MassMoCA: Nature Public Symposium, Tree Pep Rally

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — On March 13 and 14, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art will host the "Contemporary Nature: Tending the Garden Symposium."
 
The public symposium features a keynote by writer and philosopher Báyò Akómoláfé that poses questions for our ecological future.
 
Artists, scholars, and students convene to share their experiences on what co-becoming means to them in their art, gardening, and land stewardship practices. 
 
It will include the upcoming "Homecoming" exhibition's Amanda Lovelee and Jessica Gersony, and Pallavi Sen and Sarah Workneh, Alejandra Salinas and Aeron Bergman, and Camila Marambio and Christy Gast.
 
Tickets to the symposium are $50 in advance; $40 students.
 
The exhibit "Homecoming" opens on June 13 as part of the museum's free day. It is an immersive, outdoor environmental art exhibition designed to remember a deeper connection between humans and nature while playfully addressing the urgency of climate change that is causing plants to migrate, stated a press release. 
 
According to a press release:
 
Gardens are choreographed sites with the most cyclically innate power to all life: to catch sunlight and transform energy into matter. Through gardening, we are able to cultivate physical and emotional energies, making us manipulators of the world. Nature is dialectic; we are one of many agents in a wide network.
Humanity continues to create gardens to ecologize, although we have blighted them through histories of apartheid, colonialism, and control, and we continue on this path. Gardening reframes choice and power, as it produces allowances and realizations to know what it means to be with others in difference, to know
unknowing, and to give humanity’s control to the ecological network that we are a part of.
 
Our intention is to dissolve boundaries of information-sharing between species and ecological processes and realize how truly interconnected we are in nature.
 
Homecoming envisions a symbolic micro field station for two trees in residence participating in assisted plant migration. Join the museum in welcoming two "trees in residence" that are part of the exhibit.

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NAHA Board Accepts Director's Resignation, Unlocks Tenants Association Office

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Housing Authority Board of Commissioners officially accepted the resignation of Executive Director Jennifer Hohn and restored access to the Tenants Association office.

The board held a special meeting Thursday to vote to accept Hohn's resignation and determined that there are currently no plans to replace her.

"We didn't make any final determinations in terms of the executive session so we will schedule another meeting at another time," Chairwoman Leigh Uqdah said after returning from more than an hour session. "Day-to-day operations will continue to be managed as normal by staff."

Per their bylaws, board member Marie Harpin will continue to handle finances, and Uqdah will manage contracts.

Hohn stepped down on Oct. 8 after 24 years leading the agency. Her resignation followed rising tension between her and the NAHA Tenants Association, culminating in the scheduling of a formal grievance hearing between both parties.

The boiling point was the locking of the association's office this summer. Tenants alleged the lockout was retaliation for posting a video on social media depicting improperly functioning door alarms. Hohn claimed the office was locked for tenant safety and to stop the spread of misinformation.

Tenants Association President Corey Fortin asked if Hohn's security access had been removed. Uqdah confirmed her credentials were revoked the day she resigned, meaning she can no longer monitor security cameras remotely.

Jennifer Barbeau, a former city councilor who was liaison to the Housing Authority, asked when the board met to discuss Hohn's severance package. Uqdah stated that Hohn did not have one.

The board also accepted the resignation of Commissioner Richard Lavigne, though they will vote officially on the matter at their next meeting.

The open portion of the meeting was brief, with nearly an hour and a half spent in executive session. Before entering executive session, the board opened the floor to tenants.

"The tenants requested an opportunity to talk to the board," said Uqdah. "It has been quite a while, but we have decided to honor that."

Fortin, who posted the original video to social media, was the first to speak. He was clear in his request: unlock the office door.

"Let's cut straight to the chase tonight. The former resigned Director Jennifer Hohn ordered the office locked," he alleged. "She is gone. The lockout is a direct violation, and the board has a duty to end that tonight."

He cited federal and state laws that mandate the tenants association be provided with office space, including computer and network access.

"We are here with a direct administrative demand. We demand that the board vote tonight to unlock the doors," he said. "Do not let a resigned director's illegal action remain the board's ongoing liability. Open our door tonight, and let us get back to work."

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