PITTSFIELD, Mass. — H20-themed billboards across the city — and one in North Adams — aim to start a conversation about water issues.

As a part of the "I Am Water" exhibition by ecoartspace and Our Humanity Matters, five billboards featuring artwork that speaks to the power of water will be featured in Berkshire County and one over the state border in New Lebanon, N.Y. 

The works address water conservation, quality, flooding, and scarcity.

It is an appropriate time for the narrative, as the state and county has been in a drought this summer and, last month, the city of Pittsfield implemented mandatory water restrictions.

"'I Am Water' is the

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BOSTON, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has announced entries are now being accepted for the ninth annual statewide high school video contest: Safe Streets Smart Trips. 

The contest, which began in 2014, encourages high school students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to try to decrease pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities. The contest serves as an initiative of the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan to promote safe walking, bicycling, and driving behaviors within the Commonwealth.

"We look forward to seeing the videos created by high school students that will help

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PITTSFIELD, MA — Internationally known artist and former BCC professor Benigna Chilla’s solo art exhibition, From West to East to West, is on view at Berkshire Community College (BCC)’s Koussevitzsky Gallery through Friday, Oct. 28. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. 

Specializing in the intersections between math, design and architecture, Chilla creates multi-layered paintings and wall hangings with vibrant colors and rich, varied textures. This exhibition features the artist’s recent series of large paintings, created after a 2011 stay in Bhutan and her retirement from BCC as a professor of visual arts.  

Chilla’s

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire County Historical Society will offer Architecture and Landscape at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, a free walking tour with long-time tour guide John Dickson and Executive Director Lesley Herzberg at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11.

Dickson will provide an overview of the architectural features of the Arrowhead and discuss its evolution from the 1780s to the present. This tour is followed by Herzberg’s walk through the north field and woods where the Melville family cultivated the farm and gardens in the 19th century.

Herzberg's talk will focus on Arrowhead’s cultural landscape. In the event of rain, the event

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LENOX, Mass. — The Mount, Edith Wharton's Home, will host a free dual-language concert and Storywalk at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, featuring beloved children's author and musician, MISTER G. 

The 2015 Latin Grammy award-winner for Best Children's Album, MISTER G is a star in the world of family music. Called "a bilingual rockstar" by The Washington Post, and "irresistible" by People magazine, Mister G has received national critical acclaim and won three Parents' Choice Gold Awards.

The concert and Storywalk on The Mount's grounds, at 2 Plunkett Street, will fuse music and storytelling based on MISTER G's picture

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LENOX, Mass. – Historian, retired Professor of Art and former Board Member Julie Agar will highlight Tiffany’s career and her family’s association with Tiffany during her presentation at Ventfort Hall on Saturday, September 10 at 3:30 pm. A tea will follow her presentation.

Agar will trace the history and development of Tiffany’s jewelry store from its founding in 1837 as a stationary and notions store. Emphasis will be placed on the expansion of selling Bohemian glass, porcelain, stained glass and jewelry of a quality and beauty far above any of its competition. It established its reputation as the nations undisputed first class jewelry merchant by 1848.

Agar is

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LENOX, Mass. — Join Ventfort Hall as Robert Oakes, author of Ghosts of the Berkshires, returns in September and throughout the fall to lead guests through the rooms and halls of the estate sharing tales of its hauntings.

Stand in the places where the encounters occurred, listen to the first-hand accounts of those who experienced them, and maybe even experience something unusual yourself. This is not an active investigation.

Oakes is an author, teacher, storyteller, and singer/songwriter originally from northern New Jersey and currently residing in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. Since 2010 Robert has led the ghost tours at Edith Wharton's The Mount in

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Environmental Action Team is hosting a tree identification walk that will focus on individual tree species and the characteristics that help to identify them from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Sept. 3. 

This walk will take place at Mass Audubon’s Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary. The walk will be between 1 to 2 miles on flat trails. 

Space is limited. To register, email chelsey@thebeatnews.org.

This walk is part of the annual Housatonic Heritage Walks, which are free, guided interpretive walks to historical, cultural, industrial, natural, and scenic sites in Berkshire County, MA and Litchfield County, CT. All ages

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The first-place winner of the 2022 Pittsfield Photo Challenge, as determined by a panel of local judges, is Brittany Hunter with her photo "Fountain Flowers."

The photo has won her a prize package donated by local downtown businesses, and her photo will be featured in Pittsfield’s 2023 Downtown Guide and a Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. social marketing campaign. 

"Many evenings I will walk North Street with my family," Hunter said. "While we were enjoying watching the sun go down at Park Square both my son and daughter noticed the beautiful flower gardens. They enjoyed looking at them and smelling them. That is where I

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield’s public library, in partnership with the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc., and Pittsfield businesses and organizations is observing National Library Card Sign-up Month in September with a series of special promotions.

A variety of discounts are available to patrons who show their library cards at participating locations. A brochure outlining these offers is available at athenaeum service desks.

Additionally, those who sign up for or renew a library card can enter a raffle to win a $150 Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. gift card and two family memberships to the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum,

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