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

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: FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: INSIDE BIDEN’S CUBA POLICY 4-5:30 p.m. UMass Student Union Black Box Theater.Join award-winning Cuban journalist and filmmaker Liz Oliva Fernández for a screening and discussion of two new independent documentaries that explore what’s driving Cuba policy under Biden. This event is presented by the independent media outlet Belly of the Beast and co-sponsored by the UMass Amherst History Department’s Feinberg Series, Confronting Empire, and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies. 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: UMASSS BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE ANNAUL WALKING TOUR. Timothy Rohan, Associate Professor and chair of the history of art and architecture department, and UMass Brut will host a walking tour for the UMass Amherst community highlighting campus structures built during the university’s ambitious post-World War II building campaign on Friday, October 13. Guests will meet in the lobby of the Lincoln Campus Center (Marcel Breuer, 1970) and the tour – led by Rohan with assistance from Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, senior campus planner – will depart at 2 p.m. and last approximately one hour. More information

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.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 14: 51st ANNUAL FALL FOLIAGE ABC WALK AND CIDER RUN. Amherst Town Common, 10 a.m. The Fall Foliage & Cider Run is a community celebration of Amherst A Better Chance, a residential high school program that prepares academically talented young men of color from educationally underserved school districts for college and future leadership roles.  Run or walk to support Amherst A Better Chance and enjoy a cup of cider at the finish line! The walk/run starts at Amherst Town Common, partly circles Amherst College campus and enters the woodlands of the Amherst College bird sanctuary, highlighted by a beautiful view over the Pelham Hills. Finally, it follows the Norwottuck Rail Trail back to the campus.  Learn more at www.AmherstABetterChance.org/FallFoliageAndCiderRun
PRE-REGISTER BY WEDNESDAY — INDIVIDUALLY OR AS A TEAM
Questions:please contact us at FallFoliageAndCiderRun@gmail.com.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 14: AMHERST FIRE DEPARTMENT OPEN HOUSE. Central (downtown) fire station at 68 North Pleasant Street, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. In conjunction with National Fire Prevention Week, the Amherst Fire Department will again host an open house.   This event will feature something for all ages, and will include Fire and EMS vehicles and equipment on display, demonstrations such as the “Jaws of Life,” safety information and other giveaways from both the fire department and other agencies, and refreshments.  We hope to have a visit from Smokey Bear as well!  This event will be held rain or shine.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 17: SENIOR CENTER COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR. The public is invited to the Second Annual Amherst Senior Center Health Fair on Tuesday, October 17 from 2-4 p.m. at the Bangs Community Center (70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst). Local providers will be onsite to answer questions and help the community take steps towards a better lifestyle! Medicare Open Enrollment is underway and it’s the perfect time to think about your health and meet local providers. This year we’re partnering with a number of organizations who provide mental health services, hearing services, medication management, and more. Providers include: MA Behavioral Health Help Line, UMass Kinesiology, Christopher Heights, Hospice of the Fisher Home, MedMinder, Mass General Brigham/Cooley Dickinson, Highland Valley Elder Services, Health New England, and more! 

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

NOW through 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.

NOW through 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.

NOW through 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 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.