OLLI at BCC Presents 'Transformative Spaces: Building a New Museum'

08:58AM / Friday, December 05, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College (BCC) presents "Transformative Spaces: Building a New Museum" via Zoom on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

Pamela Franks, Class of 1956 Director of the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), will share the current plans for the new museum building, scheduled to open in 2027. The building was designed by Brooklyn, N.Y. architecture firm Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu, known as SO-IL. The new WCMA will be purpose-built to support transformative experiences with art that are integral to liberal arts education, lifelong learning and human connection.

According to a press release:

Franks, a specialist in modern and contemporary art, has devoted her career to unlocking the potential of college and university art museums — working with students, collaborating with artists, fostering inclusive academic and public engagement, and training future generations of museum professionals. Franks' arrival at Williams in 2018 launched a period of collaborative planning for WCMA's first purpose-built building. Prior to WCMA, she worked at the Yale University Art Gallery as Senior Deputy Director and Seymour H. Knox, Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, where she played a central role in a major renovation and expansion project completed in 2012, and at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas during construction and through the museum's opening in2003. Franks received her PhD in art history from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000 and is a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute (2008) and the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program (2019).

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Neal's Office Among Those Targeted by Suspicious Mailings

Staff Reports12:28PM / Wednesday, October 21, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal was among congressmen apparently targeted by someone mailing suspicious envelopes.

According to a report in The Berkshire Eagle, an envelope containing a powdery substance was discovered by postal inspectors before reaching Neal's Pittsfield office in the Silvio O. Conte Federal Building.

Nearly 40 members of Congress have received envelopes containing white powder, according to The Guardian. More than 100 letters are thought to be in the U.S. mail system and the FBI, Capitol Police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service were investigating the mailings that have also been sent to elections officials in various states.

The mailings have been sent to both Republican and Democrat officeholders and several congressional district offices had to be evacuated in the last week or so after envelopes were opened in them.

Earlier today, my Bronx district office received an envelope delivered by mail that contained a suspicious substance. Local law enforcement responded swiftly and, after investigating, determined the substance to be non-hazardous.
— Rep. Ritchie Torres (@repritchie.bsky.social) October 16, 2026 at 3:10 PM

The Guardian reported that the FBI is warning officials to look for envelopes processed through a north Texas center and that carry a postmark or stamp stating "Thinking of You."

The Eagle states that Neal's office was alerted on Saturday that it might be getting a suspicious package; inspectors seized the envelope at the Fenn Street post office on Monday.

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