The 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival is in town, and Pittsfield is at play. Every year in late February, downtown Pittsfield holds a weeklong celebration with art and music, new plays, independent film and more.
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Nationally awardwinning architects and designers set to create cultural center
Nationally recognized architects and designers Mario Gooden, Mabel Wilson and Walter Hood are working to re-imagine the Clinton Church in Great Barrington as a cultural center celebrating African American history.
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Contra dance is alive and growing in the Berkshires
The tradition of contra dancing stretches from coast to coast and back more than 400 years. A caller teaches a series of simple moves, and dancers join in to live music with a beat and a quick melody.
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Spirits of the past — Tracing the Jenks family through 400 years (By the Way column)
Last week I stood on a hill where one of my ancestors stood 230 years ago. Christmas is supposed to be a time for ghosts. Between the old year and the new year, we have a few days out of time. Maybe that’s why so many Christmas stories commune with spirits. […]
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Young choreographers at Berkshire Pulse earn national attention
Five young women in the Young Choreographers Initiative at Berkshire Pulse have created their own work on the theme of sexual assault. And they have caught national attention.
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In Dalton’s haunted cornfield, a family fights to keep teens safe
A horn sounds — an emergency — a car crash. The onlookers find themselves in a hospital ward, waiting to find out what has happened and how badly the injured are hurt. But the hospital lies through night woods and farmyard and a corn maze, and the blood is fake. […]
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Berkshire labyrinths offer a quiet journey into a new future
A curve drawn in one movement becomes a pathway on a hillside. Walk slowly on a spring morning. The cherry trees are blooming. A woodpecker drums in the wood over the hill. The path turns with each step, toward the lake in the valley, toward the wooded slope above it. […]
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Rachel Barenblat and a circle of rabbis build a contemporary community
At the foot of Mount Greylock, a round building with a wall of windows looks out at the the stone path of a labyrinth in the grass. The center of the room is a sanctuary, and a woman stands taking in the light. She moves with poised self-command and an […]
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Berkshire Humane Society celebrates 25 years
Teenagers in the Berkshire foster care system can earn the chance to spend a few hours a week with half-grown kittens or a husky mix who want a walk. And when an animal finds a home, the kids know. As the Berkshire Humane Society helps animals, it helps people, says executive […]
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Internationally acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni celebrates life and liberty in the Berkshires
Internationally acclaimed poet and writer, professor and activist Nikki Giovanni took the mike and talked about “life, liberty and — what I most love — ‘the pursuit of happiness.’”
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