Berkshire Cultural Community

(North Adams, MA) MASS MoCA serves as an anchor for the deep, rich cultural community of the Berkshire Mountains ö an area that has long been a center for arts pioneers and is centrally located to New York, Boston, and Montreal. In the 19th-century, leading artists and writers, including Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Cullen Bryant, and Daniel Chester French lived and worked in the region.

Today the Berkshires are home to a broad range of institutions dedicated to the visual arts, theater, dance, and the region's cultural heritage. Several of these, including Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Clark Art Institute, have already begun to partner with MASS MoCA to expand programming and create linkages between their organizations' individual missions and constituencies. Highlights of the Berkshires' cultural community include:

• The Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge, MA) The world's largest collection of original works by the artist, housed in his former studio.
• Williams College Museum of Art (Williamstown, MA) Considered a frontrunner among college and university arts institutions and specializing in American, contemporary, and non-Western art.
• The Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield, MA) Features fine art, sculpture, history, natural science and an interactive aquarium.
  Music
• Tanglewood Music Festival (Lenox, MA) Outdoor music series, which has served as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1936. Also offers chamber music, jazz and pop performances.
  Dance
• Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (Becket, MA) America's oldest dance festival, founded by modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn over 60 years ago and presenting innovative contemporary dance programs throughout the summer.
  History and Architecture
• Arrowhead (Pittsfield, MA) 1780's farmstead where Herman Melville's resided in the mid-19th century and wrote Moby Dick.
• Chesterwood (Stockbridge, MA) The 122-acre estate of sculptor Daniel Chester French. Collections include working models of such masterpieces as The Lincoln Memorial and The Minute Man.
• Hancock Shaker Village (Pittsfield, MA) A working farm of 20 restored historic buildings, which raises livestock breeds, vegetables, and herbs authentic to Shaker history. Crafts demonstrations and hands-on family activities introduce visitors to Shaker culture and traditions.
• The Mount - Edith Wharton Restoration (Lenox, MA) Historic turn-of-the-century mansion designed by renowned American author Edith Wharton, who wrote such classic novels as The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome.
• Naumkeag House & Gardens (Stockbridge, MA) The picturesque 1886 home built by architect Sanford White for the Choate family, filled with period art and antiques, and set among extraordinary gardens.
  Theater
• Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA) Internationally renowned summer series of productions produced, designed, and acted by noted theater artists from around the world.
• Berkshire Theatre Festival (Stockbridge, MA) Summer series of theatrical productions on three stages, which has been drawing America's foremost actors to the Berkshires for more than 70 years.
• Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA) One of the country's largest Shakespeare Festivals, this annual summer series includes fourteen plays performed at Edith Wharton's turn-of-the-century mansion. Presentations include works by Wharton and modern plays, as well as Shakespearean classics.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org