What’s Happening in Amherst?

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 (more or less)

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22: FIFTH ANNUAL FIRE AND ICE FESTIVAL AND LUMINARIA. 3 to 7 p.m., Town Common. Don’t miss the grand finale of WinterFest! The Fire & Ice Festival is the culminating event of WinterFest and a highlight of the winter season, transforming the Town Common into a magical winter wonderland. Enjoy mesmerizing ice sculptures, live entertainment, hot coca and s’mores over fire pits, and a breathtaking luminaria display. Activities also include an Amherst Fire Truck to explore, Sparky the Fire Dog to take photos with, MATICA Circus fire performers, metal sculpture demonstration by Kamil Peters, wood carving demonstration by Cody Stosz of Kodiak Carving, crafts, and so much more. This event is organized by Amherst Recreation and the Amherst Business Improvement District made possible by the generosity of many local businesses and community partners including presenting sponsor Amherst College, and supported by Summerlin Floors, Encharter Insurance, Amherst Innovative Living, and more! 

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22: THE POWER AND THE GLORY WITH FLEUR BARRON AND KUNAI LAHIRY. 8 p.m., Bowker Auditorium, UMass. Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and acclaimed pianist Kunal Lahiry present The Power and the Glory, an exploration of diverse perspectives on colonial history through music and poetry of the last 150 years. Fine Arts Center patrons have a chance to see this performance a month before Barron and Lahiry play it to a sellout crowd in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Fleur Barron’s voice has been described as meltingly rich, warm and supple, dark, smoky, and complex. Barron has been hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic star,” and by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an operatic triumph.” Tickets $30 to $50. Students $15.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 24: DECONSTRUCTING DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. 7 p.m., Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street. A deep dive into Pink Floyd’s groundbreaking album. Renowned musicologist Scott Freiman returns to the Amherst Cinema stage to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dark Side of the Moon. In this engaging multimedia presentation, Freiman takes audiences on a track-by-track journey through the album, exploring the inspirations behind the songs and their evolution in the studio. Dark Side of the Moon is a landmark concept album that delves into profound themes of life, death, time, and the human experience. Featuring nine seamlessly connected tracks, the album revolutionized rock music with its incorporation of jazz, classical, and experimental elements. Tickets $22 (members), $26 (general public).

MONDAY FEBRUARY 24: FILM SCREENING YOU ARE NOT A LOAN. 6 p.m., Student Union Black Box Theater, UMass. In February 2020, filmmaker and Debt Collective co-founder Astra Taylor assembled a group of activists and academics to discuss the crisis of higher education and next steps for the growing movement to cancel student debt and make college and university tuition-free. Released by The Intercept in January 2021, You Are Not a Loan is a record of that encounter. Presented by the UMass Department of History Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. Registration is not required. The film can be streamed at any time here.

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 25: BOOK DISCUSSION OF ERASURE. 7 p.m., Jones Library, 43 Amity Street. Join Professor Jimmy Worthy from UMass-Amherst and Jones Library staff member Linda Wentworth for an in-depth discussion of the selected title for this year’s Jones Library’s “on The Same Page” commuity read program. Jimmy Worthy is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. 

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26: VARSHINI PRAKASH LECTURE: UMASS TO SUNRISE. 7 p.m., The Old Chapel, UMass. The Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy will host a public lecture, “UMass to Sunrise: Building the Youth-Led Movement for Climate Justice,” with its 2025 activist-in-residence, Varshini Prakash, on February 26 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m in the Old Chapel at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Varshini Prakash has been a leader in the climate movement for more than a decade and was a co-founder and the former Director of the Sunrise Movement, which organized thousands of young people in the fight to stop climate change, create millions of good, union jobs, and build racial equity through a Green New Deal. She is a proud UMass grad in the class of ’15 where she was involved with the Fossil Fuel Divestment campaign. Free and open to the public.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26: DEI DECONSTRUCTED. 7 to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom. What does DEI really mean? How is Amherst implementing and supporting DEI? Special guest speakers Philip Avila, Assistant Director of DEI and Pamela Nolan Young, Director DEI. Part of the League of Women Voters of Amherst Judy Brooks series. Register here.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26: JOE MAGNARELLI AND THE NORTHAMPTON JAZZ WORKSHOP. 7:30 p.m., The Drake, 44 North Pleasant Street. Over the course of a 40+ year career, Joe Magnarelli has emerged as one of the premier trumpeters, improvisers, composers and educators in jazz. $10 cover, $5 for students. See full calendar here.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27: ANNUAL HEARING ON THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUDGET. 6:30 p.m., Amherst Regional High School Library (side entrance) 21 Mattoon Street, and on Zoom. A public forum on the FY26 budget for the Amherst elementary schools. Members of the public may join in person or virtually.
Agenda and virtual link.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27: LIBERATORY VISIONING PROJECT. 6 to 7:30 p.m., Glass Room, Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk and on Zoom. The Town of Amherst Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion announces the launch of the Liberatory Visioning Project, an initiative aimed at creating a more inclusive and welcoming community for all residents. This process is designed to bring members of the town together to develop a shared vision through dialogue sessions and a community survey. The town will be leading this project in partnership with Dr. Barbara J. Love, who is a local author, speaker, and consultant on liberation and transformation as well as Professor Emerita of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Liberatory Visioning was created by Love as a framework for justice, equity, belonging, and inclusion with the overall aim of creating communities that work well for everyone. This is the first of three sessions. Zoom link.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27 THROUGH SUNDAY MARCH 2: AMHERST COLLEGE LITFEST 2025. Amherst College will host the 10th annual LitFest, a literary festival celebrating fiction, nonfiction, poetry, spoken-word performance, and the College’s extraordinary literary life. Guest speakers include award-winning author Teju Cole; Pulitzer Prize winner Brandon Som; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; and a special panel on the making of American Fiction with writer and director Cord Jefferson, lead actor Jeffrey Wright ’87, and Percival Everett, author of Erasure, the novel upon which the film is based. Some events open to the public will be recorded for viewing following the festival. For the schedule, see here.  Tickets.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28: HISTORY BITES: “INTERNING AT THE AMHERST HISTORY MUSEUM. 12:30 p.m., Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. Emma John, a former intern who has gone on to a career in public history, will talk about the value of her experience as an intern at the Amherst History Museum. Free and open to the public.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28: AUTHOR EVENT: ON THE SAME PAGE WITH PERCIVAL EVERETT. 5 p.m., Johnson Chapel, Amherst College. Join us for The Making of American Fiction, featuring actor Jeffrey Wright ’87, author Percival Everett, and writer/director Cord Jefferson in conversation with Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott, with remarks by Jennifer Acker ’00. Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He is the author, most recently, of James, winner of the National Book Award in 2024. Other books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children. This is a ticketed event.  Registration is required for this event due to limited seating.  Please register as soon as possible to reserve your spot for this event and to request tickets (free of charge). Note: the event is now full but registration will put you on the wait list. REGISTER HERE.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28: COMEDY NIGHT: JANE CONDON AND MAUREEN LANGAN. 8 p.m. The Drake, 44 North Pleasant Street. Funny mom Jane Condon comes from a real blue-collar town called Brockton, but she is not gonna hurtcha. However, she will make you laugh. The hilarious Maureen Lanagan grew up in New Jersey. She was a semifinalist on America’s Got Talent and has a Dry Bar Comedy Special called Don’t Make Me Hate You. Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door. See full calendar here.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28: KRISTINA WONG, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER. 8 p.m., Bowker Auditorium, UMass. Kristina Wong is a Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim fellow, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in drama. Wong describes her work as “subversive, humorous, and endearingly inappropriate, employing humor to explore difficult subjects and amplify marginalized experiences, using the premise of ‘autobiography’ as a starting point of exploration.” A self-proclaimed “food bank  influencer,” Wong offers her rendition of the American Musical like nobody ever asked for. Her avant premiere of this new work takes us through America’s food insecurity issues from big cities to the Navajo Nation. Wong will help us to look at the future of food access. If food banks were originally a stopgap for a temporary crisis and now have become a permanent part of American survival, does this mean we are in a perpetual state of crisis? Tickets $30 to $50, Students $15.

SATURDAY MARCH 1: SONG AND STORY SWAP WITH THE HILL TOWN HAM HOCKS. 7 to 9 p.m., First Church, 165 Main Street. The Pioneer Valley Folklore Society’s Monthly Song and Story Swap will feature the folk trio Hill Town Ham Hocks. The Song & Story Swap is open to members of the public of all ages. Admission is free, with a suggested minimum donation to the artist of $7.50. Free parking is available behind the church. At song and story swaps, people of all experience levels gather to share stories and songs that are traditional, newly written, or of personal experiences. Participants can tell, sing, or lead everyone in singing, or request a song or story.  Listeners are welcome. Attendees will be invited to contribute a song or story on the topic of “Death and Loss” during an opening round of sharing. The Hill Town Ham Hocks are a modern folk trio with an old time roots flair, hailing from Shelburne Falls.  With Colleen Stanton on fiddle, Stevie Jick on guitar, and Hannah French on fiddle and banjo, the trio engages their audience with close harmonies and spirited instrumental work.

SUNDAY MARCH 2: BASQUIAT AT AMHERST CINEMA. 1:30 p.m., Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street. In his first leading role, Jeffrey Wright stars as Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Co-starring David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Benicio del Toro, and many more, painter Julian Schnabel’s stunning directorial debut charts Basquiat’s dizzying rise and fall. New 4K restoration.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 5: LIBERATORY VISIONING PROJECT. 5 to 6:30p.m.,Cafeteria, Amherst Regional Middle School, 170 Chestnut Street, and on Zoom. The third of the dialogue sessions aimed at creating a more inclusive and welcoming community for all residents. This process is designed to bring members of the town together to develop a shared vision through dialogue sessions and a community survey. The town will be leading this project in partnership with Dr. Barbara J. Love, who is a local author, speaker, and consultant on liberation and transformation as well as Professor Emerita of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Zoom link.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 5: BASQUIAT AT AMHERST CINEMA. 7 p.m., Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street. In his first leading role, Jeffrey Wright stars as Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Co-starring David Bowie, Dennis Hopper, Benicio del Toro, and many more, painter Julian Schnabel’s stunning directorial debut charts Basquiat’s dizzying rise and fall. New 4K restoration.

THURSDAY MARCH 6: THE RISE AND FALL OF STUDENT DEBT: A PANEL DISCUSSION. Noon on Zoom. Rising tuition and skyrocketing student debt have fundamentally reshaped higher education in recent decades, with toxic effects on all of society, both in the U.S. and globally. Join filmmaker and Debt Collective co-founder Astra Taylor and South African academics and organizers Leigh-Ann Naidoo and Kelly Gillespie (moderator) for a conversation on student debt, the crisis of global capitalism, and global movements fighting to end debt and transform higher education. The conversation follows the screening of You Are Not a Loan, directed by Taylor and starring Naidoo, among other leading U.S. and international activists and academics. Part of the UMass Department of History Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. Register for the link here.

THURSDAY MARCH 6: ZERO WASTE. 4 p.m. on Zoom. Darcy DuMont will present the history and progress of a Zero Waste bylaw proposal to significantly reduce our trash. Please join us for this program as we learn about effective strategies to protect our environment. Darcy DuMont is a retired teacher and lawyer who has been active in town politics creating legislation for climate action. She is a co-founder of Zero Waste Amherst. Sponsored by Amherst Neighbors. No registration necessary. Zoom link here.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 12: LIBERATORY VISIONING PROJECT. 5 to 6:30p.m., Town Room of Town Hall, 4 Boltwood Avenue, and on Zoom. The third of the dialogue sessions aimed at creating a more inclusive and welcoming community for all residents. This process is designed to bring members of the town together to develop a shared vision through dialogue sessions and a community survey. The town will be leading this project in partnership with Dr. Barbara J. Love, who is a local author, speaker, and consultant on liberation and transformation as well as Professor Emerita of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Zoom link.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 12: SCREENING OF “THE COST OF INHERITANCE”: 7 to 9 p.m., Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity Street. Join us for Amherst Cinema’s COMMUNITY NIGHT screening of The Cost of Inheritance, an America Reframed documentary. A panel discussion will follow, moderated by Kaliis Smith, co-host of NEPM’s The Fabulous 413. The discussion will focus on local organizing efforts around racial reckoning and repair, and the importance of the arts, public media, and philanthropy in storytelling for social change. Part of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts Evolve Philanthropy Donor Engagement.

FRIDAY MARCH 14: HISTORY BITES “THE MILLS OF FACTORY HOLLOW. 12:30 p.m., The Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. Did you ever wonder why the outflow from Puffer’s Pond is called Mill River, and it flows through Factory Hollow? Brian Harvey talks about exploring the mill sites of North Amherst. Free and open to the public.

FRIDAY MARCH 28: HISTORY BITES “THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1936.“ 12:30 p.m., Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. Josh Shanley will give a talk on the Great Flood of 1936. Free and open to the public.

---

---

ONGOING AND MULTI-DAY EVENTS

EVERY MONDAY EXCEPT HOLIDAYS: AUTOHARP WORKSHOPS. 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Senior Center, Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. Join Marie Hartwell-Walker and autoharp players throughout the country who participate on Zoom. Participants on Zoom also welcome.

TUESDAYS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY: AMHERST NEIGHBORS LUNCH IN TOWN. 12 to 1 p.m., Community Room, Amherst Police Station, 111 Main Street. The Lunch in Town series continues in January and February. A mixture of regulars and newcomers show up every week. Come join with a bagged lunch. There will be no gathering on January 28. Canceled if the town closes for weather.

FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH: COUNCIL ON AGING SENIOR LUNCH. Noon. Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk.

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.

SECOND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH: ARTIST SOCIAL AND CRITIQUE. 6 to 8 p.m., Local Art Gallery, Mill District, 91 Cowls Road. All local artists, both beginners and established, are invited to attend our Artist Social and Critique that meets every 2nd Thursday of the month in The Local Art Gallery from 6-8pm. Help us create a safe space for a supportive and constructive artistic feedback while expanding your connections to other artists. Artist social time from 6 to 6:30 p.m., Artist critique from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Share digital images by emailing to gallery@cowls.com in advance. For information, contact Shannon Borrell at gallery@cowls.com or 413-835-0966.

EVERY WEDNESDAY: WEEKLY WEDNESDAY MARKET. 10 to 11:30 a.m., Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. Since its launch in May 2024, the Wednesday Market has served over 700 community members. The Market is open to all, and there’s no registration and no questions asked. Just come and enjoy. We distribute fresh produce, dairy, prepared food, and delicious treats. 

EVERY WEDNESDAY: BEGINNER BIRDING. 9:00-9:30 a.m. Notch Visitor Center, 1500 West Street. For ages 12 and up. An easy, level, 1/4-mile guided hike to discover more about birds: their behaviors, needs, habitats and significance. Listen, observe, sketch, photo or journal. Free

LAST WEDNESDAY OF EVERY MONTH (EXCLUDING JULY AND JANUARY): 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.

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 : 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. Our 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 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: IRISH MUSIC SESSION. The Amherst Public House, 40 University Drive. 4-7 p.m. Fiddle, Flute, Tin Whistle, Guitar, Mandolin, Bouzouki and more.  Jigs, Reels,Hornpipes,  Polkas, Slides, and  Waltz’ from around the Celtic world.

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.

FIRST AND THIRD FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH: VETERAN’S COMMUNITY BREAKFAST FOR ALL -8 a.m – 9 a.m. Large Activity Room, Bangs Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. At each breakfast (bagel/donut/coffee), a veteran or veteran ally, will tell his or her personal story regarding military service. Generation after generation reveals that those going to war to defend our country come back spiritually and morally wounded, regardless of the bodily consequences of combat. We want to bring veterans together for food and friendship to help coalesce a spirit of camaraderie to enable authentic, veteran-oriented communities to flourish. WELCOME: Veterans, Spouses, Caregivers, Amherst Community Members.  Let’s Build a Thriving Veterans Community.  There are 387 Veterans in town! Sponsored by CRESS. FOR MORE INFORMATION:  CALL THE CRESS OFFICE, (413) 259-3370  OR GENE HERMAN, VIETNAM VETERAN, (240) 472-7288  –  CRESS VETERAN’S OUTREACH VOLUNTEER.

SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS: LIVE JAZZ AND GOOD EATS AT THE BLACK SHEEP. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Black Sheep Deli, 79 Main Street. Frist and third Saturdays: Masala Jazz, Second, Fourth and Fifth Saturdays: Simmer Music Presents, Sundays: the Catalytics. Tip Jar.

SECOND AND FOURTH SATURDAYS JANUARY THROUGH MARCH: WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bangs Community Center., 70 Boltwood Walk. The Amherst Farmers’ Market is excited to announce the launch of its Winter Market at the Bangs Community Center, right in downtown Amherst. The Winter Market will run from 10 am to 2 pm every Saturday in December and on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of January, February, and March. This new venue offers a spacious and familiar environment for local farmers, artisans, and crafters to showcase their goods to the community. 

NOW THROUGH TUESDAY FEBRUARY 25: RESISTANT RHYTHMS: THE GRAPHIC WORKS OF ALEXIS KUHR. Herter Gallery, UMass. The posthumous retrospective of the work of the former chair of the UMass art department, curated by her colleague Young Min Moon, will run Jan. 30-Feb. 25, with an opening reception scheduled for Jan. 30 and a curator’s talk set for Feb. 12.

NOW THROUGH SATURDAY MARCH 1 – NEW WORK BY DANIEL FELDMAN AT GALLERY A3. Depth be Depth, a new exhibit by Daniel Feldman will open at Gallery A3 on Thursday February 6 and continue through March 1. Feldman passed away unexpectedly on November 21, 2024. He had finished all the work for this exhibition before he died and was eagerly looking ahead to February to share it in his first exhibit at Gallery A3. Most of Feldman’s works from the past decade are composed as diptychs, or visual “segments,” as he referred to them. Each segment has a foundation in photographic images that he shot as raw material, and he used Photoshop as the medium to dramatically transform and layer that photographic information. He felt that his digital tools in many ways transcended the freedom that oil painting had given him over two decades before.   Gallery Hours and More information

NOW THROUGH FRIDAY MARCH 7: UNFOLDING CONVENTION BY JASON WOLFE. Augusta Savage Gallery, UMass. Born in Queens in 1979, Wolfe currently lives and works in western Massachusetts. His exhibit of “bold, abstract paintings created by unfolding the conventional form into the unknown,” will run through March 7. Opening reception, Friday, February 7, 5 to 7 p.m. Information.

NOW THROUGH SUNDAY MARCH 16: “TU DAU, WHEREFROM” BY XUAN PHAM. Hampshire College Art Gallery.  Born in Ho Chi Minh City, interdisciplinary artist Xuan Pham emigrated to Omaha, Nebraska at the age of seven. Her artistic practice is shaped by a legacy of way and her experiences as an immigrant. Working with layers and grids, Pham traces the interconnections of trauma, migration, and race with Asian American and. Immigrant communities. Her art explores how the political and psychological dimensions of grief influence racial identity formation in the United States. Information.

NOW THROUGH FRIDAY MAY 9: IS ANYTHING THE MATTER? DRAWINGS BY LAYLAH ALI AND HIGH FIVE/TAKE FIVE. UMass Museum of Contemporary Art. “Is anything the matter?” includes more than one hundred drawings by Ali dating from 1993 to 2020. Though the drawings range in format – including ink, colored pencil, soluble crayon, colored marker and mixed media works – each piece explores Ali’s ongoing interest in the amalgam of race, power, gendering, human frailty and murky politics. High Five / Take Five” is an interactive exhibition featuring five art works from the museum’s permanent collection. Each piece will be accompanied by a prompt that asks participants to engage their senses, look closely and respond to the artworks through drawing, listening and writing. Gallery Talk: Wednesday, February 19, 4 to 5 p.m.  More information.

NOW THROUGH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 22: WINTERFEST Get Ready for Winter Fun! WinterFest Amherst 2025 is Coming! Mark your calendars! The magical Amherst WinterFest returns from February 15th to 22nd, 2025. This week-long celebration promises a variety of exciting events for people of all ages, making Amherst the place to be during the winter season.

WinterFest Highlights:

• Kick-off with the 2nd Annual WinterFest Games at Mill River Recreation Area.

• Grand Finale: Witness the dazzling spectacle of Fire and Ice and Luminaria on the Town Common.

• Enjoy a variety of FREE events happening daily throughout Amherst, both downtown and throughout town. A full listing of events can be found here.

NOW THROUGH WEDNESDAY APRIL 30: MULTIVERSE: AN EXHIBIT FEATURING MULTIPLE ARTISTS. Hampden Gallery, UMass. curated by D. Dominick Lombardi, from Feb. 17-April 30. “Multiverse” focuses on the recognition, conscious or subconscious, and interpretation of the concept of the multiverse in contemporary visual art. Showcasing digital art from Europe and the Americas juxtaposed with analog works by artists from the northeastern U.S., Lombardi gives visitors the opportunity to see and discuss previously unimagined possibilities. A reception and curator’s talk with Lombardi is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Friday April 4. Information.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27 THROUGH SUNDAY MARCH 2: AMHERST COLLEGE LITFEST 2025. Amherst College will host the 10th annual LitFest, a literary festival celebrating fiction, nonfiction, poetry, spoken-word performance, and the College’s extraordinary literary life. Guest speakers include award-winning author Teju Cole; Pulitzer Prize winner Brandon Som; Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; and a special panel on the making of American Fiction with writer and director Cord Jefferson, lead actor Jeffrey Wright ’87, and Percival Everett, author of Erasure, the novel upon which the film is based. Some events open to the public will be recorded for viewing following the festival. For the schedule, see here.  Tickets.

SATURDAY MARCH 1 THROUGH SATURDAY APRIL 5: YOUTH ENTREPRENEURIAL WORKSHOP. 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. for five Saturdays, Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk. For grades 6-12. The DEI Department, in association with the Black Business Association of Amherst Area, is excited to announce their first program: A Youth Entrepreneurial Workshop! Young people in grades 6-12 are encouraged to join us for this free five-week program where they will learn the skills needed to develop a business and actively create and sell their own products, getting hands on experience in the process. Materials and snacks will be provided. Sign up here and we will be in touch by mid-February with an additional details. If you have questions, you can email Philip Avila at avilap@amherstma.gov.

THURSDAY MARCH 27 THROUGH FRIDAY MAY 9: (OFF) BALANCE: ART IN THE ATE OF HUMAN IMPACT. UMass Museum of Contemporary Art. The Graduate Curatorial Exhibition, co-curated by Adeyemi Adebayo, M.F.A. studio arts candidate, Eva Barajas, M.A. art education candidate, and Bo Kim, M.F.A. studio arts candidate, invites viewers to explore the intricate ways we interact with, interpret and shape our environment and challenges audiences to reflect on themes of transformation, human intervention and the tension between destruction and conservation. Opening reception Wednesday, March 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. Information.