DownStreet Art Partners With Marafanyi for Community Project

Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — DownStreet Art will partner with West African drumming group Marafanyi Drum, Dance and Song to host a series of creative labs as part of the “Marafanyi Meets the Mural” project.

The project is a creative response to Egyptian artist Alaa Awad’s mural, “Justice,” commissioned by DownStreet Art in 2014. The mural will serve as inspiration for this community art-making collaboration led by teaching and performing artists of Marafanyi Dance, Drum and Song - Lara Gonzalez, Yael Shacham and Lisa Gonzalez-Howell.

For this community artistic collaboration, Marafanyi will join with inter-generational community members of all abilities during the four creative labs, where they will compose, choreograph and arrange a unique music/dance/spoken word interpretation of Awad’s mural.

Labs will be held at Common Folk Artist Collective located at 33 Main Street on the following Saturdays: July 30, Aug. 20 and Sept. 3 and 24 from 2-4 p.m.


A culminating “Art Share” will take place at the final DownStreet Art celebration of this season, on Thursday, Sept. 29.

 All those who wish to participate are encouraged to sign up for all four labs in preparation for the DSA :Art Share. Open to all ages and abilities, children under 12 must be accompanied by a parent.

MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center provides opportunities, resources, and support to the Northern Berkshire Community. BCRC brings together the Northern Berkshire, MCLA and greater creative communities through its cultural programming, including: MCLA Gallery 51, DownStreet Art, Berkshire Hills Internship Program (B-HIP), and MCLA Presents! The BCRC promotes, facilitates and encourages a dialogue to foster a sustainable, creative community.

For more information, and to sign up for the creative labs, please e-mail Marafanyi at rootsheartpulse@ureach.com or call 877-904-2362.


Tags: DownStreet Art,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
View Full Story

More North Adams Stories