Berkshire Taconic Awards $150K to Artists, Arts Organizations

• Community Access to the Arts, Great Barrington, for an installation of Susan Hardcastle and Janice Shields’ "Sticks and Stones." The installation will serve both as a stage set for the annual gala performance on May 1 and 2 and as an exhibit at the Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield in May.
  
  
• City of Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development, Pittsfield, MA: for the exhibition of five works by New England artists in the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts. Pieces incorporate natural and recycled elements, use of illumination, interactive performance-based elements, functionality, and more.
  
  
• Additionally, John Stritch, an artist from Hinsdale, MA, received a grant. Stritch is a painter and sculptor whose work has been exhibited widely in local galleries, museums and colleges.

• Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vt., for a residency for Kristen Reynolds.
• MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, to purchase, ship and frame prints and photographs from three New England based artists for the MIT Student Loan Art Program.  
  
  
• DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, for the exhibition Scapes by Halsey Burgund. This will be a site specific, interactive art work using open source technology to combine musical scores and viewers’ verbal reactions into a continually evolving real-time recording.
  
  
• Real Art Ways, Hartford, Conn., for the commission and exhibition of new work by Olu Oguibe. The new work will stem from research the artist has done about New England stone walls and highlighting the aesthetic qualities of everyday objects.
  
  
• Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, for the commission of "Sugar," a new site-specific installation by Maria Magdelena Campos-Pons. This work addressed the Afro-Cuban diaspora and the artist’s identity as a woman of Yoruba ancestry. 
  
  
• Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, for the commission and exhibition of a major new installation by the Massachusetts artist, Gina Siepel in November 2010. The multipart piece will feature a fully functional handmade riverboat and will include video documentation of the artist’s use of the boat.
  
  
• Boston Day & Evening Academy, Roxbury, for the purchase of a piece of sculpture by Nora Valdez which is part of the installation "Walking with Memories" designed and executed by students of this public charter school. The installation explores the life of the individual and relationships within society and nature.
  
  
• Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, for support exhibitions of New England artists.        

• Dana Salvo, Gloucester                                                              
• Tiaga Ermansons, Northampton                                         
• Isabel Riley, Somerville                                                              
• Amy Jenkins, Peterborough, N.H.                                                        
• Christopher Armstrong, Gloucester                                          
• Liza Bingham, Waltham                                                             
• Dido Thayer, Malden                                                            
• Duncan Johnson, Hartford, Vt.                                                       
• Carol O’Malia, Westwood,                                                                       
• Angelo Arnold, Montpelier, Vt.                                                           
• Deborah Davidson, Somerville                                                   
• Jieun Shin, Amherst                                                                    

Berkshire Housing Woes Heard at State Listening Session

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:17AM / Thursday, May 16, 2024

Housing Secretary Edward Augustus Jr. addresses local leaders at a housing session in Pittsfield, his second stop on a swing through the Berkshires. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Affordability, transportation, incentives, and equity were identified as vital areas related to housing development in the Berkshires during a listening session on Wednesday to inform Gov. Maura Healey's plans to address the housing crisis. 

Around 100 local officials, business and community leaders and residents attended the session that will help fuel the state's five-year housing plan. They heard from Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Edward Augustus Jr. about the Healey-Driscoll administration's efforts and then broke into group discussions on the Berkshire Community College campus.

"It is a plan that is for the entire commonwealth, not a plan that is Boston-centric or Eastern Mass-centric," said Augustus, who in the morning was talking about public housing in Adams. "And that's why we're all here today."

This was the fifth session of 14 total.

"I think many of us in this room would attest that there have been decades in which coming to Western Mass meant stopping at Springfield," BCC's President Ellen Kennedy said.

"And I think we owe so much to the Healey Driscoll administration and to Secretary Augustus that they understand the value of listening to what other people in the Berkshires have to say but also to our commitment to trying to find ways to address it and every one of us has a different perspective and a different way that we can contribute to this conversation."

The top areas of focus were identified during one of the breakout sessions. Participants posted answers on whiteboard with two asking "What is your dream for housing in Massachusetts?" and "What potential solutions and strategies would you like MA to explore in the Statewide Housing Plan?"

Sheila Irvin, Pittsfield delegate on the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, would like to see stable, secure, and connected communities.

"People wind up in places where they are isolated," she said. "Part of having a home is being part of a neighborhood or community where people come together for a common goal."

Leigh Davis, vice chair of the Great Barrington Select Board, said there is an increasing feeling of isolation and lack of connection and that housing can bring people together. She referenced the senior population, who may need or want to downsize but have no viable options due to price and availability.