The 2008 Berkshire Fringe is coming up July 16 – August 4, 2008 at the Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, MA!
What’s great about this is that the Fringe is entering into a kind of maturity on the Berkshire stage: a new, significant cultural event that has found a void in the artistic riches of the Berkshire and filled it, much as the Berkshire International Film Festival has done over the last 3 years. This kind of development has a lot of far-reaching consequences for the region.
See Rural Intelligence’s Post about their recent “Eat It” Event!
and The promoters of both these events could have chosen another place, but they chose to realize their event here. They are building new audiences and new voices, as well as bringing new investment into the region.
One argument that we hear is that “there are too many non-profits in the Berkshires, all going to the same funding sources”. I think that is short-sighted. Many of the institutions in our area realize the substantial bulk of their funding from outside sources, include donors from outside of the region, and national-level granting organizations.
These funds come into our economy and stay here, paid out in salaries, construction, resources and other ways. I’d like to predict the day that other communities come “shopping” in the Berkshires, seeking to lure our cultural treasures away with promises of new investment, much as happened in professional sports, with cities competing for valuable franchises. We may not be there yet, but it’s interesting to consider.
Yes, the more non-profits the better. I love the small quirky, visionary and youthful ones like Berkshire Fringe, Inkberry, Storefront Artists and IS183. I love the visions of seasoned artists like Yehunda Hanani’s Close Encounters With Music, or Julianne Boyd’s Barrington Stage. I adore and support the wonderful venues that are springing up in grand old spaces: the Mahawie, the Colonial, and before long, the Mohawk. I’m awed by the commitment and leadership that has given us the Stone Hill Center, the Bernstein Theater at Shakespeare and Company, Ventford Hall, and the Daniel Art Center at Simons Rock. The enthusiasm and imagination of Kelly Vickery (Berkshire International Film Festival), Kate Maguire (Berkshire Theater Festival) and Alan Nidle and Karen Boutet (the brand new Zeitgeist-Pittsfield gallery) is inspiring. And let’s not leave out MASS MoCA, so improbable and inspiring that it stands alone. And, like you, I want even more.
This very situation motivates me to jump on the economic development bandwagon I’m most inspired by: the Creative Economy. I want an increased number of successful, for-profit businesses and individual enterprises in the Berkshires, so there will be more and more local support for our creative non-profits. I’m not ready for Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, the Berkshire Theater Festival and Shakespeare and Company etc to turn their backs on the Berkshires when it comes to fundraising.
I’m intrigued by the Guggenheim-esque vision you express. Moreover, I’m extremely appreciative of Berkshire-lovers from New York, Florida and beyond who make such important contributions to all the things we year-rounders love and benefit from. However I’m not ready to secede the small amount of influence and involvement we now have to people who are not permanently connected to the growth and well-being of our Berkshire economy.
We need our existing business to grow and thrive, and we need new, for profit businesses to find creative workers and supportive collaborators in the Berkshires. It goes without saying that our future is intertwined with the imaginations and resources of people from all over the globe, but I hope we can continue to produce, in the Berkshires, an increasing amount of capital that can be invested in the area’s not-for-profit enterprises.
I think it is important to remember that those of us who live across the border (in Litchfield, Dutchess and Columbia counties) feel that we are part of the Berkshires, too. I live in NW Connecticut but I live much closer to Great Barrington than someone who lives in, say, Williamstown or North Adams; indeed, I live as close to the Mahaiwe as someone who lives in Pittsfield. I know Guido’s is not an arts organization, but the parking lot in GB has lots of cars with NY and CT plates (and that is during the week so those are not weekenders.) It is the accessibility to the Berkshires cultural institutions that draws many people to live in nearby NY and CT, and we should be counted as part of the Berkshires, too. We’re all on the same team, all part of the same community as defined by the wonderful Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
Part of the ongoing discussion within Berkshire Creative touches on exactly this, that the Berkshires is so much a part of our neighbours. It has not been ignored and we welcome participation from all comers!