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Thomas A. Dee, president and CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (left), accepts a $25,000 donation from James Brown, president and CEO of The Bank of Bennington.

Biz Briefs: Bank Donation to SVMC Funds Child-Friendly Waiting Areas

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For the kids: The Bank of Bennington presented a $25,000 donation to Southwestern Vermont Health Care earlier this month at the bank's flagship location at 155 North S. in Bennington, Vt. The funds, given in celebration of the bank's centennial year, are dedicated to the creation of several interactive, child-friendly waiting areas within the health system.

Dubbed Kids Korner, the first two interactive play waiting areas will be developed at the pediatrics practice and on the Women's and Children's unit at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington.

This is the first of several donations the bank plans to make to celebrate its centennial year. The Bank of Bennington has a strong history of supporting community activities throughout the region—especially those that bring community together and benefit children, such as Little League, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and local food pantries.


 
Video days: The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires presents "Video for Nonprofits and Small Businesses" on Wednesday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to noon at Berkshire Community College South County Center at 343 Main Street in Great Barrington. The cost is $25 for NPC members and $35 for non-members.

In this two-hour workshop led by Diane Pearlman of The Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, participants will learn the basics of making an effective video.Topics include: how to write a creative brief, what's involved in the production process, legal aspects to consider, how much time should it take, and most importantly, budget options and what you can expect to get for your money.

Pearlman has been in the film and media business for more than 25 years. The Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative is a nonprofit that creates educational, workforce and production opportunities in the film and media industry as an economic initiative for the western Massachusetts region. She is the producer of the short film "A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud" directed by Karen Allen currently on the festival circuit.



 
Seeds of change: NMDX in Lee has announced the closing of $1 million in seed funding executed through a private placement. The offering was for preferred stock of the company. The proceeds will be used to finance the commercialization of the NMDX's diagnostic tests, the development of additional diagnostic clinical trials, and to expand operational capabilities.

NMDX is executing a commercialization strategy for three proprietary tests, including Fatty Acid Synthase (FAS), CA-IX, and HER-2/neu (HER-2). The company is already generating revenue through sales of its HER-2 (HER-2) blood testing kits, acquired through their acquisition of Nuclea Biotechnologies. The serum HER-2/neu is a simple, non-invasive test that measures the presence of the HER-2 protein in the blood stream for patients with metastatic breast cancer. Those who overexpress HER-2/neu tend to have a worse prognosis and more aggressive, chemotherapy-resistant cancer.

Measuring changing levels of the protein can help doctors' asses the stage of cancer. This information can also serve as an early prognostic tool, helping to get patients the most effective treatment courses at the right time.
 


Real changes: William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty, with an office in Great Barrington, has partnered with Buyside, a company specializing in turning buyer data into leads, listings and profits, to launch a powerful new platform for significantly increasing buyer and seller leads. The program works by consuming thousands of buyer leads and buyer-related activities from multiple sources around the web from Zillow to Trulia to The New York Times, as well as open house showings and many other resources. These are then aggregated in real time into Buyside's robust proprietary system, allowing William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty to cultivate these potential buyers and intelligently match them to both company listings and agents within the company.

As part of the program, the company has incorporated a client-facing "What is Your Home Worth?" section on the homepage, providing potential sellers with the capability of instantly receiving a valuation of their home. The site's quick search tool has also been outfitted with a "Sell Your Home" tab that directs users to a new Instant Home Valuation website. This landing page combines multiple automated valuation models with visualizations of real-time buyer activity, equipping agents with insights on buyer demand to help them generate seller leads, and illustrating for sellers the number of actual buyers looking for a home just like theirs.

 

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

Sage City Symphony Winter Concert

BENNINGTON, Vt. — On Sunday, Feb. 8 at 4:00 p.m. at Greenwall Auditorium in the VAPA Building at Bennington College, Sage City Symphony will present a concert featuring "Concerto for 2 Cellos" by Vivaldi, "Serenade #11 for Wind Octet" by Mozart, "Pulcinella Suite" Stravinsky and "Siegfried-Idyll" by Wagner.

Admission is free and open to all.

The soloists for the Vivaldi Double Concerto are Annabelle Hoffman and Perri Morris;

Cellist, Annabelle Hoffman has toured with the NY  Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Sinfonietta Salzburg and the American Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in the Mostly Mozart Festival, Marlboro Festival, and Aspen Festival. On Broadway, Annabelle has performed in the pit orchestras of Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Carousel, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Aladdin, War Paint, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit and A Grand Night for Singing. In addition to performing, Annabelle also teaches and coaches chamber music. She has been on the faculty of The Calhoun School, the 92nd Street Y,  Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and  The Berkshire School of Music.

Cellist Perri Morris studied cello with Michael Finckel, Lawrence Lesser, Ronald Feldman, and Aldo Parisot. She earned a bachelor's degree in Music Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, a master's degree in Music Performance from U-Mass Amherst, and later earned a B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College. She has participated in music festivals at Tanglewood, Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds, and The Waterloo Music Festival, Gerard Schwartz, dir. Ms. Morris has been a member of the faculties at Mount Holyoke College, West Texas A&M, Keene State College and Westfield State College. She served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, in Massachusetts, for 19 years. A resident of Bennington, Vermont, Ms. Morris performs with the Vermont, Springfield, MA, Glens Falls Symphony and Berkshire Symphonies. She is the Principal Cello with Opera North and the Vermont Opera Company. Ms. Morris is a faculty member of the Berkshire Music School and has private teaching studios in Bennington and Williamstown, Mass.

The program will be led by two conductors, Gerald Lanoue of Bennington and Diane Bargiel of Poultney VT

Gerald Lanoue D.M.A., a Bennington Vermont native, is an active conductor and bassoonist in the Upstate New York and Southern Vermont area.  Dr. Lanoue is privileged to be the music director for the Music Company Orchestra and is currently the principal bassoonist with the Sage City Symphony. He  received an  undergraduate education at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam New York and a masters and doctorate at the University of Southern California.  He studied conducting with Douglas Lowry, past Dean and conductor at the Eastman School of Music, as well as John Barnett, the associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dr. Lanoue has served on the faculties of Riverside Community College and Santa Monica College.  While in California he was an active orchestral and chamber musician serving as Principal Bassoon for the Bakersfield Symphony, Los Angeles Classical Ballet, Redlands Symphony, and the American Youth Symphony.  He has performed most notably with Daniel Lewis, Yehuda Gilad, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Kamien and Zubin Mehta.

Diane Bargiel received her Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet from the Dana School of Music, a Master of Music in clarinet from Michigan State University, Certification in Music  Education from Carnegie Mellon University, and a certificate in Arts Administration from New York University.  Diane also concentrated on conducting in graduate conducting seminars with Eugene Corporon, lessons with William Wiedrich, seven workshops with Larry Rachleff and Robert Cameron, and additional workshops with Allan McMurray, Elizabeth Green, Frank Battisti and others.  In 2021, she retired from SUNY Adirondack as the last Humanities division chair and Associate Professor of Music.  In 2015, Prof. Bargiel received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for  Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and in 1995 while at Susquehanna University, was presented the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Diane has been the principal clarinetist of the Sage City since 2012.

Ms. Bargiel currently serves on the board of New England Arts Presenters as the chair of its Engagement committee, and is an adjunct at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester, Vermont.  Other professional highlights include having been president of the New York Association of College Music Programs, president of Pennsylvania Presenters, a board member of Arts Presenters of Northern New England, the Pennsylvania state chair of the College Band Directors National Association, a member of the first Creative Communities Council of Windham County (VT), a planning committee member for the first Performing Arts Exchange that covered the entire East Coast, and was also a conductor and panelist at the 2000 CBDNA Eastern Regional Conference at Yale University, among numerous other roles and volunteer involvement.   A resident of Poultney, Vermont, Diane had served on the first Poultney 2020 planning committee, is a past board member of the Killington section of the Green Mountain Club, and is a past executive director and board member of Stone Valley Arts in Poultney.  

 

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