Pay It Forward grants open for applications

CitySpace in Easthampton is now accepting applications for its 2025 Pay It Forward program.

The residency program gives qualifying performing artists and organizations a variety of professional benefits and assistance, including free access to CitySpace’s Blue Room for rehearsals and performances from July through December 2025, financial support, coaching, box office support, marketing, and other benefits.

It’s open to artists of “low-to-moderate” income (which they define as under $65,000 for an individual) who are 18 or older and live in Hampshire, Hampden, or Franklin Counties, as well as performing arts organizations who meet the geographic requirements.

Applications are due by Thursday, April 10, at 11:59 p.m. If you’re interested or have questions, visit cityspaceeasthampton.org/pif, or attend a drop-in session at CitySpace on Tuesday, April 1, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Become the first poet laureate of Massachusetts

Last month, Gov. Maura Healey wrote an executive order to create an official poet laureate of Massachusetts — and now, applications are open.

The position entails writing poetry for select government ceremonies, promoting poetry across the state, doing public readings, and advising the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a poetry outreach program for schools.

Applications are open to Massachusetts poets 18 and older who have lived in Massachusetts for at least the last three years (and who aren’t affiliated with Mass Cultural Council, Mass Humanities, or the governor’s Poet Laureate Nominating Committee).

Interested poets need to submit a resume or bio, provide work samples, and explain their relevant experience, including explaining how they’ve shown “a commitment to promoting an awareness of poetry and literary excellence,” according to a sample application.

The poet laureate serves a two-year term, though that term can be renewed for another two years. The Poet Laureate will receive a $15,000 honorarium this year, with the potential of additional funding in the future.

Applications are due by Thursday, April 10. For more information and to apply, visit https://massculturalcouncil.org/artists-art/poet-laureate/application-process.

Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival lineup

The Springfield Jewish Community Center recently announced the lineup for the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, now in its 19th year.

The lineup includes: “Midas Man,” a biopic about Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager; “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,” a documentary about Jewish support for a Black sit-in in Maryland during the Civil Rights Movement; “The Property,” about a grandmother and granddaughter’s quest to Poland to reclaim property stolen during World War II; “Welcome to Yiddishland,” a documentary about the Yiddish language diaspora; “The Glory of Life,” about Franz Kafka’s final year of life; “Bad Shabbos,” a comedy about an engaged interfaith couple and a dead body; “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire,” a documentary about the writer of the Holocaust memoir “Night”; “Moses Ezekiel: Portrait of a Lost Artist,” a documentary about a Jewish sculptor who created Confederate monuments; and “The Blonde Boy from the Casbah,” about a filmmaker’s childhood in war-torn 1960s Algeria.

Tickets are $12. To purchase movie tickets, learn more about the movies, or find out where and when they’ll screen, visit springfieldjcc.org/pvjff.

All Hamptons Read

This year’s featured work for All Hamptons Read, a community reading program for the towns of Northampton, Florence, Easthampton, Southampton, Westhampton, and Williamsburg, is the poetry book “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” by Ross Gay.

The book’s blurb calls it “a sustained meditation on that which goes away — loved ones, the seasons, the earth as we know it — that tries to find solace in the processes of the garden and the orchard. That is, this is a book that studies the wisdom of the garden and orchard, those places where all — death, sorrow, loss — is converted into what might, with patience, nourish us.”

In a press release, Forbes Library director Lisa Downing said, “All Hamptons Read is all about the power of reading and engaging with story to bring us together and further our understanding of ourselves and our communities.”

The book is available at each of the towns’ respective libraries and online through the Libby app.

For more information or to learn about related community programming, visit forbeslibrary.org/events/all-hamptons-read.

Gallery A3’s April exhibit

Gallery A3 in Amherst will open its April show, Nancy Meagher’s “Closed and Wide-Open Spaces,” with a reception on Thursday, April 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. The show runs through Saturday, April 26.

According to a press release, the show “explores the external structure and internal character of several historic houses in Amherst and the contrasting landscapes of Cape Cod and western Massachusetts. Intimate paintings of flowers, all in bloom, echo the idea of ‘blossoming open.’”

The historic buildings Meagher has painted include the Emily Dickinson Homestead, Austin Dickinson’s mansion, the Henry Hills House, and buildings on Commercial Street in Provincetown.

Live Mongolian music in Florence

The Mongolian music group Anda Union will perform at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence on Saturday, March 29, at 7 p.m.

The group, according to their publicity materials, brings “a wide range of musical instruments and vocal styles together in a fusion that Genghis Khan himself would have been proud of. Keenly aware of the threat to the Grasslands and their age old Mongolian culture, Anda Union are driven by their fight for the survival of this endangered way of life, by keeping the essence of the music alive.”

Tickets are $20 to $30 in advance via bombyx.live, or $25 or $35 at the door.

Documentary about recovery in Massachusetts

Tonight (Thursday, March 27) at 6:30 p.m., the Academy of Music will host a screening of “Recovery City,” a documentary about four women in Worcester who are involved in the recovery process. The featured participants include Christine, a woman fighting to regain custody of her children; police officer and recovery coach Janis; recovery coach Rebecca; and formerly incarcerated Bridget, who leads support meetings for other women struggling with addiction.

“In this portrait of resilience, grit, and camaraderie,” the movie’s description says, “the women use their lived experience to lift up those still struggling while refusing to give up hope.”

After the movie, there will be a Q&A with the filmmaker and two of the women featured in the movie.

The event is free, but the organizers recommend reserving your seat via Eventbrite.

To learn more about the movie or watch a trailer, visit lisaolivieri.com/recovery-city-synopsis-trailer.