What’s Happening In Amherst?

There is a lot happening in Amherst this spring – much of it still virtual. We’re relaunching this feature after a year plus hiatus and we’ll do our best to keep you posted on happenings around town and on the web.

IN PERSON EVENTS
SATURDAY April 17- SATURDAY November 20. Amherst Farmers Market every Saturday from 7:30 a.m – 1:30 p.m, rain or shine through November 20. The market will continue with COVID protocols initiated last summer with vendors spread across the wide space of the Town Common. Face coverings are required and customers will travel in one direction past the stalls with plenty of space for social distancing. Read more here. 

SATURDAY April 24 and SUNDAY April 25. Free Pop-Up Bach Concerts In Downtown Amherst.Three free outdoor pop-up concerts have been scheduled for downtown Amherst to coincide with the biannual Bach Festival and Symposium.  The concerts have been organized by the UMass Department of Music and Dance and will feature local musicians. Masking and appropriate distancing will be required at all concerts. The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, April 24, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. on the Amherst Common.
Sunday April 25,  1 p.m. on the lawn of the Amherst History Museum (cancelled due to anticipated rain)
Sunday April 25,.2:30 p.m. on the patio of Amherst Works (cancelled due to anticipated rain)

SATURDAY May 1. Free Popup Outdoor Concert. UMass Wind Ensemble. Sweetser Park. Noon. Live
Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy live music at Sweetser Park, off Main Street at Lessey Street. Please observe social distancing and wear a face covering. Attendance is limited to 150 as per state guidelines. Includes Kim Archer’s Fanfare Politeia, written for Kamala Harris’ inauguration, and John Williams’ Star Wars Trilogy.    More info =>

VIRTUAL EVENTS
SATURDAY APRIL 24. Challenge To Support A Violence-Free Community. The Center For Women and Community (CWC) invites the public to the first CWC Community Challenge on April 24 2021. April marks the 20th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) – a national movement to increase both awareness and prevention of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse.  CWC Community Challenge is a way for anyone to get involved in the movement to support survivors and a violence-free community. The CWC Community Challenge is like a walk-a-thon with more options.  In the spirit of increasing ways to get involved: participants can choose a personalized challenge, either individually or as a team, and decide if they want to raise money and/or awareness for the free Sexual Assault Support, Advocacy and Prevention Services that CWC provides to Hampshire County.  Learn more and register to participate in the challenge at umass.edu/cwc/challenge 

SATURDAY April 24. Virtual Town Hall On The Amherst Regional Public School Budget. Join Sunrise Amherst and Defund413 Amherst for a virtual Town Hall on Saturday, April 24. Learn how the Amherst Regional Public Schools’ proposed budget cut is harmful to our community and why we need to redistribute some of the funding for the Amherst Police Department to our schools. Listen to the experiences of ARPS students and educators, and learn what you can do to take action before the budget is approved! 8 p.m. on Zoom. REGISTER FOR FREE: bit.ly/32gMXAQ

SATURDAY April 24. Jazz Performance: The New Immigrant Experience. UMass Professor Felipe Salles and his 19-piece Interconnections Ensemble will present a performance of The New Immigrant Experience that will be streamed live from Northampton’s Academy of Music at 8 p.m. The concert is the last of a three-concert series titled “We Are All Immigrants: Jazz Reflections on Today’s America,” produced by Laudable Productions as part of “Third Row Live,” a partnership with arts organizations that offers virtual events for audiences around the globe. The series also included performances by fellow Latinx artists Claudia Acuña and Magos Herrera who share Salles’ commitment to recognizing the struggles and contributions of immigrants through music. The April 24 performance will be preceded by an investigative panel discussion at 3 p.m. that will examine the work’s sociopolitical context. Tickets for the performance and the pre-concert discussion can be purchased here.

SUNDAY April 25. Virtual Daffodil Run For Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County. More information and registration here. (registration deadline 8 p.m. on 4/25)

MONDAY April 26. The People’s Town Hall with State Senator Jo Comerford.  Registration is required. Registrants should have immediately received a confirmation email from Zoom with instructions on how to join. If you didn’t receive a confirmation email from Zoom, please try registering again here, or contact Sam the Senator’s office:: samantha.hopper@masenate.gov for assistance.

TUESDAY April 27. Symposium On Reparations.Reparations for Amherst (R4A) will sponsor a symposium on reparations on April 27, 2021 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. The session will focus on the findings of the R4A research team’s investigations of racial disparities in Amherst and will also present reflections from R4A’s founders, Michele Miller and Matthew Andrews, on doing this work as White people in a progressive New England town. The event is free and open to the public, and can be joined at: tinyurl.com/5c4h8cwx

TUESDAY April 27 Virtual Discussion On Pandemic’s Impact On Working Women. 6:00-7:30 PM. Sponsored by the Hampshire-Franklin Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Participants in this event will leave with a better understanding of the region’s financial landscape, realities of women in our area, issues that women are facing at their workplaces, and tools for financial autonomy. To receive the Zoom link to this virtual event, send an email to bmaccracken.hfcswg@gmail.com. For more information, look here: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/HFCSWG

WEDNESDAY April 28. Distinguished Jazz Lecture. Felipe Salles, Professor of Jazz & African-American Music Studies in the UMass Music & Dance Department, will present the Annual Distinguished Professor Lecture titled “The New Immigrant Experience: The Creation of a Multi-Media Jazz Work,” April 28, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. via Zoom. (Click here to register.) Q&A session afterward. More information here. 

THURSDAY April 29: Mobilizing Community Driven Approaches To Food Security. A Virtual Conversation.
The public is invited to join MA Representative Mindy Domb and representatives from the Amherst Mobile Market, Common Share Food Co-op and Western MA Regenerative Food Network on April 29 to discuss community driven approaches to food security.  The conversation will be streamed on Zoom and Facebook.  The program includes:Screening of the mini-documentary Amherst Mobile Market, Cultivating Change, hearing from resident leaders about how they are working to increase food insecurity in their own communities, and learning how to get involved with community driven approaches to food security in Amherst. Register here to join the event on Zoom or watch live on Facebook. Spanish translation will be provided on Zoom.

THURSDAY April 29. Redistricting 101: Why Should We Care? What’s At Stake?  7-8 p.m.  An virtual forum featuring former Massachusetts Senate President  Stan Rosenberg and State Representative Michael Moran, chair of the House Redistricting  Committee. Registration required. Sponsored by the The Amherst League of Women Voters.

THURSDAY April 29. 4 p.m. The Annual Dean Alfange Lecture in American Constitutionalism. Boston University Law School Dean Angela Onwauchi-Willig, speaking on “Obergefell v. Hodges and the Interest-Convergence Dilemma,” the landmark case granting same-sex marriage equality across the United States. Free and open to the public on Zoom. Please register. More information here.

THURSDAY April 29. The Silk Road Ensemble :Virtual Event. 7 p.m. Members of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble present highlights from their 20+-year trajectory, including original compositions and traditional repertoire with global reach. The performance will be immediately followed by a live Q&A featuring Silkroad artists and special guests.Access is $12 per household or device and will be available for 72 hours. Silkroad creates music that engages difference, sparking radical cultural collaboration and passion-driven learning for a more hopeful and inclusive world. Conceived by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, Silkroad artists seek and practice this mission in many forms—creating and presenting new music, teacher and musician training workshops, social impact initiatives, and serving as the home for the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble. Tickets here: fac.umass.edu/Online/default.asp

FRIDAY April 30 and SATURDAY May 1 Symposium: Truth, Dissent and The Legacy of Daniel Ellsberg. Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, Amy Goodman, Frances FitzGerald, John Dean, Elizabeth Holtzman, Fredrik Logevall, Beatrice Fihn, Hedrick Smith, and many other distinguished historians, journalists, activists, whistleblowers, and former policymakers explore the major issues that have engaged Ellsberg’s life: the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons, antiwar resistance, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, and the wars of the 21st century. Registration (free) here. Full schedule of events and podcasts here.

SATURDAY May 1. Virtual Gathering To Support Vaccine Equity. 7 p.m. on Zoom. The western MA-based People for Global Vaccine Equity has launched a fundraising campaign, with donations to be divided among the nonprofits Oxfam America, Justice is Global, Public Citizen and Right to Health Action. The campaign will culminate in the Global Vaccine Equity Gathering on Zoom. Emceed by Phil Straub, DJ at WRSI in western Massachusetts, the event will include music, poetry and international guests speaking about vaccine efforts around the world. Register for the event here.  

SATURDAY MAY 1. Faculty Wind Concert. 2:30 PM on YouTube Live. Music by Nina Shakhar, Pierre Gabaye, Valerie Coleman, Gernot Wolfgang, Cassie Wieland, and Paquito D’Rivera More info =>

SUNDAY May 2. UMass Brass and Wind Chamber Ensemble. 3 PM via YouTube Live. World premiere of Volition by alumnus Brian Martin, plus music by Bach, Whitacre, Morales, Stevens, Cervantes, & others     More info =>

SUNDAY May 9. UMass Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Tributes .2PM via YouTube. Catherine Jensen-Hole, director
Music by Fred Tillis, Billy Taylor & others    More=>

 WEDNESDAY, May 12. UMass Jazz Ensemble. 7:30PM via YouTube. Music by Don Grolnick, Billy Taylor, Sammy Nestico, Andrew Wilcox (G ’22) & others     More=>