Press

NEW YORK — In the worlds created by Nick Cave, beauty and pain are so intertwined, it becomes impossible to see one without the other; to look away.

Best known for his “Soundsuits,” a direct response to the 1991 beating of Rodney King by police, Cave’s wearable art is part high fashion, part sculpture, all statement. The suits are a commentary on safety and vulnerability. On one hand, they are armor, on another, a disguise that hides gender, race and identity.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College (BCC) will host graphic novelist, filmmaker, and tattoo artist James Spooner for a free talk on Wednesday, April 30, at 2 p.m.

The event, titled “The Ripple Effect Is Wild: How Small Projects Can Have Huge Unexpected Impacts,” will be held in the Connector on BCC’s main campus at 1350 West Street.

PITTSFIELD — Lauren Jones, the commonwealth’s labor and workforce development secretary, joined local officials and members of the business community in Pittsfield on Monday to kickstart a tour of the state’s 16 MassHire workforce boards.

Jones started her day in the Berkshires at Interprint, a company that designs and prints decorative laminate and overlays. The company employs nearly 200 people in Pittsfield, and is celebrating its 40th year in Massachusetts.

Dion Brown has found a new basketball home.

The Great Barrington native who played at Monument Mountain High School and Vermont Academy before heading off to college, will play this coming season for Saint Louis of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

ADAMS — Co-owners and partners Martin Davis Jr. and Sasha Solomon have turned their health issues into a positive for the community.

Davis, who has Type 2 diabetes, and Solomon, who has dealt with asthma, have brought their vision of a healthy smoothie shop to life with We Got The Juice. The shop, located at 50 Summer St. in Adams, recently opened on March 11.

“A lot of people have developed these diseases, so it’s just trying to figure out a way to help people,” Davis said. “We like to boost immunity in the community.”

For Davis and Solomon, who have been together for 13 years, the location feels just right.

GREAT BARRINGTON — After nearly a decade of work to bring a sculpture of W.E.B. Du Bois to downtown, a life-size statue of the civil rights architect is set to be unveiled this summer.

The unveiling event, which will be held in a new plaza at the Mason Public Library, is scheduled for noon on Saturday, July 19, according to a press release from the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project. 

PITTSFIELD — The Pittsfield CityJazz Festival recently lit up downtown with a standout performance by the 18-time Grammy-winning Count Basie Orchestra at the Colonial Theatre. Fresh off a 2024 Grammy win, the legendary ensemble delivered a powerful, joy-filled evening that honored jazz tradition while energizing the community.

With supporting performances from local youth musicians and events throughout the city, this year’s festival strengthened Pittsfield’s cultural vibrancy and brought listeners together through the enduring spirit of jazz.

GREAT BARRINGTON — On Saturday afternoon, about 30 people, working in pairs, were gathered at the First Congregational Church on Main Street practicing a “welcoming dance.”

With choreographer and facilitator Gesel Mason calling out the steps on an eight count, the dancers, facing each other, progressed through a series of shared movements: bumping elbows, playing peekaboo through a heart shaped with both hands, touching foreheads together and placing their hands on their hearts.

PITTSFIELD — What started as a dream between two childhood friends has transformed into a community program empowering youth through art and creativity.

Talya Taliaferro and Genesis Rivera, co-founders of TG’s Clubhouse, a free art enrichment program, are on a mission to provide a safe space for children and teens to explore their artistic talents and passions and build confidence.

“We’re trying to help gain their social skills, to become a leader using [their] ideas and bringing them to life,” said Taliaferro. “It gets the children out of their shell.”

The program offers a variety of art forms moving beyond traditional coloring to include visual art such as drawing and painting, digital art on iPads and laptops, challenge art and photography. Taliaferro and Rivera hope to soon incorporate music production.

PITTSFIELD — For over 25 years, Vanessa Guess-Slaughter and Manny Slaughter have been giving back to the children in their community.

Starting with after-school dance classes run by Guess-Slaughter and a sports program run by Slaughter, the couple added the After School Homework and Mentorship Program under their 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Focus is Our Children, in October 2022, which has an ongoing need for volunteers.

“The children in school aren’t getting too much homework,” Guess-Slaughter said. “So what we want to do is teach at level, where they’re supposed to be at.”

PITTSFIELD — As Shirley Edgerton prepares to accept an award given to just six people in the state, she can’t help but reflect on the women who helped her along the way.

Among those women: her grandmother, Lucille Session, who raised her and her siblings with an emphasis on independence and self-advocacy.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is impressed by the city’s effort to spark economic development in the downtown and beyond.

He spoke with officials and stakeholders Thursday at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge and browsed a couple of North Street businesses. After visiting Carr Hardware and Dolc’e Rose Beauty Supply, he ended the downtown visit with an ice cream cone from Empire Pizza. 

“It’s pretty clear to me that the businesses are feeling a clear uptick in their opportunities, their economic outlook for the future,” said Markey, who had made a visit to North Adams earlier. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — BBEC Executive Director, A.J. Communication Coordinator, Brianna, and intern Aike, had the pleasure of stopping into Uplift Barber Studio to sit down with Carleton Rose to learn more about himself, his business, and ongoing motivations. Watch the full interview using the link in our bio

Watch Carlton Rose’s full interview using the link below! 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Housing affordability and availability challenges affect all 32 municipalities in Berkshire County, but the ways they manifest can vary.

For Black people living in Berkshire County, the “housing crisis” isn’t new. Long before the pandemic-induced market changes sent housing prices climbing up the income scale, Black people in the county, and across the nation, faced barriers that kept homeownership and its wealth-generating benefits out of reach for many.

Two years ago, the Berkshire Branch of the NAACP released a report that detailed the history of redlining and other discriminatory housing practices in Pittsfield’s West Side neighborhood.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a crucial moment for local journalism, Warren Dews Jr., publisher and vice president of Capital Region Independent Media, visited the nation’s capital to advocate on behalf of small newspapers facing increasingly difficult times.

Capital Region Independent Media publishes the Ravena News-Herald, Greenville Pioneer, The Columbia Paper, Granville Sentinel, Whitehall Times, Lakes Region Free Press and Washington County Free Press, and two websites, TheUpstater.com and NYVTmedia.com.

Dews’ visit was part of a larger effort to push for legislative support to protect local journalism, which is under pressure from rising competition and AI-driven content aggregation. The event organized by the News Media Alliance and dubbed the “Support Journalism Fly-In” was attended by representatives from news organizations from around the country.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin followed in the footsteps of Christ’s apostles, preaching a gospel that had the power to change the world.

So believes writer Jamaica Kincaid, who compared the world’s response to Baldwin to the Corinthians and Galatians who ignored St. Paul’s missives.

“You cannot believe that ‘The Fire Next Time,’ or all of those essays, didn’t immediately — on being seen by contemporary Galatians and Corinthians — change the world, and make it into something not only better: different,” Kincaid said at an event Thursday afternoon marking Baldwin’s centennial.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city has received $100,000 toward developing digital equity.

On Tuesday, the City Council accepted a $99,972 Digital Equity Implementation Grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. It will expand public Wi-Fi to Durant Park, bring wayfinding for Wi-Fi to the downtown area, and fund a digital equity ambassador to get the word out to the community.

Pittsfield is the first of 14 local communities to participate in the digital equity planning project through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.  It was selected last year.

ADAMS, Mass. — The only sit-down restaurant of its kind in town has staged its last dinner shift.

The Firehouse Café & Bistro announced on Facebook last week that it would be transitioning into catering. A venture of Chef Xavier Jones and co-owner Warren Dews Jr., who also run Bigg Daddy’s Philly Steak House in North Adams, the eatery closed due to a “lack of support,” Jones said Monday.

“We needed to go in a different direction,” he said. “I think it’s because Adams doesn’t have any reason for you to come and shop. You eat where you do your shopping, where you take care of business.”

ADAMS, Mass. — No more design plans, concepts or renderings: The Greylock Glen Outdoor Center has arrived.

Start with the “Great Hall” — or the public, ski lodge-like area with a massive fireplace, the expansive kitchen and dining/event space that will be run by Chez Hospitality Group, and an environmental education and mixed-use room, which will primarily be used by Mass Audubon.

Then there’s an exhibition space that looks like a mini-museum and will connect to displays on the trail; a first-aid/medical room; and a retail space that could be an extension of the food service Chez Hospitality offers, or town-run, or run by another vendor.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project has been awarded $50,000 from the Massachusetts Office of Economic Development for completion of a statue of W.E.B. Du Bois to be sited in front of the Mason Public Library on Main Street in Great Barrington.

The funding was requested by State Sen. Paul Mark (D – Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire District), chair of the state’s Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development. “Few people know that Du Bois—a civil rights giant and founder of the NAACP—was born and raised in Great Barrington,” said Sen. Mark. “These funds will help complete the monument and promote Black history and tourism in the Berkshires.”

“We are grateful to Sen. Mark for supporting our efforts to recognize Du Bois and [are] eager to join him in promoting Black history in the Berkshires,” said Ari Zorn, co-chair of the W.E.B. Du Bois Sculpture Project.