Artists Against Generative AI Event in North Adams

03:37PM / Thursday, May 14, 2026Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Common Folk Artist Collective will host a free arts showcase and forum during ArtWeek Berkshires for local artists on ways we can organize against generative AI.

The event will feature stories, poetry, artwork, music, and more creative expression from local artists standing against the impact of AI on the arts.

It will be held on May 20, from 6 to 8 pm at the Common Folk Artist Collective, 165 E Main Street, North Adams, MA 01247.

According to a press release:

Facilitated by Hari Kumar: local storyteller, recovering engineer, AI critic, and founder of Convivo. Kumar has been featured on local radio several times, has presented on the harms of AI at a debate at Berkshire Community College, and provides free resources and webinars to raise awareness of AI's costs and realities.

"Most people do not realize that generative AI products do not do what the marketing says they do, and do not know that AI data centers are exponentially worse for the environment than traditional data centers," said Kumar. "let alone the reality that generative AI relies on stealing original work by artists and trained using exploited labor from around the world. This event is intended for artists but also our local community as a way to celebrate and support authentic human creativity."

The event is free, RSVPs are encouraged at: https://bit.ly/artists-against-ai

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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