Berkshire County is home to five state designated cultural districts: the
Downtown Great Barringtong Cultural District, the Lenox Cultural District,
the North Adams Cultural District, the Upstreet Cultural District in
Pittsfield, and the Williamstown Cultural District.
These districts are coming together for ArtWeek Berkshires this September with a
festival of events that will celebrate the arts throughout the county.
ArtWeek is currently seeking event applications for the festival, which
highlights the county's creative economy, cultural treasures, and
artistic assets.
And I spoke with festival organizers to learn more.
It was amazing that the state did this for a few years, and the Berkshires, in
the collaborative spirit that the Berkshires have, said we want to
continue this, even though the state is not continuing it.
Because we now have five cultural districts, five designated cultural
districts by the Mass Cultural Council, and that's a lot in one county.
So, the cultural districts decided to take it upon themselves and say, "let's
do this." Let's continue to do this, just within our county without the
state's official event.
Why is it important for the five cultural districts to collaborate with
each other?
I think the Berkshires, in general, being 30 towns and two cities with no
centralized government, we really rely a lot on collaborations in order to move
people around the county, get people to come into the county.
And so, this was a great opportunity to really empower the creative economy to
continue pushing their message.
And then also, not only shine a light on our major institutions, but even more
so to shine a light on all the smaller artisans throughout the area.
The festival will be celebrating the creative arts through different events
around the county from September 16th through the 26th.
What are some of those events that we can be expecting to see?
We're really excited to be creating a county-wide open studio event, where any
artist in the county, in the regio, can participate.
And we've done the open studio events for ArtWeek several years, the Lenox
Cultural District did participate in an open studio event that was based on
Lenox galleries and Lenox artists.
So, expanding it to the county is a really wonderful opportunity for people
to visit the studios and get behind the scenes looks at the artists, the many,
many, many incredible artists that live all over --live and and work all
over Berkshire County.
In addition to that, there are a tremendous amount of other events that
are going to be offered, including live performances and music and behind the
scenes artist talks.
I have there's a few sort of paper marbling demonstration going to be
happening. Sculpture Now, which is happening at the Mount will be part of
it. Up in North Adams, at Gallery 51, there'll be an event called Hostile
Terrain that's focused on an undocumented migration project.
So, I think there's going to be something for everyone.
In Pittsfield, we are doing a concert with the Whiskey Treaty Road Show called
A Community Celebration on Friday, September 17th.
And we are very excited we're now going to be honoring essential workers at that
concert. And anything involving the Whiskey Treaty Road Show is truly
special. We have opened studios in Pittsfield and Jesse Tobin McCauley is
curating once again the Drive Walk Bike by City Art Show.
Last year, they had more than 40 artists literally set up on their front
lawn. And you can drive, walk, or bike by and see this.
And so we're super excited that that's happening again.
That was kind of because of COVID, but it was such a success that they're doing
it again.
Now, Lindsey, you alluded to this a little bit earlier.
The creative economy is a huge economic engine for Berkshire County, which holds
many art-related festivals and events.
What makes ArtWeek Berkshires is different from other festivals that have
taken place in the Berkshires?
And how does it impact the creative economy directly?
I mean, I think it goes back to what Cassandra talked about earlier, the
collaboration of it and bringing all of those cultural districts together.
I think you'll find lots of single entities do amazing work, or a single
town will hold the festival.
But the fact the scope of this, it's from tail to tip, you know, from
Williamstown all the way down to Sheffield and Lee and Lenox and, you
know, small hill towns and things really makes the difference, in regards to it
just being a county, truly a county-wide collaboration.
Yeah, it's really another step towards unifying the county for an overall
creative vision for the creative economy so that we can share in
promotion. And especially now, when we're all really looking to get out and
do things and be together.
Having said that, a lot of these events will be virtual.
And if people want to submit an event and participate in ArtWeek, they can
create an event that is in-person or virtual.
And that brings me to my next question, because applications to be part of the
festival are still open.
Who do you encourage to apply and what are the ways that people can
participate?
Everyone. Everyone should apply.
And this is, I think this is most important, there are organizations
around the Berkshires that are already doing events from September 16th to the
26th. Those count.
Please submit. Those are the easiest ones to use for this ArtWeek.
Submit those events, because they count.
They're already happening, but we just want to give you more promotion by
listing them in the ArtWeek Berkshires listings.
One of the wonderful things about this event, is that it is all-inclusive.
So, if you're an arts organization in the Berkshires, you can participate.
If you're an artist without representation, you can participate.
If you're a gallery, you can participate.
If you're a restaurant. We want the the event to be broad and have a diverse
range of events.
There is no fee to submit an application or to have an event.
So, you just have to go to Berkshire d.org website or any of the Cultural
Districts websites to find the application form to submit your event
for ArtWeek, which is September 16th to
26th.