Poetry Reading by James Tate, Ellen Doré Watson, and James Haug.

On Thursday, October 15, 7:00 PM, at the Amherst Cinema, join us for the Western Massachusetts launch of the second annual state-wide Massachusetts Poetry Festival! The Valley's own James Tate, Ellen Doré Watson, and James Haug will read from new and selected work.

Tickets: $10; $5 for students and seniors. Online at www.amherstcinema.org and at the Amherst Cinema box office.

Ian Fraser attends most of the performances at the Fine Arts Center. When asked to join the Friends Board in 2005, it seemed a logical step to this long-time subscriber. Now, he takes the reins as Chair, ably assisted by Vice Chair Lee Hines. Ian has been taking a personal and hands-on approach to board leadership, meeting with members individually to explore and identify how each can be meaningfully involved and utilize their individual talents and connections.

A self-described "recovering guitar player," Ian was born and raised in New York City, and graduated from Hampshire College in 1987 with a concentration in Music and Computer Science. In 1991, he co-founded YES Computers in Northampton, which flourished during his ten years of ownership. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Board of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, Ltd. When he's not at the Fine Arts Center, you might be able to find him pursuing one of his passions as an instrument-rated private pilot, an instructor at high-performance driving schools offered through the Audi Club of North America, or a genealogist and family historian.

Both retired and active faculty and staff at the UMass Amherst campus are being asked to participate in a campus-wide Faculty and Staff Campaign. Donors can double the impact of their gifts this year through a one-time, $500,000 reserve fund that will match individual donations up to $10,000. "The gift matching program is a recognition that private investment is extraordinarily important," says Michael Leto, Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations. "When we ask potential off-campus donors for support, we can say, 'We're not asking you to do anything we're not doing ourselves.'"

The Fine Arts Center enjoys a strong base of support not only from current faculty and staff but also from retirees who continue to attend performances, exhibits, and educational events. Through the matching program, pledges made by December 31 by current and retired faculty and staff will be matched dollar for dollar, up to the $10,000 level.

The Power of Art: It sends a powerful message. We invite all our faculty and staff friends to inspire, elevate, heal, invigorate--and double their gift to the Fine Arts Center.

Raising money in style was never so chic. The University Gallery's fundraiser, Andy's Loft, which helped fund student internships, saw the gallery transformed to the Factory era of the 1960s. Costumed guests in vintage '60s clothing, some replicating actual people of the decade (Jackie Kennedy) and others replicating ideals (hippies holding signs saying, "Make Love, Not War") rubbed elbows with other polyester-wearing attendees (the photo shown is of Chancellor Robert and Sabine Holub). The money raised will fund the completion of the cataloguing of our permanent collection.

To see more of the Loft, go to the University Gallery's website.

Bring your FAC ticket stub to Cold Spring Orchard, and receive a ten percent discount!

Fine Arts Center patrons will enjoy a ten percent discount on delicious fruit at the Cold Spring Orchard store between now and Thanksgiving. Just present your 2009 ticket stub.

The innovative and influential drummer Dafnis Prieto will perform at Bowker auditorium on Thursday, October 22 at 7:30 PM. Within a short period of time Preito's revolutionary drumming techniques have had a powerful impact on both the Latin and jazz music scene, locally and internationally. His playing is forceful, but he retains a flexible sense of groove, derived from traditions of Afro-Caribbean hand percussion but also informed by polyrhythmic post-bop. All About Jazz notes that Prieto is "...easily the most impressive young drummer to come on the jazz scene during the past decade."

Prieto's performance is part of the Fine Arts Center's Center Series and is a Billy Taylor Jazz Residency. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at 545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, or online at the FAC website.

On Friday, October 23, at 7:00 PM in Flavin Auditorium at the Isenberg School of Management, the University Gallery hosts an exclusive preview screening of the PBS documentary Art:21's episode, Transformation.

Whether observing and satirizing society or reinventing icons of literature, art history, and popular culture, the artists featured in Transformation capture the sensibilities of our age. Through in-depth profiles and interviews, the four-part series reveals the inspiration, vision, and techniques behind the creative works of some of today’s most thought-provoking artists. A discussion following the screening will be held in Flavin Auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public.

Please join us on Sunday, October 25, 3:00 PM, at the First Churches at 129 Main Street, Northampton, for a very special Asian Arts & Culture Program event. This event is presented in memory of Bashir Ahamed, a local Sufi hailing from Kashmir, India. Peter Rogen will recite poetic readings of Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet, with accompaniment by Amir Vahd on traditional instruments.

Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th-centruy Sufi mystical poet was born in the city of Balkh (Afghanistan) along the eastern edge of the Persian Empire. Although many of his poems can be read as ordinary love poems, they are really about the love of God, whom he often called the "Friend" or the "Beloved." Rumi never wrote down his poetry; he spoke it extemporaneously and a companion would then write it down.

Peter Rogen, an ardent Rumi devotee, received a Rockefeller Grant for study in the American theater and has performed Shakespeare with the Helen Hayes Equity Theater in New York. Amir Vahab is a renowned Iranian-born musician. Now a resident of New York City, Vahab has performed all around the world. Hailed by the The New York Times as an "ambassador for a silenced music," Vahab is one of the most revered players and composers of Persian folk music. A speaker of five languages, he will recite Rumi verses in Farsi and play the tanbour, ney and daf.

Tickets for the event are available by calling the FAC Box Office at 545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS, or online.