Valley Arts Mentors (VAM), a five year old collaboration of Piti Theatre Company and Holyoke Media dedicated to pairing early career artists with experienced artists in the Connecticut River Valley, is opening an exhibit featuring the work of mentors and mentees on Thursday, January 30th at 6 pm (refreshments) with artist presentations starting at 6:30. Admission is free and Holyoke Media is located at 1 Court Square in Holyoke.
Artstories features the work of artists from around the Valley, including Hannah Brookman (Greenfield), Melissa Pandina (Easthampton), Luz Marcano (Chicopee), Naya Gabriel (Holyoke), Davida Carta (Greenfield), Robert Markey (Ashfield) and Tonya Lemos (Conway).
During the presentation part of the evening, each artist will share a personal story about their work, giving the audience a deeper understanding of their mentorship experience and/or the genesis of their artistry. Learn more @ artsmentors.org
Background
The goal of Valley Arts Mentors is to provide early career artists from all disciplines with the support and encouragement crucial to launching a successful career in the arts. Related objectives include broadening the mentee’s base of contacts, providing guidance about next steps in their training and connecting early career artists with financial and marketing tools helpful for arts entrepreneurship. The pairs are provided support throughout the program by VAM staff. Registrations for the 2025 cohort are being accepted at artsmentors.org/mentorship. Anyone with questions can call (508) 439-2069 or email admin@artsmentors.org. Mentors and mentees will be matched on a rolling basis until all slots are filled.
Piti Theatre’s Jonathan Mirin states, “We have found over the last five years that this is a service many artists found valuable. We are excited to be giving participating visual artists additional exposure through our second exhibition. Mentorship, particularly in the arts, has a long track record of being a critical factor in how careers and lives evolve and we’ve had a chance to witness that through VAM.”
“Our new space in Holyoke happens to be well suited for hanging art in addition to hosting performances and creating video and podcast projects,” says Scott MacPherson, Executive Director of Holyoke Media, “we hope this is the beginning of a long tradition.”
Artstories is made possible in part by a Storytelling Sponsorship Grant from Mass Humanities as well programmatic support from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts’ ValleyCreates Program, with funding from the Barr Foundation and the Amherst, Chicopee, Conway, Hadley, Holyoke, Northampton, South Hadley and Springfield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
About
Piti Theatre Company was founded in 2004 by American playwright/actor Jonathan Mirin and Swiss choreographer/visual artist Godeliève Richard. Based in Charlemont where they are now creating a center for arts and ecology, Piti (pronounced “pea-tea”) is a word from ancient India meaning “joy” or “rapture.” Piti programming plants seeds of joy, sustainability and justice. More @ ptco.org
Holyoke Media is an independent, non-profit, multimedia organization which was founded with the goal of bringing local media to Holyoke residents. Ever since public access television was first established in the United States in 1971, its promise has been to connect people with government, educational opportunities, and with one another. Holyoke Media achieves this by providing local journalism, offering educational courses in media production and literacy, and by supporting and fostering the arts, civic dialog and access to local government. More @ holyokemedia.org