Clark Art Institute to Host Spring Scholarly Lecture Series

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute has announced its spring schedule for the Research and Academic Program (RAP) lecture series. The events, which are free to the public, will be held in the Manton Research Center auditorium starting at 5:30 p.m. Each presentation is preceded by a reception at 5 p.m. in the Manton Research Center reading room.

The series begins on March 17 with Luis Vargas-Santiago of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His lecture, "Sur Marica, A Mobile Cartography of Art, Sex, Affect, and Collaboration in the Americas," examines case studies of artworks from Latin American capitals during the 1980s and 1990s. Vargas-Santiago will discuss how queer artists challenged traditional formations of sexuality, religion, and authorship to redefine national and racial identities.

On April 10, Rachel Lee Hutcheson from the Rochester Institute of Technology will present "Technical Difficulties: Early Color Photography and Conditioned Viewing." The talk analyzes turn-of-the-twentieth-century photographic technologies, such as lantern projectors and screen-plates, which achieved color through red, green, and blue separations rather than hand-application.

Independent scholar Alice Miceli will speak on April 28 regarding "Cities As Battlegrounds: How Urban Warfare Shapes—and is Shaped by—the Lens of History and Photography." Drawing on research from battles in Stalingrad, Fallujah, and Mosul, Miceli will examine the physical and psychological relationship between urban landscapes and military strategy.

The series concludes on May 5 with Ana Lucia Araujo of Howard University. Her presentation, "Global Slavery: A Visual History," analyzes artworks and images depicting human trafficking and enslavement across several centuries. Araujo's work compares the common elements of the institution of slavery from antiquity to the plantation systems of the Americas.

The Manton Research Center provides accessible seating. Interested parties may contact 413 458 0570 for additional information.

Reminder to Lanesborough, Williamstown Voters: Mount Greylock School Committee a 'Write-In' Election

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
10:03AM / Friday, October 30, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Politicians and pundits in recent years have been preaching patience when it comes to getting election night results.

 

That usually means places like California, where vote-counting can be complicated or Michigan, where razor thin margins are anticipated.

 

Add Williamstown and Lanesborough to that list.

 

It is not a matter of pre-election polling suggesting particularly tight races; there is no such polling. Rather, it is a question of how voters will be making their selections in the race for the Mount Greylock Regional School District Committee.

 

None of the six candidates who qualified for four seats up for grabs on the panel appear on the ballots that have been mailed out, used in early voting or will be distributed at the polls on Nov. 3.

 

That means that all votes will be cast as write-ins, and that means it will take significantly longer for election workers to tally up votes in the local election once the polls close at 8 p.m. at Lanesborough Town Hall and Williamstown Elementary School.

 

As always, voters in both towns vote for all four seats on the ballot: two seats for Lanesborough residents and two for Williamstown residents in this year’s balloting.