'RUNWAY' Painting Exhibition to Open at BCC

04:31PM / Tuesday, January 25, 2022Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC) presents "RUNWAY," an exhibition of original paintings by local artist Grier Horner, on view in Koussevitzky Gallery Monday, Jan. 24 through Monday, Feb. 28, 2022.

The gallery is open Monday–Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.

Horner was born in New York City in 1935 and lived in and around New York until enrolling at Brown University in 1953. After graduating, he worked a short stint in the mailroom of a Manhattan ad agency, followed by reporting jobs at The St. Albans Messenger in Vermont and at The North Adams Transcript, until landing at the Berkshire Eagle. There, he spent 32 years, first as the City Hall reporter and then as the associate editor, earning a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a series of stories on child abuse. He retired in 1997 and took up painting and photography, honing his skills by taking classes at BCC.

"To me painting is magic, performed not with a wand but with a brush. It has elements of sorcery," Horner says.

The artist's many solo shows include "Dresden Firebombing," the 2009 exhibit that opened BCC's former downtown art gallery. His last exhibit, "You Only Live Twice," was on view at Installation Space in North Adams in 2020. The show was a collaboration with his granddaughter, Riley Nichols, then a senior at Hamilton College. "That was a big thrill for me," Horner says.

For more information on the artist, visit www.grierhorner.com.

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Pittsfield Wants People to Know Where Free Public Wifi Is

By Brittany PolitoiBerkhshires Staff
04:46AM / Friday, September 18, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city wants it to be clear where people can connect to free public wifi— which expands beyond downtown.

On Tuesday, the Parks Commission approved "Free Wifi" signage at The Common, Riverway Park, and Durant Park. Community members can access the internet without charge in these locations, as well as in downtown areas.

Two years ago, Pittsfield received a $99,972 Digital Equity Implementation Grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. This allowed the city to take a comprehensive look at digital equity and determine where to focus attention.

"That was a lengthy process that we worked on, and there was a lot of public input. We did some surveying. We met with a lot of focus groups; [Berkshire Regional Planning Commission] was the group that spearheaded that for us, and one of the things that came up was the lack of accessible wifi," Director of Community Development Justine Dodds reported. "Particularly in the westside."

Throughout this process, residents also wanted to see connectivity at the nearby Westside Riverway Park.

In 2023, Pittsfield was selected to participate in the Municipal Digital Equity Planning Program launched by the state and MBI, focused on ensuring residents can use the internet to conduct day-to-day activities. A digital equity plan also qualifies Pittsfield for additional grant funding.

Around 16,000 city households qualified for the Federal Communications Commission's affordable internet program that ended in 2024.

Dodds said adding Wi-FI and signage to Durant and Riverway Parks is a small piece of the larger digital equity project. Signage is already downtown, and the city plans to hire the same designer for the expanded wayfinding so it is cohesive.

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