Welcome to Ruth Trujillo-Acosta

I am very pleased to announce that Ruth Trujillo-Acosta has joined C3's Board of Directors. She brings invaluable experience and wisdom to the board, which are the fruits of her many years of dedication to movements for civil rights and social justice.

Ruth grew up in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States in 1981. Since then, she has been committed to social justice for under represented communities, manifested in her long-standing work in movements for international solidarity, immigrant rights, women’s rights, and against racism and war.

Since graduating from Smith College, Ruth has held positions at two Massachusetts-based foundations supporting grassroots organizing in the southern United States and at an organization dedicated to stopping violence against women.

Ruth is a founding member of the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Immigrant and Workers’ Rights and also serves on the Rosenberg Fund for Children Board of Directors.

Ruth's joining our Board makes a strong team even more amazing, and we are all thrilled to welcome her as we continue our work to create a sustainable and collaborative home and resource center for Northampton's nonprofits and artists.

Storefront ART at Thornes Marketplace

Starting Monday July 21st, the former Details storefront on the ground floor of Thornes Marketplace will be transformed into the first Storefront ART workSPACE, featuring local artists Madison J. Cripps, Mat Matera & Dana Wilde.

Marionettes of wood and cloth with eccentric personalities and strange appendages manifest from Madison's world of Strings Attached. "For me, the most powerful moment is not when my painting looks like what I see, but when what I see looks like my painting" says Mat Matera whose work captures the details of Northampton. Dana Wilde brings a sensitivity to color and personal experience in her intuitive spirit drawings and large scale improvisational murals.

Thornes Market has stepped forward to partner with Commonwealth Center for Change’s Storefront ART program to provide local artists with temporary studio, exhibition and gathering space. Following its hugely successful launch last month at A.P.E.’s new Window Gallery, the partnership with Thornes represents a big leap forward for Storefront ART. Not only that, it’s an exciting milestone for local artists, who will benefit from low cost studio and exhibition space, and for the people of Northampton, who have responded so enthusiastically to the potential for a more energetic, interesting downtown that Storefront ART promises.

Now Thornes in not only a great place to shop, it also provides a unique opportunity to see artists at work. Come visit the artists and watch as their work develops!

Calling all artists, performers and all around creative folk!

Storefront ART is on the hunt for artwork of all media to include in the next ART Happening due to the streets of Northampton during October's Art's Night Out!

This cabaret style affair will feature a line-up of performances, a video art lounge and space for visual art. Interior and urban spaces will be home for tiny paintings on pebbles to intimate performance actions from spoken word to large-scale installations. How can the streets of Northampton and a gallery space be enlivened by your creative endeavors?

Submit the following no later than August 22nd:

• Project Proposal- This should include a description of the work you intend to show and any additional supporting materials, including installation requirements or duration of the work if it is performance or video

• Slide portfolio or CD; please include 10-12 images of your work or 5-10 minutes of time-based work

• Artist statement
• Resume/CV
• SASE if you would like your materials returned

Send Submissions to:

Storefront ART
c/o Commonwealth Center for Change

12 Crafts Ave. #4
Northampton, Ma. 01060

Selected Artists will be notified by September 5th.

For more information contact Julia at: Julia@commonwealthcenter.org or 413.522.1319

NEED SPACE?

Storefront ART has workSPACE available at Thornes Marketplace!
Artists are placed in available workSPACE and windowSPACE through filling out our general application.

Storefront ART Seeks Time-based Art for NCTV

Location: A TV near you!
WindowSPACE: a new take on an exhibition space

Northampton Community Access Television poses an amazing opportunity to get more local art into the lives and homes of Northampton residents. NCTV is ripe with available airtime and The Commonwealth Center for Change wants to fill it with Storefront ART. We are seeking submissions of video art and other time-based mediums: installation, performance, dance, theater, sound, animation, etc. to include in our first run of local arts programming.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis, however to be considered for the first run of programming please submit no later than July 9th.

Submissions should include the following:

• Up to 15 minutes of video as an uncompressed quicktime file
  
• Title, running time and credit information (we will create title screens for each work)
• A brief artist statement (100 words or less)
• Resume/CV
• Your contact information: address, phone and email
  
• SASE if you would like your materials returned

Send Submissions to:
Storefront ART
c/o Commonwealth Center for Change
12 Crafts Ave. #4
Northampton MA 01060

Questions? Contact Julia at: julia@commonwealthcenter.org or 413.522.1319

Storefront ART is now seeking applications for WorkSPACE and WindowSPACE

Submit ASAP to be considered for the first available spaces!

Our first ART Happening on June 13th truly kicked things into high gear for Storefront ART. We are in the process of securing two new locations, one for WindowSPACE and one for a combination of WindowSPACE and shared WorkSPACE in downtown Northampton.

We need to know who is out there creating art, what kind of work you're creating and what you need for studio, exhibition and performance space so that we can begin to match artists with spaces that become available.

This is all happening very soon. We are unsure of the exact dates but it looks likely that we will have spaces available in July, so get your applications in as soon as possible.

You can find a copy of the application here.

Send Submissions to:
Storefront ART
c/o Commonwealth Center for Change
12 Crafts Ave. #4
Northampton, Ma. 01060

For more information contact Julia at: julia@commonwealthcenter.org or 413.522.1319