Chesterwood announces Arts Alive! series of outdoor performances
STOCKBRIDGE — Chesterwood, the summer home, studio, and gardens of 20th century sculptor Daniel Chester French, announces a series of hour-long outdoor programs showcasing music, dance, and the literary arts.
Arts Alive! is designed to be a resource for the community, with low ticket prices and free admission for those under 18, all underwritten by generous sponsors. The program has been curated by local creatives Ronald Feldman, Bettina Montano, Dr. Owen Lewis, Elizabeth Morse, and Nick Paleologos. The kick-off event on Sunday, June 6, at 5 p.m., includes original dance by the Berkshire Pulse Young Choreographer’s Initiative; music by Julian Muller, cello and Tamara Winston, oboe; and a reading by poet Dr. Owen Lewis.
Additional performances will be held Saturday, June 26, at 5 p.m. with poets Peter Gizzi and Abigail Wender; Saturday, July 10, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. with Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company and Ashley Bathgate, cellist; Saturday, July 31, at 5 p.m. with Ronald Feldman, cello and Victoria Wolf Lewis, violin; Wednesday, Aug. 4 at 5 p.m. with author Harold Holzer presenting “Lincoln’s Favorite Shakespeare” with actor Rufus Collins; Saturday, Aug. 7 at 5 p.m. with Gina Coleman and the Misty Blues Duo; Saturday, Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. with the Rev Tor Trio; Saturday, Sept. 4 at 5 p.m. with the Joe Rose Jazz Ensemble; Saturday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. with authors Brendan Mathews and Nathan McClain; and Sunday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. with a special performance to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day.
Arts Alive! tickets are $25 per person ($20 for Chesterwood members) and free to all under 18.
—A.K.
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Ventfort Hall summer 2021 Tuesday Talks begin June 8
LENOX — Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum recently announced a lineup of 15 Tuesday Talks that will be presented during its Summer 2021 series. Starting June 8 and ending September 14, the talks will be held on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. The speakers will appear either in person in the library at the mansion plus Zoom, or via Zoom only. The series is sponsored by Ventfort Hall board members Lucille and William Landa.
Reservations are encouraged due to limited seating to allow for social distancing.
June 8: Michelle Cohen, “Mary Pickford: The World’s First Major Movie Star”
June 15: Patricia Miller, “Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age”
June 22: Sylvia Laudien-Meo, “Tiffany, La Farge and Their Revolutionary Glass Windows”
June 29: Bob Gelber, “New York’s Woolworth Building & the Fine-and-Dime Store Legacy”
July 6: James Fleming, “First Woman in Meteorology: Joanne Simpson and the Tropical Atmosphere”
July 13: John Matteson, “A Worse Place than Hell: Five Eye-Witness Accounts of the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg”
July 20: Amy Sohn, “The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age”
July 27: Bob Brier, “The Murder of King Tutankhamen”
August 3: Gary Lawrance, “America’s Riviera: Gilded Age Houses of the Hamptons”
August 10: Dave Gardner, “The Titanic Epilogue: New York City After the Great Sinking”
August 17: Robin Frank, “Love and Loss: Framing Memory in American Portraiture”
August 24: Rene Silvin, “The Concorde: Technology Meets Glamour”
August 31: Francis Morrone, “The Story Behind the Wrightsman 18th Century French Collections at the Met”
September 7: Robert Steven Williams, “Gatsby in Connecticut”
September 14: Diane Shewchuk, “Showcasing 18th Century, Victorian and Jazz Age Fashions at the Albany Institute of History and Art”
—A.K.
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Lee Sportsmen’s Association awards higher education scholarships
LEE — The Lee Sportsmen’s Association Board of Directors and LSA Youth Programs congratulate Lena DuPont, John Gaj, and Kassie Stockmal, who were awarded LSA higher education scholarships at the membership meeting on June 2.
This is a one-time award in the amount of $500 to youth who have been members of LSA for at least two years and have participated in LSA Youth Programs activities — such as Buckshots Jr. Shotgun, High Caliber Jr. Pistol, Air2Spare Jr. Air Pistol, or archery — for at least one season, or in youth hunts. It is offered to graduating high school seniors who have been accepted into an institution of higher learning, such as a four-year college, two-year college, trade school, technical school, or prep school.
DuPont will be attending MCLA for Biology, Gaj will be attending UMaine for Wildlife Ecology, and Stockmal will be attending Delaware Valley University for Small Animal Science. The available dollar amount and number of scholarships awarded is determined annually by the amount of funds available in the LSA Youth Programs account.
—A.K.
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BCC’s Pam Coley McCann featured in episode of Speak Little Forest podcast
PITTSFIELD — Meghan St. John, creator of a new podcast called Speak Little Forest, recently delved into the topic of mental health with Pam Coley McCann, a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in the Berkshires and associate professor of human Services at Berkshire Community College (BCC). The episode, titled “Hope for Hard Times,” can be found at this link.
“Pam and I talked about a variety of subjects, all connected to mental health and our special Berkshire community,” St. John said.
Despite the fact that poverty, addiction, and other mental health stressors are on the rise in the Berkshires — even more so during the pandemic — Coley McCann sees hope for her clients and students. Specializing in individuals with severe mental illness, she is most inspired by post traumatic growth theory, which holds that certain people who survive mental or physical trauma can change in unexpected, positive ways. “People with severe mental illness are just people. They have hopes and dreams like everybody else,” she said. “Post traumatic growth is about people changing in ways that they didn’t anticipate, by finding new things that are meaningful to them.”
Stigma remains a barrier for people with mental illness, both in terms of recognizing their problems and seeking treatment, noted Coley McCann, who focuses her work not just on symptom management, but also on recovery. “It’s about bridging the gap between having a severe mental illness and learning to live with that,” she said.
In addition to the episode featuring Coley McCann, the Speak Little Forest podcast spotlights Kripalu Executive Chef Jeremy Rock Smith, Balderdash winery owners Christian and Donna Hanson, Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington, and Westfield State University Associate Professor of Environmental Science John McDonald.
—A.K.
