Berkshire Art Association Invites Submissions for 2025 College Fellowship Show

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Art Association (BAA) is accepting submissions for its 2025 College Fellowship Show, offering $5,000 in grants to undergraduate art majors.

The show will be held in April 2025 at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The fellowship is open to Berkshire County residents enrolled as art majors at colleges nationwide and non-residents studying art at Berkshire colleges, including Berkshire Community College, MCLA, Williams College, and Simon's Rock.

Applications can be submitted online at baafellowshipshow2025.artcall.org from Dec. 20, 2024, to Feb. 23, 2025. There is no registration fee.

The show will culminate in an awards ceremony on Saturday, April 15, 2025, from 3-5 p.m.

The BAA Fellowship is supported by the Norman and Rose Avnet Fellowship Endowment, the Feigenbaum Foundation, and private donations. Proceeds from the 10x10 RAP (Real Art Party), held on February 20, 2025, at the Clock Tower Artist Studios in Pittsfield, also contribute to funding the fellowship and other art programs for secondary school students in Berkshire County.

Berkshire Law Enforcement Officials Endorse Fenton for Governor's Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:11PM / Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Michael Fenton, a Springfield attorney, ran unsuccessfully for the 8th District seat on the council in 2022. He is challenging incumbent Tara Jacobs of North Adams. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Ranking Berkshire law enforcement officials are putting their weight behind a Springfield lawyer for Governor's Council in the September Democratic primary over North Adams incumbent Tara Jacobs.

 

The Berkshires' District Attorney Timothy Shugrue, Sheriff Thomas Bowler, and Clerk of Courts Lisa Denault-Viale touted Michael Fenton's experience and approach over Jacobs, who bested him and two other attorneys in 2022.  

 

The Governor's Council advises the governor on matters relating to judicial appointments, treasury warrants, pardons and commutations, and a number of other important executive functions. The winner of the primary will represent the 8th District, which covers more than 100 cities and towns including North Adams, Adams, Pittsfield, Greenfield, Northampton and Springfield, as there is no other candidate on the November ballot.

 

Gathering at Park Square on Wednesday morning, Shugrue said Jacobs does not provide the representation Berkshire County requires and deserves. 

 

"This individual [Fenton] would conduct himself with a great deal of common sense and confidence," Bowler said. 

 

Fenton said there are only 11 Superior Court judges assigned to Western Mass, and that too few of them are from Berkshire County. 

 

"At one time there were four vacancies. That left only seven judges serving the entire 102 cities and towns of the western region. Seven judges serving 102 cities and towns at a time when you add Hampden County, Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee in, at a time when there were over 100 pending murder cases. Seven judges for 100 pending murder cases," he said.