Latest news with #SpringfieldMuseums
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why is this attraction billboard on I-91 in Springfield blank?
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Blue 'attractions' signs along Massachusetts highways potentially inform tourists and those unfamiliar with the city's offerings however, some in the Springfield area appear to be blank. Taylor Swift-themed planetarium show 'Reputation: Under the Stars,' coming to Springfield Museums A western Massachusetts resident contacted 22News and said the signs on I-91 in Springfield labeled 'attractions at Exit 5A and Exit 3' have been blank for many years. The signs appeared to be worn out and possibly deter people from visiting. Exit 3 for I-91 is the Route 5 and Route 57 junction, Exit 5A is downtown Springfield, Union Street, and MGM Way. 22News contacted the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which is responsible for these signs, and was told that there are certain requirements that businesses must meet to be listed on the signs. It is the business (such as gas, food, lodging), tourist center, college, or university that is responsible for requesting a logo on the highway signs. Applications can be found on the state's website to request a highway logo sign. Certain criteria must be complied with, including being within three miles of the sign and paying an annual fee of $1,200. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Upper Hill Council opens new community space in Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – There's a new community space in the city of Springfield, and its grand opening was Tuesday. Taylor Swift-themed planetarium show 'Reputation: Under the Stars,' coming to Springfield Museums The space, located at 935 State Street, is on the American International College campus and across the street from the MLK Church. The Upper Hill Neighborhood Council says it is open to all residents, stakeholders, and community partners. The goal of the space is to better help address the needs of the surrounding area. Hours of operation for the new community space are yet to be determined. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift-themed planetarium show 'Reputation: Under the Stars,' coming to Springfield Museums
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Swifties in western Massachusetts have a new reason to look to the stars. The Springfield Museums has launched 'Reputation: Under the Stars,' a brand-new planetarium show that blends the music of Swift's 2017 album Reputation with dazzling visuals in the historic Seymour Planetarium. Springfield Museums presents 'Swiftie Saturdays' with '1989 Under the Stars' planetarium show Presented Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 4 p.m., the show features the original recordings from Reputation, now owned by Swift herself, accompanied by full-dome immersive effects. The experience is complimentary for museum members and available to other visitors aged 8 and above for an additional $5 with museum admission. 'I love the sound of visitors singing along with the music in Seymour Planetarium and when there's dancing in the aisles!' said Jenny Powers, Director of the Springfield Science Museum and a self-described Swiftie. 'And now, when we license the music, it's the artist who benefits from the songs she created. We're so happy that every version is Taylor's version!' The production follows the success of '1989: Under the Stars,' a similar show that ran in spring 2024. Museum staff had long hoped to create a Reputation experience but waited until Swift re-released her version of the album to align with their commitment to using only artist-owned recordings. Kaitlynn Goulette, a 16-year-old amateur astronomer, educator at the Seymour Planetarium, and longtime Swift fan, began developing the show last summer in anticipation of the album's re-release. Goulette's accomplishments in astronomy outreach are already extensive. She is a graduate of the Arunah Hill Natural Science Center's 'Starwatch' leadership program, serves as a panelist for the Springfield Science Museum's online outreach series 'AstroQuest,' and holds a leadership position as director of the Springfield STARS Club. Her monthly astronomy newsletter, 'The Starry Scoop,' recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, and she recently launched a podcast of the same name to bring beginner-friendly space science to a wider audience. The Seymour Planetarium, part of the Springfield Science Museum, combines astronomical history with cutting-edge technology. It houses the world's oldest operating American-made star projector—the 86-year-old Korkosz 'star ball'—and now features Zeiss Velvet full-dome projectors, the only digital system globally that can render a true black sky background, enhancing the optical brilliance of the vintage Korkosz star field. With music, lights, and a cosmic backdrop, 'Reputation: Under the Stars' offers fans a new kind of listening party—one that's literally out of this world. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards exhibit opens at Springfield Museums
SPRINGFIELD — If a laughing dormouse or a kangaroo playing air guitar doesn't make you smile, nothing will. Kris Ludwig, Curator of Art for the Springfield Museums, is hoping that one of the 60 happy-go-lucky animals on display in the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum as part of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards exhibit will be enough to brighten anyone's day. 'We first came across the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards years ago in articles featuring many of the winning images. They were so funny and uplifting that it became somewhat of a tradition for us to continue sharing them with family, friends, and coworkers every year,' Ludwig said in an interview with The Republican. 'When we discovered that the photographs were being offered as an exhibition, we were delighted to have the opportunity to share this same joy with our visitors.' The competition for which the exhibit is named, the Comedy Wildlife Awards, describes its mission as 'conservation through competition' on its website. The awards are co-hosted by wildlife photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, who also co-founded the awards in 2015. It all began when Joynson-Hicks, who has lived in East Africa for the past 30 years, took the time to slow down and really look at the photos he was taking. In doing so, he noticed just how relatable animals could be. In a statement on the competition's website, Joynson-Hicks said, 'To really understand animals and the issues that affect them, you need to empathize with them as fellow inhabitants of the same planet.' The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which has expanded over the years to welcome thousands of entries internationally, donates a portion of its proceeds to the Whitley Fund for Nature, a United Kingdom-based charity that supports conservation leaders across the global south. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 47,000 species are being threatened with extinction as of this year. That breaks down to 41% of amphibians, 27% of mammals, 34% of conifers, 12% of birds, 37% of sharks and rays, 44% of reef corals, 28% of crustaceans, 21% of reptiles and 71% of cycads under this threat. While conservation awareness and fundraising are its primary goals, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards do aim to fulfill a second purpose: making people smile. 'The photographs are as beautiful as they are humorous, so I hope visitors also come away with a sense of appreciation for the natural world around us as well as a closer connection to nature's creatures after sharing some laughs,' Ludwig said. The photographs on display at the Springfield Museums are winners from across the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards' 10-year run. Among them is 'Smile!' which shows a marsh frog leaping out of the water with a big grin, and 'Squirrel Wishes,' which depicts a Eurasian Red Squirrel blowing on a dandelion. Just like the competition itself, the photos on display at the Springfield Museums span the globe, with photographers from across Italy, Sweden, Australia and Russia — just to name a few — being represented. 'As diverse as the photographers are, the locations they traveled to capture these images is even more expansive and includes exotic locals like the Falkland Islands, the Bahamas, and Namibia as well as some more close to home, like Staten Island, New York, proving that animal comedy could be hiding in your own backyard,' Ludwig said. In some cases, the photos capture animals that are now considered 'critically endangered' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, such as the Verreaux's Sifaka, a lemur species native to Madagascar. In Alison Buttigieg's photograph from 2015, 'Staying Alive!,' the lemur is captured mid-hop with one arm raised. Since that time, deforestation and illegal hunting has driven down the Verreaux's Sifaka population, and their status was officially updated from 'vulnerable' to 'critically endangered' in 2020. Asked what his favorite photograph is in the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards exhibit, Ludwig said the answer was 'difficult.' 'One of the most wholesome is certainly 'The Laughing Dormouse' by Andrea Zampatti,' he said. 'The tiny mouse is perched in a flower with its eyes squinting and an expression of pure happiness — you can almost imagine it letting out a little squeak of joy.' Down the hall, the Springfield Museums offers plenty of additional opportunities for animal lovers of all ages to learn more. 'Whiskers and Whimsy: Animals in Currier & Ives Prints,' a collection of more than 1,200 lithographs that depict fuzzy and feathered animals is on display in the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts. 'Habitat,' on loan from the Smithsonian Institution, is installed throughout the museum grounds and depicts the many different environments that animals call home. In the Springfield Science Museum, visitors can also visit the newly renovated Live Animal Center. 'Here Be Dragons,' also at the Springfield Science Museum, brings visitors face-to-face with live reptiles. For more information about the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards and other ongoing exhibits at the Springfield Museums, visit the Museums' website. Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Exhibit explores Springfield's witch panic that occurred years before Salem
SPRINGFIELD — Years before people accued of being witches were tortured, tried and hanged in Salem, witch hysteria swept through Springfield when a prominent couple began acting strangely in the eyes of suspicious citizens. A new exhibit at the Springfield Museums called 'Witch Panic! Massachusetts before Salem' explores the case against Hugh and Mary Parsons. William Pynchon, a businessman from outside Boston, and six other men founded Springfield 1636. As people settled into this town of around 100 citizens, there was a series of unexplained events that spooked nearly everyone, prompting whispers of evil spirits and witches. 'It's hard to pin down an exact place when a story like this starts because it's so dependent on fear and anxieties,' said Elizabeth Kapp, curator of history at the museums. While there was nothing strange about adults falling ill in new settlements, it was unsettling when children got sick and died —especially when they were related to the founding and religious elite. Pynchon's granddaughters, Sarah and Margaret Smith, became gravely ill and died in 1648. George Moxon, the settlement's minister, spent the winter of 1651 nursing his daughters back to health. Martha and Rebecca Moxon were seriously sick in December and January but ultimately survived. And then there was the unspeakable case of the missing cow's tongue. Anthony Dorchester, a boarder living with the Parsons, had set upon cooking stew with a cow's tongue. But while he was in church, it disappeared, and that sent tongues wagging. Nervous citizens began laying blame for their problems on the Parsons. 'One of the more prevalent stories that was repeated several times throughout both Mary and Hugh's trial was this story about a dinner that mysteriously vanished,' said Kapp. 'There's also stories of strange weather patterns and animals falling ill when usually they're quite healthy.' Kapp said the Parsons became easy targets of suspicion. Hugh was a brickmaker, and while his services were desperately needed, people found him to be prickly and off-putting. 'His skills were necessary, but his social interactions don't seem to have fit into societal expectations,' Kapp said. 'There are stories of him promising to fulfill brick orders and then he misses those deadlines. Upon being reminded of these deadlines, he's wishing ill upon people who ordered the bricks.' Mary Parsons was a divorced woman from Wales who received special permission from religious leaders to be seen as a 'formally independent woman' because 'divorce was not a thing' in those days, Kapp said. When she moved to Massachusetts, she began working for Pynchon, but even her professional relationship with him could not protect her from scurrilous accusations of witchcraft. 'Mary was also looking for answers to these mysterious events and accused someone else of witchcraft,' Kapp said. 'The problem: That wasn't taken as an accusation of witchcraft. It went to court as a slander trial.' Parsons lost the case and was ordered to pay the defamed woman three pounds in silver or 24 bushels of corn. 'But it also meant the town of Springfield started wondering: Why was Mary Parsons looking for witches? Why does Mary Parsons know so much about witchcraft?' Kapp said. Parsons was arrested on Feb. 26, 1651, Her husband was arrested the next day. Their cases began in Springfield but were moved to Boston where the couple was jailed while awaiting their trials. 'She was tried on May 8, 1651, and was charged with two crimes, for having familiarity with the devil as a witch, and for willingly and most wickedly murdering her own child,' said Kapp. Parsons was acquitted on charges of witchcraft but plead guilty to the killing, something that was never proved. 'There was no way to know one way or the other,' Kapp said, because Parsons died shortly after the trial and the court simply accepted her confession. Hugh Parsons languished in jail for 15 months until he was tried. A lower court found him guilty of witchcraft, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. After his exoneration, he moved with his remaining daughter to Rhode Island. All of this happened 40 years before the infamous Salem witch trials. 'The events in Springfield have been called by historian Malcolm Gaskell the first American witch panic because they truly consumed the entire town. That helped set a scene that led to Salem, because in Salem, we see basically what happened in Springfield, but exponentially growing,' Kapp said. While the Springfield Museums features many traveling exhibits, 'Witch Panic' was curated by Kapp and a team of around a dozen employees working in the museums' collections, exhibits and archives. Kapp said they based their exhibit on dozens of sources and 'hundreds and hundreds of pages' of documentation, including original notes William Pynchon took while speaking with his fellow citizens at the time. The exhibit is on display now through Nov. 2 at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History. Springfield Museums president and CEO Kay Simpson said she hopes the sprawling, two floor display helps the city capitalize on America's fascination of witches. 'It's a very important historical moment. It happened here and we were part of this fabric that was taking place in Massachusetts in the 1600's,' she said. 'It also points to how the image of witches has changed over the years. There's something inherently interesting about witches and witchcraft.' Gov. Healey at Mount Holyoke: 'This is a moment that clarifies our values' Speed bumps petition gains support after child killed by car in Springfield Number of older homeless adults increased nearly 20% this year in Hampden County 'His mercy was never returned': Jordan Cabrera sentenced to 12-15 years for fatally shooting Jahvante Perez Read the original article on MassLive.
