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Mass MoCA Releases Fall Program

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art announced its Fall programming for this year featuring an extensive amount of diverse exhibits and events that residents and tourists can look forward to. 
 
Upcoming Exhibitions:
 
On View: Beginning Oct. 29
 
Beginning October 29, contemporary American artist EJ Hill will be having his largest exhibit to date "Brake Run Helix" as his first solo museum show. 
 
According to the press release, the exhibit features a massive installation that incorporates a stage for performances as well as a sculptural installation inspired by the form and function of rollercoasters." 
 
This rideable sculpture fills Mass MoCA's 100-yard-long Building 5 gallery and will incorporate paintings, stage performances, and freestanding sculptures
 
According to the release, Hill considers roller coasters as a public monument to the possibility of attaining joy which he notes is "a critical component of social equity."
 
"Hill's practice focuses on experiences that intermingle public struggle, endurance, trauma, and joy, whether within athletics, religion, the American education system, or amusement parks," the press release says.
 
"In the United States, amusement parks were contested sites throughout Jim Crow-era desegregation efforts for equitable access to pleasure, leisure, and recreation."
 
Mass MoCA will be hosting a member preview reception on Oct. 28 starting at 6 p.m. to celebrate the opening of the exhibition. Tickets cost $20, or are free for Mass MoCA members.
 
On View: Beginning Dec.17
 
Visual artist, composer, and musician Jason Moran's exhibit "Black Stars: Writing in the Dark" will be on view starting Dec. 17 in Robert W. Wilson Building 6. 
 
According to the press release this exhibition explores the embodied experience of live music and the "residues and memories" music making leaves behind.
 
"These pieces emerge from my performance practice, my body in relationship to the piano and to bodies in the audience," the press release said.  
 
Upcoming Events:
 
Sept. 8 though 10, starting at 8 p.m.
 
Writer, choreographer, and director Jack Ferver will be premiering their first full-length work in three years. 
 
According to the press release, Ferver describes "the queer" as someone who is told by society that their life isn't natural and doesn't exist, and therefore is supernatural and has chosen not to exist.
 
In their performance, Ferver weaponizes this vantage point to view and hold our overwhelming global failures with cold journalism to shaky intimacy. 
 
Tickets start at $25
 
Oct. 6 & Nov. 10, 5 until 7 p.m.
 
Experience the work of Assets for Artists' current artists-in-residence. Open Studios will take place in Building 13 and Building 34. 
 
Learn more about each artist cohort on the Assets for Artists website.
 
Free admission
 
Oct. 8 at 8 p.m.
 
Mass MoCA will be screening the new documentary "Mija," which chronicles the emotional and complex stories of Doris Anahi Muñoz and Jacks Haupt, the daughters of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, navigating their careers in the music industry. 
 
There will be a Q&A and performance with Muñoz following the performance.
 
Tickets start at $18 
 
Oct. 21 & 22 at 8 p.m.
 
Created by arts collective TRIBE, led by artistic director and choreographer Shamel Pitts, "Touch of RED" has its world premiere at Mass MoCA that is co-presented by Jacob's Pillow. 
 
According to the press release, "Touch of RED" energy builds not out of aggression or combat but through an electrifying effeminacy that heals. 
 
Tickets start at $20
 
Oct. 29 at 6 p.m.
 
Mass MoCA invites people to an evening of cocktails, dinner, and a lively auction in support of the museum's mission. Tickets are available beginning in early September.
 
Nov. 5 at 8 p.m.
 
Sophie Allison, aka "Soccer Mommy," will perform pop-inflected indie rock with American indie rock band Lightning Bug. 
 
Nov. 9 at 6 p.m.
 
Marking the presentation of Rose B. Simpson's artwork at multiple New England venues, Mass MoCA brings together curators who have brought the artist's sculpture to the region to discuss the curatorial decisions, processes, and collaborative experiences behind each of Simpson's projections from ideation to execution.         
 
Free for all, RSVPs open Sept. 14.
 
Nov. 19 at 8 p.m.
 
Theater artist Taylor Mac returns for a conversation and preview of his new work "The Bark of Millions," which celebrates queer luminaries throughout history. 
 
Tickets start at $20
 
Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.
 
J. Hoard brings his original composition and arrangements to Mass MoCA, melding the core of the Black church and the allure of Broadway.
 
Tickets start at $18

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Clarksburg OKs $5.1M Budget; Moves CPA Adoption Forward

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Newly elected Moderator Seth Alexander kept the meeting moving. 
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The annual town meeting sped through most of the warrant on Wednesday night, swiftly passing a total budget of $5.1 million for fiscal 2025 with no comments. 
 
Close to 70 voters at Clarksburg School also moved adoption of the state's Community Preservation Act to the November ballot after a lot of questions in trying to understand the scope of the act. 
 
The town operating budget is $1,767,759, down $113,995 largely because of debt falling off. Major increases include insurance, utilities and supplies; the addition of a full-time laborer in the Department of Public Works and an additional eight hours a week for the accountant.
 
The school budget is at $2,967,609, up $129,192 or 4 percent over this year. Clarksburg's assessment to the Northern Berkshire Vocational School District is $363,220.
 
Approved was delaying the swearing in of new officers until after town meeting; extending the one-year terms of moderator and tree warden to three years beginning with the 2025 election; switching the licensing of dogs beginning in January and enacting a bylaw ordering dog owners to pick up after their pets. This last was amended to include the words "and wheelchair-bound" after the exemption for owners who are blind. 
 
The town more recently established an Agricultural Committee and on Wednesday approved a right-to-farm bylaw to protect agriculture. 
 
Larry Beach of River Road asked why anyone would be against and what the downside would be. Select Board Chair Robert Norcross said neighbors of farmers can complain about smells and livestock like chickens. 
 
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