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Cultural Pittsfield This Week: Aug. 4-10

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Enjoy more than a dozen different art shows featuring work by more than 20 accomplished regional artists in Pittsfield's bustling Upstreet Cultural District during the First Fridays Artswalk and all month long!
Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. hosts Adriana Sgobba, an artist from Pittsfield's Italian Sister City: Cava De Tirreni.  There will be a reception, hosted by the Italian Sister City Committee, during First Fridays Artswalk and open gallery hours Saturday-Saturday, August 5-12 (closed Sunday) 10 a.m.-2p.m.  Click here for more information.  

The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts hosts Karen Chase's locoMOTION with a preview during First Fridays Artswalk and an opening reception Sunday, August 6 4-6 p.m. 
In most venues, artists will be present from 5-8 p.m. A free guided tour begins at 5 p.m. at the Intermodal Center @ BRTA, 1 Columbus Ave. Mary McGinnis, co-founder of First Fridays Artswalk, will bring you through the various art exhibits!
  MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE
The last show in the 2017 Shire City Sessions FREE concert series will feature the Boston-based band Vundabar. North Adams' own Francesca Shanks will be the evening's special guest. Concerts begin at 6 p.m. on the First Street Common. Rain moves the show indoors to the Zion Lutheran Church.
Plus...  
FRI Lady Di & The Dukes at Hotel on North | FRI WordXWord Music-Inspired Poetry at Berkshire Museum | FRI Blue Light Trio at Rainbow | FRI Rev Tor at Bousquet | FRI Mouth Full of Laughs at The A | FRI WordXWord Indie Poetry Slam at Dottie's & The Whit | SAT Latin Night at The A | SUN Berkshire Lyric's Ubi Caritas Choir at St. Mark's Church | SUN Rob Fisch & Intentional Jazz at The Whit | MON Game of Thrones Meet-up at Hotel on North | MON Jazz Night at Mission | MON The Whitdiots Improv at The Whit | TUE Craft on North at Hotel on North | WED Gruppo Mondo at Rainbow
  FAMILY FRIENDLY
SUN Youth Empowerment with Dwana A. Smallwood
Barrington Stage Company will host the first Youth Empowerment Series event at its Blatt Center on Linden Street. Children under 18 will be admitted free of charge. Speaker Dwana Smallwood is a former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the architect of the dance program at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She'll talk to the youth of our community to encourage them to take charge of their lives and to take ownership of their contribution to their communities. 11 a.m.
Plus...  
FRI+ Bye Bye Birdie at Berkshire Museum | FRI WeeMuse: Adventures at Berkshire Museum | FRI FREE Screening of Zootopia at Clapp Park | SAT WeeMuse: Art Lab at Berkshire Museum | SAT Happimess at The Colonial | SAT Chow Time at Berkshire Museum | SAT Help Paint the Morningside Mural at Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market | TUE FREE Screening of Wreck-It Ralph at Berkshire Athenaeum | TUE Grandparents Day at Hancock Shaker Village | TUE Make Your Doll a Shaker Cloak at Hancock Shaker Village | TUE WeeMuse: Littlest Learners at Berkshire Museum | TUE Teen Tuesdays: Funky Photography at The Lichtenstein | THU Farm Friends at Hancock Shaker Village | THU LGBTQ Youth Art Group at Berkshire Children & Families
  WELLNESS
SAT Goat Yoga at Hancock Shaker Village
 
Back by popular demand, yoga with goats (and chickens!) will be held 6 more times this season, beginning on Saturday, Aug. 5 from 10 - 11 a.m. at Hancock Shaker Village. The $25 fee includes admission to the entire Village.
Plus... 
SUN Salsa Rueda de Casino Lessons at Berkshire Salsa | MON Bar Sculpt Class at Berkshire Yoga Dance | THU FREE Yoga with Katie at Berkshire Athenaeum
  PERFORMANCE
LAST WEEKEND Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night at the Common
Don't miss the last weekend of Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's delightful comedy of misplaced passion and mistaken identities.  This is a FREE outdoor production on the First Street Common. Featuring live music and slapstick comedy, it is the perfect complement to a beatiful Berkshire summer evening under the stars.  
Thurs-Sun 8pm 

Plus... 
ONGOING The Music Man at The Colonial | ONGOING Taking Steps at Barrington Stage | ONGOING This at Barrington Stage
  GET CREATIVE
TUE Paint Your Own Mug at The Dirty Brush
 
 
The Dirty Brush, located at 141 North Street, will host a paint-your-own-coffee-mug fundraiser for Save Our Shakespeare at Taconic on Tuesday evening from 6-9 p.m. The cost is $30 per person.
Plus... 
FRI Create Your Own Shelf with Hooks at Funky Phoenix | TUE Craft on North at Hotel on North
  COMMUNITY
FRI Community Dinner at Shire City Sanctuary
This month's Shire City Kitchen communitydinner will be cooked by Iris Kol and Yukiko Sato, and will feature fresh, cooling dishes such as cream of leek and potato Vichyssoise, watermelon salad with roasted tomato and pistachio, smoked maple blueberry tart with basil-lime sorbet, housemade ginger blueberry ale and a lot more. $25. Arrive any time between 6-8 p.m.
Plus...
THU-SUN Moby Dick Marathon Reading at Arrowhead | FRI-SUN Storewide Tent Sale at Paul Rich & Sons | SAT Marge Bride Art Sale at 46 Glory Drive | SAT Customer Appreciation Day at Berkshire General Store | SUN Domingo Brunch at Dottie's | SUN Duck Derby at Polish Falcons | SUN Berkshire Lyric's Ubi Caritas Choir at St. Mark's Church | THU Hartford Artisans Weaving Trunk Show at Country Club of Pittsfield
The Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market is held every Saturday from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at the First Street Common! 

This Saturday, the market celebrates art and you can, too, by helping to paint the new Morningside Mural! There will also be a pop-up reading party, a story time and book-making for kids. Make an instrument out of vegetables and pose for a guitar selfie. Plus, Tom Gizzi will play live from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  LEARN
FRI Jacob's Pillow Dance Workshop at the Whitney
Abraham.In.Motion invites you to a FREE pre-performance workshop for LGBTQ community members, before the company presents "Dearest Home" at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (running August 2nd-August 6th). Participants of all ages who identify as LGBTQ are encouraged to attend.

No dance experience necessary! The workshop invites participants to recall, contemplate, and discuss their experiences of Love, Longing, and Loss through a series of activities which include writing love letters, mapping memories of love through guided visualization and drawing, creative love mix tapes, and more!

The workshop is FREE to all participants. Those who attend will be offered tickets to the August 4th performance of "Dearest Home" (at 8:15p) at a discounted rate (10$/ticket) and are invited to a reception with the artists immediately following the performance. Free transportation between Pittsfield and Jacob's Pillow willl be provided. 
 
WED OLLI University Day at BCC
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) invites you to a day of discussion, discovery and learning from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at Berkshire Community College. Tickets are $40 for members and $50 for non-members, and include lunch and refreshments.

The day kicks off with a discussion with Williams College professor Charles Dew, one of America's most respected scholars on the history of slavery, and author of the recent memoir The Making of a Racist: A Southerner Reflects on Family, History, and the Slave Trade.

Over lunch, hear from attorney and activist Tahirah Amatul Wadud, who serves on both the Mass. Commission on the Status of Women and the Mass. Council on Islamic-American Relations. 

In the afternoon, artist Setsuko Winchester will share the story of her groundbreaking Freedom From Fear/The Yellow Bowl Project, which has traveled to Japanese-American internment camps and other locations across the U.S.  
Plus... 
SAT Learner's Lab: Synthesizers & Loopers at Berkshire Museum | SAT Ukulele Clinics with Jumpin' Jim Beloff at Wood Bros. Music | SAT-SUN Age of Iron at Hancock Shaker Village | SUN Salsa Rueda de Casino Lessons at Berkshire Salsa | MON Drum Class at The Lichtenstein | MON Writing Your History at Knesset Israel | TUE 3D Printing, Wow! at Berkshire Athenaeum
  FILM
ONGOING
 See What's New at The Beacon Cinema
What's Showing at The Licht
Pittsfield's city-owned community arts center, the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, features nine working artist studios, a ceramics studio, a community room and an art gallery with changing exhibitions, classes, performances and more! 

28 Renne Ave. | Open Wednesday - Saturday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.  
 
The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts presents abstract paintings by local artist and author Karen Chase. 
 
Preview during First Fridays Artswalk: Friday, August 4 from 5-8 p.m.
 
Opening Reception:
Sunday, August 6 from 4-6 p.m.
Black and white attire encouraged. 
 
  INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARKING METER PLAN
Five things to remember about the new downtown parking system:
 
1. Always enter your license plate number - even for the FREE first 30 minutes.
 
2. On-street parking is $1 per hour; lot parking is 50 cents per hour. There are also nearly 400 free parking spaces on the city's side streets.
 
3. You can pay by coin, credit card, or by downloading the Passport parking app.
 
4. You do not need to display the parking receipt on your dashboard.
 
5. Parking is FREE on evenings and weekends!

 

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Pittsfield ZBA Member Recognized for 40 Years of Service

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Albert Ingegni III tells the council about how his father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo who died at age 94 in 2020, enjoyed his many years serving the city and told Ingegni to do the same. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's not every day that a citizen is recognized for decades of service to a local board — except for Tuesday.

Albert Ingegni III was applauded for four decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals during City Council. Mayor Peter Marchetti presented him with a certificate of thanks for his commitment to the community.

"It's not every day that you get to stand before the City Council in honor of a Pittsfield citizen who has dedicated 40 years of his life serving on a board or commission," he said.

"As we say that, I know that there are many people that want to serve on boards and commissions and this office will take any resume that there is and evaluate each person but tonight, we're here to honor Albert Ingegni."

The honoree is currently chair of the ZBA, which handles applicants who are appealing a decision or asking for a variance.

Ingegni said he was thinking on the ride over about his late father-in-law, former Mayor Remo Del Gallo, who told him to "enjoy every moment of it because it goes really quickly."

"He was right," he said. "Thank you all."

The council accepted $18,000 from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and a  $310,060 from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program.

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