Hoosac Valley Students' Interconnected Art Installation Debuts at the Adams Theater

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ADAMS, Mass. — Students from all schools in the Hoosac Valley School District will display art that "connects and expands on possibilities" inside the Adams Theater starting with an opening reception on Tuesday, Dec. 16 from 5-7 p.m. 
 
Led by Hoosac Valley Elementary School art teacher Elizabeth Kick, third grade students drew a series of layered and echoed lines on 9-inch by 9-inch canvases, creating their own small pieces that naturally connect with their peers' pieces. 
 
Inspired by elementary art teacher and blogger Cassie Stephens, the pieces begin with sharp lines in black tempera paint and extrapolate from there, with different colors, textures and line styles that reflect each unique student. 
 
Middle school art teacher Terri Cooper and High school art teacher Kristin Driscoll joined the project, and more than 160 students have created pieces for the exhibit. 
 
"They may zig-zag and curve, but they will always connect to this community," said Kick.  "While each piece can stand alone, they can also connect to any other piece in the collection. And collectively they make a whole–just as the students connect to one another, the schools also connect, and we all connect to the entire Adams-Cheshire community and beyond".  They're a continuum that illustrates how all our students will have different paths throughout their lives, but their paths are interconnected." 
 
The theater will display the pieces until February 2026.  The show will open with a reception on Dec. 16 for the Hoosac Valley artists and their families from 5-6 p.m. and to the public from 6-7 p.m. It's free to attend and no registration is required. 
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Cheshire Newcomer Offers Expertise to Aid in Grants

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
CHESHIRE, Mass. — New resident Bobby Quintos wants to leverage his contacts to help the town secure grants to address infrastructure challenges and support future energy and cost-saving initiatives. 
 
"I'm not here to be a consultant or anything like that. I'm just here to help. I like the community. I'm involved with the church, and I think there's a lot of things we could do here in this little town of Cheshire, where we can take advantage of a lot of these grants," he said. 
 
Quintos attended a Select Board meeting last month to highlight his experience in engineering, grant writing, and forging partnerships across government. 
 
He is originally from New York and moved to Cheshire at the end of 2023 to be near his son and grandkids. 
 
He heard about several challenges and initiatives the town has been undertaking, including infrastructure issues with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, roof repairs, and the potential for solar panels. 
 
"I know how to raise money," he said, saying he'd helped the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority obtain $8.3 million in grant funding in his role as its general manager of Berkshire Transit Management. A year prior, he aided in the BRTA obtaining $1 million for hydrogen technology. 
 
"I know that Cheshire has raised some grants. I've done quick research [on] you guys, and Massachusetts is fairly generous, too," Quintos said, listing a weatherization grant for the police station and the Community House, resurfacing funds for Fred Mason Road, and others. 
 
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