Morningside Initiative Hosting Neighborhood Business Group

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Morningside Initiative is hosting a meeting of the Tyler Street Business Group on Tuesday, May 11, at 7:30 a.m. at the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority office, 81 Kellogg St. 

The purpose of the meeting is to give support to the business community on Tyler Street and Dalton Avenue, and to give them a voice in shaping the future of their community by helping promote its positive attributes, while increasing quality of life.

The Pittsfield Police Department and city councilors will be in attendance to answer questions. This meeting is open to anyone who runs a business on Tyler Street and Dalton Avenue. The Morningside Initiative's mission is to preserve and restore the integrity of the neighborhood and empower residents. 

Crane Gives $100 Bill High-Tech Touch

DALTON, Mass. — Crane & Co. officials were on hand this morning as the new $100 bill was unveiled in the U.S. Treasury Department's Cash Room in Washington. The Dalton printer has been making the specialized paper for the nation's folding currency for more than 100 years.
 
The bill includes a variety of high-tech additions to help defeat counterfeiting; the U.S. $100 bill is the most widely counterfeited note.

Find out the cool things happening on the new $100 bill.

"As the supplier of the paper used to produce the redesigned $100 bill, Crane & Co. worked diligently to provide the Bureau of Engraving & Printing with paper that contains an updated suite of security elements," said Douglas Crane, vice president, in a statement. "These features were designed to address the government's twin objectives of elevating the security of the world's most recognized banknote, while at the same time enhancing its ease of use — both of which serve to support and extend the public’s confidence in the banknote."

The security includes a micro-optic "Motion" feature that creates simulated images on the security thread that appear to move as the bill is tilted and also switches from one image to another — from $100 to the Liberty Bell — in an stylized inkwell. That should create a major challenge to potential counterfeiters, said Crane.

The bill also has the traditional anti-counterfeit devices like scattered blue and red fibers, a facial watermark of Ben Franklin, embedded security thread that glows under ultraviolet and darker number watermarks.

Crane officials will be demonstrating the bill's new attributes at the Dalton mill on Friday to a select group of officials and press that includes iBerkshires.

SBA to Hold Recovery Expo

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The U.S. Small Business Administration will hold a Business Recovery Expo on Thursday, May 6, on the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus.

The event will include a panel discussion with SBA Massachusetts District Director Robert H. Nelson, Mayor Richard J. Alcombright, Berkshire Chamber of Commerce President Michael Supranowicz, and Andre M. Porter, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

The panel will be followed by an exposition; there will be two free workshops on business financing and SBA programs after the expo.

The expo runs from 8:30 to noon on the second floor of Murdock Hall. Seating is limited; RSVP to to P. Edgardo Tarrats, SBA branch manager, at 413-785-0484 or p.edgardo.tarrats@sba.gov

For more information on the SBA's economic recovery initiatives, visit  www.sba.gov/recovery/information/index.html

Tricks of the Trade Focuses on Arts Residencies

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Art is serious business and one of the best ways to learn locally how to prosper is through the Tricks of the Trade series offered through the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center.

The 4-year-old series concludes the season with three workshops on "How Can You Secure a Residency?" with local artists and directors. The workshops run Tuesday through Thursday, April 13-15, at 6:30 p.m. in three locations.

Local artist and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor Melanie Mowinski leads all three sessions. The first, on April 13 at MCLA Gallery 51 on Main Street, will be with Heather Phillips, director of the Contemporary Artist Center at Woodside in Troy, N.Y. The center was founded in North Adams and has nurtured artists over the past two decades.

Artist C. Ryder Cooley is featured April 14 at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in Pittsfield. Cooley is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and musician. She is the creator of "Animalia: Stories of Collapse, Calamity and Departure," an animation, a performance and an illustrated artist book.

Calliope Nicholas, residency director of Millay Colony for the Arts in Austerlitz, N.Y., finishes up the series on April 15 at IS183 Art School in Stockbridge. The Millay Colony offers one-month residencies to visual artists, composers and writers. Nicholas is also director of the Film Columbia Festival in Chatham, N.Y., and producer of an affiliated high school film program.

"We have priced, branded, written about, showed and schmoozed about our work," said Jessica Conzo, BCRC director, of the previous workshops. "Now it is time to find the time and space to be inspired and create new work."

The sessions are free and open to the public with advance registration. For more information or to register, contact Conzo at 413-663-5253.

BCRC is a program of MCLA. The arts program is produced in collaboration with Berkshire Creative, Pittsfield's Office of Cultural Development and IS183 Art School.

Social Media Marketing is Focus of Upcoming Visitors Bureau Conference

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Visitors Bureau wants to help the local travel industry harness the power of social media. On Thursday, April 8, the organization will host its "Eye on Travel 2010" conference at the Crowne Plaza, with the theme "Social Media Marketing."

The program, which runs from 1 to 5 p.m., includes a keynote by Ethan Zuckerman, senior researcher at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and sessions on social media as it relates to customer service, how to use social media effectively, and emerging trends. For a full program, click here.

Conference fees are $69 for bureau or area chamber of commerce members; $99 for nonmembers. The registration deadline is Thursday, April 1.

For more information or to register, click here.

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