Mass MoCA Announces Memorial Day Weekend and Summer 2025 Programming

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art  has announced its programming for Memorial Day Weekend and summer 2025.

The events accompany the opening of the exhibition "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream..." 

Memorial Day Weekend Events:

• Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream... The exhibition, the first museum survey of Vincent Valdez's work, will open on Saturday, May 24. It will feature drawings and monumental portraits from the past two decades. The exhibition is co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) and MASS MoCA and co-curated by Denise Markonish, Chief Curator at MASS MoCA, and Patricia Restrepo, Curator at CAMH. The exhibition expands upon the current presentation at CAMH with the addition of several works. 
• Members Opening Preview Celebration: Saturday, May 24, 5:30 p.m. An event to preview the opening of "Just A Dream..." and exhibitions "Ohan Breiding: Belly of a Glacier" and "Dirty & Disorderly: Contemporary Artists on Disgust". Tickets are $20, free for members.
• MASS MoCA Benefit Dinner: Friday, May 23, 5 p.m. A fundraising event to mark the close of MASS MoCA's 25th Anniversary Season and the opening of the summer season. The event will include dinner, a preview of "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream...", and an opportunity to view "Trisha Brown Dance Company: Roof Piece". 
• Trisha Brown Dance Company: Roof Piece: Saturday, May 24, 2 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. A performance of "Roof Piece" (1971) by choreographer Trisha Brown. The site-specific work will take place across the roofs of the museum's campus. Tickets are $49 in advance, $59 week-of (10 percent discount for members). 
• In Conversation: Kristy Edmunds & Susan Rosenberg: Saturday, May 24, 3 p.m. MASS MoCA Director Kristy Edmunds will converse with Susan Rosenberg, author of Trisha Brown: Choreography as Visual Art. Tickets are $5, free for members. 
• Saul Williams: Saturday, May 24, 8:30 p.m. A performance by poet and electro rap artist Saul Williams. Tickets are $29 in advance, $39 week-of, $59 preferred (10 percent discount for members). 
• In Conversation: Vincent Valdez & Hanif Abdurraqib: Sunday, May 25, 11 a.m. Artist Vincent Valdez will discuss his work with poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib. A book signing will follow the talk. Tickets are $10, free for members. 
   

Summer 2025 Programming:

• Activations of Jeffrey Gibson's POWER FULL BECAUSE WE'RE DIFFERENT: Performances by Indigenous artists Martha Redbone on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. and MX Oops on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 8 p.m., engaging with Gibson's installation. Tickets for Martha Redbone are $29 in advance, $39 week-of, $59 preferred (10 percent discount for members). Tickets for MX Oops are $20 (10 percent discount for members).
• Camp MASS MoCA 2025: Weekly sessions from August 4–22 for students entering grades 2–9. Registration is $400 per week (10 percent discount for members, processing fee waived). Weekly themes include Creative Lab in Multimedia and Performance, WHOOP DEE DOO Presents: The Most Beautiful Mess in the World, Pulse and Flow: a site-based art journey, and The Alchemy of Connection. 
   

   

  Member pre-sale for events began Feb. 12, 2025, at noon. General tickets went on sale Friday, Feb. 14, at 10 a.m. Additional summer programming will be announced at a later date.

Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
07:25AM / Sunday, March 15, 2026

Mason Langenback calculated that Clarksburg would get almost $1 million if the $60 million was allocated equally.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Eighth-graders at Clarksburg School took a lesson in civic advocacy this week, researching school funding and writing letters to Beacon Hill that call for fully funding rural school aid. 

 

The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.

 

"They all address the main issue, the funding for rural schools, and how there's a gap, and there's the $4 million gap this year, and then it's about the $40 million next year, and that rural schools need that equitable funding," said social studies teacher Mark Karhan.

 

A rural schools report in 2022 found smaller school districts cost from nearly 17 percent to 23 percent more to operate, and recommended "at least" $60 million be appropriated annually for rural school aid. 

 

Gov. Maura Healey has filed for more Chapter 70 school aid, but that often is little help to small rural schools with declining or static enrollment. For fiscal 2027, she's budgeted $20 million for rural schools, up from around $13 million this year but still far below the hoped for $60 million. 

 

Karhan said the class was broken into four groups and the students were provided a submission letter from Rural Schools Advocacy. The students used the first paragraph, which laid out the funding facts, and then did research and wrote their own letters. 

 

They will submit those with a school picture to the governor.