International Art Show and Film Festival: Beyond Our Boundaries, Day One
2025-07-19 15:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Show opens Saturday July 19 with an opening reception 3 – 5 pm followed at 5:15 by the Not So Short Film Festival-Part One.
The film festival continues on Sunday July 20 at 2 pm with the Not So Short Film Festival Part Two.
The show continues weekends 12 to 3 or by appointment (gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org) until August 31. It is open during events.
Explore the uncharted territories of creativity at “Beyond Our Boundaries,” an international art show celebrating innovation and risk-taking in art and film. This exhibition brings together diverse artists from around the world who push the boundaries of conventional art forms, embracing new methods and mediums to inspire and challenge our perceptions.”
Featured film presentation: Not So Short Film Festival is a 5 hour compilation of films created by artists around the world during Covid-19, and previously screened online at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art. We are thrilled to be showing this work along with short films by filmmakers Irena Paskali (Macedonia and Germany) and Gabi Gusmao (Brazil).
Some of the featured artists: Tomek Kopeciwicz (Poland) and Evelyne Barbier (France).

International Art Show and Film Festival: Beyond Our Boundaries, Day Two
2025-07-20 14:00 - 17:00
Second day of the International Art Show and Film Festival with showing of the Not So Short Film Festival Part Two at 2 pm.
The show continues weekends 12 to 3 or by appointment (gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org) until August 31. Also open during events.
Explore the uncharted territories of creativity at “Beyond Our Boundaries,” an international art show celebrating innovation and risk-taking in art and film. This exhibition brings together diverse artists from around the world who push the boundaries of conventional art forms, embracing new methods and mediums to inspire and challenge our perceptions.”
Featured film presentation: Not So Short Film Festival is a 5 hour compilation of films created by artists around the world during Covid-19, and previously screened online at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art. We are thrilled to be showing this work along with short films by filmmakers Irena Paskali (Macedonia and Germany) and Gabi Gusmao (Brazil).
Some of the featured artists: Tomek Kopeciwicz (Poland) and Evelyne Barbier (France).

Sandisfield's Ceremonial Stone Landscapes: Slide-talk by Ron Bernard
2025-07-26 10:00 - 11:30
“A ceremonial stone landscape is a series of intricately crafted structures — rock walls, piles, and cairns (Manitou Hassanash in the Algonquian language) — that Indigenous peoples and those committed to protecting the site consider a sacred space. They are an excellent example of what the United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc., a federation of more than two dozen federally recognized tribes, have named “prayers in stone,” constructed for their creators to connect with Mother Earth and the spirit world. ” – From an article on the Scenic Hudson website.
Local historian Ron Bernard will give a slide show and talk on the CSLs he believes he has found in Sandisfield, and will help us learn to tell the difference between stone walls or just piles of stones and CSLs.
If you want some backgroubd before Ron’s talk, see this article Connnecting With the Valley’s Indigenous-Spirited Ceremonial Stone Landscapes by Reed Sparling, a great introduction to CSLs. These are in Hudson County, New York.
To buy tickets, press the + for the number you want – then Get Tickets will work.
9 AM Saturday: Ticket sales close here but there are plenty of seats – just come!

International Art Show: Beyond Our Boundaries - Extended!
2025-07-26 11:00 - 2025-10-04 23:00
The International Art Show has been extended weekends 12 to 3, during performances, or by appointment (gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org) through October 4.
Explore the uncharted territories of creativity at “Beyond Our Boundaries,” an international art show celebrating innovation and risk-taking in art and film. This exhibition brings together diverse artists from around the world who push the boundaries of conventional art forms, embracing new methods and mediums to inspire and challenge our perceptions.”
The show begins July 19 and July 20 with a featured film presentation: Not So Short Film Festival, a 5 hour compilation of films created by artists around the world during Covid-19, and previously screened online at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art. We are thrilled to be showing this work along with short films by filmmakers Irena Paskali (Macedonia and Germany) and Gabi Gusmao (Brazil).
Some of the featured artists: Tomek Kopeciwicz (Poland) and Evelyne Barbier (France).

SOLD OUT! Seth Herzog and Company: A NIght of Comedy
2025-07-26 20:00 - 21:30
In a special appearance direct from New York!
Seth Herzog is a New York comedian who is a regular sketch performer and the resident comedian for NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Enjoy a hilarious night of comedy at a time when late-night TV couldn’t be more relevant (but you don’t have to stay up for this).
Arrive at 7:45 to get a refreshment (one free drink with your ticket) downstairs in the Gallery, then amble upstairs for the show in the newly-named, air-conditioned Susie Crofut and Ben Luxon Theater. In the newly-named Garfield Family Gallery you’ll also see the sensational “Beyond Our Boundaries” International Art Show.
Cash bar for wine, beer, Alma del Jaguar tequila. First drink free with ticket. Soft drinks free.
Because one of Seth’s sponsors is the fabulous Alma del Jaguar tequila, we will be serving their sustainably sourced award-winning tequila along with the usual wine, beer, and soft drinks. Not only does Alma del Jaguar make world-class tequila, but the company is “committed to protecting one of North America’s most vital apex predators. As keystone species, jaguars maintain ecological balance, regulating prey populations and preserving biodiversity throughout their range. When we protect jaguars, we protect entire ecosystems.”
About Seth Herzog

To buy tickets, press the + for the number you want – then Get Tickets will work.

Poetry, Prose and a Play - Canceled!
2025-08-09 16:00 - 18:00
We regret that this event has been canceled.
Direct from Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theater!
Don’t miss this unique theatrical experience created by former Waterbury City Historian and educator Phil Benevento and Sandisfield actress and writer Linda Storms!
The first act begins with alternating poetry and prose. The second act is a dramatic readers’ theater production of “The Opening of a Door,” an original play by Phil Benevento performed by the Chase Parkway Players/
Set in Waterbury in the 1990s, the play is about Rosa who has just returned from a trip to Africa and Southern Europe. She has brought a strange souvenir for her friend and colleague Marie Santi – a gift that can grant a wish. In this original play, we learn of the trials and tribulations of Marie’s family and how this surprising gift may offer a chance to wish for a better life.

Four Fabulous Fridays - Open Mic Series
2025-08-15 19:00 - 20:30
Our open mic nights are the perfect venue for showcasing your talent. Seasoned performer or just starting out — bring your music, poetry, comedy, dance, or whatever creative talent you have to share.
Or just come to enjoy some live entertainment and get a new perspective on your neighbors.
Four Fridays June 20, July 28, August 16, and September 19 at 7 pm
Free (Donations suggested)

Mushroom Walk with John Wheeler
2025-08-23 10:00 - 12:00
Learn about and forage for mushrooms with expert mycologist John Wheeler, President, Berkshire Mycological Society.
Rain or shine (mushrooms like rain, bring an umbrella if it’s raining).
Bring a basket, a pair of gloves, and a suitable knife.
We’ll meet at the Arts Center and proceed from there.
Space limited!

Serena Granbery Retrospective Gallery Show - POSTPONED TO 2026
2025-09-07 11:00 - 2025-10-11 15:00
This restrospective of the work of Serena Granbery has been rescheduled to spring 2026.
Using bronze, clay, concrete, oil, wax, and wood, Serena Granbery’s work reflects her deep connection to the natural world in work that echoes her reverence for the environment and ecology. From her website:
“Ecology is the central theme of my work, expressing the depth of our connection to the natural world, and our need to preserve it. Using forms I find in nature, I evolve my sculpture, combining, blending, and abstracting until the finished piece is no longer specific to any one source, but equally evocative of many natural origins. My goal is that the resulting forms strike a pleasurably familiar chord, while leaving room for our imaginations to play. The resulting sculptures are powerful echoes of the forces of Nature.”
For more, see the website https://granberysculpture.com/.

Live from New York Cabaret, An Evening of Song
2025-09-13 19:30 - 21:30
Direct from Linda Mironti’s smash New York cabaret performance at Don’t Tell Mama, this musical journey features songs from jazz to Broadway and the Great American Songbook with Linda, Lennie Watts, Tracy Stark, and Deborah Zecher.
Prosecco and dessert will be served at intermission.
About the show:
“There’s a particular brand of magic that can only happen in the cozy intimacy of a cabaret room like Don’t Tell Mama—and on Thursday, May 8th, Linda Mironti delivered just that with her heartfelt and hilarious show, Perfectly Imperfect. Under the masterful direction of cabaret icon Lennie Watts, Mironti brought her audience on a journey that was equal parts musical memoir and love letter to resilience, all wrapped in the warm hug of winking humor, and genuine soul.” — Analisa Bell in Broadway World, May 14, 2025. Read the whole review.
Bringing the show to Sandisfield, Linda has added three other outstanding performers:
Lennie Watts, award-winning vocalist, director, producer.
Tracy Stark, pianist/arranger/conductor/singerSongwriter, an 16-time MAC Award winner, in the categories of Music Director, Piano Bar Entertainer, and Song of the Year.
Deborah Zecher, rabbi and much-awarded singer of the Great American Songbook.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Sandisfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported bythe Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

We thank Domaney’s for their generous donation of Prosecco!

Four Fabulous Fridays - Open Mic Series
2025-09-19 19:00 - 20:30
Our open mic nights are the perfect venue for showcasing your talent. Seasoned performer or just starting out – bring your music, poetry, comedy, dance, or whatever creative talent you have to share.
Or just come to enjoy some live entertainment and get a new perspective on your neighbors!
Four Fridays June 20, July 18, August 15, and September 19 at 7 pm (Sign up begins at 6:30).
Free (Donations suggested)

Chronic Pain and the Mind-Body Connection
2025-09-20 10:00 - 11:30
Anni Crofut is a Mind-Body Coach (www.annicrofutmindbody.com) specializing in helping people find relief from chronic pain and other persistent mind-body symptoms. Her work is grounded in Dr. Dan Ratner’s groundbreaking 3-Columns system (www.CrushingDoubt.com), a framework that empowers individuals to understand and transform the root causes of their suffering. This system rests on a powerful premise: You make sense, and your symptoms make sense. By exploring the roles of unprocessed emotions, entrenched doubt, and disconnection from personal power, clients begin to uncover the psychological roots of their symptoms. With this understanding, they gain the clarity and tools needed to quiet the brain’s danger signals and experience profound relief.
In this talk, Anni will share the latest research and knowledge on chronic pain and how to recover from it using Dr. Dan Ratner’s approach.
Ratner is the author of Crushing Doubt: An Advanced System for Mind-Body Pain and Symptom Relief.
Ticket sales close at 9:30 am but there is plenty of room for walk-ins.

Dave Maswick and Joel Brown in Concert
2025-10-04 19:00 - 21:00
TICKET SALES HAVE CLOSED BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF SEATS LEFT – Bring cash, check or credit card.
We’re thrilled to have longtime Sandisfield Arts Center favorite Joel Brown return, this time with Dave Maswick.
Maswick and Brown bring an exquisite evening of music to our Susie Crofut and Ben Luxon Theater. The performance features beautifully arranged harmony sincing over lush acoustic accompaniment highlighted by intricate guitar work.
Maswick and Brown’s expressive lead and solo vocals serve as perfect vehicles for their hook-laden, modern folk/pop and contemporary acoustic original songs. Brown is a classical guitarist who has been featured with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Tanglewood, with the Boston Pops, and on stages around the globe. Maswick was in the early MTV hit band Blotto, and has long played bass for The Stony Creek Band, a progressive country-bluegrass outfit. Combine these two seasoned musicians and you get an exquisite evening of music.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Sandisfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported bythe Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

TICKET SALES HAVE CLOSED BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF SEATS LEFT – Bring cash, check or credit card.

Unveiling: A Show of Portraits - Opening Reception
2025-10-18 16:00 - 18:00
Photograph by Alexi Lubomirski.
The Sandisfield Arts Center is pleased to present Unveiling, a group exhibition featuring artists working with portraiture across a range of mediums. The show considers the idea of the portrait as more than a representation of physical likeness — as a possibility for deeper engagement and vantage into an inner world. Each piece, in its own way, reflects on the layered, shifting nature of being. Together, these portraits capture the complexities of identity, memory, and personality.
Opening reception Saturday, October 18 4 to 6 pm. Show continues weekends until December 7.
Artists
Susanna Howe
Schandra Singh
Sarah Konstam
Josie Miner
Jaye Moscariello
Jacob Fossum
David Armstrong
Daisy Noyes
Alexi Lubomirski

By Alexi Lubomirski
By Josie Miner

By Daisy Noyes
By Susanna Howe

By Jacob Fossum
By Schandra Singh

By Jaye Moscariello

By Josie Miner

Unveiling: A Show of Portraits
2025-10-19 11:00 - 2025-12-07 15:00
Portrait by Alexi Lubomirski
The Sandisfield Arts Center is pleased to present Unveiling, a group exhibition featuring artists working with portraiture across a range of mediums. The show considers the idea of the portrait as more than a representation of physical likeness — as a possibility for deeper engagement and vantage into an inner world. Each piece, in its own way, reflects on the layered, shifting nature of being. Together, these portraits capture the complexities of identity, memory, and personality.
Opening reception Saturday, October 18 4 to 6 pm. Show continues weekends until December 7.
Artists
Susanna Howe
Schandra Singh
Sarah Konstam
Josie Miner
Jaye Moscariello
Jacob Fossum
David Armstrong
Daisy Noyes
Alexi Lubomirski

By Alexi Lubomirski
By Josie Miner

By Daisy Noyes
By Susanna Howe

By Jacob Fossum
By Schandra Singh

By Josie Miner

The Headless Horseman - Radio Mystery Hour with the Sandisfield Players - Price Reduced!
2025-10-25 19:00 - 21:00
Price reduction! Adults now $20. This is a family event and we hope you’ll bring the whole family.
(Anyone who already bought adult tickets will get a note re a refund at the door.)
Teens 13 – 19: $10.
Kids 12 and under: Free – but do reserve a free ticket below
The Sandisfield Players are back!
Join us for a spook-tacular radio play just in time for Halloween — the Headless Horseman!
An event for the whole family:
Online ticket sales stop at 5 pm. We may have space for a few walk-ins.

Pumpkin Painting and Open House - Free!
2025-10-26 12:00 - 14:00
We’re bringing back one of our most popular family events, safe and creative pumpkin painting for the whole family, in time for Halloween.
This is also an open house for the community, come meet friends and neighbors and watch Sandisfield youngsters exercise their creativity.
Pumpkins and refreshments provided.
We’ll have 18 pie (sugar) pumpkins, first come first served.

Hard Cider Tasting conducted by Tom Christopher with Music by Sally Terrell and Chris Casey
2025-11-08 16:00 - 18:00 | Sandisfield Arts Center, 5 Hammertown Road, Sandisfield, MA, 01255, United States
Special offer for our community! A limited number of community tickets at $10. Choose Community Tickets below.
An introduction to the flavors and history of New England’s traditional beverage: hard cider. This is one of our most popular events, last held in 2019.
Long-time cider maker and enthusiast Tom Christopher will speak about the history of cider making in our region, and then invite the audience to taste a flight of ciders from a variety of makers, both amateur and professional, with cheese snacks from local cheesemongers
We’ll explore a range of flavors and styles of cider, from traditional New England farmhouse ciders made locally to European inspired ciders from some of the best cider houses in the region.
Sally Terrell
Singer Sally Terrell and pianist Chris Casey provide wonderful musical accompaniment.
Sally Terrell’s professional singing career may be a “second act” following thirty years as an English professor, but music has always been her first passion. Her first solo album, Just in Time (2019), features fresh takes on jazz standards and an original song, Blue Piano, written in tribute to her father. Her second release, Feel Alive (2022), “artfully captures the zeitgeist of the pandemic era with a collection of emotional, socially conscious originals and fresh interpretations of standards that uniquely fit our cultural moment.” Both projects highlight a fruitful collaboration with renowned jazz pianist John diMartino, who says of her work, “Sally brings a beautiful energy to these songs, breathing new life into them.” Terrell’s intuitive interpretations and razor-sharp ear showcase a velvety alto and a gift for sharing the timeless stories of jazz while boldly exploring her range across musical genres.
Jazz pianist Chris Casey is on the faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford. An active pianist, composer and arranger, Chris has performed extensively throughout New England and the New York area. He has performed with such greats as Jackie McLean, Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Claudio Roditi, Slide Hampton, Houston Person, Jacomo Gates, Bob Berg, Jimmy Greene, and Greg Banaszak.
Apple picture is from Yankee Magazine, “History of Hard Cider in New England,” August 23, 2010.

Harvest Gala
2025-11-15 18:00 - 21:00
Join us to enjoy a delicious, even “glorious” fall meal prepared by celebrated local chef, Adam Manacher. This is always a popular event and this year the entertainment will provide a behind the scenes peek at how the amazing sounds were created for the sold-out radio play, “The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” presented in October by the Sandisfield Players.
Also – A preview of some highlights of our 2026 season.

Special Concert: Josh Luxon-Robinson Returns
2025-11-28 16:00 - 17:30
Josh Luxon-Robinson is the brilliant young pianist who has delighted our audiences for the last three years. This special Thanksgiving-weekend performance provdes a great and upllifting alternative to couch-sitting on the day after Thanksgiving.
Program (subject to change)
Liszt – Vallée d’Obermann
Medtner – Sonata Reminisicenza
Beethoven – Sonata in A flat Major, Op. 110
About Mr. Luxon-Robinson:
Josh Luxon-Robinson is a soloist and chamber musician, and recent graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where he studied with James Kirby, supported by a scholarship. During his time there he participated in masterclasses and lessons for chamber, concerto and solo performance with a number of world class musicians, notably Peter Donohoe, Kathryn Stott and Angela Hewitt. Josh was the winner of the RWCMD’s Eric Hodges Beethoven Prize and the Bryan Davies Memorial Award for Accompanists in 2025. He is passionate about exploring the intricate details of the music he loves – he has done and continues to do so through lectures and masterclasses he’s given, notably for the piano society at Royal Holloway, University of London. Josh has performed as a soloist regularly in the US and UK and has enjoyed accompanying instrumentalists and singers as well as playing in piano trios and quartets. Upcoming performances include solo and chamber recitals in London, and a concert and masterclass for Skipton Music Festival.
Limited number of community tickets @ $10.
Online ticket sales close at 2 pm on November 28.

A Conversation with Simon Winchester about The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind
2025-11-29 16:00 - 17:30
New York Times Best-Selling Author Simon Winchester talks about and reads from his new hot-off-the-presses book, The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind.
This special event is free but donations are encouraged.
From the November 18 New York Times review:
“As Simon Winchester writes in his delightful new book, “The Breath of the Gods,” these invisible currents of air shape our lives in myriad ways. A peripatetic polymath who has written books about everything from the Oxford English Dictionary to the San Francisco earthquake to a journey up the Yangtze River, Winchester weaves geology, meteorology, etymology and history into a jaunty survey of wind’s incarnations and permutations.”
And from the book description on Amazon:
Simon Winchester returns with a thought-provoking history of the wind, written in his edifying and entertaining style.
What is going on with our atmosphere? The headlines are filled with news of devastating hurricanes, murderous tornadoes, and cataclysmic fires affecting large swaths of America. Gale force advisories are issued on a regular basis by the National Weather Service.
In 2022, a report was released by atmospheric scientists at the University of Northern Illinois, warning that winds—the force at the center of all these dangerous natural events—are expected to steadily increase in the years ahead, strengthening in power, speed, and frequency.
While this prediction worried the insurance industry, governmental leaders, scientists, and conscientious citizens, one particular segment of society received it with unbridled enthusiasm. To the energy industry, rising wind strength and speeds as an unalloyed boon for humankind—a vital source of clean and “safe” power.
Between these two poles—wind as a malevolent force, and wind as savior of our planet—lies a world of fascination, history, literature, science, poetry, and engineering which Simon Winchester explores with the curiosity and vigor that are the hallmarks of his bestselling works. In The Breath of the Gods, he explains how wind plays a part in our everyday lives, from airplane or car travel to the “natural disasters” that are becoming more frequent and regular.
The Breath of the Gods is an urgently-needed portrait across time of that unseen force—unseen but not unfelt—that respects no national borders and no vessel or structure in its path. Wind, the movement of the air, is seen by so many as a heavenly creation and generally a thing of essential goodness. But when it flexes its invisible muscles, all should take care and be very afraid.
Books will be available for purchase after the talk. The author will be available to autograph copies.

Call for Art - Daniel Manacher Young Artists Prize - Deadline Extended
2026-01-01 08:00 - 2026-05-22 23:30
Above: By the Swing, Inspired by Yinka Shonibare’s The Swing (After Fragonard) by Enaya A. Ogletree one of the 2025 winners.
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 22.
The Sandisfield Arts Center is pleased to announce the 5th annual Daniel Manacher Prize for Young Artists. Up to three artists will be selected as finalists and will each receive $400 in support of their art practice, as well as a group show of their work at the Sandisfield Arts Center in the 2026 Gallery season.
The prize is generously funded by the parents of Daniel Manacher in memory of their son and his passion for art. Please read the eligibility and application requirements carefully before submitting for the prize. Direct any questions to gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org
Judge: Virginia Overton. Overton is a distinguished American artist known for her site-specific and sculpture works that often incorporate found or readymade objects. In 2018 she was the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens, New York. She has work in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
More about the prize and past recipients.
Eligibility and Application Requirements
Entry Deadline: May 22 by 11:30 pm
Applicants will be notified no later than June 30 via email
Exhibition dates: Bi-ennial exhibit in 2026: Opening reception Sunday August 16
2025 winners whose work will be included: Elizabeth Cheng, Enaya A. Ogletree, Annie Scott, Evelyn Vollmer
Entry Requirements: Eligible artists are those 17-26 yrs of age who reside or go to school in Berkshire County We are actively seeking inclusivity to all those wishing to apply. If any technical assistance due to lack of access to a computer, camera, or internet at home is needed to complete your application, please contact gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org. There is no fee associated with the application and all entrants will be judged based solely on the merit of the work presented.
Accepted Media: We are currently accepting applications from those working in painting, drawing, mixed media, printmaking, and other works on paper, and sculpture. We are unable to accept photography, video, sound or purely digital art at this time. Digital work that will be printed for display on a wall can be considered.
Work Size: No piece can exceed 60” in any direction, and sculptures must be under 60lbs. Artists are responsible for all transportation of the work. All artwork should have been created in the past 3 years.
IMAGE REQUIREMENTS – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Please submit through Google form (see link below) 5 high resolution images of work with up to 5 supporting images of details or various perspectives for 3D art (no more than 10 images total).

Images should be presented in JPEG format with resolution set to 300 dpi, with the longest side no more than 1500pixels.

Title each image file according to this format: LastName_FirstName_imagenumber (ex. Harris_Jade_01.jpg)
Please include a separate document (either Word or pdf) with the image list. The image numbers must correspond to the jpegs submitted and follow this format: 01: Title, Year completed. Media, Size in inches(Height x Width or Height x Width x Depth for 3D work); Ex: Sunset, 2021. Acrylic paint on canvas, 15×11 inches. Please label the image list file LastName_FirstName_ImageList (ex. Harris_Jade_ImageList)
In one additional document (either Word or pdf) include: Contact information (name, phone number, email, mailing address), artist resume (if applicable), educational background, bio (no more than 150 words), and artist’s statement (no more than 250 words). Please label this file as LastName_FirstName_Artist Info (ex. Harris_Jade_Artist Info)

How to submit: Use this Google form: https://forms.gle/Eqr5mrPimjKnZufg7
Selection Process: The applications will be reviewed by the contest judge, Virginia Overton.
Publicity: All finalists will be promoted in local press publications and Sandisfield Arts Center communications.
Contact: Please reach out to Josie Miner at gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org with any questions regarding the application process

Season Opening - Anni Crofut's Family Cabaret! - Sold Out
2026-05-02 19:00 - 21:00
A hilarious, romping evening of madcap mischief, song, dance, comedy, fiddle, yo yo, ukes, jazz and more. This family-friendly variety show provides a professional community theater experience replete with talent, hilarity and soul. More than 25 actors and performers will grace the stage.
Eight hilarious sketches led by Master of Ceremonies Anni Crofut will precede eight acts by such local luminaries as Yo-Yo comedian John Higby, Tom Truss’ Spontaneous Combustion improv ensemble, the Berkshire Ukulele Group, fiddle-player Maggie Holtzberg, Cabaret singer Linda Mironti, and solo jazz guitarist Lucas Solarzano, among others. Cabarets in years past have seen appearances by the likes of internationally renowned opera singer Benjamin Luxon, Comedienne Alison Larkin, slam poetry champion Taylor Mali and the dance company of Moving Arts Exchange.
When a community cabaret takes place in a creative hotspot populated by talented local residents — many of whom are also professional performers — the result is an evening that reaches new standards of family entertainment.
Tip: Click the + sign to select the number of tickets you want, then click the Get Tickets button. You can select both adult and child (12 and under) tickets.

The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery
2026-05-16 10:00 - 12:00
Saturday morning: Ticket sales have closed but there is room for walk-ins.
A conversation with historian John Harpham about his new book, The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery, hailed as a “landmark account of the origins of American slavery showing how ancient Roman ideas were used to defend the establishment of a slave empire in the English Atlantic world.”
On our 250th anniversary, Harpham’s deep, original research helps answer the paradox of our nation’s original sin. We’re thrilled that John is taking time off from his book tour of major American and British cities to stop in Sandisfield.
Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery published by Harvard University Press has been widely praised:
An outstanding accomplishment in intellectual history. With bracing clarity and moral force, John Harpham recovers a forgotten landscape of thought that rendered slavery not only conceivable but also morally permissible in the English-speaking world. Like David Brion Davis before him, Harpham writes with both scholarly precision and humanistic urgency. Luminous and unsettling, this is a foundational text for anyone who seeks to understand the origins of Anglo-American slavery.

—Orlando Patterson, author of Enslavement: Past and Present
Searing, unsettling, and strikingly original, The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery is the most ambitious account of slavery’s founding in the New World since the work of David Brion Davis half a century ago. With unflinching acuity and relying on breathtaking research, Harpham recounts the terrible story of how the English in America convinced themselves of the rightness of human bondage.

—Jill Lepore, author of We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
Compelled by the desire to understand how human beings come to defend the indefensible, John Harpham turns to the early modern roots of Atlantic slavery in this perceptive intellectual history. The depth of his research and the boldness of his insights are certain to command attention.

—Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Harpham is Assistant Professor of Classics and Letters and Wick Cary Professor in the Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage at the University of Oklahoma. His research examines ideas about slavery, freedom, and race, as well as the relation of such ideas to practices of enslavement and resistance across the Atlantic world. He is at work on a three-volume series about the ideas associated with the origins, development, and eventual abolition of slavery in the Anglo-American Atlantic world.

About Community tickets: We make available a limited number of Community tickets @ $10. (on a first come, first served basis) to make our events affordable for more members of the community. Honor system, no proof required.

Serena Granbery Solo Show - Opening Reception - Free
2026-05-16 16:00 - 18:00
Opening Reception 4-6 PM.
Using bronze, clay, concrete, oil, wax, and wood, Serena Granbery’s work reflects her deep connection to the natural world in work that echoes her reverence for the environment and ecology.
Gallery shows and opening receptions are free.
Closes June 14.

Serena Granbery Solo Show
2026-05-16 16:00 - 2026-06-14 18:00
Opening Reception May 16 4-6 PM Show continues most weekends 11-3 or by appointment, contact gallery@sandisfieldartscenter.org.
Using bronze, clay, concrete, oil, wax, and wood, Serena Granbery’s work reflects her deep connection to the natural world in work that echoes her reverence for the environment and ecology.
Gallery shows and opening receptions are free.
Closes June 14.

Turning Points in Mathematics
2026-05-30 10:00 - 12:00
Celebrate math for our country’s 250th?
Find out why in this spirited, enlightening look at how we went from the practical math of the Sumerians to the Greeks and the Euclidean Geometry we study today — and how that was foundational to our Declaration of Independence!
Mathematician Jack Sanders ties culture and mathematics together to explain the first major turning point in mathematics, from the Sumerians’ practical math to the deductive math of the ancient Greeks creating Euclidean geometry and number theory we still study today — as did Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
As a professor of mathematics, Jack Sanders, PhD, taught classes in the history of mathematics. He retired as an IBM system architect.
A Sumerian tablet applying the Pythagorean theorem about 1000 years before Pythagoras
Limited number of reduced price community tickets @ $10.
SPACE IS AVAILABLE FOR WALK-INS.

The Poetry of Kinship: Joan Barasovska, Jayne Benjulian, & Hilde Weisert - Free
2026-06-06 14:00 - 16:00
Pictured: Joan Barasovska, Jayne Benjulian, Hilde Weisert
A reading and conversation with three award-winning poets on the many forms of kinship: with family, community, heritage, and the natural world.
Jayne Benjulian is the author of Five Sextillion Atoms (Saddle Road Press, 2016). Her collection, said David Wojahn, is a “highly distinctive and gripping book notable for the ways in which it combines the stories of family history with larger matters of public history.”
Her poems, widely published, have been shortlisted for the James Hearst Poetry Prize, the Fish Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize. She served as chief speechwriter for Apple and investigator for the Public Defender in King County, WA. She lives in the Berkshire Hills where she edits the work of prose writers and poets.
Jayne was an Ossabaw Island Project Fellow; teaching fellow at Emory University; lecturer in the Graduate Program in Theater at San Francisco State University; and Fulbright Teaching Fellow in Lyon, France. www.jaynebenjulian.com
Joan Barasovska is a poet living in Chapel Hill, NC. In lyrical, accessible poetry, Joan contemplates the lifetime of a woman: as a girl, a daughter, a young woman in despair, and a wife and mother. At the brink of old age, living in welcome solitude, she revisits memory with broadened perspective.
Joan hosts a poetry series sponsored by the North Carolina Poetry Society at independent bookstore McIntyre’s Books. Joan was selected by the Poetry Society as their 2026 Pinesong Dedicatee. She has been nominated for Best of the Net and four times for a Pushcart Prize. Her books have been reviewed in numerous literary journals. She is the author of Birthing Age (Finishing Line Press, 2018); Carrying Clare (Main Street Rag, 2022); Orange Tulips (Redhawk Publications, 2022); and Unblessed, Unsung (Main Street Rag, 2025) www.joanbarasovska.com
“In Unblessed, Unsung, Joan Barasovska carries us from the Eastern European shtetl to a Philadelphia tailor shop, from a bright baseball star to his businessman brother, from father to son, from mother to daughter. Drawn from photographs and family history, these poems form a steady line of family through dark times. Reading them is like standing in a darkroom watching images emerge, silver on paper, under a red safelight: fragile magic.” —Mimi Herman, author of The Kudzu Queen
Hilde Weisert’s 2015 poetry collection The Scheme of Things was published by David Robert Books. Her work has appeared in LIBER: A Feminist Journal, Cold Mountain Review, Plume, Paterson Literary Review, the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Hudson Review, The Cincinnati Review, Prairie Schooner, The Sun, and elsewhere. Awards: 2017 Gretchen Warren Award (NE Poetry Club), 2016 Tiferet Poetry Award, 2008 Lois Cranston Prize, and three Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellowships. She is co-president of the Sandisfield Arts Center She is co-president of the Sandisfield Arts Center.. www.hildeweisert.com
“Hilde Weisert’s quiet, versatile poetic voice, fully at ease in narrative and lyric, is distinguished by vivid accuracy of thought and speech, modest but absolute courage in choice of subject, a dry, sweet humor, and a generosity of spirit that brings me back to her book again and again.”
– Ursula Le Guin

Ye Trodden Path: A History of the Knox Trail
2026-06-13 10:00 - 12:00
Picture above shows a section of the trail including Sandisfield and Otis.
In this new book, published by the Berkshire County Historical Society and the Knox Trail 250th Committee, a panel of local history authors traces the history and of the trail that Col. Henry Knox took to bring captured British cannons to Gen. Washington in Boston, including fascinating original research.
The work is the collaboration of five local historian-authors: Bernard Drew of Great Barrington, a foremost authority on both Berkshires history and the Knox Trail; Gary Leveille of the Great Barrington Historical Society; Rob Hoogs, Monterey Historical Society; Ron Bernard, Sandisfield Historical Commission; and Tom Ragusa, Otis Historical Commission.
Books will be available for sale and signing.
From the Sandisfield Times:
Two chapters of the book concentrate on the seven-mile, mostly undeveloped segment through Otis State Forest in Sandisfield, extending into the town of Otis. This is the longest surviving original stretch of the one-time colonial “military road” that connected Boston and Albany.
The impetus for the book was a true map of this unspoiled section compiled by long-time DCR employee Tom Ragusa. Tom devoted more than two decades of meticulous research including early documents he discovered in State archives together with modern survey techniques. The result is a definitive map of the road as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries.
A chapter is devoted to Tom’s fascinating journey and why what he did is important.
His map will be included in the book, in color, as a six-foot fold-out!
Ron Bernard writes about the history of the former Indian trail before it was a military road and its many colloquial names. Also included are his original research findings about five Sandisfield taverns along the “Great Road” which welcomed the Knox teamsters as they passed through on January 12-13, 1776.
Limited number of reduced price community tickets @ $10.

Ari & Mia: New England Roots Music
2026-06-13 19:00 - 21:00
TICKET SALES HAVE CLOSED BUT PLENTY OF ROOM FOR WALK INS!
Ari & Mia, New England’s chamber-folk sister duo, combine the styles of Southern and Northeastern fiddle music and the early American songbook with their “strikingly beautiful harmonies” and sophisticated Americana sound.
“The two have blended a strong — yet dainty — mix of fiddle, banjo, and cello with percussion sprinkled to taste. Their whimsical vocals intertwine with each other and sometimes it’s hard to decipher the two voices apart from each other. The duo would easily be seen/heard on the same bill as Ani DiFranco, Regina Spektor, Rasputina and Jewel.” — Valley Advocate
This concert is a celebration of the release of their brand new album, Learning Your Name—a collection of eight songs that captures the awe and joy of raising young children.
As Ari says, “…this particular album of ours is special and not in a way that calls attention to ourselves but in a way that asks other people to pay attention, to listen deeply, to access the wonderment of caregiving often buried beneath layers of burnout and exhaustion. In the words of our older sister Rabbi Shoshana Friedman, these songs are ‘caregiving as liturgy.’”
About Community tickets: We make available a limited number of Community tickets @ $10. (on a first come, first served basis) to most paid events to make our events affordable for more members of the community. Honor system, no proof required.
To buy tickets, press the + for the number you want – then Get Tickets will work (as long as tickets are available).
