image description

Cultural Pittsfield This Week: Dec. 7-13

Print Story | Email Story
 
Enjoy 16 different art shows featuring work by more than three dozen accomplished regional artists in Pittsfield's bustling Upstreet Cultural District during the First Friday Artswalk, and all month long! 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.
 
Members of the First Fridays Artswalk committee will be collecting donations for the program at The Whitney Center for the Arts at 42 Wendell Ave., Crawford Square at 137 North St., and Dory & Ginger at 299 North St. during this month's Artswalk.
 
The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will hold its 4th Annual Wreath Art Auction during the Artswalk. A $10 ticketed preview will be held from 5-6:30 p.m., and a live auction begins at 6:30 p.m. You'll be able to bid on holiday wreaths, kissing balls and centerpieces made by local artists. Grab-and-go items also will be available for purchase. All proceeds benefit the Pittsfield Food Pantry at the South Congregational Church.
 
Additionally, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. will hold its 1st Annual Festive Frolic from 4-8 p.m. Enjoy free and low-cost, family-friendly activities including crafts and cookie decorating, the Park Square tree lighting, reduced admission to the Festival of Trees at Berkshire Museum, a free salsa lesson and more. Downtown shops will be open late and restaurants will be serving specials. Be on the lookout for the Caroling Flash Mob and other surprises throughout the evening!
 
At 8 p.m., Ryder Cooley of The Dustbowl Faeries will perform a solo set of dark carnival songs on accordion, ukulele and singing saw, at The Whitney Center for the Arts.
 
MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE
A Christmas Carol Sweets Spectacular, a fundraiser for Berkshire Theatre Group's Year Round Education Program, will take place before the opening night performance of A Christmas Carol. Enjoy live carolers, sweet treat and drinks, an intermission VIP bar and sweets, a post-show backstage photo with the cast and a gourmet cake cutting! Tickets are $75 for adults and $50 for children. Events begin at 5:30 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre.
Plus... 
FRI Jim Witherell at Hotel on North | FRI Festive Pop-up at Framework | FRI 4th Annual Wreath Art Auction at The Lichtenstein | FRI Ryder Cooley at The Whit | FRI Blue Light Trio at Rainbow FRI Donny Sawyer at Bousquet SAT Candlelit Evening at Hancock Shaker Village SAT Festival of Trees After Dark at Berkshire Museum SAT Misty Blues at Mission SAT Warren Sieme at Rainbow SAT Shyne at The A | MON Make-Your-Own-Manhattan Monday at Methuselah | MON Jazz Night at Mission | TUE Open Mic Night at Mission | WED Gruppo Mondo at Rainbow | THU PechaKucha Night: Resolutions at Berkshire Museum | THU Jazz Vespers w/Billy Keane & Tory Hanna at Zion Lutheran Church | THU The Picky B's at Mission | THU Spencer Brewery Tap Takeover at Thistle & Mirth
 
FAMILY FRIENDLY
Can Mambo and Nemonee save the beautiful but endangered Floratius Serendipitus? Follow the Nutshell Playhouse on their hilarious adventures around the globe as they look for the special ingredients that will do the trick. Featuring masks, movement, live music and puppetry, this original performance provides a chance to awaken young children to earth's mysteries and the delicate balance of nature. 10:30 a.m.
Plus...
at Berkshire Museum FRI IS183 Teen Art Space at Berkshire Athenaeum FRI-THU Parenting Classes & Play Groups at Berkshire Children & Families | SAT Kids' Winter Holiday Party at Boys & Girls Club | SAT Pop-Up Play Day at Berkshire Museum | SAT Chow Time at Berkshire Museum | SAT Sensory-Friendly Screening: The Star at Berkshire Museum | SUN Discovery Tank Program at Berkshire Museum MON Tiny Tots Story Time at Berkshire Athenaeum | TUE WeeMuse: Littlest Learners at Berkshire Museum | WED Parent/Child STEM Sessions at Berkshire Museum THU Preschool Play & Learn at Berkshire Athenaeum THU Lego Club at Berkshire Athenaeum 
 
WELLNESS
 
Radiance Yoga has a new owner and director, Shannon Ashcroft, 5 new classes, 7 new class times, 4 new teachers and 1 entire month to stock up on holiday single class passes. During Friday's Festive Frolic, join the 6:30 p.m. Intermediate Flow class, purchase a gift card or shop their class pass sale, and be entered to win a free massage!
 
Plus...
FRI-THU Various Classes at Berkshire Running Center | FRI-THU Various Classes at Berkshire Family YMCA | FRI-THU Various Classes at Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness FRI-THU Various Classes at Radiance Yoga FRI-THU Various Classes at Modig Internal Disciplines SUN Sunday Long Run at Berkshire Running Center TUE Classic Flow Yoga at The Here and Now | THU Hatha Yoga (All Levels) at Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness
 
PERFORMANCE
The lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it's lost the "e" from its marquee. The residents, ranging from young to old, from defiant to resigned, interact during the course of one day. The drama is of everyday encounters and of the human comedy. In the resulting mosaic, each character emerges clearly, and the sum total of what they are or wish they were becomes a poignant, powerful call to America to restore itself in its own and the world's eyes. BCC's Boland Theatre, $10/$15.
Plus...
SAT+ A Christmas Carol at The Colonial Theatre
 
GET CREATIVE
Township Four invites you to create a wreath out of fresh greenery with a variety of materials to choose from. This is perfect for your front door, or makes a lovely hostess gift. Instruction and all materials are included for $45; greenery will include Fraser fir, juniper and pine, along with cones, berries and ribbon for accent. Choose from a Monday or a Tuesday class, each beginning at 6 p.m.
Plus...
FRI Wreath Decorating at Forthill Farmstand | FRI Winter Barn in Woods w/Bird at Berkshire Paint & Sip | SAT-SUN Family Open Studio Days at Bisque, Beads & Beyond SUN Gingerbread House Decorating Party at Dottie's SUN Tree of Life Pendant Class at Funky Phoenix TUE Holiday Cookie Decorate & Sip at J. Allen's
  COMMUNITY
 
The Holiday Shindy at Shire City Sanctuary is back, with artisans including woodworkers, toymakers, printers, jewelers, ceramicists, apothecaries, clothing designers, upcyclers, farmers and more, plus food and live music! Saturday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. $3 admission fee. Children under 12 are free.
Plus...
SAT Candlelit Evening at Hancock Shaker Village SAT Festival of Trees After Dark at Berkshire Museum | SUN Domingo Brunch w/Famous Before We're Dead at Dottie's SUN Holiday Tea at Hancock Shaker Village SUN Gingerbread House Decorating Party at Dottie's SUN FREE Eagles Band Concert at First United Methodist SUN Berkshire Concert Choir at Berkshire Museum
  LEARN
On Oct. 6, 1984, Bernard Baran, a 19-year-old openly gay daycare worker, was arrested in Pittsfield on two counts of sexual assault and battery of a child. A month later, after a grand jury viewed heavily edited video footage of child interviews, he was indicted on five counts each of rape and indecent assault. After a jury trial beginning in January 1985, he was found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to three concurrent life terms in a maximum security facility. Shunted from one correctional facility to the next, repeatedly raped, beaten and otherwise abused, Baran steadfastly maintained his innocence. After spending 22 years in prison, he was freed under probationary conditions in 2006, and finally cleared by the Mass. Appeals Court in 2009. After five years of freedom, he died suddenly in 2014. Join the Pittsfield Human Rights Commission for a presentation from three of Baran's principal advocates, at Berkshire Athenaeum at 7 p.m.
Plus...
MON Chanukah Foods from Around the World at Knesset Israel | MON West African & Caribbean Drumming Class at The Lichtenstein | WED OLLI Winter Open House at BCC | THU Genius & the Story of the Jews at Knesset Israel
 
FILM
FRI-MON Gary Winogrand: All Things are Photographable
Decades before digital technology transformed how we make and see pictures, Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) made hundreds of thousands of them with his 35mm Leica, creating an encyclopedic portrait of America from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. When he died suddenly at age 56, Winogrand left behind more than 10,000 rolls of film. These images capture the NYC of Mad Men, the early years of the Women's Movement, and the glamour and alienation of Hollywood. Forged by Winogrand's own words and images, this is an intimate portrait of an artist who both personified his era and transformed it.
 
Plus...
ONGOING See What's New at The Beacon
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.   Gallery Hours: Wed-Sat 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
On Friday, December 7The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will hold its 4th Annual Wreath Art Auction! You'll be able to purchase handmade holiday wreaths, kissing balls and centerpieces made by local artists. The wreaths will be on display in conjunction with December's First Friday Artswalk during a $10 ticketed event with a preview from 5-6:30 p.m. A live auction will begin at 6:30 p.m. Grab-and-go items also will be available for purchase. Music will be provided by Kaz Smith. All proceeds benefit the Pittsfield Food Pantry at the South Congregational Church.  Special thanks to Greylock Federal Credit Union for sponsoring this event.  

 

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

Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories