What’s Happening in Amherst?

by Art and Maura Keene

The students are back and there is a lot happening around town. You can help us make our events calendar more comprehensive by sending us your listings and including contact information and/or a link for more information. Send events listings to amherstindy@gmail.com.

SINGLE DAY EVENTS

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: LATE NIGHT GARDEN PARTY AT THE EMILY DICKINSON MUSEUM.  With Marilyn Nelson and Abigail Chabitnoy. Saturday, Sept. 30, 7p.m . Hybrid Program — In-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum and streaming live for online registrants Join us for a party in Emily Dickinson’s garden (in-person or virtually) for a celebration of creativity and poetry! Our headlining poets, Marilyn Nelson and Abigail Chabitnoy, read from their work and discuss their poetic practice and inspiration with Terry Bonhurst Blackhawk. Stay for music by Daphne Parker Powell, refreshments, and book signing under our heated Festival tent.  Register at https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/tell-it-slant-2023-schedule/ .

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: READING – AN EVENING WITH JOHN LITHGOW. The Friends of the Jones Library invite you to join John Lithgow at Johnson Chapel, Amherst College, Amherst.   Free & open to the public: donations upon registration are encouraged.   For more information & to register go to the  Jones Library Website.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 1: BANDTOBERFEST. 2 to 5 p.m. Amherst Town Common. Free. A family-friendly outdoor musical celebration of fall with the UMass Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band. Matthew Westgate and Lindsay Bronnenkant, conductors. Lunch, drinks, and snacks available for purchase from nearby downtown restaurants and food trucks, or bring your own picnic. Co-sponsored by the Amherst Business Improvement District.

MONDAY OCTOBER 2: NANO STERN: FILM SCREENING, DISCUSSION, PERFORMANCE. 7:30 p.m. Bowker Auditorium, UMass. This event will include the North American premiere of Stern and Luis Emilio Briceño’s film We’ll Be Singing by September, as well as a live performance by Stern followed by question-and-answer with the singer-songwriter and political activist. The film explores the history, development and transcendence of Chilean music during the socialist government of Allende, and examines the importance of the resistance music form Nueva Cancion through a series of interviews while featuring some of the movement’s most prominent figures. TIX: $15-$20.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3: CANDIDATES’ FORUM – AMHERST TOWN COUNCIL. Candidates for Town Council in Amherst will participate in a forum moderated by members of the UMass Amherst chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the honor society for political science majors, on Tuesday, October. 3 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium in Stockbridge Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3: TRANSFORMED: AMHERST CINEMA
Transformed, a four-part series amplifying trans stories, representation and filmmakers, will be shown on Amherst Cinema screens in September and October. During these four weeks, audiences are invited to explore and experience trans storytelling, fostering an appreciation for trans filmmaking as an enduring and essential part of American cinema. DISCLOSURE paired with a Cinema Seminar at 7:00 p.m. Film Screening at 8:00 p.m. Directed by Sam Feder. 2020. 108 mins. TV-MA
More information

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3: HUMAN RIGHTS TALK BY DERECKA PURNELL. 4:30 p.m. at the new Amherst College Lyceum, 197 South Pleasant Street. Purnell is a human rights lawyer, writer, & author of Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, & the Pursuit of Freedom.   She works to end police & prison violence by providing legalassistance, research, & training in community based organizations through an abolitionist framework.   For more information go to the Amherst College Calendar.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3: ROBERT HAYASHI BOOK LAUNCH PARTY. 6:30 p.m. Amherst Books, 8 Main Street. Join Amherst College professor Robert Hayashi in celebrating the publication of his new book, Fields of Play: Sport, Race, and Memory in the Steel City.   Hayashi teaches American Studies & is author of the previous book, Haunted by Waters: A Journey through Race & Place in the American West.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3: THE CURE FOR HATE. PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN OUR SCHOOLS AND BEYOND. 7-8:30 p.m. on Zoom. Free and open to the public. Karuna Center for Peacebuilding’s BRAVE Schools project will hold a screening and discussion based on the documentary film “The Cure for Hate: Bearing Witness to Auschwitz.” This 2023 film weaves together the history of the Nazis with the life story of a former North American neo-Nazi who is now an anti-hate activist, as he visits the memorial to the million Jews murdered at Auschwitz. This live Zoom discussion will include Tony McAleer, who is the former white supremacist featured in the film; his co-trainer in preventing hate, Robert Orell; Holocaust educator Cara Crandall, who is an English teacher in Longmeadow; and Scott Dredge, an anti-bullying trainer and Assistant Principal at Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield. Register for link and more information

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5: OPENING RECEPTION FOR REGENERATION – THINGS THAT FALL AT OUR FEET. Gallery A3. 28 Amity Street 1D. 5-8 p.m. Free and open to the public. Sue Katz and Rebecca Muller work with found objects, renewing, restoring, and rearranging a variety of natural and man-made materials, to infuse them with new meaning across multiple media. More information

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5: OPENING RECEPTION FOR CAPTURED MOMENTS – ACRYLIC AND PASTEL PAINTINGS BY KIMBERLY A. BEAUREGARD. Jones Library. 43 Amity Street. 5:30 – 7:30 pm, with complimentary refreshments.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5: CANDIDATE FORUM. CANDIDATES FOR TOWN COUNCIL. 7-9 p.m. Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Amherst. 7-8 p.m. -candidates for District seats. 8-9 p.m. candidates for at large seats.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5: AN EVENING WITH BRANFORD MARSALIS. 7:30 pm. Frederick Tillis Performance Hall, UMass. Currently comprising pianist Joey Calderazzo, double bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulker, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard by which other ensembles of its kind should be measured.  TIX: $15-$75

SUNDAY OCTOBER 8: READING BY HILARY ZAID. 1 p.m., Amherst Books, 8 Main Street. Oakland, California’s Hilary Zaid will talk about her new novel Forget I Told You This with UMass professor Adrian Staub.   In her new novel, which is the inaugural winner of the Barbara DiBernard Award, Amy Black, a queer single mother & an aspiring artist in love with calligraphy, dreams of a coveted artist’s residency at the world’s largest social media company, Q.   A stranger asks Amy to transcribe a love letter for him & then suddenly disappears.   Amy’s search for the letter’s recipient leads her straight to Q— & to a group of data privacy vigilantes who want her to burn Q to the ground.    Forget I Told You This is novel about what it means to see & be seen in an age of surveillance capitalism

TUESDAY OCTOBER 10: BACKPORCH SONGWRITERS SERIES – THE SONGS OF GILLIAN WELCH. The Drake, 44 North Pleasant Street, 8 p.m.. Tix: $20. adv. $25 day of show. The Back Porch Songwriter Series started in 2017 as part of the Back Porch Festival in Northampton. To date this series has paid tribute to songwriting legends Townes Van Zandt, Dolly Parton, Doc Watson and John Prine.  This fall the series moves to the Drake in Amherst for a monthly set of shows paying tribute to Gillian Welch, Merle Haggard and Nanci Griffith.  Each show features the Deep River Ramblers (Chris Brashier, Jim Henry and Paul Kochanski) as the house band with several guest artists joining in for the evening. The series kicks off on October 10 with a tribute to Gillian Welch, a multi-Grammy winning artist who has released a series of critically-acclaimed albums since her debut in 1996.  Her songs have been covered by many artists including Miranda Lambert, Emmylou Harris and Tom Jones.  The special guests joining in for this show include Rani Arbo, Lisa Bastoni, Abby Gardner and Peter Mulvey. Full calendar of events

TUESDAY OCTOBER 10: TRANSFORMED – AMHERST CINEMA. Transformed, a four-part series amplifying trans stories, representation and filmmakers, will be shown on Amherst Cinema screens in September and October. During these four weeks, audiences are invited to explore and experience trans storytelling, fostering an appreciation for trans filmmaking as an enduring and essential part of American cinema. SHORTS PROGRAM. 7:00 p.m. Directed by Elliott Montague, Tourmaline, Sasha Wortzel, and others. 93 mins. No Rating. More information

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 11: SINGER SONGWRITER STEPHANIE POETRI. Frederick Tillis Performance Hall, UMass. 8 p.m. With more than a million subscribers on YouTube, 1.2 million followers on Instagram, and more than three million likes on TikTok, Stephanie Poetri has made quite the impact in her young career. A natural-born storyteller born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Poetri prides herself on transforming stories from movies, friends, and experiences into captivating lyrics that transcend age, demographics, and geographical borders. With the release of her breakout hit, “I Love You 3000,” currently viewed over 163 million times on Youtube, Poetri finds herself among the biggest names associated with going viral. Tix: $15-30.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12: AMAZING TRUE STORIES OF QUEER HISTORY. Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. Woodbury Room. 7-8 p.m. Join author Sarah Prager as she shares fascinating stories from LGBTQ+ history you’ve never heard before.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12: BOUNDLESS CURATOR TALK. Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, 41 Quadrangle Drive. Heid Erdrich, a member of the Ojibwe people of Minnesota and curator of the Mead’s exhibit of Native American writers will give a talk on Thursday, October 12. Time to be determined. See https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/events

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12: CANDIDATE FORUM. CANDIDATES FOR LIBRARY TRUSTEES AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 7-9 p.m. Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Amherst. 7-8 p.m. candidates for Library Trustee. 8-9 p.m. candidates for School Committee.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12: ARTS, SUSTAINABILITY, AND ACTIVISM INTERDISCIPLINARY DISCUSSION. 4 P.M. Bromery Center for the Performing Arts Lobby. Free event. Join featured artist Sirintip, Dr. Shaina Sadai of the Union of Concerned Scientists and others in this meeting of minds working at the intersection of climate change, science, literature, performing arts, and social justice.
This discussion will be moderated by UMass professor Malcolm Sen.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 13: FREE CONCERT LOUISVILLE BRASS QUINTET: Bezanson Recital Hall, UMass. 7:30 p.m. Free. Performing works by Higdon, DiLorenzo, Bernstein, Nathan, Wilborn, Jan Bach and others. Founded in 1993, Louisville Brass is the resident brass chamber ensemble at the University of Louisville School of Music. Comprised exclusively of School of Music faculty, Louisville Brass is committed to artistic performance and to the sharing of knowledge of literature and styles through clinics and master classes. The ensemble is well-versed in a wide range of styles, and the repertoire list ranges from the Renaissance to jazz.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 17: NORMAN FINKELSTEIN, THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE. 7 p.m. Integrative Learning Center (ILC) at UMass, 3d Floor Communications Department hub. Norman Finkelstein is one of the most original and controversial scholars of our time. Sponsored by the Department of Communication, Department of History, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Department of Philosophy, The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Resistance Studies, the Media Education Foundation, and Interlink Books. For more information, contact Sut Jhally (sutj@umass.edu). Free and open to the public.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 17: JONNY STEINBERG, WINNIE AND NELSON: PORTRAIT OF A MARRIAGE. 4:30 p.m. Old Chapel, UMass. Jonny Steinberg, two-time winner of South Africa’s premier nonfiction prize, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, will discuss his double biography about Winnie and Nelson Mandela. The struggle of Winnie and Nelson was not only against apartheid, but also with and against each other. Theirs is a story not to be forgotten. Steinberg will be joined in conversation with Stephen Clingman, Distinguished Professor of English. Free and open to the public.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 17: TRANSFORMED – AMHERST CINEMA.Transformed, a four-part series amplifying trans stories, representation and filmmakers, will be shown on Amherst Cinema screens in September and October. During these four weeks, audiences are invited to explore and experience trans storytelling, fostering an appreciation for trans filmmaking as an enduring and essential part of American cinema. KOKOMO CITY. 7:00 p.m. Directed by D. Smith. 2023. 73 mins. R. More information

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18: NORMAN FINKELSTEIN, WHY HOLOCAUST DENIERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK. 12 noon. Integrative Learning Center (ILC) at UMass, 3d Floor, Communications Department hub. Sponsored by the Department of Communication, Department of History, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Department of Philosophy, The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Resistance Studies, the Media Education Foundation, and Interlink Books. For more information, contact Sut Jhally (sutj@umass.edu). Free and open to the public.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18: NORMAN FINKELSTEIN. W.E.B. DU BOIS VS. WOKE CULTURE. 6:30 p.m. 106 Thompson, UMass. Sponsored by the Department of Communication, Department of History, Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Department of Philosophy, The Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Resistance Studies, the Media Education Foundation, and Interlink Books. For more information, contact Sut Jhally (sutj@umass.edu ) Free and open to the public.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 24: DEAN CYCON: FINDING HOME. 7 to 8 p.m., Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. Join us on Tuesday, October 24, from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm to hear Dean Cycon read from his new novel, Finding Home (Hungary, 1945) and talk about his research and motivation for writing the book. He will be accompanied by noted Klezmer musicians Jason Ditzian (clarinet) and Bea Carlson (accordion) – both members of Western Mass-based ensemble, Myrtle Street Klezmer.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 28: JEWISH COMMUNITY OF AMHERST POETRY READING. 7 p.m. 742 Main Street. An Evening of Poetry with JCA Rabbi Benjamin Weiner, JCA Poet-in-Residence Jena Schwartz, and JCA congregant/National Jewish Book Award Winner Richard Michelson. Join us for a short Havdalah Service, followed by poetry, schmoozing and refreshments. Fully accessible, free, everyone is welcome! Zoom access available: https://form.jotform.com/223206560189152 

ONGOING AND MULTI-DAY EVENTS
FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH. RAINBOW COFFEE HOUR. 10-11 a.m. Amherst Senior Center, Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. The Rainbow Coffee Hour is a new LGBTIA+ social coffee group for ages 50 and above. Join us for this welcoming space to socialize. No format, no agenda, just community. The July coffee hour will be held on July 11, due to July 4 being the first Tuesday of the month.

FIRST AND THIRD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH (EXCLUDING JULY): NORTHAMPTON JAZZ WORKSHOP. The Drake. 44 North Pleasant Street. 7:30 p.m. Free (donations accepted). Featuring the Green Street trio with a special guest. Featured set at 7:30 followed by an open jam session. Bring your axe. Full calendar of events here.

SECOND TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH (EXCLUDING JULY): OPEN MIC NIGHT AT THE DRAKE. 44 North Pleasant Street. Free event. Performers arrive by 5:30 p.m. Stage time: 6 p.m – 10 p.m. All ages. Younger performers will be slotted earler. All performers and styles of performances welcome, including but not limited to: music (of all kinds) – acoustic, folk, rock, hip hop, jazz, classical, etc…comedy, spoken word / readings, poetry, dance, performance art. House rules and more information.

FIRST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: MOBILE FOOD PROGRAM. 1-2 p.m. The Boulders, 156 Brittany Manor Drive. Free produce. No registration necessary. Open to everyone. Brought by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the Amherst Survival Center. The Food Bank truck will be in the parking lot near apartments 115-125.

LAST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: CRAFT AND CONVERSE. Mill District General Store and Local Art Gallery, 91 Cowls Road. 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Are you tired of creating in solitude? Looking to connect with other artistic individuals? Grab your sketchbook, knitting bag, or water color gear and join our monthly coworking group! Craft and converse, hosted by Easthampton artist Kaia Zimmerman, is held the last Wednesday of every month from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. This welcoming, intentional space is designed for community members to come together for a casual, social evening while pursuing their own creative projects. Drop-ins welcome, but registration encouraged for any weather-related changes in schedule. Bring your own arts or crafts project (BYOA) to work on. Ages 16+.

EVERY WEDNESDAY : CAN’T REMEMBER CAFE. Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. Are you or a loved one experiencing memory loss? At the Amherst Senior Center, we understand memory changes and have developed a new program based on the popular Memory Café format. The Can’t Remember (CR) Café offers fun, relaxation, and of course, snacks. This program is perfect for caregivers, people with mild memory loss, or anyone in the community who enjoys good conversation and strong coffee. Each Can’t Remember Café opens with a coffee and conversation hour, followed by a group activity. Join us on Wednesday, November 30th for a performance by our special musical guests, “Healing Hearts with Harmony” at 11:00am. Come for the coffee, stay for the connections! Email seniorcenter@amherstma.gov or call 413-259-3060 with questions. 

EVERY THURSDAY: STITCH CIRCLE. 4 to 6 p.m. Mill District Local Art Gallery and General Store, 91 Cowls Road. Grab your needles, venture to the General Store, and join us for our first Stitch Circle. Knitters, quilters, embroidery artists, and crocheters are all invited. Free.

FRIDAYS SEPTEMBER 29 THROUGH NOVEMBER 10: FIVE COLLEGE LEARNING IN RETIREMENT ENCORE PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES. 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Zoom. Encore is a re-presentation of the best presentations from the previous semester. Nominations are made to moderators from each class, or directly to the Encore team. Presenters who are nominated have the option of presenting, and of updating their presentation with additional material before giving it during an Encore session. For a list of topics and to register, contact Kristin Langevin at fclic@fivecolleges.edu.

EVERY SATURDAY THROUGH NOVEMBER 18: AMERST FARMERS” MARKET. Amherst Town Common. 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. This year’s market will features 45 vendors (so far) and has room to sign up a few more. More information

SECOND SATURDAY OF THE MONTH (JUNE THROUGH OCTOBER): ART ON THE LAWN. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Amherst History Museum 67 Amity Street. Art on the Lawn at the Amherst History Museum takes place on the second Saturday of June, July, September and October; June 10, July 8, September 9 and October 14. Artists and crafters will be set up on the lawn of the museum from 11:00am to 3:00pm when the museum is open for visitors. Stop by to visit and chat with the artists. Come into the museum to see our newest exhibit, The Magnificent Life & Art of Mabel Loomis Todd, take a tour of the newly reinstalled rooms in the house, peruse books in the reading room, and view our extensive clothing textile collection. Entry to the museum is free, but a $5 donation is suggested.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH APRIL THROUGH OCTOBER: CARS AND COFFEE AT THE MILL DISTRICT. Hosted by the Mill District General Store, 91 Cowls Road, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. It is free for collectors to display their cars and compete for trophies in four categories: best domestic, best foreign, best exotic, and best overall, based on votes of the public. Plus, there will be coffee from Futura Coffee Roasters which will soon be joining the Mill District. Cars and Coffee will be held rain or shine

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3 – FRIDAY OCTOBER 13: SEER: THE ART OF SARAH BELCHETZ-SWENSON.
Amherst College, Fayerweather Hall, Eli Marsh Gallery,17 Fayerweather Drive. 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. This exhibition explores the evolution of Sarah Belchetz-Swenson’s art throughout her long career. Belchetz-Swenson’s distinct and complex style combines a fluent use of traditional techniques with a modernist and feminist sensibility. There is always a tension between her precisely drawn subjects and the challenging, complex, emotion-infused worlds they inhabit.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 3 – SUNDAY OCTOBER 28: CAPTURED MOMENTS, ACRYLIC AND PASTEL PAINTINGS BY KIMBERLY A. BEAUREGARD. Burnett Gallery, Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. 9 a.m – 5:15 p.m except Sundays (1 p.m. – 5:15. p.m.) Free and open to the public. Artist Kimberly A. Beauregard’s acrylic and pastel paintings will be on display for the month of October. Explore her crisp contemporary landscapes that seek to “Capture Moments” of what is beautiful right in front of us but often missed as we go on with our busy lives. The Artist reception will be on October 5th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, with complimentary refreshments, and includes artwork by Robert Markey who shares exhibit space for duration of event.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5 – SATURDAY OCTOBER 8: EXHIBIT AT GALLERY A3 – REGENGERATION – THINGS THAT FALL AT OUR FEET. 28 Amity Street 1D. Gallery Hours: TH-SUN. 2-7 p.m. Sue Katz and Rebecca Muller work with found objects, renewing, restoring, and rearranging a variety of natural and man-made materials, to infuse them with new meaning across multiple media. More information

NOW through –SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: MARIANNE CONNOLLY AND ROCHELLE SCHIOFF AT GALLERY A3. Piecing, Collecting, Recalling. Gallery A3, 28 Amity 1D. Hours TH-SUN, 2-7p.m. In PIECING, CONNECTING, RE-CALLING, Marianne Connolly weaves a narrative thread through collage and mixed media art while Rochelle Shicoff exhibits a mixed media series that combines painted images, hand-stitched fabrics, and various artifacts of clay, wood, and other materials. More information

NOW through SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: LUMINOUS PLACES, PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER CURTIS. Burnett Gallery at the Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. Artist’s statement: My exhibit is titled Luminous Places and includes images from wild, spiritual and ancient places around the world. My photographs include images of rare ecosystems on top of Mount Kenya, dreamtime rock art in remote Cape York, Australia, Masai villages in Tanzania, and ancient granaries and waterfalls in the Grand Canyon.

NOW through SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30: VISIONS IN PAINT, PAINTINGS BY DANIEL SILBERBERG. Burnett Gallery at the Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. Artist’s statement: Through acrylic and watercolor I discover what affects me in a scene, developing focus and detail over the course of each work, balancing fidelity to the source with imagination. I invite you to look at the static, finished results, and imagine the living world that inspired it, and the journey of creation.

NOW THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER: ANNUAL AMHERST SURVIVAL CENTER HIKE FOR HUNGER. You can register as an individual or as part of a team and set your personal hiking goal. Once you register, you’ll be able to customize your own PledgeReg fundraising page to start collecting donations from family and friends.Come October, head out on the trails wherever and whenever you’d like – with your family, your friends, or your furry friends – and share your adventures. You can also join one of our group hikes! Hike for Hunger runs from Oct 1 – 31. You have four weeks to reach your fundraising goal! Proceeds from Hike for Hunger go directly to our food and nutrition programs, which last year provided 1.3 million meals (prepared and groceries) to nearly 8,600 neighbors. Register at https://amherstsurvival.org/donate/special-events/hikeforhunger/  $25

NOW THROUGH FRIDAY JANUARY 5: UMASS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LIBRARY GLOBAL HEALTH EXHIBIT. 9 a.m – 5 p.m. Sunday thorugh Friday. 740 N. Pleasant St. Around the world, communities, in collaboration with scientists, activists, governments, and international organizations, are taking up the challenge to prevent disease and improve quality of life. Making a World of Difference: Stories about Global Health examines stories of the people who are working on a wide range of issues—from community health to conflict, disease to discrimination—to improve health in their areas and beyond. Free.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 7, 2024: BOUNDLESS, WORKS BY NATIVE AMERICAN ARTISTS AND WRITERS. Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, 41 Quadrangle Drive. Boundless is a nearly museum-wide exhibition that features work by Native American writers and artists, grounded in but not contained to the Northeast. Boundless takes shape like water, moving across generations and geographies, and expanding conversations about kinship, presence, resistance, and history through its flow. The exhibition never chooses one path, but moves in multiple directions and broadens as it goes. A wide range of materials from Amherst College’s Collection of Native American Literature and the Mead form the core of the exhibition, and are joined by key works on loan from artists and other institutional and private collections. Curated by Heid Erdrich, a member of the Ojibwe people of Minnesota. Hours 9 to 5 Tuesday through Sunday, Open until 10 p.m. on Thursdays during the semester.

NOW THROUGH THE END OF OCTOBER: ANNUAL AMHERST SURVIVAL CENTER HIKE FOR HUNGER. You can register as an individual or as part of a team and set your personal hiking goal. Once you register, you’ll be able to customize your own PledgeReg fundraising page to start collecting donations from family and friends.Come October, head out on the trails wherever and whenever you’d like – with your family, your friends, or your furry friends – and share your adventures. You can also join one of our group hikes! Hike for Hunger runs from Oct 1 – 31. You have four weeks to reach your fundraising goal! Proceeds from Hike for Hunger go directly to our food and nutrition programs, which last year provided 1.3 million meals (prepared and groceries) to nearly 8,600 neighbors. Register at https://amherstsurvival.org/donate/special-events/hikeforhunger/  $25.