PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Manos Unidas Multicultural Educational Cooperative is announced the public unveiling of a new bilingual exhibit developed through a 2024 Mass Humanities "Expanding Stories: Advancing Equity" grant. 

 

Created in collaboration with the World and Eye Arts Center, a nonprofit based in the Pioneer Valley, this project brings to light narratives from Pittsfield residents whose voices are too often overlooked.

 

Under the leadership of Creative Directors Jean Minuchin and Anaelisa Jacobson, a community-based team conducted interviews and creative workshops to gather authentic, lived experiences from diverse members of the Pittsfield community. The resulting exhibit features recorded firsthand narrations paired with original artwork inspired by the stories, as well as talks by local experts who provide cultural, historical, and social context.

 

"The goal of this project is to honor stories that have lived in silence for far too long," said Minuchin. "By creating a platform for sharing them, we strengthen understanding and build pathways toward greater equity."

 

Jacobson added, "This bilingual exhibit reflects the richness, resilience, and depth of our community. We hope it invites dialogue and sparks meaningful connection."

 

The "Expanding Stories: Advancing Equity" initiative supports public humanities projects that amplify under-heard voices across Massachusetts. Through this exhibit, Manos Unidas and World and Eye aim to foster community engagement, reflection, and appreciation for the diverse experiences that shape Pittsfield.

 

 

Fernando Leon called the Berkshires home since 2000 and is originally from Ecuador. He is interested in exploring art and organizing as a collaborative experience and a tool for transformation. He firmly believes in the value of diversity and the benefits of an inclusive society.

 

Through BASIC and Berkshire Interfaith Organizing (BIO), he has led campaigns on educational access, transportation, and language justice that helped secure policy changes in Pittsfield Public Schools—expanding multilingual enrollment support and staffing, including an Immigrant Family Liaison, a new English Learner Services Coordinator, a Wraparound Services Coordinator, additional ESL positions, multilingual phone lines and interpreter roles.

 

Fernando also collaborates with the ACLU and community organizations to reduce bureaucratic barriers at the RMV and to expand multilingual resources so immigrants can obtain driver’s licenses. He co-administers the "They Are Taking Our Neighbors" fund—made possible by the nonprofits Roots & Dreams and Mustard Seeds and Greylock Together—which connects ICE detainees from the Berkshires with legal representation for bond hearings and asylum claims. Most recently, this work has helped 35 families secure new immigration counsel after an immigration lawyer with a suspended license and unethical practices had been preying on them.

 

 

Bio - Marina Dominguez,

 

Marina Domínguez is an Argentine artist and community leader from Buenos Aires, where she studied Labor Relations at the University of Buenos Aires. For many years, she worked in multinational companies, dedicating her career to advancing social and labor rights.

 

By choice, she made the Berkshires her new home, a place where she not only migrated, but where she also rediscovered herself as a dancer, musician, life coach, painter, and photographer.

 

Her work merges dance, painting, music, psychology, and photography with her background in social sciences. Through this interdisciplinary lens and her lived experience as an immigrant, she seeks to highlight the power, potential, and creativity that young immigrant artists bring to their communities. Her artistic practice asks: What can immigrants build in a land full of opportunities? What can they create in a place like the Berkshires?

 

Marina is currently a photographer and an art facilitator, and she is the founder of Katunemo, a collective that supports immigrant and emerging local artists. She also serves as a MassDevelopment fellow, helping Spanish-speaking business owners access resources, grow their ventures, and build economic resilience.

 

Across all her roles, Marina uses photography as a tool to empower, uplift, and honor people’s abilities, stories, and cultural identities.