Clark Art Presents Constant Smiles and Ava Mirzadegan

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute's Music at the Manton Concert spring series concludes with a performance by Constant Smiles and Ava Mirzadegan on Sunday, May 5 at 5 pm.
 
The performance takes place in the Clark's auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.
 
According to a press release:
 
Constant Smiles began in 2009 in leader Ben Jones' home of Martha's Vineyard. Inspired by the island's now-defunct community record store Aboveground Records, the group made their live debut as a noise duo opening for Ralph White (Bad Livers). Fourteen indie-folk albums later, Constant Smiles returns to their electronic roots with their latest release Kenneth Anger, evoking the eponymous filmmaker with hypnotic, '80s-inspired synth classics that examine how rituals and community can heal feelings of isolation.
 
Ava Mirzadegan opens for Constant Smiles. Mirzadegan writes quiet songs about heartbreak, longing, letting go, and befriending the night sky. Accompanied most often by fingerpicked nylon string guitar, her work rings of unembellished honesty.
 
Tickets $10 ($8 members, $7 students, $5 children 15 and under). Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. Advance registration encouraged. For more information and to register, visit clarkart.edu/events.
 
Presented in collaboration with Belltower Records, North Adams.

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Williamstown Housing Trust Advised on Future Planning

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the Affordable Housing Trust last week met with a consultant from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership to talk about what sorts of initiatives the trustees should explore.
 
"This is a common place for trusts to get to," said Shelly Goehring, the senior program manager at MHP. "The needs in our communities are great. The resources are never enough. So figuring out how to move forward can be a struggle."
 
Goehring provided a statewide perspective on some of the projects that have been funded by trusts in other municipalities. And she told the local board that it should develop a mission statement to bring its work into focus.
 
"If you don't have a mission statement, I think taking some time to develop a simple statement to identify your niche and your role in the community is helpful," Goehring said, telling the trustees that she could not find a mission statement on the AHT's page on the town's website. "If you have one, maybe relook at it.
 
"[The mission statement] also helps the community understand how you see your role and what you're focused on. Having this on the webpage could be really useful."
 
Although the AHT board has never gone through a mission statement exercise, it can look to the "purpose" clause in the 2012 bylaw that created the trust, which reads:
 
"The purpose of the Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust shall be to provide for the creation and preservation of affordable housing in the Town of Williamstown for the benefit of low- and moderate-income households and for the funding of community housing, as defined in and in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 44B. Without limiting the foregoing, such purposes shall include the acquisition, creation, preservation and support of community housing."
 
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