Andrea Golden of Poder Emma, a community ownership and cooperative development organization of Asheville, NC, will give the second annual Robert Swann Lecture, ‘Community Not For Sale: Popular Education, Community Organizing and Cooperative Economics,’ in the Barn at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, followed by a Q&A.
About the Robert Swann Lecture Series:
This series was inaugurated in 2023 in honor of Robert Swann, founder of the E. F. Schumacher Society, now the Schumacher Center for a New Economics. Bob Swann brought the pragmatic skills of a builder to his lifelong commitment to community and decentralized economics as a pathway to peace and ecological harmony. His 1960s civil rights work led to an effort to secure land for African-American farmers, serving as a model for the Community Land Trust movement.
Later on, in the Berkshires, Swann continued his work as a pioneer and advocate of Community Land Trusts as well as local currency initiatives— democratic tools for place-based economic transformation. The Swann Lectures provide a platform to those who embody Bob’s practical activism and who lead by example, advancing community-based economic transformation toward a just and regenerative future.
Poder Emma
Andrea Golden is a popular educator deeply committed to cooperative economics and building collective power. She is Co-Director and founder of PODER Emma Community Ownership, co-founder of Cenzontle Language Justice Cooperative as well as Dulce Lomita mobile home park cooperative, where she lives in western North Carolina with her partner and three children.
PODER Emma develops community ownership and works to stop gentrification and displacement in the Emma neighborhood outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville’s development patterns have put mobile home communities in the crosshairs for displacement. In the face of this pressure, the Emma community has built a flourishing cooperative ecosystem that includes four worker cooperatives, four mobile home park cooperatives, and a real estate cooperative with 25,000 sq. ft of commercial property, totaling nearly 20 acres of permanently protected land and a total community investment of over $6 million.
Andrea and her neighbors’ dedication to place, and the cultivation of a sense of belonging, identity and culture have allowed for solutions that prove that, when community comes together, people can transform their lives for themselves and future generations.
More recently, PODER Emma has expanded to include a Worker Owned Cooperative Network, with four area worker-owned enterprises engaging in peer learning in areas including open book management, coaching supervision, and policy development. done A member of the national community wealth cooperative Seed Commons, PODER Emma’s loan fund has invested more than $2 million in community-owned cooperative assets in the Emma neighborhood.
PODER Emma Community Ownership
As the City of Asheville rapidly develops, many communities are facing accelerated displacement. The community relationships, trust, infrastructure and resources that have been built by neighbors is at risk being lost, particularly due to the vulnerability of mobile home residents who have seen the replacement of mobile home parks with condominiums and commercial properties across the county.
“This is why we focus on community controlled economic development, local policy advocacy and cultural work to protect our community.
“… The Emma Community is an incredibly vibrant, united and strong community. However, the relationships, trust, infrastructure and resources that have been built by community residents is at high risk of being lost, particularly due to the devastating pattern of replacement of mobile home parks with condominiums and commercial properties across the county.”
Emma Community Ownership (ECOP) is working to create tools and strategies to prevent displacement and to protect the tightknit nature of mobile home communities which keep our families safe.
ECOP formed a research team comprised of residents of the Emma Neighborhood and surveyed nearly 200 Emma residents to assess the quality of life of residents of mobile home parks, to understand risk factors for displacement of low income residents due to gentrification, and to begin the creation of an Emma Community Plan.
“PODER Emma believes that the future of the neighborhood should be designed and led by people who live here! In order to support community members’ ability to participate actively in leadership, we are also dedicated to supporting each other as neighbors to ensure that our basic needs are met.
“Our cooperative development work is centered around the belief that communities have the wisdom and experience needed to create powerful collective solutions to address the structural barriers that we face, and that cooperative development is an important part of creating community power and equity.”
By the Way Berkshires is a digital magazine exploring creative life and community — art and performance, food and the outdoors — and I’m writing it for you, with local voices, because I’ve gotten to know this rich part of the world as a writer and journalist, and I want to share it with you.
If you’d like to see the website grow, you can join me for a few dollars a month, enough for a cup of coffee and a cider doughnut. Members get access to extra stories and multimedia, itineraries a bookmark tool. Let me know what you're looking for, and we’ll explore together.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
Cynthea J. Bogel (Kyushu University / Clark Fellow) examines motifs on the pedestal of a key eighth-century sculpture: a colossal gilt-bronze Buddha.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
Mary-Alice Daniel will lead a master class on originality, asking “What poetic elements constitute a signature style?” The culture of this craft laboratory encourages writing with audacity.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
Riverbend Orchestra plays an early set for the open mic, as The Egremont Barn welcomes all comers to perform on the tavern stage.
Poetry at Bennington welcomes Mary-Alice Daniel and Cindy Juyoung Ok for a public reading of their poetry, free and open to all.
Families with children up to 6 years old are invited to join Mass MoCA museum educators for a storytime and related exploration in the galleries.
In 1889 in France, Dodin Bouffant is a chef living with his cook and lover Eugénie. When she will not marry him, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her.
Charlie Kaufman, played by Nicolas Cage, is a confused Los Angeles screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother.
New York Times bestselling author Owen King will talk about The Curator, his 'richly imagined' Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm.
They Dance For Rain, a collaborative and cross-culturaldance-making project in Nairobi, Kenya, holds their third benefit at The Foundry: Soft Shoe Boom Boom Spin Blue.
New parents are welcome to join other caregivers and their infants for a guided visit in the permanent collection galleries at the Clark Art Institute.
Globally acclaimed Berkshire vocalist Wanda Houston will perform live at the Egremont Barn with a blend of jazz and blues, Motown and musical theater and more.
A neurosurgeon has sixty days to live. He decides to take his fate in his own hands and finishes building an enigmatic structure on an empty swimming pool that a biologist before him had left unfinished ...
Internationally bestselling and local author Eric Rickstad will join Northshire Books to celebrate the release of his latest work, a novel that strikes at the wounded heart of America.
Cellist Ivan Trabka performs an evening of Bach suites and Zoltán Kodály's solo in B minor at the Foundry.
Kerry Ann Mendez leads a workshop in How to Design, Plant and Care for a Low-Maintenance, High-Impact, Pollinator-Friendly Flower Garden.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies, fresh flowers, jams and pickles and cheeses ... the North Adams Farmers Market returns with more than a dozen farmers and makers.
Spring ephemerals mark the beginning of the growing season, and their colors – from the purple-blues of Blue Cohosh to the deep maroon of trilliums - are a welcome change.
A Clark educator will lead a tour of the permanent collection galleries to talk about the Institute's history and work.
Walk step by step through the creation of artists' books and with demonstrations, with book artists at the Clark Art Institute.
Every first Sunday of the month, Pete Toigo and Dave Bartley bring a morning of music — soulful jazz and blues with Pete on bass and Dave piano and vocals.
Giuseppina Forte, professor of architecture and environmental studies at Williams College, discusses her new book project, The Self-Built City: Material Politics and Ecologies of Difference in São Paulo.
In celebration of the 100-year anniversary of Herman Melville’s posthumous novella Billy Budd, Hot Plate Brewing will host a read-a-thon in their taproom.
From the Paper Cities exhibition to the Clark’s collection of artists’ books, the Clark will explore the simple—yet limitless—possibilities of paper.
WAM Theatre's Fresh Takes series presents the first reading of the latest version of Far, Far Better Things by acclaimed playwright Geetha Reddy.
On the day of each new moon — believed by many to be a time of rebirth — visitors to Like Magic at Mass MoCA are invited into Grace Clark’s 'In a new light (Healing Dirt).'
Naumkeag invites visitors to gather in the gardens for a broad view of the solar eclipse. While not in the direct path of totality, the Berkshries will see around 96 percent of the eclipse.
Writer and journalist Tamar Sarai, a Philadelphia features writer at Prism, will deliver the annual free Hardman Journalist talk at MCLA.
Michelle Foa explores Edgar Degas as an artist whose career-long fixation on materials informed his work in unexpected ways.
Everyone is invited to the Northern Berkshires’ second annual Eid al-Fitr Celebrations, held at Williams College in the New Davis Center.
Duo Ingolfsson-Stoupel presents a free concert, an all-French program including Francis Poulenc, Olivier Messiaen and Albéric Magnard.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City still speaks volumes about how German Expressionism crossed into every artistic medium.
Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction, takes a hauntingly illustrated journey through the history of climate change and the uncertainties of our future, in conversation with Bill McKibben.
Want to step up your chainsaw skills? Do you cut your own firewood (or want to)? Have down branches in your yard? Want to cut small trees? Do you want to improve your existing skills?
Works on Paper invites artists of all experience and skill levels to work closely after thematic selections of drawings from the Clark’s collection.
Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) and Berkshire Botanical Garden partner for a film screening of 'Le Poète Lucide,' Q&A and wine tasting.
The Mammals — Ruth Ungar, Mike Merenda and friends — form a touring quintet on the fiddle, banjo, guitar, organ, bass and drums.
Pocket Merchant is a jazz-fusion quartet recognized for their big sound and groove-based energy, with moments that invite reflection as well as dancing.
In this hands-on workshop, Marsha Edell teaches the steps for creating four unique, waterproof, botanical-themed ceramic tile coasters.
Elisabeth Cary, avid home gardener and micro-flower farmer, will consider how to keep a small garden with as many flowers as possible.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
A Clark educator will lead a tour of the permanent collection galleries to talk about the Institute's history and work.
In celebration of National Poetry Month, awardwinning novelist Lara Tupper will lead a free haiku workshop honoring the natural world, and the group will try their hand at the three-line form.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Michael Chertock on piano and Itamar Zorman on violin celebrate a meeting of cultures in an afternoon of Gershwin music, Max Bruch, a German composer exploring Kol Nidrei prayer, Russian composer Cesar Cui, Ravel’s Habanera and more.
The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow — Massachusetts songwriters Tory Hanna, Billy Keane, Chris Merenda, Greg Daniel Smith and David Tanklefsky — perform live at the Egremont Barn.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
People living with dementia and their care-partners can join the museum on select Mondays for open-ended conversations about art.
The Hoosic River Watershed Association invites everyone in the communities along the river to celebrate the waterway and write haiku inspired by the river and its surroundings.
What would happen if a library could hold every book that ever can be written? Everyone is invited to a free, open conversation about the mystical library in Jorge Luis Borges' story, 'The Library of Babel.'
The Clark invites visitors to look contemplatively as a way to engage with works of art from the museum’s collection.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Are you interested in the future of the Spruces? Come chat with members of the Williamstown Conservation Commission about the park.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Celebrate spring and Earth Day at the Clark with an art-making activity that incorporates indigenous pollinator seeds that you can take home and plant.
The Hoosic River Watershed Association invites everyone in the communities along the river to celebrate the waterway and write haiku inspired by the river and its surroundings.
Dewey Hall holds storytelling events with a group discussion exploring themes, similarities and contrasts within the stories as a whole
Acclaimed poet and novelist and former Bennington faculty Phillip B. Williams gives a reading from his new novel, Ours, followed by a Q&A and book signing at Bennington College.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Julia Alvarez, one of America’s most acclaimed and best-loved fiction writers and poets, reads from her magical new novel, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, exploring what happens to tales left unfinished.
Journeying across natural, mythological, and sacred spaces, Saodat Ismailova’s films mark cinematic time through Central Asian songs of everyday survival.
Celebrate nature by going on a walk with dogs from the Berkshire Humane Society on Stroll to Crystal, a leisurely mile-long walk.
Celebrate nature by going on a walk with dogs from the Berkshire Humane Society on Stone Bench Trek, a moderate, one-and-a-half-mile hike.
Celebrate nature by going on a walk with dogs from the Berkshire Humane Society on Woodland Challenge Loop, a two-and-a-quarter-mile journey.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Inspired by the morning’s Earth Walk with Dogs, the Clark offers a free display of works on paper in the Manton Study Center for Works on Paper.
Williamstown Farmers Market opens a new Winter Farmers Market with Hexagon bagels, winter vegetables, eggs, cheeses, locally raised meats, maple syrup, artisans and more.
Berkshire Grown brings indoor Winter Farmers Markets with locally-grown fresh greens, winter squash, root crops, apples, meats, cheeses, honey and maple syrup, baked goods and more.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Make your yard a haven for hummingbirds with a great selection of native plants that provide food sources and nesting sites.
Families with children up to 6 years old are invited to join Mass MoCA museum educators for a storytime and related exploration in the galleries.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Celebrate the arrival of spring with the village's merino sheep as they get their annual haircuts in a woollyweekend of family fun with all the baby animals.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
A Clark educator leads a thematic tour of the permanent collection examining how British artists and artists working in 19th-century Britain used realism.
Acclaimed new music ensemble Yarn/Wire plays the US premiere of “Three Lines of Flight” by composer Patrick Higgins, a multi-movement work of adventurous new classical music.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Naturalist and wild edibles enthusiast Arianna Alexsandra Collins from the Hoosic River Watershed Association and Offerings for Community Building leads a foraging walk
In this Research and Academic Program lecture, Daegan Miller examines the complex history of race and the idealized image of the wilderness of the 19th-century Adirondacks.
If you're interested in photographing your garden, close-ups of flowers, or broad-brush images of the most beautiful landscapes in the area, this workshop may be for you.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Poetry at Bennington welcomes awardwinning poets Mónica de la Torre and Courtney Faye Taylor for a public reading of their poetry.
Internationally touring Atlanta, Georgia songwriter Christopher Paul Stelling performs at the Egremont Barn.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Northshire bookstore will gather readers and writers together for an intimate weekend of talks, signings, celebration and more, with an array of guest writers.
The Manton Study Center for Works on Paper invites writers of all experience to draw inspiration from the Clark’s collection.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Born in Canada, Myriam Gendron sings classic folk forms, breathing new life into century-old Quebecois, French, and American ballads and traditional works.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Northshire bookstore will gather readers and writers together for an intimate weekend of talks, signings, celebration and more, with an array of guest writers.
BerkChique! Pop-Up Boutique offers clothes and accessories collected from some of the most fashionable and stylish closets in the Berkshires.
Beekeeper and founder of Bee Resonance Project Asher Silverwolff leads a grounding and calming journey into the inner world of bees.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
BerkChique! Pop-Up Boutique offers clothes and accessories collected from some of the most fashionable and stylish closets in the Berkshires.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Northshire Bookstore will gather readers and writers together for an intimate weekend of talks, signings, celebration and more — including Chris Bohjalian in conversation with WAMC.
Jeewon Park on piano and Edward Arron on cello, artistic directors of the Clark's Performing Artists in Residence program, join Gloria Chien on piano and Soovin Kim on violin.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Igor Simões (State University of Rio Grande do Sul / Clark Fellow) explores the absence of Black Brazilian artists in the international debate on art and the history of Afro-Diasporic art.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Families with children up to 6 years old are invited to join Mass MoCA museum educators for a storytime and related exploration in the galleries.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
In this two-part class, botanist Ted Elliman will focus on the wildflowers that grow in Berkshire County’s spring woods.
The Clark screens classic films — Manhatta, inspired by Walt Whitman, and Rien que les heures, showing the life of Paris from dawn to dusk.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
Founded by singer-guitarist Sean Walsh, The National Reserve blend R&B, Laurel Canyon lyricism, New Orleans funk, late night soul, and bluesy rock ‘n’ roll.
This four-part class will revisit trees through the seasons and witness their unique characteristics with and without leaves.
Locally roasted coffee, native plants or gently herbed hand cream ... the regular Pittsfield Farmers Market welcomes in farmers and artisans together.
Tom Ingersoll and Melissa LeVangie-Ingersoll look at trees in the Spring season and witness their unique characteristics with and without leaves.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Berkshire Botanical Garden will hold a workshop in creating and using herbal infused oils — lip balms, skin salves, and roll-on perfume/bug repellent.
SBerkshire Botanical Garden’s 90th outdoor season opens with the their annual community celebration steeped in history and tradition.
Every first Sunday of the month, Pete Toigo and Dave Bartley bring a morning of music — soulful jazz and blues with Pete on bass and Dave piano and vocals.
Naumkeag's annual Spring Celebration returns for its 5th year, as the eight acres of gardens bloom with bulbs to celebrate spring in the Berkshires.
Inspired by May's First Sunday Free theme, 'Giddy Up!' , the Clark offers a free display of works on paper in the Manton Study Center for Works on Paper.
Hancock Shaker Village welcomes visitors to meet their newest farm babies – lambs, piglets, calves, chicks and kid goats, and enjoy events and activities throughout the Village.
