MCLA Launches After-School STEM Program for Brayton

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has recently launched an after-school initiative for Brayton Elementary's third-grade students to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities.

The program will take place in MCLA's Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation through the "Help Yourself" program.

The college was approached by the Help Yourself Foundation to host a hands-on, inquiry based program for youth at MCLA.

The Help Yourself foundation was founded in 2005 by the president emeritus of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Roger H. Hull. Hull developed after-school programs that allowed school-aged children to come into college campuses a few times a week to participate in STEM-focused activities in the Capital Region.

"The Help Yourself Foundation thought this would be a natural extension of the work that they've already done, and would provide a unique format and location here at MCLA," H. Jake Eberwein, dean of graduate and continuing education, said. "We're replicating in great part the model that's been used in the Capitol Region, but we'll be supporting students in North Adams."

Supported by MCLA staff, students and North Adams public educators, the first 20 third graders began their activities at MCLA.Two times a week the third-graders will travel to MCLA campus with a teacher or tutor for Help Yourself's program.

BAAMS Students Compose Music Inspired By Clark Art

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
08:17AM / Sunday, December 14, 2025

BAAMS students view 'West Point, Prout's Neck' at the Clark Art. The painting was an inspiration point for creating music.

 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies (BAAMS) students found new inspiration at the Clark Art Institute through the "SEEING SOUND/HEARING ART" initiative, utilizing visual art as a springboard for young musicians to develop original compositions.

 

On Saturday, Dec. 6, museum faculty mentors guided BAAMS student musicians, ages 10 to 16, through the Williamstown museum, inviting students to respond directly to the artwork and the building itself.

 

"As they moved through the museum, students were invited to respond to paintings, sculptures, and the architecture itself — jotting notes, sketching, singing melodic ideas, and writing phrases that could become lyrics," BAAMS Director of Communications Jane Forrestal said. "These impressions became the foundation for new musical works created back in our BAAMS studios, transforming visual experiences into sound."

 

BAAMS founder and Creative Director Richard Boulger said this project was specifically designed to develop skills for young composers, requiring students to articulate emotional and intellectual responses to art, find musical equivalents for visual experiences, and collaborate in translating shared observations into cohesive compositions.

 

"Rather than starting with a musical concept or technique, students begin with visual and spatial experiences — color, form, light, the stories told in paintings, the feeling of moving through architectural space," said Boulger. "This cross-pollination between art forms pushes our students to think differently about how they translate emotion and observations, and experiences, into music."

 

This is a new program and represents a new partnership between BAAMS and the Clark.

 

"This partnership grew naturally from BAAMS' commitment to helping young musicians engage deeply with their community and find inspiration beyond the practice room. The Clark's world-class collection and their proven dedication to arts education made them an ideal partner," Boulger said. "We approached them with the idea of using their galleries as a creative laboratory for our students, and they were wonderfully receptive to supporting this kind of interdisciplinary exploration."