'The Art of the Opening' To Be Displayed In New WCMA Museum

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is hosting a monthly program series this spring called "The Art of the Opening" that will offer audiences a glimpse into specific works of art that will be on display when the new museum building opens in the fall of 2027.

On Feb. 4, March 18, and April 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., curators from our curatorial engagement team will share an in-depth preview of a different object that will be on view in the inaugural installation, which aims to showcase WCMA’s global art collection guided by a liberal arts ethos. The audience will be invited to ask questions, and lunch will be provided for the first 12 people to register.

Kicking off the series on Feb. 4 will be Elizabeth Gallerani, our curator of Mellon Academic Programs, who will share information recently learned about a pichhwai (temple hanging) in the WCMA collection that depicts the Hindu god Krishna painted on a huge cotton cloth. Mellon Curatorial Fellow Rachael Nelson will present on March 18, and Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Dan Byers will present on April 1.

RSVPs are required here: https://airtable.com/appEgY2dFQZxVvJhJ/pagiusORQgIBjIM8k/form.

For more information, visit artmuseum.williams.edu.


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Williamstown Community Preservation Panel Weighs Hike in Tax Surcharge

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Community Preservation Committee is considering whether to ask town meeting to increase the property tax surcharge that property owners currently pay under the provisions of the Community Preservation Act.
 
Members of the committee have argued that by raising the surcharge to the maximum allowed under the CPA, the town would be eligible for significantly more "matching" funds from the commonwealth to support CPA-eligible projects in community housing, historic preservation and open space and recreation.
 
When the town adopted the provisions of the CPA in 2002 and ever since, it set the surcharge at 2 percent of a property's tax with $100,000 of the property's valuation exempted.
 
For example, the median-priced single-family home in the current fiscal year has a value of $453,500 and a tax bill of $6,440, before factoring the assessment from the fire district, a separate taxing authority.
 
For the purposes of the CPA, that same median-priced home would be valued at $353,500, and its theoretical tax bill would be $5,020.
 
That home's CPA surcharge would be about $100 (2 percent of $5,020).
 
If the CPA surcharge was 3 percent in FY26, that median-priced home's surcharge would be about $151 (3 percent of $5,020).
 
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