Your DGB Cultural District E-News | |
Great Barrington Arts Market: Winter Markets | |
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Great Barrington Arts Market (GBAM) Winter Market features the best local artisanal products in the Berkshires.
Shop artisans across the region, supporting local, small biz, and finding unique items for your home, your self, your friends, your family.
Two markets this winter:
- Sunday, January 19th | 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
- Sunday, February 16th | 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Where: Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington
GBAM’s mission is to provide revenue for Berkshire and regional based artists and offer locally made products to consumers in a holiday market venue.
Click here for more information about the event.
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Business profile: Boba Train | | |
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Boba Train Cafe, located on upper Railroad Street is a beautiful new cafe that joined the cultural district in September of 2024.
Liliana Arteaga-Tucker who owns Boba Train, as well as its sister cafe, Shots in downtown Lenox has envisioned a space in Great Barrington for some time now.
However, if it wasn't for her boba loving daughter who knows what the cafe would look like today.
Arteaga-Tucker says the cafe has been welcomed with open arms by neighboring businesses and locals alike. Liliana greatly appreciates the sense of community that Great Barrington offers.
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When Liliana's teen daughter started loving Boba she was asking her mother to drive her up to thirty minutes away to get the drink. Liliana, who loves creating different drinks decided to take courses to learn how to make boba tea from scratch.
Boba tea, also known as bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink made of milk, tea or fruit, and chewy tapioca pearls.
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What makes Boba Train unique is that they brew all of their own (non-dairy) tea milks and make their tapioca pearls fresh daily, from scratch.
Brewing the tea and making the tapioca pearls fresh daily is lengthy process, but Liliana prides herself in delivering high quality drinks for her customers.
Arteaga-Tucker explained that their boba is sweetened with real brown cane sugar, as opposed to anything refined and artificial.
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She noted how sometimes people are skeptical of boba tea because they assume its a super sugary, overly sweetened drink, but that is not that case at Boba Trian - customers can ask for their Boba tea to be made less sweet if they so choose.
Aside from boba, the cafe menu offers fresh baked pastries, an extensive list of international teas, coffee, cappuccino, lattes, matcha, and chai. Their menu also includes smoothies, lemonade, and Frappuccino's.
Liliana hopes that more people in southern Berkshire county come in to give boba a try, as well as residents from other parts of the county.
She wants people to know, "Boba Train Cafe offers something for everybody and boba tea is for everybody, not just the kids or the grandkids!"
Be sure to check out Boba Train's social media for business hours and seasonal drink specials!
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You can also find exclusively creative economy jobs, including remote and hybrid opportunities, at MCC's HireCulture. Several sample postings are below. | |
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Find Berkshire County in-person, remote, and hybrid jobs that pay a minimum of $40K a year in all fields, including arts, education, nonprofits, and related, at 1Berkshire's The Jobs Thing. Among some of the current openings of interest are:
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The National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) provides transformational leadership to bring the arts in health together and advance the field. | | |
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Check out current open hybrid/remote positions in the field of arts in health here.
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Arts Funding and Resources | |
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Curated information about funding and financial assistance
for those working in the creative economy.
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Learn about grants, events, and resources, find fellowships and apprenticeships, and identify art spaces by subscribing to MCC's Monthly Newsletter | |
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Opportunities & Resources for Orgs – January 25
National Endowment for the Arts’ Grants for Arts Projects supports an expansive range of arts activities to strengthen the nation’s arts and culture ecosystem, including opportunities for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector. Deadlines: February 13th, 2025 - for projects taking place beginning in 2026.
Latinos in Heritage Conservation’s Grant Program
Offers dedicated funding to nonprofits and community groups for Latinx heritage and historic preservation projects.
Deadline: February 15th, 2025
An overview of MCC's FY24 Programs and Funding Opportunities is available HERE.
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Creative Capital is a nonprofit, grantmaking organization funding artists in the creation of groundbreaking new work, amplifying the impact of their work, and fostering sustainable artistic careers.
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Artist Opportunities for January and February
Long Meadow Art Residency
This residency is a six week to three month solo residency in the Berkshires. The residency provides a $3,000 monthly living stipend, a $2,500 supply budget, as well as access to a vehicle for transportation.
Deadline: February 15th, 2025
NXTHVN Fellowship
Each year NXTHVN of New Haven Connecticut welcomes up to seven artists and two curators to participate in its paid 10-month intensive Fellowship Program. Each Fellow will receive studio or office space, a stipend, and subsidized housing.
Deadline: March 3rd, 2025
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NEFA cultivates and promotes the arts in New England and beyond. | |
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Upcoming NEFA grants and programs include:
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ArtsHub is an ever-evolving idea designed to highlight and bring together the amazing artists, organizations, and events that are happening within the creative communities of Western Mass. | |
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Mass Creative advocates for a well-resourced and equitable creative sector essential to Massachusetts's economic and civic vibrancy. | |
MASSCreative's Action Network fights for policies that benefit cultural nonprofits, creative businesses, and individual artists in Massachusetts. Where arts, culture, and creativity are recognized as vital components of civically engaged, economically vibrant, and equitable communities. | | |
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What: Met Opera Live in HD: Verdi’s Aida
When: Saturday, January 25th | 12:30 pm
Where: Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Details: American soprano Angel Blue headlines as the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country in a new production of Verdi’s Aida by Michael Mayer that brings audiences inside the towering pyramids and gilded tombs of ancient Egypt with intricate projections and dazzling animations.
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What: Uncharitable (2023)
When: Thursday, January 30th | 6:00 pm
Where: Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Details: Led by Dan Pallotta, whose record-breaking TED Talk on the subject has inspired leading philanthropists and changemakers, this feature-length documentary directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal exposes the dark side of philanthropy and introduces a radical new way of giving. In a powerful call to action, Uncharitable demands that charities be freed from the traditional sackcloth-and-ashes constraints, so that they can truly change the world. Co-produced with Berkshire United Way, Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires, Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, and Tanglewood Learning Institute
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What: Dewey Hall’s Celestial Ball
When: Saturday, February 1st | 7:30 pm
Where: Dewey Hall
Details: You are cordially invited to attend Dewey Hall’s 2025 Celestial Ball! We will celebrate the final night of our annual fundraising campaign. Attendees are encouraged to dress to shimmer, shimmy, and shine in sequins, sparkles, and glitter. Enjoy the magical transformation of Dewey Hall into the Stardust Ballroom as you mix, mingle and dance the night away to DJ BFG. Visit the Mystical Lounge for Tarot card readings, face painting, and a wine bar. Savory snacks and cosmic sweets are included with each ticket. Wine beer, and non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase.
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What: Billy F Gibbons
When: Saturday, February 15th | 8:00 pm
Where: Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Details: Billy F Gibbons is instantly recognizable and best known as the centerpiece of ZZ Top and is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest guitarists working in the blues-rock idiom.
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