The City of Greenfield is pleased to invite you to join us at an upcoming author talk and panel discussion sponsored by the City of Greenfield, the Progress Partnership, the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center.
Singer, songwriter, and author Dar Williams will discuss her book ‘What I Found in a Thousand Times’ at this free event Saturday, February 22nd from 2-4 pm at Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center at 289 Main Street, Greenfield.
Free general admission tickets (two per person) may be ordered through the eventbrite link here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dar-williams-panel-what-i-found-in-a-thousand-towns-tickets-93175974849
What makes some towns thrive while others suffer? How can we build fellowship in an era of upheaval and conflict? Can something as simple as a sledding hill, an art fair or dog run help save a community?
Combining reading and performance, Dar will share what she’s learned about successful communities from her more than two decades seeing them first-hand as a touring artist. After the reading, Dar will join local arts and civic leaders on the stage at Hawks and Reed to discuss “Positive Proximity,” her term for the social capital building that creates unique, thriving communities.
Panelists include:
- Dar Williams, dubbed by the New Yorker as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters,” has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America’s small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises.
- State Representative Natalie Blais (invited), House Committee for Arts and Culture
- Jim Ayres, Community Foundation of Western Mass
- Hannah Rechtschaffen, Member of Sustainable Greenfield Implementation Committee and lead on community forum “A Deliberate Downtown: Growing by Design”
- Rachael Katz, chair, Crossroads Cultural District, local gallery owner and collaborator in the start up of The Hive – an industrial arts maker space in development in downtown Greenfield.