Page 52 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

Wintersession Classes at HCC
Jan. 3-14: Registration is open for Wintersession classes at Holyoke Community College (HCC), offer- ing new and returning students — as well as stu- dents from other colleges home on holiday break — the opportunity to earn a semester’s worth of credits for one class in just 10 days. Students can earn up to four credits by taking Wintersession classes in a wide variety of academic areas: anthropology, commu- nication, criminal justice, economics, engineering, environmental science, geography, law, manage- ment, marketing, mathematics, radiology, social sci- ence, and sociology. Courses are being offered both
Agenda
on campus and online. Starting Jan. 3, students must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend classes on campus. Students must submit proof of their vac- cination status before being allowed to register for on-campus classes. Students who plan to register only for online or remote classes do not have to sub- mit proof of COVID-19 vaccination. To enroll for a Wintersession class, visit hcc.edu/wintersession. The registration deadline is Dec. 31.
ArtsHub Virtual Summit
Jan. 10-14: The ArtsHub Virtual Summit: “How to Recover and Thrive” welcomes emerging and estab- lished artists, performers, arts managers, and those in creative fields to join in a week-long series of vir- tual interactive workshops, training, and networking sessions. The summit, designed to provide tools to help those working in creative fields recover from the disruption created by the pandemic and learn
how to position their business to thrive as the econ- omy recovers, will present daily sessions with guest speakers at 10 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. A full schedule of events, session descriptions, presenter bios, and links to register can be found at www.umass.edu/aes/ artshub. The fee for the ArtsHub Virtual Summit is $35 for the early-bird registration (before Jan. 4), and $55 thereafter. The fee provides access to all sessions and online access through January. The ArtsHub was made possible by an initial grant from the Massa- chusetts Office of Business Development and addi- tional support from the Community Foundation of Western Mass.
‘Addressing Conflict in Schools Using Non-violent Strategies’
Jan. 17: Western New England University (WNE) School of Law’s Center for Social Justice will present “Addressing Conflict in Schools Using Non-violent Strategies” in conjunction with the Greater Spring- field Campaign at 7 p.m. Executive Director of Non- violent Schools RI Robin Wildman will lead this dis- cussion. Visit bit.ly/WNEMLKDAY2021 to register for this virtual Zoom event. Wildman has been a senior- level Kingian Nonviolence practitioner and teacher for 20 years and a public-school teacher for 28 years (recently retired). Her current role with Nonviolent Schools RI is a result of her desire to train those who work in the field of education in Kingian Nonvio- lence so that they can work towards institutionaliz- ing the philosophy and conflict-reconciliation strat- egies, thus transforming the climate and culture of their schools. She has conducted workshops, given lectures, and trained hundreds of adults and chil- dren in methods to address and reconcile conflict used by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She is the author of a Kingian Nonviolence curriculum used nationally
and internationally, as well as a post-training reflec- tion journal. Wildman has worked closely for 20 years with her mentor and the honorary board chair of Nonviolent Schools RI, noted civil-rights leader Bernard LaFayette Jr., who worked with King. She believes giving students and school staff the tools
to understand and address conflict will significantly reduce school violence in all its forms and lead to a more just environment in which students can thrive and achieve their full potential.
YPS, Ad Club Mix & Mingle
Jan. 20: The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) and the Advertising Club of West- ern Massachusetts will host an annual Mix & Mingle membership event to support young profession-
als and encourage them to become more involved and invested in their local communities. The Mix
& Mingle membership event will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Paper City Bar & Grill, 241 Whit-
ing Farms Road, Holyoke. The Springfield YPS is an organization built to exchange ideas, share common interests, and cultivate its membership to serve as the Pioneer Valley’s leaders of tomorrow. YPS aims to engage the younger demographic in distinct areas such as business and career development, network- ing, cultural involvement, community involve- ment, educational opportunities, volunteerism, recreational and social activities, and more. The
Ad Club of Western Massachusetts is the premier organization for all marketing and communica- tions professionals in Western Mass. and Northern Connecticut. The club offers its members the ability to advance and enrich the advertising community by acting as a catalyst for idea exchange, profes- sional development, and creative energy. Members can register for the event at www.eventbrite.com/e/ mix-mingle-registration-219246591457.
Tourism
Continued from page 32
Berkshires was really bustling during the summer,” he told BusinessWest. “And we saw different types of visitors to the Berkshires — a lot more younger couples, younger travelers trying to
get out of the urban setting and find- ing the Berkshires to be a great option for them, with open space, a lot of rec- reational opportunties, and room to breathe. We saw bits and pieces of that in the summer of 2020, but saw it expo- nentially increase in 2021.”
Two factors slowed the momentum somewhat, and they’re both national
in scope, not unique to Western Mass., Butler said. One was the Delta vari-
ant of COVID-19 (and, on its heels, Omicron), and the other is a lingering workforce shortage, which has kept some attractions, restaurants, and retail destinations from being open every day, and forced some hotels to operate at less-than-peak room capacity.
“We’ve seen a little bit of growth in terms of job applicants and some employers being able to get some workforce back,” Butler said, “but it’s still a bigger gap than we want for the economy to get fully back on its feet.”
One factor that especially impacts hotels has been a decline in interna- tional workers coming to the region on work visas, due to both pandemic fears and shifting federal rules, he explained. “These are highly trained, motivated
members of our local properties’ teams, and the loss of that demograph- ic in the workforce has been another obstacle that has disproportionately affected hospitality.”
On the plus side, “even starting in 2020, we’ve seen a boom in outdoor recreation; it’s been a leading reason to visit the region,” Butler noted. “We saw continued increased activity at
broader group that wants to be here, not just couples over 50,” he went on. “We’re seeing an influx of young adults, young families, who want to take part in a large variety of things — outdoor recreation, the food economy, health and wellness opportunities. We’re exposing whole new audiences to the Berkshires, and that will benefit us in the long term.”
ure it out.”
While noting, once again, how
important it is that conventions and group business return at some point, Wydra also admitted the region has plenty going for it.
“The beauty of Western Mass. is that we have this amazing collection of great attractions and incredible natural resources. If people don’t want to go
to Six Flags, they can go ziplining or rafting. There are so many things to do here, and that’s why we’re positioned well as a destination.”
Doleva has been busy promot-
ing the re-envisioned Hall as an ideal site for meetings, fundraising dinners, product launches, and more, and he takes a similar interconnected view of the tourism industry in general. In fact, he says it’s necessary if the sector truly wants to shake off the pandemic and move ahead.
“We certainly take our obligation
as part of the major attractions in the Valley very seriously,” he said. “We
can and will work together as we go forward, and I think we’ll be in a very good position. None of us thinks of this region as a single-day trip. There’s mul- tiple things to do, and we’ve recommit- ted to that idea throughout this whole COVID experience.” u
— Joseph Bednar
52 JANUARY 10, 2022
DEPARTMENTS
JOHN DOLEVA
“None of us thinks of this region as a single-day trip. There’s multiple things to do, and we’ve recommitted to that idea throughout this whole COVID experience.”
museums this year, again, building off 2020. Many museums and historical sites feature outdoor space, which is
a nice option for people. And we saw some return to live performing arts this year. We’re very sensitive to the impact the pandemic has had on performing arts in the Berkshires, so it was good to see a return to live performances again at places like Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow.
“The big takeaway from 2021 was that people want to be here, and it’s a
Wydra feels the same about Western Mass. as a whole, and said the indus- try has learned to roll with the shifting demands of the pandemic because society demands it.
“Just like people in general, we have to adapt to the challenges COVID puts in front of us, things like masking, sani- tary conditions, safety protocols. It’s super important to visitors, and some- thing that will not go away for a while, if at all,” she said. “It’s becoming our new normal, and we’re all trying to fig-
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