Clark Art to Screen "Summer of Soul" Documentary Sept. 14

10:27AM / Wednesday, September 07, 2022Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Wednesday, Sept. 14, the Clark Art Institute partners with Images Cinema to screen Summer of Soul, the Oscar-winning documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The film will be shown outdoors near the Clark’s Reflecting Pool at dusk, around 7:30 p.m.

Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, the Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). More than 300,000 people attended the summer concert series that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion.

After the summer of 1969, the festival footage sat in a basement for fifty years . . . until its debut in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s debut film, Summer of Soul. The documentary—hailed as part music film, part historical record—includes concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.

Summer of Soul premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the documentary categories. The recipient of an Academy Award, a Grammy, and a Peabody Award, Summer of Soul stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past and present.

Free; no registration is required. The film is rated PG. Bring a picnic and your own seating. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

Tags: Clark Art,

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Williamstown Select Board Plans Off-Camera Evaluation of Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:24AM / Friday, October 09, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board plans to take extraordinary measures to avoid having its discussion of the town manager's performance recorded by the town's Public, Educational and Government cameras.

At its Sept. 28 meeting, the board decided to hold a special meeting in a room not covered by WilliNet cameras to complete its annual evaluation process of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.

Chair Peter Beck said that while the evaluation is "absolutely" to be conducted in an open meeting, the board could follow a process similar to the off site, unrecorded meetings that past Select Boards have characterized as "retreats," a term not contemplated by or included in the commonwealth's Open Meeting Law.

The current board met on June 29 for what it characterized as a "planning session" where no formal votes were taken. That meeting was held outside of Town Hall, at the new fire station on Main Street, in a room equipped with audio and video recording equipment that the Select Board chose not to use.

At the Sept. 28 meeting, one board member indicated that an unrecorded meeting was preferable to discuss the annual evaluation of the one town employee supervised by the board.

"I'd like to do it without all the Willinet stuff," Stephanie Boyd said in a discussion toward the end of a two-hour meeting. "I think it's more conducive to conversation."

With the board expected to meet just once in October — its "regular" meeting date coincides with Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 12 — Beck suggested that the panel could find a date for a special meeting, suggesting the third Monday of the month, Oct. 19.

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