MCLA Announces Music, Gallery and Theater Performances for Winter, Spring Semester

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Department of Fine and Performing Arts at MCLA announced the Winter/Spring 2024 programming including cultural events, exhibitions, performances, workshops, and musical experiences.

According to a press release:

MCLA Gallery 51

The first exhibition of 2024 will examine the entangled histories of ecology and migration. "Unfortunately It Was Paradise" features three artists, Lorena Molina, Larissa Rogers, and Jumana Manna, who address how ecology surfaces in our memory, imagination, and present that are shaped by the legacies of slavery, war, and settler colonialism. The show is on view through March 29. To close the semester, the gallery will feature work from a variety of MCLA students from April 15 to May 11 with an opening reception on April 18 from 5 to 7 p.m.

MCLA Theater MainStage Performance

This March the Fornés Festival returns with "The Summer in Gossensass" by María Irene Fornés and directed by Laura Standley, associate professor of Fine and Performing Arts at MCLA. The show will run from April 4 to 6 at Williams College's 62' Center. "The Summer in Gossensass," tells the story of two American actresses living in London during the 1890s who launch the first English language version of the play HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen.

MOSAIC Performance

On April 7, the internationally acclaimed Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band will take the stage at the MCLA Church Street Center at 7 p.m. The Wheels improvise with the intimacy of chamber music and the intensity of a rowdy dance band. Their engaging contemporary interpretation of Jewish music is irresistible to audiences ranging from elementary school students to the judges at the International Jewish Music Festival, who heralded them as "a true musical democracy."

MCLA Theater Developmental Workshop Musical

To close out the theater season, a developmental workshop musical titled "Emma When You Need Her," written by Bendetti Fellow Rudy Ramirez, and directed by MCLA Fine and Performing Arts Associate Professor Jeremy Winchester. It will take place at the Church Street Center from April 26-28. The Spring Music Concert, featuring MCLA Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir, and Studio Students, will take place on April 29 at 7 p.m. at the Church Street Center.

Neal Secures $700,000 for North Adams Flood Chutes Project

12:13PM / Friday, May 17, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey at last August's signing of an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — U.S. Rep. Richard Neal has secured $700,000 in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' budget to complete a feasibility study of the Hoosic River flood chutes.  

 

The Corps of Engineers is in the midst of a three-year, $3 million study of the aging concrete flood chutes that control the passage of the river through the city. 

 

North Adams has ponied up $500,000 as part of its share of the study and another $1.5 million is expected to come from state and federal coffers. Neal previously secured $200,000 in the fiscal 2023 omnibus spending package to begin the feasibility study. 

 

The additional funding secured by Neal will allow for the completion of the study, required before the project can move on to the next phase.

 

Neal celebrated it as a significant step in bringing the flood chutes project to fruition, which he said came after several months of communication with the Corps.

 

"The residents of North Adams have long advocated for much needed improvements to the city's decades-old flood chutes. This announcement is a substantial victory for the city, one that reaffirms the federal government's commitment to making this project a reality," said the congressman. "As a former mayor, I know firsthand the importance of these issues, especially when it comes to the safety and well-being of residents. 

 

"That is why I have prioritized funding for this project, one that will not only enhance protections along the Hoosic River Basin and reduce flood risk, but also make much critical improvements to the city's infrastructure and create jobs."