Berkshire Bounty’s next monthly Mobile Food Drive will be held Tuesday, Feb. 1 from 9-11 a.m.
Flying Cloud, Greenagers to hold February Break program
SOUTH EGREMONT — Flying Cloud Institute and Greenagers will hold a science and art exploration program during the February school break, for children ages 9–13. The program will run February 21–24 from 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m. (with early drop-off at 8:30 a.m.), at the April Hill Education and Conservation Center in South Egremont.
Participants will engage in science investigations, art projects, engineering challenges, and nature explorations. This program was last held in February 2020, when activities included investigating temperature by making thermometers, exploring endo- and exothermic reactions by designing a cold pack or heat pack, and learning about insulation through a heating and melting challenge. Students also hiked nature trails, played games, and crafted original wooden decorations.
April Hill Education and Conservation Center serves as the headquarters for Greenagers, as well as a resource for community gatherings and education. The nearly 100-acre property has nature trails, vegetable gardens, orchards, pastures and hayfields, and abuts the Appalachian Trail.
The cost is $210 for the four-day program. Participants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend. To register, visit the Flying Cloud website, click here, or call 413-645-3058 with questions.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Waldorf School to host virtual Meet the Teachers event
GREAT BARRINGTON — Berkshire Waldorf School (formerly Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School) announces the appointment of Andrew Gilligan as first grade teacher for the 2022–23 school year. Families whose children will be six by September 1, 2022 and interested community members are invited to meet Mr. Gilligan, along with first grade subject teachers, at the school’s Meet the First Grade Teachers event Saturday, Jan. 29 at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. Parents and caregivers can register for this live, virtual, free event online or by contacting Admissions Director Robyn Coe at [email protected].
Gilligan is an experienced Waldorf educator who has taught children across the elementary and middle school grades, as well as early childhood, for the past 12 years. He is currently a class teacher at the Seattle Waldorf School, where he has taught 1st and 2nd grades for the past two years. Gilligan was a class teacher for 1st-4th grades and 6th-8th grades at Meadowbrook Waldorf School in Richmond, Rhode Island, where he was also a member of the board of trustees and the Core Group of Teachers, leaders of the fiscal and pedagogical decision-making for the school.
Gilligan earned his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Vermont, and completed both his elementary education and Waldorf education certificates, and his masters of education degree, at Antioch University New England.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Bounty mobile food drive set for February 1
GREAT BARRINGTON — Berkshire Bounty’s next Mobile Food Drive will be held Tuesday, Feb. 1 from 9-11 a.m.
Volunteers will again be collecting canned and/or packaged goods to be delivered to The People’s Pantry in Great Barrington. Volunteers will come to donors’ homes on February 1 between 9–11 a.m. Donations should be left on the doorstep by 9 a.m. Donations may also be dropped off at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire or The People’s Pantry.
Please consider a) donating canned and/or packaged food or b) driving to pick up food at donors’ home. If you are interested in participating, please email Berkshire Bounty at [email protected] and include what would like to do, your street address, email address, and best contact telephone number.
Foods in most demand are hearty soups, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, cooking oil, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate mix. If donating from your own pantry, please check expiration dates.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Pulse receives $10,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts
HOUSATONIC — Berkshire Pulse, a dance and performing arts education center located in downtown Housatonic, has been approved for a $10,000 Challenge America award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This award will support Moving Life Stories, a project offering movement and community-building activities to people of different ages, cultures, and communities, including recent immigrant families to the Berkshires. Pulse’s project is among 168 projects across America, totaling $1,680,000, that were selected to receive fiscal year 2022 funding in the Challenge America grant category.
“We are thrilled to have been selected to receive this grant,” said Pulse Artistic Director Bettina Montano. “It is validation of our belief that dance can provide people of many different cultures — and in particular, recent immigrants — with ways to engage in the arts, find community connections, adjust to cultural differences, and celebrate and share their heritage.”
Moving Life Stories is a free dance workshop series led by teaching artist and choreographer Tom Truss. Classes are held weekly at St. Stephen’s Church in Pittsfield and at the Pulse studios in Housatonic. Through partner organizations, including the Berkshire Immigrant Center, LitNet, and Volunteers in Medicine, Moving Life Stories serves recent immigrants and refugees, but is also open to local residents of all ages and backgrounds. Spanish translation is provided at each session. The workshops introduce participants to modern dance techniques, improvisation, storytelling, and dance-making. Through the process, participants find connections to one another and learn about the diverse cultures that make up our community. For more information or to participate, visit the Pulse website.
Moving Life Stories has also received support from the Lee Bank Foundation and Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Bridging Divides, Healing Communities Grant Program. The Challenge America program requires grantees to raise matching funds of $10,000 from community sources. Individuals and companies interested in supporting this project can call 413-274-6624 for more information or to make a donation.
—A.K.
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Alexis Fakelman completes conservation commission training program
EGREMONT — The Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions (MACC) has announced that Alexis Wreden Fakelman, a member of the Egremont Conservation Commission (ECC), has earned a certificate of achievement for successfully completing eight units of the MACC’s Fundamentals for Conservation Commissioners training program.
The fundamentals program provides conservation commissioners and others with the basic knowledge and practical tools essential to carrying out many responsibilities of administering the state Wetlands Protection Act and for open-space planning and protection. Such training promotes sound, consistent fact-based decision making and builds respect for commission determinations, says the MACC, whose training program is the only comprehensive program offered to those involved with the Wetlands Protection Act and open-space planning.
MACC says that by achieving her certificate, “Fakelman has shown dedication to the good work at the conservation commission to protect our natural resources for current and future generations.”
Fakelman received a master of fine arts in sculpture from Indiana University and a master of landscape architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She has taught drawing and design at Washington University in St. Louis, Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Architecture at Louisiana Tech University. Fakelman and her husband own an architectural and landscape design firm, Workingdesign.
—A.K.
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