MILLERTON — Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation has announced that full scholarships have been awarded to two executive directors: Jenny Hansell of North East Community Center (NECC) and Bryan Ayars of Community Health Programs in Great Barrington, Mass. They will attend Harvard Business School for a week-long intensive training program: Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management.This program is designed to strengthen the capacity of nonprofit directors to lead their organizations effectively. The program will take place from Sunday, July 17, to Saturday, July 23.Through a partnership with Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Harvard Business School has, for the second year, provided two scholarships, valued at $4,900 each for the week-long program. Hansell and Ayars were selected from a pool of 13 applicants. The advisory board of Berkshire Taconic’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence accepted them based on the quality of their applications and the diversity of experience that these CEOs would bring to the program.“We are thrilled to be sending two such worthy nonprofit leaders to this wonderful program,” said Jennifer Dowley, Berkshire Taconic’s president, who attended the program herself in July 2008. “It is an invaluable experience to learn from the best, both faculty and fellow attendees. In these challenging times, it is important for us all to remain attuned to the best thinking there is on management strategies.”Hansell currently serves as the executive director of North East Community Center. In that capacity, she oversees a multitude of programs including an afterschool program for middle and elementary school students, the Millerton Farmers Market, a farm and food education program and a family support program, among others that work to support NECC’s mission to build a healthy, caring, responsive and welcoming community and act as a catalyst for that community vision.“It’s a rare gift to have a week to read, think, discuss and reflect, along with other nonprofit leaders and some of the best thinkers in the field, about how to prepare NECC to meet the challenges of this next phase,” said Hansell. “We have some new projects on the horizon that will allow us to make a greater impact on our community than we ever have before, and I want to make sure we have the sharpest, most effective tools and strategies we possibly can.”Ayars is executive director of Community Health Programs (CHP), a 35-year-old nonprofit with the mission of providing residents of Berkshire County with high quality preventative and primary care services. These services are integrated with a broad spectrum of support services regardless of ability to pay insurance status or immigrant status.The participants will attend the program with more than 140 other nonprofit leaders from around the world, using a case study method of learning. The program encompasses several themes, such as formulating strategy in complex environments, achieving internal alignment with strategic vision, bridging mission and markets, and leading change. The program is part of the Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise Initiative, which helps leaders in all sectors apply management skills to create social value. Through an integrated approach to social enterprise-related teaching, research and activities, the Social Enterprise Initiative engages with leaders in the nonprofit, for–profit and public sectors to generate and disseminate practicable resources, tools and knowledge with the ultimate goal of bettering society.The scholarship is offered through Berkshire Taconic’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence, which offers services and resources to help the staff, board and volunteers of nonprofits think strategically, govern effectively and operate efficiently. In addition to this scholarship, the center offers seminars in nonprofit management; two national grants research databases; and the Nonprofit Learning Program in northwest Connecticut, which provides teams from several nonprofits with an intensive learning opportunity each spring.Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation builds stronger communities and improves the quality of life for all residents of northwest Litchfield County, Conn., Berkshire County, Mass., and Columbia County and northeast Dutchess County, N.Y., acting as an agent for positive change in the region. Berkshire Taconic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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