Two events this month aim to raise funds for 33 Hawley in Northampton for two different reasons – namely, to support programming in its Barn Door Gallery and to add risers and 175 chairs for shows in its Workroom.

33 Hawley is the venue that houses the Northampton Center for the Arts, A.P.E. Gallery, and Northampton Open Media. It also has a few rentable spaces for local performances, exhibitions, classes, and other creative work.

One of its upcoming fundraisers is the inaugural Main Street Banner Project, which seeks submissions from artists through Friday, April 25. A jury will select 50 total images to hang on 25 banners that will go up on Main Street in Northampton this summer. Images of all types of work are welcome.

The fundraiser element is that artists must donate $5 to $50 per submission, and multiple submissions are both allowed and encouraged. (That said, the application instructions note, “The amount donated is not a part of the selection criteria, and the jury will not know how much was donated during the selection process.”)

Those proceeds will support programming at the Barn Door Gallery, an exhibition space at 33 Hawley that aims to be “accessible and inclusive, with transparent criteria, that welcomes a wide variety of artists and art mediums,” according to the Northampton Center for the Arts’ website.

The larger fundraiser, “On The Rise Fundraising Festival 2025,” will be a weeklong festival with a variety of programming. Its proceeds will support bringing risers and chairs to The Workroom, 33 Hawley’s largest space, which is still somewhat of a work in progress. As it is, the space has risers and chairs, but they’re old and donated. The goal with the festival is to install new seating that is safer, more uniform, and more comfortable for a wider range of body types.

“We’ve had so many events [for which] we had full houses and then we have to turn people away because they don’t have enough seating that’s appropriate for the performances,” said Andrea Olsen, co-organizer of the festival, who added that having adequate seating is “our priority for being able to really host artists well.”

The festival will include a contemporary dance class, a film installation, and a gala performance on Friday, April 25; and a “screendance” (choreography for filmed performances) workshop and open dance rehearsal on Saturday, April 26. In addition, all class fees from the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought’s classes that week will support the fundraiser.

Perhaps the biggest feature, though – both literally and figuratively – will be Sunday’s event, “A Whale Rises,” a 72-ft. model of a fin whale installed at the Workroom at 33 Hawley from 1 to 3 p.m.

In the 1970s, after the discovery that humpback whales can sing, Northampton science teacher Fred Morrison decided to teach children about the beauty of whales. To that end, he built a gigantic inflatable model of a fin whale – one that people, especially kids, can walk inside – out of heavy-duty polyethylene.

Morrison “spent three days and one long night in the gymnasium in D.A. Sullivan School, cutting, taping, and refining,” said a press release. “Finishing around 3 in the morning, he turned on a large fan attached to the tail section and watched as the model slowly inflated. He recalls he couldn’t stop smiling–and laughing. It worked!”

“Anything that merges science and the arts is important,” Olsen said. “We need both the feelings side and the expressive side of our experiences and also the facts and the details that make us care about the natural world.”

The event will also feature “Whale Tales” – themed books for kids ages 3 to 10 – from 1:30 to 2 p.m. and 2:30 to 3 p.m, plus art supplies for children of all ages to make whale-inspired art. Morrison will also be at the event to discuss whales and talk about how he made his model. Whale songs will play during the installation as well.

With both fundraisers, Olsen said, “We’re supporting creative work in our community and completing spaces that allow the imagination to be fully realized.”

Tickets to A Whale Rises are $5 to $15 for adults, sliding scale, and kids are free but must be accompanied by an adult.

For more information about the technical requirements and submission process for Main Street Banner Project entries, visit nohoarts.org/main-street-banner-project. For a complete schedule of On The Rise events, visit https://www.apearts.org/on-the-rise-fest.html.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.