NEPM Open House & Art Opening
NEPM Studios, 44 Hampden St., Springfield
Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 5 – 7 p.m.
Join NEPM for a free community open house celebrating the unveiling of our new public art collection. Meet the artists and curators behind the collection, take a behind-the-scenes tour of our studios, and help create a collaborative community artwork. Featuring work by 10 local artists, NEPM’s collection reflects the creativity, culture, and many perspectives that shape our communities, and transforms our Springfield headquarters into a space that feels even more connected to the people, places, and stories of western Mass. A DJ set by Kaliis Smith, co-host of The Fabulous 413, complimentary mocktail bar, and snacks by West Springfield’s Graze Craze round out the celebratory evening. Registration is encouraged.
Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground
Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield
Starring John Rubinstein Wednesday Sept. 16 – Friday, Sept. 18
Starring David Sitler Wednesday Sept. 23 – Saturday, Sept. 26
It's 1962. Eisenhower, alone at his Gettysburg farm, just learned that The New York Times has ranked him against every other American president — and he doesn't like where he lands. Throughout this one-man play, watch as the president looks back at his life. Reliving a Kansas boyhood, a war that reshaped the world, and eight years in the Oval Office, Eisenhower wrestles with the question every leader eventually asks: was I good enough?
The American Experiment at 250: Where Does Our Democracy Stand?
Old Chapel, UMass
Thursday, Sept. 17 from 12:15 p.m. – 2 p.m.
UMass Amherst marks Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, with a program examining the state of American democracy. Retired NASA astronaut and UMass alum Cady Coleman opens the event with stories and images from her time in space, reflecting on cooperation, trust, responsibility and citizenship. At 1 p.m., state lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle — Democratic state Sen. Jo Comerford and Republican state Rep. Todd Smola — discuss governing across political differences, including compromise, public trust, free expression and the responsibilities of citizenship. The event is free and open to the public; lunch will be provided.
13th Annual Block Party
North Pleasant Street, Amherst
Thursday, Sept. 17 from 5 – 9 p.m.
The Annual Block Party has grown into a beloved celebration that transforms Amherst's downtown into a stage for creativity and connection. Every year, thousands of visitors enjoy a huge lineup of music, street performers, aerialists, acrobats, stilt walkers, jugglers, and more. Local restaurants and retailers line both sides of North Pleasant Street, offering diverse dining experiences and local shopping. At 8 p.m. on the Main Street Stage catch Soul Magnets, featuring vocalist and NEPM Fabulous 413 co-host Kaliis Smith!
murmur
James Rand Museum, Westfield Athenaeum
On View through Saturday, Nov. 21
Opening Reception Thursday, Sept. 17 from 5:30 – 8 p.m.
Mini sound bath in the gallery from 7 – 7:30 p.m.
The James Rand Museum presents “murmur,” a solo exhibition by Filipina-American multidisciplinary artist Donnabelle Casis. Anchored by a large-scale kinetic sculpture suspended high above the gallery, the exhibition also brings together paintings, reflective and translucent installation, and sound to create an immersive exploration of movement and perception. Inspired by the mesmerizing movement of bird murmurations, murmur explores perception, intuition, movement, and the unseen forces that shape our experience of the world.
Third Annual Queercore Fest
Friday, Sept. 18 and Saturday, Sept. 19
CitySpace, Easthampton
With a lineup of thirteen bands alongside local makers, vendors, and community resources, QueerCore Fest unites art and activism with the collective care and catharsis of a DIY punk show. This event exists as a vital rallying point for queer, trans, BIPOC, and femme folks and all marginalized identities and allies to gather, resource, and fortify each other’s bodies, hearts, and nervous systems. Listen about it from the organizers who recently appeared on the Fabulous 413.
Connecticut River Watershed Partnership: Watershed Week
Friday, Sept. 18 – Sunday, Sept. 27
Watershed Week celebrates the Connecticut River with events across the region. The cornerstone is 30th annual Source to Sea Cleanup, Sept. 18–19, when volunteers remove trash from waterways, riverbanks and communities throughout the 410-mile watershed. Last year, more than 2,000 volunteers collected nearly 35 tons of trash! Plus, there will be many events in western Mass. including museum programs, history walks and a watershed-wide BioBlitz.
The Northampton Record Fair
Northampton High School
Saturday Sept. 19
$10 Early Admission from 9 – 11 a.m.; $5 General Admission from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Local and regional record dealers from around the Northeast are bringing out thousands of vinyl records and CDs for your digging pleasure. 75+ tables of vinyl records and CDs will be set up in the Northampton High School cafeteria. Early admission comes with a raffle ticket to potentially win a gift certificate to a local record store or a $50 shopping spree at the fair. The raffle will be called at 11 a.m. Plus! The first 300 people in before 11 a.m. will also get a free Recordville tote bag.
Flo Fest
Main Street, Florence, between Chestnut and Maple streets
Saturday, Sept. 19 from 4 – 8 p.m.
New this year, Flo Fest is a community-run celebration that builds on the legacy of Florence Night Out. Main Street will close for a day of live music, art and neighborhood activity, with 16 performance groups on three stages, a “Little Roots” children’s music area, work by 30 artists, hands-on art projects, a 12-stop scavenger hunt and food and drink from local businesses. Performers include Sparc Youth Rock Band, The Unlucky Shots, The Kill Phill, Ascendance, NOHO Flow and Juggle, Olivia Nied and Bobbie. The festival was founded by Florence resident and arts organizer Chloe Torri. Learn more from this episode of the Fabulous 413.
Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem
Community Sing and Performance for Amherst Survival Center
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College
Saturday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m.
Noah Horn and Arianne Abela lead a full orchestra of local performers and teachers and a sixty-voice choir drawn from the Five Colleges and area choruses, including Da Camera, the Grace Church Choir, the Hampshire Choral Society, Illumine Vocal Ensemble, Novi Cantori, Pioneer Valley Cappella, and the Pioneer Valley Symphony Chorus. Featuring soloists Junko Watanabe (soprano) and Liam Shannon (baritone). The audience is invited to sing movements 4 and 7! Admission is by voluntary donation of money or non-perishable food items, no tickets necessary. All proceeds support the Amherst Survival Center.
Re/Emergence Collective: We Are the People in the Room
Wendell Meetinghouse
Saturday, Sept 19. at 7 p.m.
The Re/Emergence Collective is a group of diverse theater-makers and artistic collaborators who have worked together in many forms over the last decade in Western Massachusetts. We Are the People in the Room is a performance that weaves together material generated from their community workshops, personal experiences and collective exploration around what it means to be human in this moment in history. Stay for a post show discussion and reception.
Dear Ella
Trinity United Methodist Church, Springfield
Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
A vocal-led trio, performing folk, jazz, and blues, Dear Ella features Ann Percival, Mary Witt, and Annie Patterson. They are known for their powerful three-part harmonies and uplifting songs about social justice, love, and hope. The band's name, "Dear Ella", is an homage, a thank you, and love letter to the iconic vocalist and band leader Ella Fitzgerald; the inspiring civil rights activist Ella Baker; and musician, actress and children's performer Ella Jenkins.
Eric Carle’s Modernist Inspirations
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst
Opens Saturday, Sept. 19
This new exhibit examines the movements and artists that shaped Eric Carle’s distinctive visual language. It traces Carle’s formative years in Germany, when his art teacher secretly introduced him to the so-called “degenerate” artists banned by the regime, making a lasting impression on Carle’s own work. Selections from his oeuvre are presented in dialogue with works by modernist figures such as Anni Albers, Marc Chagall, Sonia Delaunay, Shizuo Fujimori, Paul Klee, Oscar Kokoschka, Fernand Léger, August Macke, René Magritte, Franz Marc, and Pablo Picasso. This is a big project, so there will be two rotations of works on view, one from Sept. 19 – Feb. 28, 2027, and the second from March 6, 2027 – Sept. 6, 2027.
Stories of Enslavement and Freedom, A Reading Frederick Douglass Together Event
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, Hadley
Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.
“Forty Acres” is the historic name for the Porter-Phelps-Huntington farmstead. In commemoration of the six people who were enslaved there — Zebulon Prutt, Sezor Phelps, Margaret Bowen, and her daughters and granddaughters Roseanna, Phillis, and Phillis — this program incorporates live music, storytelling and a communal reading of Frederick Douglass’s influential address “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Led by emcee Anika Lopes, with music by Amherst Area Gospel Choir founder Jacqui Wallace, and dramatic readings by Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene and Dr. Erika Slocumb, this outdoor event, held in the museum’s Sunken Garden, brings together past and present for healing and restoration.
Brentano Quartet
South Mountain Concert Hall, Pittsfield
Sunday, Sept. 20 at 3 p.m.
Founded in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has long been a major presence on the international chamber music scene, admired both for its command of the classical repertoire and for adventurous programming. At South Mountain, the quartet performs Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1, written early in his career; Mozart’s sublime String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, one of the six quartets he dedicated to Haydn; and Beethoven’s dramatic String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3. The concert takes place in South Mountain’s intimate 1918 hall, built by chamber-music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and celebrated for its acoustics.
Vienna Teng
Iron Horse, Northampton
Sunday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m.
Vienna Teng’s delicate mezzo voice has drawn listeners since 2002, when her debut album, Waking Hour, landed appearances on NPR's Weekend Edition, The Late Show with David Letterman, and the top of Amazon’s charts. Her subversive choral piece “The Hymn of Acxiom” turns up in media literacy classes as well as drum corps shows (plus David Byrne’s blog, and the occasional flash mob choir in government buildings). An indie pianist and singer-songwriter, Teng often uses live looping to layer vocals, keyboards and percussion.
14th Annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival
Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst
Monday Sept. 21 – Sunday, Sept. 27
Held each September, this festival takes its name from Dickinson’s poem, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” underscoring the revolutionary power of poetry to shift our perspective and reveal new truths. This year’s line-up features a talented group of poets from around the world including a headline reading from acclaimed poets Victoria Chang and Samyak Shertok, generative writing workshops, poetry panels, an open mic, and more. The cornerstone of the Festival, the Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon, is an epic reading of all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson’s poems across the festival week.
Get A Mule, Forty Acres Or So: Film Screening and Community Dialogue
New Africa House, UMass
Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 6 – 8 p.m.
Florence-based nonprofit Self-Evident Education presents a screening of its new documentary Get A Mule Forty Acres Or So, exploring the history of Black land ownership and farming in the United States, from the unfulfilled promise of land redistribution after the Civil War to ongoing issues of land access, food systems and economic self-determination. A panel discussion follows with Self-Evident Education founder Michael Lawrence-Riddell; educator, urban agriculture advocate and longtime hip-hop artist Ibrahim Ali (TABLEEK); and Massachusetts farmers Nataka Crayton and Bobby Walker.
COMING SOON
Northampton Jazz Festival
Downtown Northampton
Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 26
The Northampton Jazz Festival marks its 15th year with 80 musicians and 26 live performances at 17 downtown venues. The free Jazz Strut gets things started Friday afternoon in Pulaski Park, followed by music in restaurants, breweries and bars around downtown all evening long and finishing with a late-night jam session. Free performances continue Saturday — aka Jazz Fest Day — in various Noho performance spots. The festival concludes with the 7:30 p.m. ticketed concert at the Academy of Music by six-time Grammy-nominated alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin.
Golden Hour Sounds
Park Hill Orchard, Easthampton
Saturday, Sept. 26 from 4 – 6 p.m.
Easthampton City Arts is presenting a concert at one of the best places in our region to enjoy a crisp fall afternoon. Golden Hour Sounds will feature performances by Pamela Means Band and Winterpills, surrounded by the immersive seasonal beauty and dynamic outdoor art exhibit of Easthampton's beloved Park Hill Orchard. Early-Bird tickets are $25 until September 12. And tickets are $30 after that.
The Incredible Naumkeag Pumpkin Show
Naumkeag, Stockbridge
Thursday, Oct. 1 – Saturday, Oct. 31
Cauldrons, cobwebs, fairy houses, volcanoes, thousands of hand-carved jack-o'-lanterns, mums, pumpkins, and gourds transform Naumkeag into an autumnal haven. Every year there are new and expanded displays embracing October's mysterious magic for visitors of all ages to discover. Happening Wednesdays through Sundays. Tickets are on sale now. Advance ticket sales only. No tickets are sold on site.
Phantoms by Firelight: Frankenstein Encounter
Old Sturbridge Village
Opens Saturday, Oct. 3
Old Sturbridge Village will be transformed into a shadowy world of dense fog, chilling music, crackling electricity — with one of literature’s most iconic and misunderstood creatures lurking somewhere in the darkness. History will be woven throughout, with interpreters exploring what frightened New Englanders more than 200 years ago when the novel was first published. There will be coffin-making, gravestone carving, spooky 1800's insights, ghost stories by the fire, experiments with electricity, theatrical performers, games and trick-or-treat for kids, and more.
Deerfield After Dark: Ghosts of the Revolution
Historic Deerfield
Friday, Oct. 9 – Saturday, Oct. 24 from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Have you ever wanted to talk to the ghost of a Tory tavern keeper? Or have a conversation with two friends who were on different sides during the Revolution? This October, Hall Tavern will be filled with ghosts of the Revolution. Enjoy hot mulled cider, hear ghost stories, and follow a guide outside into the darkness to meet ghosts from the Stebbins and Williams families. Short guided walks begin at 7 p.m. and depart every half hour until 9 p.m.