MoCA having a ball!

By Glenn DrohanPrint Story | Email Story
NORTH ADAMS — A Hollywood actress, two prominent Stockbridge residents, an ex-governor, a Pittsfield entrepreneur and a host of dedicated local volunteers are combining talents to organize a gala celebration on May 29 that will mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. While tickets are pricey (up to $505 each for choice seating), black tie and formal gowns will be optional for the Fifth Anniversary Ball, which will feature an elegant dinner in the massive Building 5 Gallery, followed by dancing to the New England cult band Outerspace. “It should be a night to remember,” pledged Jennifer Trainer, Mass MoCA director of external affairs. “We certainly have reason to celebrate. Mass MoCA wasn’t an obvious candidate for success. There were so many hurdles, and I’m still startled to think we’ve been open five years.” Actress Meryl Streep is a member of the Gala Committee for the ball, along with her husband, Don Gummer, a contemporary sculptor. Both hope to attend the event, Trainer said. She said Streep and Gummer have a home in northern Connecticut and have long been interested in the museum, although Gummer has not exhibited there — “yet.” It was Gummer who alerted ball organizers to the popularity and pizzazz of Outerspace, a six-piece band with 36 years of experience that has garnered a cult following based largely on its live performances, Trainer said. Nancy Fitzpatrick of Stockbridge, owner of the Red Lion Inn, and her husband, Lincoln Russell, an artist and photographer, are chairmen of the event. “Mass MoCA has been a real boon to the region, and chairing a party to celebrate five successful years for the institution is both an honor and a pleasure,” Fitzpatrick said in a news release Monday. Museum Director Joseph C. Thompson added, “While it’s a big task, our goal is to recreate the spirit and excitement of our opening, as we celebrate our accomplishments over the past five years and look towards our exciting future. Five years is a significant anniversary, but Mass MoCA has only just begun.” Former Acting Gov. Jane M. Swift of Williamstown and her husband, Chuck Hunt, are also members of the Gala Committee, and Seth Nash of Blue Q in Pittsfield is in charge of decorations. “The décor will be in keeping with Mass MoCA aesthetics and should be quite unusual,” Trainer said yesterday. Diners in the Building Five Gallery will be able to enjoy Ann Hamilton’s “corpus,” although they may have to occasionally dodge some of the gently falling paper that is a feature of the exhibit. “We won’t be serving soup,” Trainer quipped. The dinner will be catered by Moore Fine Foods of Great Barrington, which catered Mass MoCA’s hugely successful opening gala on May 29, 1999. The evening will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 6, under the upside-down trees of Natalie Jeremijenko’s “Tree Logic,” the museum’s trademark exhibit in its main courtyard. Guests will move through the museum to the dinner, which will start at 7. A live auction of a select group of items, including a villa in the Caribbean, a “spa-renewal day” at Canyon Ranch and dinners with celebrities, will be held during the dinner, and another auction will be ongoing all night. The main party is scheduled to start at 9, when Outerspace will take the stage for a mixture of their own tunes and classics of the last 40 years. The band has a bass, drums, guitars and keyboards, augmented by two trombones and four different vocalists. It has appeared in concert with Dr. John, B.B. King, Commander Cody, John Hammond and Waylan Jennings. The party will also feature a “waterfall” martini-ice bar provided by Ketel One vodka. While the suggested attire is “celebratory,” those who wear tuxedos and formal gowns “won’t be overdressed,” Trainer said. The ball will be the sixth at Mass MoCA since local officials started raising funds for the unique concept of turning the abandoned 13-acre Sprague Electric Co. into North America’s largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the 1980s. The original Warehouse Ball fundraiser was held on Feb. 11, 1989, followed by the Courtyard Ball on July 27, 1991, the Valentine’s Ball at the former Night Shift Café on Feb. 10, 1996, the Gala Opening Ball on May 29, 1999 and the Fire and Ice Ball on Feb. 2, 2002. Katherine Myers, MoCA marketing director, said local civic leader John Lipa was the first to purchase tickets for each of the balls, and he followed suit for this one. Mayor John Barrett III has also attended all five previous balls and doesn’t plan to miss the anniversary event — although he probably will forego a tuxedo, he said yesterday. “I think obviously we have reason to celebrate, and it’s obviously going to be an important fundraiser,” Barrett said. “Mass MoCA has been very successful, not only as an economic development engine that has driven our renaissance as a city but has done so much for everyone, from the kids in our school system, right through to our retirees and visitors. The money that is raised through this will allow us to do programs that benefit the entire community.” Tickets to the dinner and the ball range from $255 to $505, with the higher priced tickets offering priority seating and special acknowledgment in the evening’s program. Those who buy the tickets will also have their names inscribed on a plaque to be placed in the museum’s Phase Two galleries, Trainer said. Tables of 10 are available. Tickets to the dancing and dessert portion of the evening are $105. A specially priced “loyal member” ticket to the dance is available to those who have been members since 1999 for $55. Tickets for the gala and additional information about the auction are available by calling 664-4481, ext. 8100. Guests will also get a first peek at Mass MoCA’s major new exhibition, “The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere,” which will open officially on May 30. The fifth anniversary season is sponsored by The Porches inn. The Fifth Anniversary Ball is sponsored by Berkshire Bank, Ketel One, The Porches, Berkshire Gas, Blue Q, Classical Tents & Party Goods and Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan & Collins. Gala Committee members include the following: Allan and Judy Fulkerson, Gummer and Streep, Swift and Hunt, Ann Hamilton, Hans and Kate Morris, Seth and Mary Nash, Amber Chand, Gregory and Lillian Whitehead, Susan and Duncan Brown, Mary Grant and Jim Canavan, Stephen Hannock and Bridget Watkins, Stacy and Eric Cochran, Maggie Mailer and David Scribner, Caroline and Bo Peabody, Carol and Bob Stegeman, Chip Chandler and Michele Moeller Chandler, Jim and Joan Hunter, Dona Beck, Joyce Bernstein and Larry Rosenthal, Sandra L. Burton and Don Quinn Kelley, Mick and Joan Callahan, Bob and Shari Collins, Alex Daft, Jane and Henry Eckert, Casey Fitzpatrick, Susan Gold, Maureen and John Jerome, Jeannene Booher and Doug Lapham, Meal and Paul Haklisch, Bill Miller and Talbot Logan, Jean and Georgeanne Rousseau, Barbara and Eric Rudd, Jo Ellen Silipo and Osmin and Monica Alvarez. Barbara Rudd and Bridget Watkins are co-chairwomen of the auction.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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