WCMA Celebrates Fall With Weekend of Programs

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will kick off the fall semester with a weekend of celebrations on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28.

On Friday, Sept. 27, from 5 to 7 p.m. visit WCMA to view fall exhibitions, including Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, curated by C. Ondine Chavoya and David Evans Frantz; Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art, curated by WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval; SO-IL/WCMA: Building a New Museum, organized by WCMA and SO-IL, the architects designing the new museum building; Pallavi Sen: Colour Theory, curated by former WCMA Mellon Curatorial Fellow Nicholas Liou and Roz Crews, Associate Curator of Programs; Object Lab; and Remixing the Hall, featuring the museum's collection "remixed" in new ways by the entire curatorial team.

Curators and artists will be visiting from near and far to join in the festivities, which will include refreshments, music, and more.

The following day, on Saturday, Sept. 28, take a deeper dive into Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art with "Play and Inquiry: Celebrating Latinx and Queer Art Communities." This daylong celebration of Latinx and queer art includes a tour of the exhibition with the curators at 11 a.m.; a Spice Root lunch buffet at noon with short presentations by representatives from the Queer Men of the Berkshires and the Berkshire Queer History Project (BQH), information from Latinx and LGBTQIA+ student groups, as well as students collecting very brief oral histories of queer folks on behalf of BQH (all are welcome, reservation required); a hands-on mail art workshop led by Erick Ramos-Jacobo, Program Research Assistant and Workshop Leader from 1 to 3 p.m.; and a panel discussion moderated by Associate Professor of Art Mari Rodriguez Binnie featuring short presentations by exhibition artists, Joey Terrill, Troy Montes-Michie, and Moises Salazar Tlatenchi, followed by a dialogue delving into the topics of experimental graphics, queerness, and Latinx and Chicanx identities from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

"It's our absolute pleasure to welcome WCMA's many communities to the museum for a day of ‘play and inquiry' inspired by Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art," said Roz Crews, Associate Curator of Programs. "In addition to learning from and with the local artists, students, activists, and scholars who make the Berkshires so vibrant, audiences will have a special opportunity to hear directly from the exhibition's visiting curators, David Evans Frantz and C. Ondine Chavoya, as well as artists in the show. 

"This event is a sharing platform for folks who do the daily work of honoring the queer and Latinx stories of our society."

Programs are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the lunch on Sept. 28. For more information, visit artmuseum.williams.edu.


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Williamstown Accepts Williams' $2M Bid for 59 Water St.

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday voted 4-1 to  accept a revised offer from Williams College to purchase the former town garage site at four times the original upfront offer.
 
The college's original response to the town's request for proposals for 59 Water St. proposed that the school acquire the vacant lot for an upfront purchase price of $500,000 plus 10 years of $50,000 contributions to the Mount Greylock Regional School District.
 
On Monday night, Williams' director of communications presented a revised offer: the original $500,000 purchase price plus an additional $1.5 million contribution to the town, paid in a lump sum at the time of closing.
 
In addition to doubling the effective purchase price ($2 million versus the $1 million over 10 years), the new offer addresses a concern raised by members of the Select Board at its first public consideration of the college's proposal: the fact that $50,000 in 2036 is not the same as $50,000 in 2026.
 
The college's Gina Puc noted that the $500,000 purchase price alone is anywhere from a third more to double the lot's appraised value, depending on which appraisal you look at, a sum she characterized as "reasonable, even generous."
 
"After consideration and listening to the good conversation at the last Select Board meeting, we've decided to revise our offer, so we'll make a one-time payment of $1.5 million to the town at closing," Puc said. "This is in place of the $50,000 payment to the local schools.
 
"We're responding to some of the feedback we heard — one, to really compensate for lost tax revenue on the site for this being converted from what was, potentially, a commercial lot and, in addition, listening to feedback about having this go to the town instead of the schools."
 
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