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Members of Youth Alive performed within the exhibit.
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Dennis Powell, President of the Berkshire Chapter of the NAACP said during opening remarks before the "Until: Unity" performance.
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Dara Kaufman of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires asked attendees to help fix the broken world.
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Attendees were urged to join in on the Hora.
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Community Reflects On Nick Cave Exhibit At Mass MoCA

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Youth Alive accompanied by musicians and members of the Berkshire Jewish Community performed a musical tribute to artist Nick Cave’s exhibit "Until" at Mass MoCA.
 
"Commit to disrupting hate," Dennis Powell, President of the Berkshire Chapter of the NAACP said during opening remarks before the "Until: Unity" performance at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Thursday.
 
"Acceptance, fundamentally, is a personal decision. It comes from an attitude that is embraceable, a belief that every voice matters, that all people are valued and that no one is less than."
 
Youth Alive, a dance group focused on empowering youth of color in the Pittsfield region joined clarinetist Paul Green, vocalist Wanda Houston, tubist Eli Newberger, and members of the Berkshire Jewish Community in Nick Cave’s massive installation that explores issues of gun violence, gun control policy, race relations, and gender politics in America today.
 
Powell reflected on the recent events in Charlottesville Va. and read a list of ten ways to combat hate.
 
"Many of us don’t understand there are many of us that can’t differentiate between a hate crime and just a bias," he said. "There is a lot of education that needs to take place in order for us to combat this."
 
Dara Kaufman of the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires also provided remarks and said she had to change her prepared remarks after last weekend’s events in Virginia. 
 
She said when her daughter first visited the Nick Cave exhibit she ran through the maze of wind spinners but stopped when she came upon a spinner shaped like a gun.
 
"I told her at first you see this magical dazzling display but once you are inside of it there are things that as Cave puts it are not so pretty like the guns, the targets and the tears," she said.
 
"This is a concept in Jewish thought: Tikkun Olam which translates to repair the world. It’s inherent in this concept that the world is broken and in need of repair and as Jews we are commanded to do that work." 
 
Before starting the performance where attendees were urged to join in on the Hora, Kaufman asked everyone to mirror Cave’s exhibit and reflect light into the dark corners of the world.
 
"Let our dance here today also reflect the light of love, tolerance, respect, acceptance, and justice," she said. "Let us dance for every person that has ever faced darkness and let us help that light shine further and brighter until it fills every dark corner where hate and bigotry live."  
 
The performance is the culminating event for the Community Call and Response project around "Until." The Community Call and Response project is intended to engage local community groups with the exhibit to promote dialogue within and across group boundary lines.
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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."
 
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