Upcoming for the Pittsfield Youth Commission ATTENTION to all directors, coordinators, and educators the 3rd Annual Berkshire Youth Development Conference has set a date!  Save May 8 and 9, 2009 and mark it on your calendar.  We hope to have more involvement from the community and students in the planning process and want to make it bigger and better each year.  This year’s conference will take place at the Berkshire Outdoor Center at Becket-Chimney Corners YMCA in Becket, MA.  It will be overnight retreat beginning midday on Friday the 8th and concluding midday on Saturday, the 9th 2009.  This free event is open to Berkshire County youth of high school age.  Please contact the PYC at youth@pittsfieldch.com for more information or to be directed to the contact in your area.       West African Celebration at the Colonial and Fundraising for Burkina Faso The PYC in collaboration with the Office of Cultural Development, The Colonial Theatre, and the BARKA Foundation will be raising awareness and fundraising to eradicate the extreme poverty in West Africa at the Colonial Theater’s event tonight, Wednesday, October 15th starting at 6pm.  The Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa begins at 7:30pm.  The 6pm festivities is open to the public and features authentic African food, crafts, music and dance, including Marla Robertson, Youth Alive, and Jerome Edgerton; tickets still available  (Ticket Office: 997-4444).  Come Check out the Celebration.     PYC at the Final 3rd Thursday The Youth Commission will be setting up a table at the famous Pittsfield Street Fair 3rd Thursday coming up October 16th at 5pm.  We will be raffling off ITUNES and BEST BUY gift certificates to raise funds for future PYC programming and funds.  The Youth Commission was able to go to the United Nations expense free through our last fundraiser and we hope donations can continue to make the Commissions visions come to life.   DESIGN THE PYC EMBLEM/SYMBOL-Artists & Graphic Designers The Youth Commission wants YOU to design our emblem.  The winner will see their art/design on all of our promotional material.  Gift Cards and prizes go to the Winning design.  The guidelines are simple.  Be between 2x2in.-4x4in, must use PYC or Pittsfield Youth Commission in the design, Due October 31st.  Deliver/Send to the Youth Commission at 70 Allen Street, Pittsfield or email Youth@pittsfieldch.com.   Intergenerational Race Panel on Tuesday October 21st As a part of The Big Read: To Kill a Mockingbird, students from the Youth Commission of different backgrounds who group up in the City of Pittsfield will be joining various members of the community from different generations and racial backgrounds on the topics of Race Relations.  Questions and premises will be brought up around race relations in relation to Pittsfield and the book, and Race relations in the community and our society in general.  It should be an interesting and insightful evening.  The evening begins at 7pm at the Library Auditorium.  The Event is free, please come watch the Youth Commission students speak there mind and shine!  LISTEN FOR THE PYC on 101.7FM Tune in October 31st from 10-10:30am to hear what’s up with the Youth Commission.  The PYC Youth Coordinator and students will be joining Cheryl Tripp-Cleveland on the radio.  Click Here to Sign up for Our Newsletter Youth Alive Step Team & Drum Line Seeking Youth Members Do you like traveling, performing, attending plays or dance performances?  Do you like meeting new people and want to be involved in a team of your peers?  Would you like to learn to step dance?  Step dance is the rhythmic movement involving using the body, clapping of hands and stomping of feet to create beats and music.  Interested youth from the ages 8 to 18 are invited to check us out in October.  Youth Alive is a community based organization that engages young people in challenging, multicultural, creative learning experiences that teach life skills in self-esteem, achieving goals, responsible behavior, teamwork, respect, and compassion for others.  Youth Alive is seeking young people that enjoy the arts.  October 14, 21, 28, from 5:30-6:30pm, 5 Melville St., Pittsfield, contact Shirley Edgerton for more information, 841-8770, $40 The RECONNECT CENTER for Youth and Young Adults OPEN: So that YOU Can Do something with Your FUTURE For young people ages 16-24 who may need some assistance getting control of their future the RECONNECT Center is the perfect place; located on the 3rd Floor of the Catholic Youth Center in Pittsfield.  You can learn all the necessary steps needed to get you where you want to be in your life and career.  There are advisors and support staff to help you and you can drop in or call.  The staff will help connect you to education, jobs, training, mentoring, and other support services.  Help with getting your diploma, GED, occupational training, and coming up with a job or career plan.  There is someone there to answer your questions.  The RECONNECT Center is an amazing asset available to young people in the area.  Even if this does not apply to you, think of someone you can bring down to the Drop in Center or who you can help by letting them know the RECONNECT center exists.  Se habla Espanol.  Any organizations or agencies who would like to advertise for their programs, events and services at the RECONNECT Center, you can drop them off at the CYC.  Monday-Friday, 10am-2pm, Catholic Youth Center, 26 Melville, for Information or Questions contact 997-4556, FREE For More Information Click here for Email Address Parent Training Group: Early Childhood Sponsored by Pittsfield Public Schools Safe School Healthy Students Initiative, parents of children aged 0-4 years old are invited to take advantage of this FREE parenting group.  It is an Active Parenting training that is on 3 consecutive Wednesdays the end of October at the Pittsfield Library.  Refreshments and certificates will be provided.  Please be sure to REGISTSER for the training, contact info below.     October 22, 29, & Nov. 5, 9:30am-11am, Berkshire Athenaeum (Conference Room), for more information or to register contact Alicia Couture at 448-9773, or acouture@pittsfield.net, FREE     Click Here To Access the Healthy Schools Website Families in Action: for Parents and Teens in Middle School There’s no denying that parents and teens are often at odds; but it doesn’t have to be that way.  When parents and teens learn together, they have common ground for conversation and when given the opportunity to talk together, problems get solved.  The Pittsfield Public School Department through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant is offering six sessions of Families in Action to parents and teens of middle school students.  The sessions will be held at Reid Middle School beginning in November.   The sessions are designed for parents and teens to attend together.  They run from 6-8pm.  Sessions are free and dinner will be provided.  For more information please contact Kerri Carlson at Reid or Michelle Bienvenue at Herberg Middle School.   November 3-December 8 (6 sessions), 6-8pm, for more information contact Lynn Whitney at 448-9773, 0r lwhitney@pittsfield.net, FREE        Click here for Contact Email BERKSHIRE MUSIC SCHOOL Sole & Bone Jazz & Tap Workshop at Berkshire Music School Thursday, October 16, 7-8 p.m.  Dancer Stephanie Weber and trombonist Mike Fahn will present a jazz and tap workshop in the BMS dance studio at the Edgar B. Taft Recital Hall, 30 Wendell Avenue.   $10 donation at the door. Some shoes will be provided. You may reserve a pair by calling 413-281-6734. Musicans welcome!Date/Time:     Tuesdays, starting October 7, 2009, 5:15-6:45 p.m.  Full Orchestra Scholarships Now Offered By Berkshire Music School Description:  BMS has four, new full scholarships from the Savery Family, for Orchestra students in mid to advanced levels. Funding applies to violin, viola, cello and doublebass players ages 10 to adult. The BMS Orchestra, under the direction of Norman Thibdeau, will be held on Tuesdays for 10 weeks, beginning October 7. Call Executive Director, Tracy Wilson, to apply: 413-442-1411, extension 12. For more information about enrollment, call Sandy Moderski at 413-442-1411, extension 10. Click Here to Access BMS's website Upcoming Films at the Colonial Theater  October 23, Thursday The Shining (1980) R; 120 minutes; Warner Bros.; 7PM Tickets: $8 Directed by Stanley Kubrick Called "a masterpiece of modern horror" and "a tour-de-force of sheer terror" by the critics, Stanley Kubrick's film is a chilling adaptation of Stephen King's novel. The Shining combines eerie special effects, haunting performances by Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, and an unmistakable aura of evil into a spectacular horror film. October 28, Tuesday Beetlejuice (1988) AFI’s top 100 Fantasy Films PG; 92 minutes; Warner Bros.; 7PM Tickets: $1*–$8 Directed by Tim Burton A recently deceased ghostly couple hires Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), the afterlife's leading bio-exorcist, to frighten a family of social misfits from the couple's former home. But Betelgeuse becomes too much to handle and the ghostly pair enlists the help of a dark and brooding teenager (Winona Ryder) to banish Betelgeuse from their home in this supernatural comedy. Celebrate Halloween with Beetlejuice! You can remove yourself from this e-mail list by clicking this link.. Powered by MainStreetMAIL.com ™