image description — Winner Anita Curtin with the mayor.

Pittsfield Students Honored In Berkshire Jazz Art Contest

Staff Reports12:30PM / Wednesday, May 06, 2015Print Story | Email Story

Honorable mention Leanne Hamilton with Mayor Daniel Bianchi, and Berkshire Jazz President Edward Bride.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Three high school students were honored by the mayor on Tuesday for winning the annual Berkshire Jazz art contest.

Taylor Turner, a senior at Pittsfield High School, Max Whalen, a PHS freshman, and Anita Curtin, a junior at St. Joseph's High School, were chosen as the winners. The work of one of those three winners will be the symbol of the annual Pittsfield City Jazz Festival in October.

The winners were chosen by judges Diane Firtell, Scott Taylor, and Julio Granda, who chose a winner for each of three genres — representational art, abstract art, and graphic design. They also awarded three "judges choice" awards and five honorable mentions.

The judge's choice awards were given to Shane McMahon, a PHS sophomore, Alicia Williamson, a PHS junior, and Andrew LaPatin, also a PHS junior.

The honorable mentions were given to two PHS juniors, Tegan Lyon and Kaylin Barcus, and Ethan Kittles, a PHS senior, Leslie Tayi, a Taconic High School junior, and Leanne Hamilton, a St. Joe junior.

More than 100 students from Pittsfield HIgh, Taconic, St. Joe and Miss Hall's entered the seventh annual contest. The contest is intended to be a cross-genre creative activity coupling painting with music.

PHS art teachers Colleen Quinn, Lisa Ostellino, and Barbara Patton; Taconic teachers Marybeth Eldridge and Mike Boroniec; St. Joseph's teacher Dale Zola; and Miss Halls teachers Ellie Kreischer and Sophia Lee were all participated in the contest.

Project coordinator is Art Niedeck, a jazz musician and music educator, and co-chairman of the Education Committee of Berkshires Jazz, Inc., which is responsible for planning the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival and other events throughout the year.

Berkshire Jazz Inc. is chartered to promote jazz education throughout Berkshire County. The non-profit is supported by ticket sales from the festival, as well as donations from sponsors, which this year include Greylock Federal Credit Union the Feigenbaum Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, North Coast Brewing Company, Cultural Pittsfield, and jazz education pioneer Jamey Aebersold.

Tags: artists, awards, jazz,

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Healey Announces Housing Development Supports at Former Pittsfield Bank

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:29PM / Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Gov. Maura Healey poses with the bank's old safe. The building is being refurbished for housing by Allegrone Companies. The project is being supported by a commercial tax credit and a $1.8M MassWorks grant for infrastructure improvements.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Gov. Maura Healey stood in the former Berkshire County Savings Bank on Tuesday to announce housing initiatives that are expected to bring more than 1,300 units online.

"People come here from all over the world. We want them to stay here, and we want kids who grew up here to be able to afford to stay here, but the problem is that for decades, we just weren't building enough housing to keep up with demand," she said.

"And you guys know what happens when there isn't enough supply: prices go up. We have among the lowest vacancy rates in the country, so against that challenge, we made it our priority from day one to build more homes as quickly as possible."

Approximately $8.4 million from the new Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) is designed help communities transform empty or rundown commercial buildings into new homes along with $139.5 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies through the Affordable Housing Development grant program.

The historic 24 North St. with a view of Park Square has been vacant for about two years, and Allegrone Companies plans to redevelop it and 30-34 North St. into 23 mixed-income units. The administration announced its Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) and the Affordable Housing Development grant program as ways to aid housing production, both of which Pittsfield will benefit from.

The state is partnering with Hearthway for the construction of 47 affordable units on Linden Street, utilizing the former Polish Community Club and new construction, and Allegrone for its redevelopment of the block.

The Linden Street project is one of the 15 rental developments the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is supporting through $25.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits, $32.4 million in state low-income housing tax credits, and $81.4 million in subsidies.

Allegrone's project is supported by the commercial tax credit and was recently awarded $1,800,000 from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said she fully comprehends the importance of housing and how crushing it is in communities that need it and want to build, but face difficulties with high construction costs.

"Housing is the key to keeping people in the community in a safe way and giving them an opportunity to fill those many roles that we need throughout the Commonwealth in cities and towns, large and small, urban and rural, these are all important work. Having somebody fix your boiler, fix your car, we want those individuals to be able to live in our communities as well, particularly in our gateway cities," she said.

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