We’re back from vacation!
And it turns out we’re not the only ones. Following a nine-month round of renovations, 33 Hawley St. is open once again. So we bring in some folx from the core trio of groups that make up the Northampton Arts Trust to talk about what that reopening means for the greater western Massachusetts arts community. Kathy Couch, co-director/steward at Available Potential Enterprises (A.P.E.); Joanna Faraby Walker, managing director for Northampton Center for the Arts; and P. Albert Williams, executive director for Northampton Open Media (NOM) gather to talk about what changes to expect at their official event during Northampton’s Art's Night Out on Jan. 12, as well as what an updated facility can offer everyone.
We’re returning to the moon as well. Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Hampshire College, tells us about a lot of missions from many organizations across the globe aiming for the moon, which has created the issue of ownership. When spiritual beliefs, national integrity, and a profitable bottom line come into conflict, how can we parse out the real estate of cosmic bodies? And whose systems take precedence when human remains are involved?
And we’re taking another look at two goals of the Bay State which have ended up at odds. Smith College professor Naila Moreira has recently published an article about the conflict between forest conservation efforts and the expansion of solar arrays, “The Forest and the Trees: Western Mass.’ Solar Siting Problem.” What are the varying environmental impacts of building solar farms and clear cutting forests to make building sites for them? We dig into what the western Massachusetts’ Beacon Hill delegation is doing to lessen the environmental stress and to create more green energy ways.
