WCMA to Hold Community Forum on New Museum Building's Sustainability Goals

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will host a community forum regarding its new museum building project on Monday, April 28, at 6:00 p.m. 
 
The event will be held at the Williams Inn Ballroom.
 
The forum will focus on the sustainability objectives of the new building, featuring presentations on the Williams College Sustainable Project Policy and the planned sustainable design features of the new WCMA. These features include the aim to meet the Living Building Challenge of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) and the use of mass timber for the building's structural components.
 
The event will also provide general updates on the ongoing construction project and include a question-and-answer session for the audience.
 
The new Williams College Museum of Art is intended to serve Williams College, the local community, and visitors to the Berkshires. The design of the new museum is reportedly student-focused, aiming to create a sense of belonging for campus members and the wider community, and an inclusive experience for all visitors. The building will offer increased gallery space for displaying more of the museum’s 15,000-piece collection, as well as facilities for improved access to collections for student, faculty, and visiting scholar requests, and additional object study classrooms.
 
Those interested in attending are encouraged to RSVP at https://forms.office.com/e/qA3KnFizyp.
 
Further information can be found at artmuseum.williams.edu.
 
 

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Willinet Cameras to Capture Monday's Williamstown Select Board Session

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board's third-floor meeting to complete its evaluation process for the town manager will be televised by the town's public, educational and governmental television station.
 
Willinet Executive Director Teri Yuan confirmed this week that the station will put a camera in the upstairs conference room to record a planned 8 p.m. single-item agenda meeting to do the annual review of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.
 
The board at its last meeting decided to break the evaluation out from its regular 7 p.m. meeting in the first floor Community Meeting room, which is set up with multiple cameras and audio equipment to facilitate live Willinet telecasts of most public meetings of town boards and committees.
 
The Select Board offered no real explanation for the desire to complete the evaluation in an otherwise public meeting outside of view from Willinet's cameras other than a desire to "sit around the table" rather than sit on one side of a large table along one side of the first floor meeting room.
 
The "sit around the table" talk was particularly puzzling given the fact that Willinet has a camera mounted on the wall behind the spot where Menicocci generally sits for Select Board meetings, a camera that gives a full view of both sides of the table, and an angle that Willinet frequently uses when panels like the Finance Committee invite participants to sit across the table from the committee to give testimony.
 
Perhaps the real reason is better explained by a joking comment from one Select Board member at the Sept. 28 meeting who indicated that doing the evaluation without access to things like Zoom capability was "the object" of moving that business to the third-floor meeting room.
 
The evaluation discussion on Monday evening will follow on a survey of the five board members assessing Menicocci's performance in fiscal year 2026, which ended on June 30.
 
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