Pie Contest in A Box: Competitive Baking with a Soul
Two years ago, Gina Hyams was helping organize the pie contest for Hancock Shaker Village’s annual Country Fair, and she was knocked out by the passion of the participants. “People were so excited to be judges,” she recalls, noting that the panel included The New Yorker’s Susan Orlean and RI‘s Marilyn Bethany. “And, of course, the bakers were very excited about being contestants, too.” She did not think this enthusiasm was particular to the Berkshires and Hudson Valley, which led to an epiphany: One night, she woke up at 4 a.m. and told her groggy husband that her next book project would be Pie Contest In A Box. “It came to me all at once,” says Hyams, who was proud to be ahead of the curve. “It was a year and a half before The New York Times suggested that pies are the new cupcakes.”
Now, bookstores, gourmet shops and housewares emporiums across the United States are selling her Pie Contest in A Box ($14.99), which includes a history of pie (she interviewed 24 passionate bakers), recipes (she used Facebook to recruit testers), scorecards, flags to identify the pies, and ribbons for the winners. Having written several books and one similar kit—Day of the Dead Box—Hyams knew she would have to produce a book proposal that would make her concept seem not only irresistibly clever but also lucrative. “Pie Contest in a Box appeals to people who are looking for fun, inexpensive ways to build community,” she wrote. “The notion of pie contests has the retro appeal of vintage cocktals, but is just emerging as a trend, with pie contests popping up at farmers markets and at hipster events like the Fall Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island.”
To celebrate the publication of Pie Contest in a Box, Hyams is hosting a public pie contest at Route 7 Grill in Great Barrington on Sunday, July 10, at 4 pm. (Contestants should bring their pies by 3 p.m., if possible, though there may be a traffic snarl because of the 250th birthday parade in Great Barrington earlier in the day.) The contest will be a benefit for the community radio station WBCR-LP (where both her daughter, Annalena, and her husband, Dave Barrett, have programs) with a sliding scale admission of $5 - 10. “In the spirit of community radio, everyone gets to sample pies and everyone gets to vote,” she says. “The point is how pie contests bring people together.”
Pie contests, she notes, can be held for wedding showers, family reunions or fire-department fundraisers, and she suggests themes for the contests such as “Hard-Core Locavore,” “Single Ingredient,” or “Totally-Not-Made-From-Scratch Speed-Baking.” Hyams, who moved to the Berkshires after living in Mexico and California, has done public relations for organizations such as Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Mahaiwe and Hancock Shaker Village. Now she’s a player in the pie world. “There really is a pie world,” she says, noting that she was a judge herself at the American Pie Council Crisco National Pie Championship. “I judged the Sweet Potato pies.” Her publisher, Andrews McMeel, is so impressed with the response to the project that they have commissioned Hyams to create Chili Cookoff in a Box and Christmas Cookie Contest in a Box, too. “Competetive cooking can be a tool for community building,” she says.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 07/06/11 at 08:23 AM • Permalink
20 Questions for “Moonchildren” Director Karen Allen
Moonchildren, a play by Michael Weller set over the course of the 1965-66 school year in an unnamed college town, has been called “a masterwork by one of our great writers.” Actress (Raiders of the Lost Ark, White Irish Drinkers) and director Karen Allen, who mounted a well-received student production of Weller’s play at Bard College at Simon’s Rock two years ago, is doing it again with professionals at the Berkshire Theatre Festival (details below). Dan Shaw recently posed the RI 20 to Allen, who also owns an eponymous Great Barrington clothing boutique that specializes in handknit cashmeres of her own design.
1. How did you end up moving to the Berkshires?
I was living in New York City and came to Stockbridge for the first time in 1981 to work at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, then I worked at Williamstown for several summers in the mid-80’s and fell in love with the countryside here. I wanted a place to escape from New York, especially after a long run of a play or when coming back to the east coast after finishing a film on location. I needed more space around me: the quiet and the fresh air and the trees.
2. What’s your favorite way to spend a Friday night?
For me Friday nights are for friends. I love to have people over to my house and make a meal together, play music, talk, drink wine, play pool, make a bond fire down by my pond and such.
3. What’s your favorite way to spend a Sunday morning?
Sunday mornings are sacred sleep-in mornings for me. Reading in bed without having to look at the clock is heaven; whatever book I’m in the middle of, The Sunday Times, good magazine articles, a proper breakfast, which I seem to never have time for the rest of the week.
4. Where’s you favorite spot for bargain hunting?
Sadly, most of the true bargain hunting spots I used to know in the Berkshires don’t exist anymore. It’s even hard to find a bargain at Brimfield these days. I used to love the auctions at Bradford’s.
5. Where do you go for a self-indulgent splurge?
I love all the beautiful things Renee and Paul bring back from Thailand at Home on Rt 23 in Egremont. I also love Lili and Loo in Hudson.
6. What’s your favorite one-hour drive from your house?
I have two. I love to spend the day in Hudson just roaming around, looking in the antique shops and having lunch at one of the wonderful restaurants that keep popping up, Swoon, or Baba Louie’s or Mexican Radio and staying into the evening to see who’s playing at Helsinki, above, (which i miss so much since they left Great Barrington). And a day in Williamstown is always fun…. going to the Clark or MASS MoCA.
7. What’s your favorite historic site?
The Mount is pretty irresistible. I used to perform there with Shakespeare & Co. on the outdoor stage. The house and the gardens are beautiful and mysterious. I am transported to the world that Edith Wharton lived in when I’m there.
8. What three things do you always do with house guests?
In summer I take them to Tanglewood for a picnic, right, and a concert. On a beautiful morning, we might go for long walks off the beaten path in Monterey or New Marlboro and end the day with dinner at the Old Inn on the Green or the Southfield Store. In the Winter I take friends to ski at Butternut, afterwards climb into a hot tub in the snow behind my barn and build big roaring fire later with glass of wine or cocoa in hand.
9. What’s your favorite bookstore or bookstores?
I love Matt Tannenbaum’s Bookstore in Lenox and the Bookloft in Great Barrington. They are always great about getting books for you quickly if they don’t have them.
10. What’s your favorite hardware store and/or garden center?
I can spend hours and hours looking at trees, seeds, bulbs, flowers, berries, vegetables, gardening tools, bird feeders, etc., and do every Spring, Summer and Fall at both Windy Hill in Stockbridge and at Ward’s in Great Barrington. I have an on-going romance with gardens. My favorite hardware store is [Harland B.]Foster’s in Great Barrington. It has that great old-timey hardware store feel.
11. Where do you shop for clothes? Do you have a favorite salesperson?
Well, I hate to toot my own horn, but I love my clothing store in Great Barrington, Karen Allen Fiber Arts and I love the women who work for me..Susan, Susan, Barbara and Rachel. They are wonderful. I have a blast shopping for the clothing we carry in my store at the designer’s shows in NYC and looking for unique and beautiful things. I also carry my own line of cashmere knitwear and quite a few of our local jewelry, handbag and knitwear designers as well.
12. Who do you trust to recommend wines?
I have some friends who are always turning me on to good wines. Other than that, I just dive in and experiment when I’m wine shopping on my own. I’ve always found Lock, Stock and Barrell in Great Barrington to be really helpful with wine choices, but it’s off my beaten path, and I don’t get there often enough.
13. Who are your local heroes?
There are so many. A lot of teachers who I’ve met at the Rudolf Steiner School where my son went and Simon’s Rock College as well. Some wonderful therapists and social workers I know who really are making a difference in people’s lives. Lola Jaffe for bringing the Mahaiwe back to life and Kelley Vickery for starting the Berkshire International Film Festival and keeping it going with such intelligence and enthusiasm, Kate Maguire, left, for holding the Berkshire Theatre Festival, in Stockbridge, to a high standard and taking on the Colonial in Pittsfield as well. Everyone who is championing and maintaining our arts organizations here in the Berkshires. The Railroad Street Youth Project, and the mentoring projects they set up. And I could go on and on. We are rich with sung and unsung heroes here.
14. What newspapers or blogs do you read every day?
Almost none. I’m not much of a blog reader unless someone sends me a link about something specific. I just don’t enjoy spending any more time on the computer than i absolutely have to. I don’t really read a daily newspaper these days either.The Sunday New York Times. New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Departures is the extent of my news in paper form. I tend to listen to WAMC or the BBC news in my car or will turn on a bit of television news at night if I have time. My days get so busy I often rely on my more well-informed friends to catch me up.
15. What does it mean to own a local business in Great Barrington?
I’ve had three different businesses here and each one has brought me into the community in a different way. My first was Berkshire Mountain Yoga from 1995 to 2000, then Monterey fiber Arts, my knitwear studio, and finally I opened my shop, Karen Allen Fiber Arts in 2005. I have an ongoing opportunity to meet and work with so many wonderful people who I might not have met otherwise and to be of service in whatever way I can.
16. Where’s your favorite place for live performance?
I like small clubs, so it used to be Helsinki before it moved. I still love Helsinki in Hudson, but it’s a bit of a drive. I love Tanglewood in the summer and I love the concerts at the Mahaiwe year round.
17. Where’s your favorite place for breakfast?
I’m not a big breakfast eater and rarely eat breakfast out. My house is my favorite breakfast spot. My porch when the weather is nice. I do love Rubi’s in Great Barrington though for a great cafe au lait or coffee and a killer egg sandwich. The Southfield Store is where I take friends when they are visiting. The atmosphere and breakfast there is delicious and relaxing.
18. What’s your favorite Berkshires tradition?
Packing up a wonderful picnic and going early for dinner on the lawn at Tanglewood. Lying on the grass under the stars and listening to a great cellist, or pianist or orchestra or James Taylor on the 4th of July.. Sublime!!
19. What’s the best thing about not living in NY or LA?
Waking up in the morning and hearing the wind in the trees and so many different birds calling out across the woods and ponds. Seeing a flock of turkeys bob their way across the lawn, the occasional bear lumber by, the painted turtles laying their eggs, the porcupines trying to eat the willow buds, the peepers and bullfrogs breaking into an almost deafening symphony every night in the Spring, the smell of fresh cut grass and on and on and on. Playing music loud in my house and not having anyone complain about the noise.
20. What are you looking forward to?
I’m recently back from taking my son to Copenhagen to help him find an apartment and get settled as an intern in the kitchen at the restaurant NOMA and now I’m rehearsing Moonchildren, so I’m looking forward to the opening.
The Berkshire Theatre Festival
Unicorn Theatre
Previews, June 28 - July 1
Opens July 2 - July 16
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/22/11 at 05:33 PM • Permalink
The Second Annual Hudson Pride Festival June 17 - 19
Hudson Pride 2010 Grand Marshals Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard.
One year ago, Hudson became the undisputed LGBT capital of the Rural Intelligence region with the inaugural Hudson Pride Parade and Festival. Galvanized by the surprising and groundbreaking election of Hudson High School seniors Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard as prom queen and king (who were recruited at the last minute to become the parade’s grand marshals), locals, transplants and weekenders came together in unprecedented fashion: They jubilantly celebrated their hyper-stylish but rough-around-the-edges city as a community of diversity, inclusivity and acceptance. This year’s three-day Hudson Pride Festival expands upon last year’s promise with events for everyone, including an under 21 dance at the Cannonball Factory on June 18 and a Family Festival on June 19 with facepainting, balloon animals and a bouncy castle. “Last year, we looked around and saw so many children that we realized we wanted to make sure straight and gay families could fully participate,” says Hudson Pride Foundation executive director Martha Harvey.
Until the formation of Hudson Pride last year, there was no organization in Columbia County devoted to the concerns of the county’s LGBT residents. “Though we are based in Hudson, we want to serve residents of Chatham, Ghent, Hillsdale and Germantown—everybody who lives in the county,” says Harvey, who notes the foundation offers to provide rides for teens without transportation who want to participate in the first Sunday of the month discussion groups at the Hudson Opera House. “We’d like to offer a group for parents, too,” says Harvey, explaining that eliminating homophobia 
is one of the foundation’s major goals. “There’s still a lot of hate and ignorance out there. But if you can educate a mind, you can open a mind.” she says. “If you open a mind, you can open a heart.” What’s especially remarkable about Hudson Pride’s rapid growth is its grassroots nature and that nearly everyone inovlved is an amateur community organizer. “The only one with organizing experience was Rich Volo, who’s better known as Trixie Starr, who mostly had experience organizing drag queen events. But so many people have been motivated by the momentum that we created last year that this year’s festival is going to be phenomenal. It’s so much bigger than we ever expected.”
Friday June 17
Sunset Cruise 6 - 9 pm (Sold Out)
Moonlight Cruise 9 p.m. - midngiht ($30)
Saturday June 18
Parade on Warren Street noon
Rally at Promenade Hill Park 1 - 4 p.m.
Free Cabaret at Club Helsinki 5 - 10 p.m.
Adult Dance Party with DJ Todd Patterson at Club Helsinki 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. ($10 in advance; $15 at the door)
Over the Rainbow Dance Party for ages 12 - 20
Free admission, drinks and pizza at the Cannonball Factory
Sunday, June 19
Family Pride Day BeLo 3rd Street noon - 4 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 06/15/11 at 01:29 PM • Permalink
Lift Ev’ry Voice Arts and Heritage Festival
by Tresca Weinstein
Berkshire County’s Lift Ev’ry Voice arts and heritage festival doesn’t officially begin until Sunday, but it’s already bringing the community together. “This has been one of those projects that is very unifying—there’s a place that has been made for everyone,” says festival co-chair Shirley Edgerton, left with co-chair Don Quinn Kelley. The combined efforts of community members, grass-roots organizations, and high-profile arts venues have resulted in five weeks (June 19 – July 23) packed with some three dozen events celebrating African-American history and culture in the county.
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The festival, which boasts Governor Deval Patrick and First Lady Diane Patrick as honorary co-chairs, has events running the gamut from free dance performances at Jacob’s Pillow and an ongoing film series at the Clark to bigger-ticket items, such as Earth, Wind & Fire’s Tanglewood show on June 25 and hip-hop artist Talib Kweli’s appearance at the Colonial Theatre on July 22. The festival kicks off on June 19 with a free family-friendly Juneteenth celebration in Pittsfield (the day was declared a state holiday by Governor Patrick in 2007, commemorating the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865). A performance by Evelyn Harris, a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, is the centerpiece of the afternoon, which also includes drumming, world music and gospel as well as food and local vendors. Opening night features a performance at the Colonial of composer Craig S. Harris’ “God’s Trombones,” (above) based on James Weldon Johnson’s book God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. Johnson, who owned a summer home in the Berkshires from 1926 until his death in 1938, also wrote the African-American anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing,” for which the festival is named.
The countywide celebration—evidently the first of its kind here—was sparked by Eugenie Sills, of The Women’s Times. Sills was inspired by a production of “…And Ain’t I A Woman: Unsung African American Heroines,” part of a 2009 Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts sponsored by her paper, which ceased publication last spring. “…And Ain’t I A Woman” will be reprised on July 16 at Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington. Plays, concerts and gallery openings—as well as a topiary-cutting demonstration, of all things—ensure the festival “is in keeping with the focus in Berkshire County on showcasing creativity and our cultural life here,” says Edgerton, who co-produced the original “...And Ain’t I a Woman” and is director of Pittsfield’s Youth Alive Step Dance and Drumline (above right), who will perform, and founder of the Women of Color Giving Circle of the Berkshires.
According to Megan Whilden, a member of the festival’s steering committee and Director of Cultural Development for the City of Pittsfield, Lift Ev’ry Voice builds on the work of the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail. The Trail marks significant historic sites, such as W.E.B. Du Bois’ childhood home, the Colonel Ashley House in Sheffield, where abolitionist hero Elizabeth Freeman was enslaved, and Jacob’s Pillow, thought to have been a station on the Underground Railroad. “African-American history and culture is a part of our larger Berkshire history and culture, and should be known, and celebrated, by all of us,” Sills says. In service of education as well as entertainment, the festival includes lectures, documentaries, panel discussions and a salute to baseball great Ulysses “Frank” Grant (left), a Negro Leagues player and native of Pittsfield.
In homage to our living legends, a Tribute to the Elders is set for July 9, honoring the county’s African Americans aged 70 and up. On the other end of the age spectrum, MASS MoCA has gotten into the act with a Youth Day on July 2 featuring a workshop and dance party with the social-activist hip-hop group Readnex. “One of the goals closest to our heart is to empower and inspire African-American young people by exposing them to the arts and to history,” Whilden says. “It’s about the past and the present, but it’s also about the future.”
Lift Ev’ry Voice: African-American Culture and Heritage
June 19 - July 23, 2011
Juneteenth Celebration
Sunday, June 19, noon - 5 p.m.
Polish Community Center grounds
55 Linden St, Pittsfield
Admission/free
God’s Trombones
Sunday, June 19, 7 p.m.
The Colonial Theatre
Admission: Individuals/$10-$25; families (up to 5 people)/$65
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/14/11 at 03:41 PM • Permalink
Dan’s Diary: Musical Chairs in Millerton
It’s a good thing that the merchants of Millerton never decided to make a Monopoly board of the village, because there have been several changes in the retail landscape. Most notably, Jane Eckert Fine Art, which features the work of Eric Forstmann and Robert Rauschenberg, has arrived from Kent, CT, and Little Gates & Co. Wine Merchants (left) has moved to Main Street, taking over the space once occupied by Gilded Moon Framing, whose move to the old M&T Bank Building RI chronicled this winter. (Gilded Moon has an adjacent sculpture garden where Eckert is now showing the work of Boaz Vaadia.)
“We moved because we wanted to own rather than rent,” explains wine shop co-owner Andrew Gates, who now lives in the penthouse upstairs. “And we asked Jane if she’d like to be our neighbor because we thought a fine art gallery was important for the Millerton mix. Art and wine certainly go together.”
Meanwhile, Leslie Hoss Flood Interiors has taken over the old David Gavin Salon space in Railroad Plaza, which was being used by the 14th Colony Artists collective for exhibitions, which, at least for the next month or so, will be held in Flood’s old space on Main Street. Twisted plans to 
vacate its storefront on Dutchess Avenue and take over Little Gates’ old space on South Center Street. And for denizens of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, there are two new shops catering to their needs: Mark Aloia’s Cycle & Fitness, on South Center Street, which sells, repairs and rents bicycles, and Torey Soracco’s Rail Trail Supply Co. (right) which is actually on the Rail Trail and sells gear “for active people and active pets.” This Saturday, June 4, is a good chance to check out what’s new: 14th Colony is having an opening reception from 4 - 9 p.m., and Little Gates and Eckert Fine Arts are hosting a town party on the lawn next to Gilded Moon from 4 - 7 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 06/02/11 at 08:52 AM • Permalink
Pittsfield’s 250th Anniversary
History is often taken for granted in our neck of the woods with so many of our town dating back to before the revolution and the Declaration of Independence. Pittsfield, which is turning 250, will be having a year-long celebration, which kicks off this weekend. It will be a history lesson that not only honors the past (the city is named after William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham) but also embraces the city’s evolution into a diverse, multicultural community. “The idea is for everyone to be involved,” says Megan Whilden, the city’s commissioner for cultural development. “And that is why our four major cultural institutions are offering free events this weekend.” 
The Berkshire Museum will have free admission all day Saturday, April 30, with a scavenger hunt, face painting, and two afternoon performances by David Grover. On Saturday night, Barrington Stage Company will host a screening of Glory, the 1989 Civil War film starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman, which chronicles the Massachusetts 54th African American Regiment whose chaplain was Pittsfield’s Samuel Harrison, On Sunday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to noon, Hancock Shaker Village will offer free admission to Berkshire County residents for its annual Baby Animals exhibition. And at 2 p.m., the Boston Symphony Orchestra presents Tanglewood Music Center Fellows in a special chamber music concert at the Colonial Theatre. Click here for other weekend events.
One of the free offerings “sold out” within 24 hours earlier this month when 1,200 tickets were made available for a special roundtrip train ride between Pittsfield and Lenox, which is being offered as a collaborative effort of the Housatonic Railroad and the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum. “It’s a great testament to the power of trains,” says Whilden, noting that it’s been 40 years since a southbound train has departed from Pittsfield. Whilden is especially excited about the Walk-Ons project: large 3 x 4 foot printed historic images will be installed on sidewalks throughout the city and remain in place through the Thanksgiving “Homecoming” weekend.
As cultural commissioner, Whilden takes great pride that the birthday begins with a Community Celebration Concert at the First Methodist Church on Friday at 5 p.m., which features the Eagles Band, Price Memorial Church Choir, Pittsfield Children’s Chorus, Town Players, Miss Behavin’, Terpsichore Dancers, Senior Singers, Gaia Roots Drummers, and Gospel Gang. “The only people who are left out are the baseball fans,” she says, “but the Colonials season at Wahconah Park does not begin until the end of May.”
Pittsfield 250
Kickoff Weekend April 29 - May 1
Welcome Back Weekend July 1 - 4
Homecoming Reunion Weekend November 25 - 27
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 04/27/11 at 01:53 PM • Permalink
Community News: Save 900 Columbia Avenue, Hudson
The Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties is planning to demolish this important very early 19th-century house in Hudson, unless they can be persuaded to rethink their plans. 900 Columbia Street near Columbia Memorial Hospital, sits at an important historic crossroads at Prospect Street, Columbia Street and Union Turnpike, leading from Hudson (once called Claverack Landing) to the hamlet of Claverack. An on-line petition has been organized.
While sympathetic to the Association’s need for a new facility, community activists, including Carole Osterink, whose blog, The Gossips of Rivertown is a Hudson must-read, and Ellen Thurston, who writes a popular .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) about goings-on, mostly in Hudson, are urging the Mental Health Association to reconsider and come up with another plan for another site. One need look no further than the dreary methadone clinic that irreparably scars the 100 block of Warren Street to see the long-term consequences of the current plan.
Anyone who cares about historic architecture and recognizes its critical role in Hudson’s revitalization and economic future, will want to read and sign the online petition. The deadline for signing the petition is Thursday, March 10.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 03/07/11 at 02:39 PM • Permalink
International Women’s Day, a Celebration in Three Acts
Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox had it right: Sisters are doin’ it for themselves, and have been for the past century. On Saturday, March 5, the 10th Annual International Women’s Day Conference at Simon’s Rock will celebrate what is actually the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day with an afternoon program, Women Write the World. (This event kicks off an affiliated month-long Berkshire Festival of Women Writers that continues throughout March.) Speakers on Saturday include novelist Nathalie Etoké, an assistant professor of French and Africana Studies at Connecticut College and author of several books exploring African culture and literature; author, human rights activist, writing coach, and journalist Demetria Martinez, who won the 2006 International Latino Book Award in the biography category for Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana; and award-winning journalist Christina Asquith, who has written books on her experiences reporting from in the Iraqi warzone and teaching 6th grade in an inner-city school in Philadelphia.
Keynote speaker Sandra Steingraber, right, a renowned environmental activist and author of several highly acclaimed books, including Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, will explore the links between human rights and the environment, with a focus on chemical contamination.
Anticipating an influx of women visitors for the event at Simon’s Rock, at least one local business is rising to the occasion. Rhythms, a center for mind/body fitness and wellness in Lenox, is offering a special half-day schedule of classes that owner Chantal Leven has dubbed Peace, Power, Passion & Community—a spectrum of yoga, dance, and fitness classes, each with a Women’s Day twist; i.e., an Afro-Caribbean dance class will feature Yanvaloo, a dance from the Haitian tradition dedicated to the goddess Erzulie. A portion of the day’s proceeds will go toward a scholarship fund to enable low-income women to take free classes at Rhythms.
Then in the evening, International Women’s Day finishes with a flourish in Pittsfield at the Global Dance Gala, a dance party to benefit the Elizabeth Freeman Center, a local resource for victims of domestic abuse, and Circle of Health International (COHI), an organization that provides care to women and families in the wake of disasters. Event co-chair Dr. Siobhan McNally (top photo, on the job in Cambodia) is a pediatrician at CHP Neighborhood Health Center in Pittsfield and is board chair of COHI.
10th Annual Women’s Day Conference
Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Daniel Arts Center
Great Barrington
Saturday, March 5, 1 - 5:30 p.m.
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
Various venues throughout Berkshire County in March
Rhythms Center
Lenox
Saturday March 5, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Global Dance Gala
Upstairs at Jae’s Spice
Pittsfield
Saturday, March 5, 7:30 p.m.
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Posted by Bess Hochstein on 03/01/11 at 11:58 PM • Permalink
Dress Rehearsal for IS 183’s Annual Costume Party
The annual IS 183 Art School of the Berkshires costume ball and dance party has evolved to become one of those mythic—and epic—galas that define a certain bobo Berkshire lifestyle. The yearly challenge is to create a party that surpasses the previous one in both creativity and fundraising since this is the most important benefit for the Stockbridge-based community art school that allows people of all ages, means and skills to have hands-on experience in the visual arts. So how do you top 2010’s Radioactive Bodega and 2009’s Hair Ball? You come up with a theme—Anime Hothouse—that is inherently psychedelic and you rent out Elm Court, the old Vanderbilt estate in Lenox that is invariably described as the largest shingle-style house in America.
“Ticket sales have been so strong from word of mouth that we didn’t have to send out printed invitations,” says IS 183 director Hope Sullivan, who says there’s a waiting list for the dinner party and only a handful of dance party tickets remaining for the April 9 gala. “People are really excited to go to Elm Court because they have not been there for a thousand events before.” And they are animated by the notion of dressing up as horticulturally-affected, Japanese-style animated characters. More than a dozen of IS 183’s stalwarts gathered at a private greenhouse in Sheffield a few weeks ago to create publicity photos to promote the party. (Actress Hilary Somers Deely showed off the black contact lenses she ordered from Korea to wear as part of her costume.) “We always do these photo shoots to give people ideas for what to wear, but I’ve never seen enthusiasm like this before,” says Sullivan. “I think the juxtaposition of theme and location will make this the most incredible party ever.”
IS 183 Anime Hothouse Gala
April 9, 2011
Lenox, MA
Related Posts:
Radioactive Bodega: IS 183’s Post-Apocolytpic Dance Party — March 07, 2010
The IS 183 Art School “Hair Ball” Was Over-the-Top — March 15, 2009
The School of Rock: IS 183 Parties in Pittsfield — March 2, 2008
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 02/23/11 at 04:06 PM • Permalink
The Norman Rockwell Museum’s Social Conscience
As anyone who has visited the Norman Rockwell Museum well knows, the artist had a well-defined social conscience that is evidenced in such iconic paintings as The Problem Everybody Lives With, The Golden Rule, Moving Day and the Four Freedoms paintings that he made during World War II to illustrate President Roosevelt’s landmark speech. “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms,” Roosevelt said in his 1941 State of the Union message. “The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.”
Now, in the tradition of its namesake, the Norman Rockwell Museum is hosting a series of Four Freedoms Town Hall Meetings. On Thursday, February 16, the museum is sponsoring a panel discussion: “Freedom From Want: Food, Farmers and Families–A Community Dialogue.” The speakers will include Andrew Morehouse, executive director of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts; Barbara Zheutlin, executive director of Berkshire Grown; Brian Alberg, executive chef of The Red Lion Inn; Laura Meister, farmer/owner of Farm Girl Farm, in Egremont; Lila Berle, farmer/owner of Sky Farm in Stockbridge (who was also one of the museum’s founders.)
Laurie Norton Moffatt, the museum’s director and CEO, sees these forums as a way to encourage civilized dialogue in world where it has become increasingly difficult to have polite political debates. What is political about good food? “The Berkshires are increasingly known for local organic food, but many of our residents cannot afford this healthy food,” she says. “We want to start a discussion on this very serious issue.”
Freedom From Want: Food, Farmers and Families–A Community Dialogue
February 17, 5:30 p.m.
Four Freedoms for All? A Community Dialogue About Immigration
March 24, 5:30 p.m.
Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183, Stockbridge; 413-298-4100 x 221
