BFAIR promotes three key staffers
NORTH ADAMS — Berkshire Family And Individual Resources promoted three key staff in a recent reorganization of the care center for adults and children with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injuries, and autism.
Ethel Altiery has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Ethel joined BFAIR in 2000 and due to her vast knowledge and experience and contribution to the field of human services has steadily been promoted from her initial position as Director of Residential Services.
Theresa Denette has been promoted to Senior Vice President Operations. Theresa began at BFAIR in 2001 as Assistant Director of Day Habitation Services and considering her experience providing services for people with developmental disabilities, her most recent role included SVP Day Services.
Kristen Wampler was promoted to VP Community Living Services. Kristen began her career at BFAIR in 2003 as Assistant Director Residential services and later took on the roles of Director of Individual and Family Supports, and VP Individual and Family Supports while overseeing BFAIR’s Pittsfield office.
More information about BFAIR available here: https://bfair.org/
— S.B.
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Executive Director of Chesterwood, Donna Hassler, announces retirement
STOCKBRIDGE — Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announces the retirement of Executive Director Donna Hassler which was effective June 30. Hassler will continue to oversee curatorial projects on a part-time basis until September 30, 2022. Margaret Cherin, most recently the Senior Site Manager, was appointed Interim Director.
Hassler was appointed Executive Director in 2008 and for fourteen years has led Chesterwood from an historic house museum to the incipience of an artist residency center. Throughout her tenure Hassler has raised the profile and visibility of Daniel Chester French’s home, studio and gardens through the rehabilitation and reinterpretation of French’s Studio; the installation of a new, climate-controlled Study Collections Gallery displaying over 150 works by the artist; and has overseen the preliminary plans and implementation of construction to begin the renovation of the 122 year-old historic residence into the center of an artists’ residency program.
Other ways Hassler championed the legacy of French was through commissioning the definitive biography of French by the renowned Lincoln scholar, Harold Holzer, and partnering with award-winning filmmaker Eduardo Montes-Bradley on creating the first ever documentary on the life and work of French. The film premiered at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on May 26th and will be available through the streaming service Kanopy in late 2022.
Visit Chesterwood: https://www.chesterwood.org/
— S.B.
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CATA Promotes Kelly Galvin, Jeff Gagnon, and Kara Smith to co-program directors
GREAT BARRINGTON — Community Access to the Arts announces the appointment of Kelly Galvin as a Program Director. Kelly Galvin joins current CATA staff members Jeff Gagnon and Kara Smith, who have been promoted to the Program Director position, to create a new three-person arts leadership team at the nonprofit, reporting to the organization’s Executive Director, Margaret Keller. Kelly Galvin joins CATA as an accomplished director, producer, and teaching artist. Kelly has been a company member with Shakespeare & Company since 2008 and served as the Artistic Associate at WAM Theatre.
CATA’s new trio of Program Directors will work collaboratively to expand opportunities for local artists with disabilities and to nurture and build partnerships with community-based organizations, with each director leading specific projects and initiatives: Kelly will oversee performing arts programs for artists with disabilities and will direct performances showcasing the talents of CATA artists, including CATA’s annual gala performance. Kara Smith will oversee programs and partnerships connected with CATA’s Studios in Great Barrington and lead visual art events, including exhibits at local galleries, museums, and community spaces. Jeff Gagnon will oversee CATA’s programs and partnerships for students with special needs in local schools, which have more than tripled over the last five years.
— S.B.
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Goodwill moves to Allendale Shopping Center
PITTSFIELD — Goodwill Retail Store & Donation Center has leased the former Big Lots space located at Allendale Shopping Center. The new retail space consists of 9,500 square feet which is much larger than Goodwill’s previous location of only 2,000 square feet. There is also an additional 9,500 square feet for processing donations, and 4,000 square feet of space in the basement. This gives the retail store and donation center a total of 23,000 square feet.
— S.B.
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BerkShares promote small businesses in the Berkshires
SHEFFIELD — To keep more money in the Berkshires, hundreds of business owners have joined an experiment in local currency. People in the Berkshires can exchange U.S. dollars for BerkShares, for free, at any of nine participating bank branches. The exchange rate is one dollar for one BerkShare.
BerkShares can help business owners avoid the fees that accompany credit card transactions. Credit cards necessitate a fee for the business, with the local business paying anywhere from 2.7% to 3%.
As of March, it’s also possible to transfer funds from almost any bank straight into the BerkShares app, which acts like a digital wallet. There is one catch: Transfers can take up to six business days.
When a customer uses digital or paper BerkShares instead of a credit card, business owners don’t pay any transaction fees. There’s also an incentive to keep BerkShares circulating in the local economy instead of converting them back to dollars. Converting from BerkShares to USD involves a 1.5% fee, which is about half of a typical credit card fee.
Members of the Schumacher Center for New Economics, a nonprofit in Great Barrington, came up with the idea for a Berkshires currency more than 15 years ago. Since then, more than 350 businesses have signed on to accept paper BerkShares, and about 70 also are using the new digital version.
Get your BerkShares at community bank branches throughout Berkshire County. Visit Lee Bank, Pittsfield Co-operative Bank, or Salisbury Bank & Trust Company. Spend your BerkShares at over 400 businesses throughout the Berkshire region. An interactive business directory is available on our website.
BerkShares, Inc., along with dozens of other local service providers, will be at the Berkshire Small Business Resource Expo on Tuesday, August 9th.
— S.B.
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Pollinator resolution signed in Egremont
EGREMONT — Rotary District 7890 and the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area have signed a Pollinator Resolution in joint support of helping to reduce pollinator loss. A signing ceremony took place on July 15 at the French Park Pollinator Pathway in Egremont.
“Life, as we know it, depends on pollinators,” said Housatonic Heritage’s Operation Pollination program director Vivian Orlowski. ‘Thirty-five percent of food crops and 75 percent of all flowering plants need pollinators to reproduce. To help safeguard our regional food and ecosystems, Rotary District 7890’s commitment to protect pollinator health and habitat provides vital community leadership.”
To learn more about Operation Pollination: https://operationpollination.net/ and https://esrag.org/pollinators/
To learn more about Pollinator Programs in the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area: https://housatonicheritage.org/learn/housatonic-heritage-operation-pollination/
— S.B.
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SPRINGFIELD — New England Public Media (NEPM) seeks to speak with Berkshire residents as part of its summer Listening Tour throughout western Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut. Interested 
Berkshirites are invited to attend an event this Tuesday, August 2, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Berkshire Museum, 39 South St., Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
The findings from the Listening Tour will be used to inform NEPM’s programming and public outreach going forward.
This event is free and open to the public, with food and drink and a raffle for a door prize. Residents can click here to sign up. A RSVP in advance is helpful but not required.
The Listening Tour builds on a series of virtual focus groups that NEPM conducted earlier in the summer. The virtual and in-person events will be accompanied by a survey of residents in the NEPM audience area. The entire project is being conducted in partnership with MassINC Polling Group, a public opinion research firm with offices in Boston and Northampton, Massachusetts.
“Our mission as public media is to meet the public where they are and provide content that meets their needs and serves the larger community,” said Matt Abramovitz, president of NEPM. “We hope that residents take advantage of these events to tell us what they want to see and hear on NEPM over the next few years.”
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND PUBLIC MEDIA: New England Public Media is a community-supported, independent non-profit organization based in Springfield, Massachusetts. Through a deep commitment to independent local journalism, trusted educational content, inspired cultural offerings, and civic engagement, NEPM endeavors to share new voices and inspire new conversations. It provides audiences with a broad array of local and national programs across all media—TV, radio, online, and mobile, including PBS and NPR programs as well as locally produced series, podcasts and specials. Its four digital TV channels, and two radio networks present news, jazz and classical music, documentaries, talk, drama, plus cultural and educational programming.
For more information, visit nepm.org or follow NEPM on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
— M.L.S.
