After concerns arose last week about noise and crowding, a leadership development conference planned for early June in Oak Bluffs will change venues. “To accommodate a much larger-than-expected group, we will relocate the conference to the Featherstone Center for the Arts,” Sean Findlen

Featherstone Center for the Arts, the nonprofit arts campus on a hilltop in Oak Bluffs, has a new executive director, after its board appointed Ann Smith to replace Francine Kelly at its annual general meeting last Wednesday.

Ms. Kelly, who has vastly expanded Featherstone’s programs and fundraising since arriving in 2003, asked the 18-member board in August for retirement effective Labor Day. She will stay on as a consultant to plan events to promote the center’s 15th anniversary next year.

Vineyard musical favorite Kahoots closed their appearance at Saturday’s Best Festival, held at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, by noting that they’d just finished “the mellowest set we’ve played in a long time.”

A deep connection with the senses is synonymous with artists, those tactile beings who crave materials in their hands. The resting of a paintbrush in the palm of a painter, the click of a shutter in the hands of a photographer, the composition of a scene, the satisfaction of capturing the perfect Vineyard light.