Source-to-Sound River Festival
Lee — The Source-to-Sound River Festival, which aims to call attention to the Housatonic River, will be held on Sunday, April 24, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lee Athletic Field, 140 Housatonic St.
Presented by the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), the Town of Lee, Trout Unlimited, and Lee Youth Association, the event will include family-friendly river and wildlife exhibits and activities. Attendees will be able to learn to fly-fish, search for aquatic insects and learn about water quality, become a water droplet and go on an incredible journey, and learn more about how to protect the Housatonic River.
For more information, call HVA at (413) 394-9796.
–E.E.
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Volunteer Day at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
Lenox – On Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary will hold a Volunteer Day in order to prepare the property for the upcoming summer and fall seasons. Volunteers are needed for a wide variety of projects throughout the sanctuary. Tools and gloves will be available for use and a pizza lunch will be provided for all volunteers. For more information or to register, call the Sanctuary at (413) 637-0320.
–E.E.
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BTG to hold auditions for ‘Beauty and the Beast’
Pittsfield — Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG) and Artistic Director/CEO Kate Maguire have announced auditions for actors and musicians for BTG’s 11th annual community theatre production of “Beauty and The Beast,” directed by Travis G. Daly with music direction by Mark Gionfriddo and choreography by Kathy Jo Grover. All auditions will take place at the Colonial Theatre on Wednesday, April 27, from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Adults should be prepared to sing 16 bars of a song and bring the accompanying sheet music that is in their preferred key. Students should be ready to learn songs from “Beauty and the Beast.” Callbacks will take place as needed. Instrumentalists are needed for flute, piccolo, clarinet, English horn, oboe, bass clarinet, trumpet, French horn, violin, cello, bass, and percussion. Those auditioning should prepare a short passage of music that best represents their level of performance.
Appointments are necessary to audition. For more information or to schedule an audition appointment, call (413) 448-8084 x23.
–E.E.
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Crane Paper Mills history talk
Pittsfield — On Monday, April 25, at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will present Peter Hopkins, director of the Crane Museum of Papermaking in Dalton, who will talk about Crane Paper Mills and its historic impact on the Berkshires. The free program will be held at Congregation Knesset Israel.
Founded by Zenas Crane alongside the Housatonic River, the company and the family that owns and manages it have been integral to the history, health, and well-being of the Berkshires for more than two centuries. But even those closely associated with Crane know little about where he came from and how he ended up in Dalton, the inner workings of the Crane mills, and what really makes U.S. currency so secure.
For more information, call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360, x10.
–E.E.
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Simon’s Rock joins Common Application community
Great Barrington – This spring Bard College at Simon’s Rock joined the Common Application community along with 46 other institutions. Community memberships include nearly 700 colleges and universities in the United States and around the world. The Common Application allows prospective college students to submit just one application in total rather than one application per school.
Students across the globe can create a Common Application account and explore programs at various institutions. They also answer questions that appear in six sections of the “Common App” (Profile, Family, Education, Testing, Activities, and Writing) and their responses are preserved, thus streamlining the application process. This year, more than 900,000 students used the Common Application online system to submit more than 4 million applications.
–E.E.
