Become the first poet laureate of Mass.

Last month, Gov. Maura Healey wrote an executive order to create an official poet laureate of Massachusetts — and now, applications are open.

The position entails writing poetry for select government ceremonies, promoting poetry across the state, doing public readings, and advising the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on a poetry outreach program for schools.

Applications are open to Massachusetts poets 18 and older who have lived in Massachusetts for at least the last three years (and who aren’t affiliated with Mass Cultural Council, Mass Humanities, or the governor’s Poet Laureate Nominating Committee).

Interested poets need to submit a resume or bio, provide work samples, and explain their relevant experience, including explaining how they’ve shown “a commitment to promoting an awareness of poetry and literary excellence,” according to a sample application.

The poet laureate serves a two-year term, though that term can be renewed for another two years. The poet laureate will receive a $15,000 honorarium this year, with the potential of additional funding in the future.

Applications are due by Thursday, April 10. For more information and to apply, visit https://massculturalcouncil.org/artists-art/poet-laureate/application-process.

Nobel laureate to speak at UMass

AMHERST — Labor economist David Card, co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the annual Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Thursday at 5 p.m. in Bowker Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

In his lecture, Card will explore the links between immigration, minimum wage and inequality. His research has challenged the conventional belief that increasing the minimum wage leads to job losses.

Before joining Berkeley, Card taught at the University of Chicago (1982-83) and Princeton University (1983-96). He has held visiting appointments at Columbia University, Harvard University, UCLA and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. From 2012 to 2017, he served as director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Sponsored by the UMass Amherst Department of Economics, the Philip Gamble Memorial Lectureship Endowment was established by alumnus Israel Rogosa and other family and friends in memory of Philip Gamble, a member of the economics faculty from 1935-71 and chair of the department from 1942-65.

More information on the Department of Economics and the 2025 Gamble Lecture by David Card, as well as a complete list of previous Gamble lecturers with video of all speeches since 2008, can be found on the economics department website.

Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival lineup

The Springfield Jewish Community Center recently announced the lineup for the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, now in its 19th year.

The lineup includes: “Midas Man,” a biopic about Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager; “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round,” a documentary about Jewish support for a Black sit-in in Maryland during the Civil Rights Movement; “The Property,” about a grandmother and granddaughter’s quest to Poland to reclaim property stolen during World War II; “Welcome to Yiddishland,” a documentary about the Yiddish language diaspora; “The Glory of Life,” about Franz Kafka’s final year of life; “Bad Shabbos,” a comedy about an engaged interfaith couple and a dead body; “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire,” a documentary about the writer of the Holocaust memoir “Night”; “Moses Ezekiel: Portrait of a Lost Artist,” a documentary about a Jewish sculptor who created Confederate monuments; and “The Blonde Boy from the Casbah,” about a filmmaker’s childhood in war-torn 1960s Algeria.

Tickets are $12. To purchase movie tickets, learn more about the movies, or find out where and when they’ll screen, visit springfieldjcc.org/pvjff.

Gallery A3’s
April exhibit

Gallery A3 in Amherst will open its April show, Nancy Meagher’s “Closed and Wide-Open Spaces,” with a reception on Thursday, April 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. The show runs through Saturday, April 26.

According to a press release, the show “explores the external structure and internal character of several historic houses in Amherst and the contrasting landscapes of Cape Cod and western Massachusetts. Intimate paintings of flowers, all in bloom, echo the idea of ‘blossoming open.’”

The historic buildings Meagher has painted include the Emily Dickinson Homestead, Austin Dickinson’s mansion, the Henry Hills House, and buildings on Commercial Street in Provincetown.