Arts & Culture Organizations

Berkshire County and Albany, New York-based professional ballet company which performs both classic and contemporary works.

116 Fenn Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-445-5382
www.albanyberkshireballet.org
[email protected]

The mission of the Aston Magna Foundation is to enrich the appreciation of music of the past and the understanding of the cultural, political, and social contexts in which it was composed and experienced. The goal is to reach a larger public through the use of historical instruments and practices in performances, recordings, and workshops, and through innovative interdisciplinary educational programs, publications, and electronic media.

PO Box 28
Great Barrington, MA
413-528-3595
www.astonmagna.org
[email protected]

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is a not-for-profit professional theatre company in the Berkshires (MA) with a three-fold mission: to produce top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to engage our community with vibrant, inclusive educational outreach programs.

Barrington Stage creates theatre experiences that engage and excite our audiences by entertaining as well as challenging them with the most dynamic and provocative productions possible. BSC creates a platform for new voices and diverse perspectives that drives all of our work: our productions, our educational programming and our community engagement.

Administrative Office:
122 North Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-499-5446
www.barringtonstageco.org
[email protected]

The Berkshire Bach Society is the oldest, continuously operating, member-based non-profit music organization in Berkshire County. Our mission is to preserve the cultural legacy of Baroque music for current and future audiences—local, national, and international—by presenting the music of J.S. Bach, his Baroque predecessors, contemporaries, and followers performed by world-class musicians. Our concerts include solo recitals, choral compositions, chamber music, and orchestral works by Baroque composers both familiar and unfamiliar. The repertoire is an important legacy that has been passed down for generations, and The Society is committed to doing our part to ensure that it is kept alive for future audiences.

PO Box 1002
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-528-9555
www.berkshirebach.org
[email protected]

The Garden’s mission is to fulfill the community’s need for information, education and inspiration concerning the art and science of gardening and the preservation of our local environment.

Established in 1934 as the “Berkshire Garden Center” and revered as one of the older public display gardens in the Northeast, Berkshire Botanical Garden is a not-for-profit, membership-supported educational organization encompassing 24 acres of land at the intersection of Routes 102 and 183 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Garden is open year-round for classes, lectures, workshops and exhibits, and the display gardens can be visited daily through Oct. 31, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

PO Box 826
5 West Stockbridge Road
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-298-3926
www.berkshirebotanical.org
[email protected]

Berkshire Choral International expands the horizons of singers through participation in exhilarating performances, enriching travel and cultural exploration, lifelong music education, and connection to an inspiring community of choral artists. Over the past 40 years, BCI has enriched the lives of almost 9,000 singers through our week-long choral music programs under the batons of dozens of the world’s great conductors in prestigious venues throughout the U.S. and Europe. As an inclusive home for people who love to sing, BCI celebrates and connects the choral music world.

406 Main Street, Suite 1
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-229-8526
www.berkshirechoral.org
[email protected]

Since its founding in 1962, the Berkshire County Historical Society has preserved and shared the memories of our communities. Photographs, manuscripts, artifacts, and oral histories all illustrate the amazing histories of this region.

And for over forty years, the Historical Society has also preserved Herman Melville’s Arrowhead. We are honored to share this National Historic Landmark with the world.

The Berkshire County Historical Society is a non-profit corporation dedicated to collecting, preserving, and disseminating the history of Berkshire County in western Massachusetts. In addition, the Berkshire County Historical Society is committed to the preservation and interpretation of Arrowhead, home of author Herman Melville, designated a National Historic Landmark.

Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead
780 Holmes Road
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-442-1793
berkshirehistory.org
[email protected]

Berkshire Lyric is a community of choruses where singers ages six to eighty-six explore the world of beauty through the choral art. Founded in 1963 and now led by artistic director Jack Brown, Berkshire Lyric continues to explore a wide variety of great music for chorus. We believe that the sung word is the language of the heart and has a unique power to transform both the singer and the listener. We live in a world of great spiritual hunger, and choral music has a unique power to move one’s spirit.

While making great music together, we bring people together: young and old, professional and amateur. We try to demystify the great world of classical music, believing that this is music for all of us.

PO Box 347
Pittsfield MA 01202
413-298-5365
www.berkshirelyric.org
[email protected]

Berkshire Theatre Group’s mission is to support wide-ranging artistic exploration and acclaimed performances in theatre, dance, music and entertainment. Berkshire Theatre Group’s celebrated four stages reflect the history of the American theatre; they represent a priceless cultural resource for the community. Our vision is to be a center for creative work that enriches, educates, invigorates, transforms, and strengthens our community for the better.

Administrative Offices/Mailing Address:
The Colonial Theatre
111 South Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-997-4444
www.berkshiretheatregroup.org
[email protected]

The mission of Chesterwood is to preserve the site and its collections; to present the life and artistic achievements of Daniel Chester French, one of the foremost artists of the American Renaissance; and to foster public appreciation and interest in sculpture through an annual contemporary sculpture exhibition, artists’ talks and demonstrations, and artist residencies.

3 Williamsville Road
PO Box 827
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-298-2023
www.chesterwood.org
[email protected]

In 1950 Sterling and Francine Clark chartered the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute as a home for their extensive art collection. Opened to the public in 1955, the Clark has built upon this extraordinary group of works to become one of the most beloved and respected art museums in the world, known for its intimate galleries and stunning natural environment. One of the few institutions in the United States that combines a public art museum with research and academic programs, including a major art history library, the Clark is now a leading international center for research and discussion on the nature of art and art history. Continued additions to the collection and the institute’s long history of collaborating with living artists and contemporary art historians ensures vibrancy and relevance in an ever-changing world.

225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-2303
www.clarkart.edu

Visit the home of American Abstract Artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen, set on a 46-acre estate in the heart of Lenox, Massachusetts. View their paintings, frescoes, and sculpture; experience their exquisite collection of American and European Cubist Art.

92 Hawthorne Street
Lenox, MA 01240
413-637-0166
www.frelinghuysen.org
[email protected]

An oasis for sparking collaboration and innovation, Greylock WORKS is reviving a 240,000 SF cotton-spinning mill in the Berkshires. The stunning campus hosts a restaurant serving up thoughtful, inspiring food, a co-work community with private studios and hot-desk space, a Culinary LAB, a craft distillery, and Berkshire Cider Project. Various events for weddings, conferences, maker markets, and cultural gatherings are being held in gWorks’ expansive Weave Shed or the intimate Engine House. Current work includes fifty spacious residential LOFTS with unparalleled views of the surrounding Berkshire hills.

508 State Road
North Adams MA 01247
413-200-9890
greylockworks.com
[email protected]

One of the most acclaimed international dance festivals in the world, Jacob’s Pillow is located in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts. The beautiful and historic campus includes two theatres, an outdoor stage, four studios, an exhibition gallery, the Archives, residential cabins, food venues, offices and 153 acres of woodlands. The 10-week festival attracts attendance of over 70,000 visitors to performances, lectures, work-in-progress showings, exhibitions, dance classes, and other events. In addition, over a hundred professional-track dancers and choreographers from all over the world come to study with the renowned faculty at The School at Jacob’s Pillow.

358 George Carter Road
Becket, MA 01223
413-243-9919
www.jacobspillow.org
[email protected]

The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts is a community arts center housed in a historic building in Pittsfield’s Upstreet Cultural District. Inside, there’s an exhibiting art gallery and performance area, workshops, working artist studios, a ceramic studio and a darkroom. The gallery hours are Wednesdays through Fridays, 11am to 3pm and by appointment. The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts is named in honor of Kitty Lichtenstein, an extraordinary arts benefactor in the Pittsfield community and beyond, who donated the building to the City of Pittsfield.

Lichtenstein Center for the Arts
28 Renne Avenue
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-499-9348
www.cityofpittsfield.org/departments/arts_and_culture/lichtenstein_center.php
www.facebook.com/LichtensteinCenterfortheArts
[email protected]

Lift Ev’ry Voice: Celebrating African-American Culture & Heritage in the Berkshires is a summer festival celebrating the rich traditions of African-American community, arts and culture, history and heritage found within Berkshire County and across the nation.

www.facebook.com/LiftEvryVoice
[email protected]

Through innovative collaborations, MASS MoCA helps artists and their supporters create and show important new work, bringing to our visitors bold visual and performing art in all stages of production, while also creating a stimulating center of creativity and commerce that brings life and economic vibrancy to its hometown.

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is one of the world’s liveliest centers for making and enjoying today’s most evocative art. With vast galleries and a stunning collection of indoor and outdoor performing arts venues, MASS MoCA is able to embrace all forms of art: music, sculpture, dance, film, painting, photography, theater, and new, boundary-crossing works of art that defy easy classification. Much of the work we show in our light-filled spaces, on our technically sophisticated stages, and within our lovely network of late 19th-century courtyards is made here during extended fabrication and rehearsal residencies that bring hundreds of the world’s most brilliant and innovative artists to North Adams all year round.

1040 MASS MoCA WAY
North Adams, MA 01247
413-662-2111
www.massmoca.org
[email protected]

William and Elizabeth Doane purchased this late Federal-style house in 1875 as their summer retreat. During this period, Stockbridge, in the heart of the Berkshires, became a popular summer destination for New Yorkers like the Doanes. The Doanes and their daughter, Marie Vipont Merwin, traveled extensively, collecting European and American furnishings and objects to decorate their summer home. Merwin House today houses the family’s collection, tells Mrs. Merwin’s story, and is the site of the Berkshires office of the Housatonic Valley Association, dedicated to protecting the Housatonic watershed.

14 Main Street
Stockbridge, MA 01262
617-994-6662
www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/merwin-house
[email protected]

The Norman Rockwell Museum is dedicated to the enjoyment and study of Rockwell’s work and his contributions to society, popular culture, and social commentary. The Museum houses the world’s largest and most significant collection of Rockwell’s work, including 574 original paintings and drawings. Rockwell’s Stockbridge studio, moved to the Museum site, is open to the public from May through October, and features original art materials, his library, furnishings, and personal items. The Museum also houses the Norman Rockwell Archives, a collection of more than 100,000 items, including working photographs, letters, personal calendars, fan mail, and business documents. The Museum welcomes volunteers/interns in a variety of capacities and posts its volunteer needs as well as available jobs on its website.

9 Glendale Rd / Rte 183
Stockbridge, MA 01262
413-298-4100
www.nrm.org
Human Resources Contact: Holly Coleman ([email protected])
Volunteer Coordinator: [email protected]

The Green Street Trio (pianist Paul Arslanian, bassist George Kaye, and drummer Jon Fisher) performs with a guest artist every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at the Drake, and then the bandstand opens up for an organized jam session. No cover. Doors open at 7pm.

The Drake
44 N. Pleasant Street, 2nd Floor
Amherst, MA 01002
www.facebook.com/NorthamptonJazzWorkshop
Contact: Paul Arslanian ([email protected])

The PostContemporary is a non-profit art organization originally founded in the culturally rich Berkshires of Massachusetts as the Contemporary Artists Center in 1990. In 2009, after purchasing the Woodside Church & Chapel in Troy, we moved across the border to New York state. The PostContemporary supports artists thinking and/or working beyond the confines of the established art world, enabling them to influence the development of future concepts, systems, and communities.

71 Mill Street
Troy, NY 12180
518-333-0740
www.cactroy.org
[email protected]

In 1839, the Sandisfield Arts Center building began an 80+ year run as a Baptist meeting house, followed by another 75 as an Orthodox synagogue (the only known rural Orthodox synagogue on record in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). In 1995, the building was reborn as a performing arts center.

Since that time, the Sandisfield Arts Center has evolved into a professional non-profit organization recognized by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the National Trust, and the public for our dedication to preserving this historically-important building and rehabilitating it for use as a performing arts center. In 2006, the building was accepted on the National Registry of Historic Places as “The Montville Baptist Church.” Visitors now come from all over Berkshire, Hampden & Litchfield Counties, as well as New York, Boston and Connecticut for our unique, quality performances.

5 Hammertown Road
PO Box 31
Sandisfield, MA 01255
413-258-4100
www.sandisfieldartscenter.org
[email protected]

Incorporated in 1921, Town Players of Pittsfield is the oldest theater in The Berkshires and one of the oldest community theaters in the United States! Town Players is run by volunteers on and off the stage.

PO Box 765
Pittsfield MA 01202
413-443-9279
www.townplayers.org
[email protected]

The Williamstown + Atlanta Art Conservation Center (W+AACC) is a non-profit organization comprised of regional conservation centers in the Northeast and Southeast. It has a member consortium of over fifty organizations throughout the East Coast and many private clients and is the largest regional conservation center in the country. W+AACC’s mission is to protect, conserve and maintain heritage objects from all cultures; to provide examination, treatment, consultation, and related conservation services for member institutions and other non-profit organizations, corporations, and individuals; to conduct educational programs with respect to the care and conservation of works of art and objects of cultural interest; to participate in the training of conservators; to promote the importance of conservation and increase the awareness of the issues pertinent to collections care; and to conduct research and disseminate knowledge to advance the profession.

The organization was founded in 1977 on the campus of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Since 2008, the Williamstown labs have been located at The Clark’s Lunder Center at Stone Hill, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando. The Atlanta center was established in 2001 as a partnership with the Williamstown Art Conservation Center and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, recognizing that cultural institutions throughout the Southeast were in need of conservation services. The Atlanta labs occupy an ultramodern shared facility near The High.

227 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-5741
www.williamstownart.org
[email protected]

Since 1955, Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America’s finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including COMMUNITY WORKS, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. While best known for acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to one of the nation’s top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theater artists and administrators. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.

PO Box 517
1000 Main Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-3200
www.wtfestival.org
[email protected]