Arcadia Viols to perform at Simon’s Rock
Great Barrington — The South Berkshire Concert Series will present the Arcadia Viols on Sunday, April 3, at 3:00 p.m. at Bard College at Simon’s Rock’s Kellogg Music Center. The quartet—featuring members Robert Eisenstein, Jane Hershey, Anne Legêne, and Alice Robbins—will perform a program of works by 17th century composers Alfonso Ferrabosco, Jacopo Peri, John Ward, Matthew Locke, Henry Purcell, and Etienne Moulinie along with recent works by David Loeb, Larry Wallach, and Will Ayton. The concert is open to the public with a suggested donation of $10. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Arcadia Viols has been associated with Arcadia Players since its founding in 2009. The ensemble performs around New England, as well as Washington, D.C., and Ontario, Canada. In 2011 and 2015, the quartet performed medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music at Boston Early Music Festival fringe concerts. The Viols are active freelancers, as well as faculty members at the Five College Consortium, Tufts University, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and the Longy School of Music.
–E.E.
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Veterans painting exhibition at Neumann Fine Art
Hillsdale, N.Y. – Neumann Fine Art has announced its planned exhibition “Best of the Vets,” which will feature paintings by U.S. military veterans. The exhibition has been scheduled to run from Saturday, May 21, to Saturday, June 25, at Neumann Fine Art. This juried entry show is open exclusively to veterans of the United States Armed Forces, with proceeds benefitting Fisher House Foundation and Veterans Art Foundation.
The call-to-entry deadline is Saturday, April 9, and 15 finalists will be selected. Notification of acceptance will occur by Saturday, April 30. There is no entry fee and a full prospectus is available for download. An opening and awards reception for “Best of the Vets” is scheduled to take place on Saturday May 21, from 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. For more information call (413) 246-5776.
–E.E.
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‘Real Talk on Race’
Lee — Multicultural BRIDGE has announced that it will offer its course “Real Talk on Race” at two locations during the month of April.
The first class will begin each session with a pair of facilitators who will each deliver their personal experiences with race, followed by a BRIDGE-facilitated circle on race during which participants will actively engage in a lesson and conversation. The course is interactive, and will require participants to confront racism explicitly on individual and systemic levels. The course will begin on Saturday, April 2, from noon – 6 p.m. at the Grace Church office, 67 State Rd.
The second course will take place at the First Congregational Church of Stockbridge and will consist of eight one-and-a-half hour sessions on Sundays from 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m., beginning on April 10 and ending May 29. This course is similar to BRIDGE’s normal course but adds the additional goal of helping participants reach a deeper understanding of race in the context of religion. Facilitators will include Gwendolyn VanSant, Rev. Natalie Shiras, Stephanie Wright, and Jeff Lowenstein.
The cost for both courses is a suggested donation of $80 paid over the duration of the classes. For more information or to register, contact the BRIDGE office at (413) 394-4029 or adminsupport@multiculturalbridge.org.
–E.E.
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‘Baseball in the Berkshires’ book release party
Pittsfield – Herman Melville’s Arrowhead will host a release party for “Baseball in the Berkshires: A County’s Common Bond,” the companion book to its current exhibit of the same name, on Saturday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.
Berkshire County is home to one of the oldest baseball stadiums in the country that is still in use and has contributed more than 100 major league baseball players, including two native born who are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The book celebrates Berkshire County’s substantial contribution to the history of baseball and was written by Jim Overmyer, Kevin Larkin, Larry Moore, and Tom Daly, who will be present at the release.
Contact Arrowhead at (413) 442-1793 for more information.
–E.E.
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Churches to celebrate partnership
Lenox — Trinity Episcopal Church and St. Helena’s Chapel are formalizing a new partnership with a celebration at Trinity Church on Sunday, April 3, at 4 p.m. The Right Reverend Douglas Fisher, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, will be the guest preacher and celebrant for the service. All are welcome to attend.
St. Helena’s priest moved on several years ago and the church faced a decision: look for another part-time minister or try something less conventional. St. Helena’s approached its neighbor, Trinity, to explore a partnership. The two churches have agreed to share ordained leadership and administration while retaining the independence and autonomy of each congregation.
Rev. Michael Tuck, head of the two churches, explained, “Trinity has a rich tradition of music, a fantastic Sunday School program, and a more formal approach to worship. St. Helena’s is a small, family-like community with intimate experiences and relationships that you just don’t get in larger churches. This collaboration allows each congregation to share the best of what each has to offer.”
–E.E.
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Great Barrington Democrats to hold caucus
Great Barrington — Democrats in Great Barrington and Housatonic will hold a caucus on Saturday, April 2, at 9:30 a.m. at the Claire Teague Senior Center, 917 Main Street, to elect delegates to the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Convention to be held Saturday, June 4, at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Voting at the town caucus is open to voters in Great Barrington and Housatonic who were registered Democrats as of January 31, 2016. The Democratic Town Committee will meet at 10 a.m. after the caucus at the same location to elect officers for the committee that was elected at the March 1 presidential primary. This meeting is open to all.
For more information on the caucus or the committee, contact Great Barrington town Democratic committee chair Michael Wise at michaelwise@earthlink.net or (413) 854-1323.
–E.E.
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Frances Moulder to discuss reintegration
Salisbury, Conn. – On Saturday, April 2, at 4 p.m., the Scoville Memorial Library will present author Frances Moulder in a talk about her new book, “Exiting the Extraordinary: Returning to the Ordinary World After War, Prison, and Other Extraordinary Experiences,” at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Moulder’s book explores the experiences and process of reintegration to society when the unusual has shifted people’s lives. In her talk she will discuss what drew her to the topic, the problems she faced in the research process, and the common nature of seemingly diverse extraordinary experiences. She will also share insights from her research about the difficulties people face when returning to the ordinary world and the strategies that returnees have used to deal with those challenges.
Frances Moulder was an Associate Professor of Sociology at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, Conn., and Special Lecturer in the Urban and Community Studies Program at the University of Connecticut-Torrington. She has also written the books “Japan, China, and the Modern World Economy” and “Social Problems of the Modern World: A Reader.”
For more information contact the Library at (869) 435-2838.
–E.E.
