MassDOT Launches Billboard Design Contest

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is launching a statewide billboard design contest to support the American Traffic Safety Services Association's (ATSSA) National Work Zone Awareness Week.  
 
The contest is open to all students who are currently enrolled in colleges and universities in Massachusetts.  
 
Applicants are asked to create and submit proposed billboard Public Service Announcements (PSA's) to encourage drivers to obey the rules of the road and exercise caution when travelling through work zones where crews are involved in active construction and maintenance projects.
 
"We hope this contest will raise awareness about steps drivers are required to take when they approach and travel through work zones on the highway," said Transportation Secretary and CEO Gina Fiandaca.  "Injuries and deaths on our roads are preventable if drivers obey traffic laws, including laws around moving over for road crews and traveling at lower speeds in work zones.  We want everyone traveling and everyone working on our highways to get home safe at the end of the day and that means drivers must obey speeds for work zones, must driver sober and hands free and should wear seat belts at all times."
 
National Work Zone Awareness Week is an annual event which brings attention to work zone safety and the theme for this year is, "You play a role in work zone safety. Work with us." Entries from college students for the MassDOT billboard contest must be submitted by 5:00 p.m., Friday, April 21. The winning designs will be selected based on creativity, impact, and relevance to this year's identified theme.
 
"Work zone safety awareness is an important message for MassDOT. Every year work zone safety crashes lead to unnecessary deaths on our roadways as well as traffic and project delays." said Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "We are excited to see the creative content and informational PSA's which will be submitted to help us communicate work zone safety on Massachusetts' roadways"
 
The top 3 designs will be displayed on a series of digital billboards along highways in Massachusetts throughout the 2023 construction season.
  • The submission selected for first place will be displayed on billboards for approximately three months.
  • The submission selected for second place will be displayed on billboards for approximately two months.
  • The submission selected for third place will be displayed on billboards for approximately one month.
The winning entries will be selected by a panel comprised of MassDOT senior managers. Entries will be judged on their visual appeal, adherence to the theme, quality of design, and ease of reproduction.   The winners will be notified via email and announced during the 2023 MassDOT Transportation Innovation Conference which is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, May 2, and on Wednesday, May 3.  In addition, entries will be posted on the Mass.gov website and communicated through MassDOT social media accounts.
 
For information on MassDOT's billboard design contest for National Work Zone Safety Week, including contest rules and requirements, eligibility, and submission guidelines, please visit: mass.gov/work-zone-billboard-contest-2023
 

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Classical Beat: Enjoy Great Music at Tanglewood, Sevenars Festivals

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires

As Tanglewood enters its fourth week, stellar performances will take center stage in Ozawa Hall and in the Koussevitsky Shed.

Why go? To experience world-class instrumental soloists, such as the stellar piano virtuoso Yuja Wang. Also not to be missed are the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, as well as visiting guest ensembles and BSO and TMC soloists as they perform chamber and orchestral masterworks by iconic composers Purcell, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wagner, Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Vaughan Williams and Ives.

In addition to Tanglewood, there are also outstanding performances to be enjoyed at the Sevenars Music Festival in South Worthington. Both venues present great music performed in acoustically resonant venues by marvelous performers.

Read below for the details for concerts from Wednesday, July 17-Tuesday, July 22.

Tanglewood

• Wednesday, July 17, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall • Recital Series: The phenomenal world-class piano virtuoso Yuja Wang presents a piano recital in Ozawa Hall.

• Thursday July 18, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall • Recital SeriesLes Arts Florissants, William Christie, Director and Mourad Merzouki, Choreographer presents a performance of Henry Purcell's ‘semi-opera'/Restoration Drama "The Fairy Queen."

• Friday, July 19, 8 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a program of Leonard Bernstein (the deeply moving, jazz-tinged Symphony No. 2 ("Age of Anxiety") and Brahms' glorious Symphony No. 3.

• Saturday, July 20, 8 p.m. in the Shed: BSO Maestro Andris Nelsons leads the Orchestra in a concert version of Richard Wagner's thrilling concluding music drama from his "Ring" cycle-tetralogy, "Götterdämmerung." The stellar vocal soloists include sopranos Christine Goerke and Amanda Majeske, tenor Michael Weinius, baritone James Rutherford, bass Morris Robinson and Rhine maidens Diana Newman, Renée Tatum and Annie Rosen.

• Sunday, July 21, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Nelsons leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) in a program of Ives (the amazingly evocative "Three Places in New England"), Beethoven (the powerful Piano Concerto No. 3 with soloist Emanuel Ax) and Richard Strauss ("Also sprach Zarathustra" — you'll recognize its iconic "sunrise" opening).

• Tuesday, July 22, 7:00 p.m. in the Shed • Popular Artist Series: Beck, with the Boston Pops, Edwin Outwater, conductor.

For tickets to all Tanglewood events, call 888-266-1200, or go to tanglewood.org.

Sevenars Music Festival

Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc., presents its 56th anniversary season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy in South Worthington, located at 15 Ireland St., just off Route 112.

• Sunday, July 21, at 4 p.m.: Sevenars is delighted to present violist Ron Gorevic, returning to Sevenars after his stunning Bach recital in 2023. This year, Gorevic will offer a groundbreaking program including music of Kenji Bunch, Sal Macchia, Larry Wallach, and Tasia Wu, the latter three composing especially for him. In addition, he'll offer Bach's magnificent Chaconne in D minor and Max Reger's 3rd Suite.

Hailed by The New York Times, Gorevic continues a long and distinguished career as a performer on both violin and viola. Along with solo recitals, he has toured the United States, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Australia, performing most of the quartet repertoire. In London, he gave the British premieres of pieces by Donald Erb and Ned Rorem. He has recorded for Centaur Records as soloist and member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet, and for Koch Records as a member of the Chester String Quartet.

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