MassMoCA: 'Technologies of Relation Artist' Discussion

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The 12 artists featured in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art's (Mass MoCA) exhibit "Technologies of Relation" will discuss the current state of technology on Feb 21, at 4 pm.
 
According to a press release, "Technologies of Relation":
 
Responding to the rapidly advancing technologies that are shaping our daily lives and social fabric, the artists in Technologies of Relation examine how we relate to each other, to machines, and to our future. These creators see the complexity of our relationships to the digital, avoiding the binary views that frame technology as good or bad, as tool or monster, and choose to instead embrace how technology, including algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, can
both connect us and further marginalize and oppress us at the same time.
 
The exhibit opens on Feb. 21 after the conversation.
 
Exhibiting artists include: Morehshin Allahyari; Pelenakeke Brown; Taeyoon Choi; Neema Githere; Mashinka Firunts Hakopian with Dahlia Elsayed, Andrew Demirjian, and Danny Snelson; Kite; Lauren Lee McCarthy; Analia Saban; and Roopa Vasudevan.
 
The artists will consider how people can rethink their relationships to their devices, to computing, and to artificial intelligence, while bringing increased ethics and agency into the digital landscape. 
 
Tickets: $10 Advance; free for members and students. 

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Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

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. 
 
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