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The Mount, Edith Wharton's Home, announces the full lineup of the 2025 Summer Author Series and In Conversation. This year, the series features an expanded roster of literary luminaries reflecting diverse disciplines and perspectives. Susan Wissler, The Mount’s executive director, shares, “For over three decades, The Mount has been a beacon for thought-provoking discussions, and this year is no exception. Inspired by Edith Wharton’s passion for ideas and love of good conversation, we invite the Berkshire community to join us for enriching talks and discussions with the literary giants and innovative thinkers shaping our world today."

The long way around Jay Critchley “came out” as an artist by default. In 1981 he created a piece “Just Visiting for the Weekend, Sand Car Series #1.” A sister abandoned a Dodge which he encrusted with sand. Properly registered and insured it was parked at Macmillan Pier in the heart of Provincetown. 

Laozi, in his timeless wisdom within the Tao Te Ching, presents a series of paradoxical statements that challenge our conventional understanding of how to achieve wholeness and fulfillment. Among these, the notion that embracing partiality, crookedness, emptiness, death, and surrender can lead to their opposites seems counterintuitive. Yet, within these inversions lies the profound truth about the human journey, particularly the “bitterness” of temple life to ultimately blossom into one of deep meaning.  

MASS MoCA today announces its full lineup of summer programming. Following the celebratory opening weekend of Vincent Valdez: Just A Dream…, this summer’s concerts, workshops, and events include SNACKTIME (July 12), Guster & The Mountain Goats (July 26), and many others live in concert; the final Like Magic: Screening Series (June 7) prior to the exhibition’s September closure; the return of MASS MoCA’s summer fun spot The Chalet; and a late summer outdoor show with Lake Street Dive (September 6); among other energizing offerings.

Erin Morley sang hopefully of spring and blooms and birds at the Park Avenue Armory. Ms. Morley is clearly a voice for our times.

Cafe Resistance, a new play by Robert Monticello, and directed by Lissa Moira, is playing at Theater for the New City through April 27th.  Set in Paris in 1940 as the Germans enter to occupy the city, a bordello is the perfect place to watch all the parties in action. 

On May 14, Chesterwood – the summer home, studio and gardens of American Renaissance sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) – will reopen its doors to the public after a multi-faceted, four-year renovation and rehabilitation project to preserve the French family residence. The $4 million project has resulted in three new exhibition rooms, ADA upgrades, and a state-of-the-art collections and resource center available for research and academic work.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), announced today that Pierre Terjanian has been appointed its next Ann and Graham Gund Director and CEO. Currently the MFA’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation, Terjanian succeeds Matthew Teitelbaum and will assume his new role on July 1, 2025.

In 2007, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum received a photo album which alone and cross-referenced with other documents provided a new look into the lives of officers at the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of World War II. The research process also corroborated evidence to prove the guilt of some perpetrators of war crimes.

April 2nd and April 5th, 2025, will be remembered in American History as the first full fledged Anti-Trump, Anti-Maga, Anti-Dodge, and for Democracy peaceful multi-faceted demonstrations. Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from Connecticut, stood up at the podium in the Senate for 25 long hours (ending 4/2/25) and spoke without a break against the current Maga support in the House of Representatives and the Senate, against President Trump and his cabinet's policies and the chaos that has ensued since January 20th. Then, on April 5th, the People of America demonstrated in various ways in all of the 50 States of the USA by the millions!

The Brooklyn Academy of Music recently presented A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Rebecca Frecknall and featuring a set by Madeleine Girling, this production, which was a smash hit in London, also made a strong impression at BAM.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, we wanted to take a moment to pause and revisit some of our most beloved galleries,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director. “Thinking collaboratively and working with a spirit of curiosity, we set about to create a space for many voices to share their experience and understanding of the origin story of our country’s founding.”

Compromise, another form of yielding, is essential for navigating the complexities of human interaction. By yielding on less important issues, we create space for finding common ground and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes. This approach avoids unnecessary conflict and preserves valuable relationships.

The exhibition delves into the extensive historic and modern collections of the first art school and museum in the United States. Established in Philadelphia in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) has long championed American art and artists and was the first art academy in the nation to admit women and Black art students for study in the 1800s.

Shakespeare & Company has announced its Gala 2025, slated for Saturday, June 28, will honor award-winning actors Annette Miller and John Douglas Thompson. In addition to performing on its stages – including together in Richard III in 2010 – both actors are alumni of Shakespeare & Company’s Center for Actor Training, which offers acting intensives and workshops for artists at varied stages in their careers and provides the basis for the company’s aesthetic. 

Last October Astrid and I spent an afternoon with the legendary Provincetown gallerist, Berta Walker. The gallery is now in its 35th year. It was business as usual although artist Grace Hopkins manages the day to day operation. There were disruptions as she greeted visitors but I attempted to discuss her career as well as her famous father and grandfather. They were collectors and philanthropists. Her grandfather founded the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Her father, Hudson Walker, served on museum boards and was one of the Monuments Men during WWII.

When Kirill Petrenko was elected by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra members to lead their orchestra five years ago, people were surprised. Becauase he is Russian by birth? No, because he is a Jew. Now the Berlin PHilharmonic publishes an interview with him on what it is like for him to be Jewish.

Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski didn't expect to see each other after their summer fling, but Sandy transfers into Danny's school, Rydell High. How can Danny still be cool with his Greaser friends, yet rekindle the sensitive relationship with Sandy? And how can Sandy befriend the Pink Ladies while poaching in their territory? A great soundtrack and a ton of humor tell the story.

Juicy, a young, thicc, gay, black man, is visited by the ghost of his father, Pap, who demands that Juicy exact revenge for Pap's murder by his brother Rev. But Juicy's disposition doesn't lean toward violence, and mother Tedra suggests that he leave the past behind. Serious themes underlie the comedy.

New Directors/New Films runs at MOMA and  Film at Lincoln Center from April 2 to 13.

The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award is presented each year to an artist of exceptional vision and achievement, and carries a cash prize which the artist can use as they choose. As a beloved archivist and mentor, and a founder of the award-winning digital archive platform Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, Owen has curated decades of resources, events, and creative collections for public access, providing entry points into the vast Archives at Jacob’s Pillow.

The play is set in an art gallery in Miami during the Basel Art Festival, a major cultural event. Mariana runs a small gallery and discovers that the paintings from the current exhibition have been stolen; later that day, she is hosting a reception with many affluent collectors attending.

The primary difficulty with this production is because each “bit” is drawn out to its utmost, the play runs over two and a half hours. A tighter production would have had more effect.

3 Summers of Lincoln is a captivating production blending historical and contemporary dance and music to explore the meetings between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass during the American Civil War. Set across three summers—1862, 1863, and 1864—the play dramatizes Lincoln's leadership struggle and Douglass’ unwavering commitment to abolition.

Franz Welser-Most, and the Cleveland Orchestra he will have directed longer than any other conductor, arrived at Carnegie Hall this week to bring us hope through music in these difficult times.