WHAT’S HAPPENING IN AMHERST?

There is a lot going on in the Amherst area this winter. Here is a listing of some select events.

Every Saturday –All Winter Long.  Winter Farmer’s Market at the Hampshire Mall.  10 AM – 2 PM.  More Info here:  https://wfmhm.com

Saturday, January 18. 36th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Community Breakfast.  8:30 AM. Amherst Regional Middle School.
Speaker: Paul Wiley For more information look here.

Saturday,  January 18.  Fourth Annual Pioneer Valley Women’s March.
11 AM -3 PM, Northgate Center, Springfield.  For more information look here: https://pioneervalleywomensmarch.org

Saturday, January 18 and Sunday,  January 19.  Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater Presents Roald Dahl’s Matilda (the musical). Also  January 23-26 at Bowker Auditorium, UMass. For more information, look here or call 259-3065. To Purchase Tickets go here.

Wednesday January 22.  Public Interviews of Candidates for an Open Position on the Amherst Town Planning Board.  A special meeting of the Outreach, Communications and Appointments Committee of the Town Council (OCA).  6-8 PM.  Town Room, Town Hall.   The meeting is open to the public but no public comments will be allowed. Candidates are Robert Greeney, Jacob Hirsch, and Douglas Marshall.

Thursday January 23 – Sunday January 26. Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater presents Roald Dahl’s Matilda (the musical). Bowker Auditorium, UMass. For more information, look here or call 259-3065. To Purchase Tickets go here.

Thursday January 23.  Talk: “Can We Build Social Media That’s Good for Society?” with Ethan Zuckerman (rescheduled).  4-5 PM. UMass Integrative Learning Center, Communications Hub, 3rd floor . Zuckerman, director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, will explore the backlash against social media and what it would mean to build alternative social media systems designed to strengthen democratic society.

February, March and April..  Free UMass Music Faculty Concerts at Benzanson Recital Hall,  UMass.  Dates and times below.

Tues. Feb. 4, 7:30pm: Elizabeth Chang, violin & guest Steven Beck, piano Thurs. Feb. 6, 7:30pm: Greg Spiridopoulos, trombone & Nikki Stoia, piano Sun. Feb. 9, 4:30pm: Ayano Kataoka, percussion & guest Hiromi Fukuda, piano Wed. Feb. 12, 7:30pm: Faculty Chamber Series, Part III Thurs. Feb. 20, 7:30pm: Edward Arron, cello & guest Jeewon Park, piano Thurs. Mar. 5, 7:30pm: Faculty Jazz Concert Sun. Mar. 8, 4:30pm: Joshua Michal, horn & Ludmila Krasin, piano Sun. April 5, 4:30pm: Nadine Shank, piano with guest Gran Wilson, tenor & others Tues. April 28, 7:30pm: Gilles Vonsattel, piano   More info on the above concerts plus a full schedule of Music Department events can be found here.

Monday January 27. Community Sing Along with the Choir of We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Featuring Damien Sneed  6:30–8 p.m., Wesley United Methodist Church, 98 North Maple Street, Hadley (near the UMass Horse Farms). Free. For more information, send an email to Yvonne@umass.edu or call 545-4161.

Tuesday, January 28, 2020.We Shall Overcome Concert. , 7:30 p.m. Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, UMass. We Shall Overcome is a celebration of African-American music and the civil rights activists who have been inspired and electrified by the tradition. Interspersed with the spoken words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the evening brings together gospel and spirituals with jazz and Broadway tunes. The production is led by Damien Sneed, a conductor and composer whose unique understanding of these genres allows him to fluidly cover much musical ground. From Nina Simone to The Wiz, Stevie Wonder to traditional spirituals, it’s an evening of music that shows the lineage of these Civil Rights visionaries is still with us today.  Pre-performance talk on gospel music and Horace Clarence Boyer in the lobby at 6:30 p.m. by Stephanie Shonekan, chair of the UMass W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. Tix: $35, $25, $15; FAC Club Seating: $70; Five College Students and Youth 17 & Under: $10.

Friday January 31 – Saturday February 22.  Assorted Dates. UMass New Play Lab. Curtain Theater, UMass.  Two sisters working out family tensions amid a climate crisis and the settlement of Mars. Four meddling kids and a dog confront the unexplainable and question their identities. The pair of plays selected for this year’s UMass Theater New Play Lab use sci-fi conventions as a way to look at familiar issues from a new angle. Now in its seventh iteration, Play Lab offers our team of graduate student dramaturgs and director, as well as our cast of undergrads, the opportunity to work on selecting and shaping new work fresh from the brains of emerging playwrights.   Tix:  $5 students and seniors.  $7.50 general. More info here.

Event dates and times:
 January 31—February 1, 2020 7:30 pm
February 6, 2020 7:30 pm
February 8, 2020 2:00 pm
February 14—February 15, 2020 7:30 pm
February 20, 2020 7:30 pm
February 22, 2020 2:00 pm

Saturday February 1.  Reparations for Slavery: A discussion with Dr. Amilcar Shabazz.  10:15 AM to 12:15 PM.  First Congregations Church, 43 Silver Street. Greenfield.  Free (donations welcome).  Childcare available with advance request. Sponsored by Racial Justice Rising.  For more info: email@racialjusticerising.org or www.racialjusticerising.org.

Thursday February 6.  Amherst Arts Night Plus.  5-8 PM. Multiple venues in Amherst Center.  Amherst Arts Night Plus is a free cultural event held in and around downtown Amherst, MA. Each first Thursday of every month, from 5-8PM, participating venues host gallery openings, concerts, lectures, and other creative events. For a listing of current shows, visit the “This Month” link in the main menu above. More info here:

Friday February 28. Black Art Matters Festival. Meade Art Museum, Amherst College.  5-8 PM.   Join the Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center and the Mead as we conclude Black History Month with the Black Art Matters Festival, a visual art exhibition and performance showcase highlighting the work and artistic talent of Black student artists across the Five Colleges. All are invited for salon-style viewing of visual art, followed by a night of live music, spoken word, dance, and more! This program is offered in collaboration with the Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center, the Department of Black Studies at Amherst College, Student Activities, and AAS.Free and open to all!  More information here:

Saturday February 29.  Climbathon for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County.  A Fundraiser for BBBS. 12-3PM Central Rock Gym, Hadley. $30. Registration. Register by FEB 22 at www.centralrockgym.com/hadley