Mass MoCA Announces Memorial Day Weekend and Summer 2025 Programming

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art  has announced its programming for Memorial Day Weekend and summer 2025.

The events accompany the opening of the exhibition "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream..." 

Memorial Day Weekend Events:

• Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream... The exhibition, the first museum survey of Vincent Valdez's work, will open on Saturday, May 24. It will feature drawings and monumental portraits from the past two decades. The exhibition is co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) and MASS MoCA and co-curated by Denise Markonish, Chief Curator at MASS MoCA, and Patricia Restrepo, Curator at CAMH. The exhibition expands upon the current presentation at CAMH with the addition of several works. 
• Members Opening Preview Celebration: Saturday, May 24, 5:30 p.m. An event to preview the opening of "Just A Dream..." and exhibitions "Ohan Breiding: Belly of a Glacier" and "Dirty & Disorderly: Contemporary Artists on Disgust". Tickets are $20, free for members.
• MASS MoCA Benefit Dinner: Friday, May 23, 5 p.m. A fundraising event to mark the close of MASS MoCA's 25th Anniversary Season and the opening of the summer season. The event will include dinner, a preview of "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream...", and an opportunity to view "Trisha Brown Dance Company: Roof Piece". 
• Trisha Brown Dance Company: Roof Piece: Saturday, May 24, 2 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. A performance of "Roof Piece" (1971) by choreographer Trisha Brown. The site-specific work will take place across the roofs of the museum's campus. Tickets are $49 in advance, $59 week-of (10 percent discount for members). 
• In Conversation: Kristy Edmunds & Susan Rosenberg: Saturday, May 24, 3 p.m. MASS MoCA Director Kristy Edmunds will converse with Susan Rosenberg, author of Trisha Brown: Choreography as Visual Art. Tickets are $5, free for members. 
• Saul Williams: Saturday, May 24, 8:30 p.m. A performance by poet and electro rap artist Saul Williams. Tickets are $29 in advance, $39 week-of, $59 preferred (10 percent discount for members). 
• In Conversation: Vincent Valdez & Hanif Abdurraqib: Sunday, May 25, 11 a.m. Artist Vincent Valdez will discuss his work with poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib. A book signing will follow the talk. Tickets are $10, free for members. 
   

Summer 2025 Programming:

• Activations of Jeffrey Gibson's POWER FULL BECAUSE WE'RE DIFFERENT: Performances by Indigenous artists Martha Redbone on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. and MX Oops on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 8 p.m., engaging with Gibson's installation. Tickets for Martha Redbone are $29 in advance, $39 week-of, $59 preferred (10 percent discount for members). Tickets for MX Oops are $20 (10 percent discount for members).
• Camp MASS MoCA 2025: Weekly sessions from August 4–22 for students entering grades 2–9. Registration is $400 per week (10 percent discount for members, processing fee waived). Weekly themes include Creative Lab in Multimedia and Performance, WHOOP DEE DOO Presents: The Most Beautiful Mess in the World, Pulse and Flow: a site-based art journey, and The Alchemy of Connection. 
   

   

  Member pre-sale for events began Feb. 12, 2025, at noon. General tickets went on sale Friday, Feb. 14, at 10 a.m. Additional summer programming will be announced at a later date.

MCLA Graduation Highlights Love, Kindness, Justice

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:28PM / Saturday, May 17, 2025

MCLA James Birge awaits the graduates' traditional walk through the college's gates on the way to commencement. See more photos here. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA's Class of 2025 was reminded to move forward with love, kindness, and pursuing what is just.

"I grew up wanting to be like my grandmother. When my grandmother was alive, she always talked about us living in the end times, but somehow her acceptance that we were living in the world's last movement made her capacity for kindness even higher. It made her want to be better at love," said keynote speaker Kiese Laymon, an award-winning author and Rice University professor.

"She understood that all great human beings do not get a ceremony, but we must be ceremonious to all human beings in this world."

Per tradition, graduates marched through the iron gates on Church Street before receiving 187 undergraduate and 38 graduate degrees in the sciences, arts, business, education, and more. This was the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 126th annual commencement.

"MCLA is a small institution, but it delivers big results," said Paul Paradiso, who earned a master of business administration.

"I'm standing here alone only because I've been surrounded by a community of students and faculty. We're here because of both group effort and individual drive. We work independently on projects, yet none of us got here entirely on our own."

President James Birge reminded students that this day is a culmination of years of academic work and accomplishment.

"During your time at MCLA, you have compiled a long list of accomplishments and inspired us with your success in the classroom, in the lab, on the stage, in the gallery, on the athletic playing surfaces, and in the community. You've studied abroad, conducted research, participated in service trips and internships, and created community service programs to meet the needs you saw in our community," he said.