves on the board of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and the National NAGPRA Community of Practice Steering Committee. She is a founding member of the Mohican Writers Circle and 2025 Forge Project Fellow.

The free presentation is on Wednesday, February 25th at 5:30 p.m. at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation (Room 121), located at 47 Blackinton Street in North Adams. It is open to the public. More information can be found online. 

***

Wander presents ‘Joy is Resist Dance’ a protest dance event led by Jurian Hughes

Pittsfield– On Wednesday, February 25th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wander presents “Joy is Resist Dance” a protest dance event led by Jurian Hughes. 

“Joy is Resist Dance” is a protest dance event rooted in the belief that joy is a radical, collective act. Come move your body to resist burnout, despair and silence — because joy itself is revolutionary. 

Jurian Hughes is a 20-year Kripalu faculty member, a teacher and trainer of yoga and Let Your Yoga Dance, a retreat leader, coach, writer, and activist.

The event is on Wednesday, February 25th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Wander, located at 34 Depot Street in Pittsfield. Arrive on time and be ready to move your body and experience joy. The movements are way to follow and everyone is welcome. No dance experience is required. More information can be found online.