The law directs the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) to create a new program that designates local districts to “attract artists and cultural enterprises to a community, encourage business and job development, establish tourist destinations, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values and foster local cultural development.”

The legislation includes no new funds for MCC, so the cultural districts program will offer no grants or other financial rewards to communities, at least in its first year. It directs MCC to work with other state government agencies to “identify state incentives and resources to enhance cultural districts.” The MCC will work over the coming months to create guidelines for the program with input from those agencies, the cultural community, and the broader public.

“We’ve seen many examples of how arts and culture help to revitalize our communities,” said Representative John Keenan of Salem, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development. “A cultural district will be one more tool that cities and towns can employ in these efforts.”

The Joint Committee’s Co-Chair, Sonia Chang-Díaz of Boston, added: “The creative sector is a major source of strength for the Massachusetts economy, and contributes to the vitality of the Boston neighborhoods that I represent. So I’m delighted that we now have one more way to help this sector grow and thrive.”

Rep. Keenan spearheaded the cultural districts provision in the House with support from Reps. Steve Walsh of Lynn, Ann-Margaret Ferrante of Gloucester, and Kay Khan and Ruth Balser of Newton. It was championed in the Senate by Sens. Stan Rosenberg of Amherst, Chang-Díaz, and Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield.

“With cultural districts, MCC will have another tool in its toolbox to help cities and towns develop their cultural assets for the benefit of residents and visitors alike,” said Anita Walker, MCC Executive Director. “We thank Governor Patrick, Co-Chairs Chang-Díaz and Keenan, and their colleagues in the Legislature, for recognizing the role of arts and culture in improving the health and well being of our communities.”

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Steve Walsh (D-Lynn) has passed the Massachusetts House to allow small businesses to negotiate as a group for the purchase of health insurance.  The Senate had earlier passed a bill to allow for four pilot projects of 15,000 companies each to be created to test group negotiating.  Yesterday the members of the Health Care Cost Containment Bill Conference Committee were named to reconcile the two bills and make a final recommendation for passage.

If you have an interest in reversing the law that prohibits small businesses from aggregating into larger health insurance purchasing groups, contact the conferees identified below and please tell them that you support House Amendment No. 41, Small Business Health Plans, or more simply put, the Walsh Amendment.

Additional information:

THE BILL REFERENCE NUMBERS: Promoting cost containment, transparency and efficiency in the provision of quality health insurance for individuals and small businesses (H 4924 and S 2447)

THE HOUSE CONFEREES: Reps. Ronald Mariano, Steven Walsh, and Jay Barrows

THE SENATE CONFEREES: Sens. Mark Montigny, Harriette Chandler, and Michael Knapik

Below is a link that will provide the email addresses for the members listed above.

Berkshire County has a good-looking head shot, with Mount Greylock and the Taconic mountain range at its crown and Gilded Age mansions near its nape.

Since the county already has a presence in the motion-picture industry, what would it take to bring those appealing looks to the forefront of the screen both big and small in a big way?

Filmmakers and other proponents of creating a local production base say aggressive marketing, tax incentives and accommodations, and educating people about films would be good building points. Luring movie stars to the county also would be a plus.

But ultimately it depends on the culture of the community.

“I think this area has a great fan base and a potential artist base,” said Lenox filmmaker Marc Maurino, who has made four short films in Berkshire County, two of which were produced with a professional cast and crew.

Diane Pearlman, executive director of the nearly year-old Berkshire Film and Media Commission, agreed.

“It’s not New York City. It may never be New York City. But I think we have enough resources here that we can certainly be competitive,” he said.

Amy Zuckerman, an Amherst-based author who formed the group Hidden Hollywood in the Berkshires, has held conferences to promote the idea of building the area’s film industry labor pool and attracting more movie-making businesses to the Berkshires.

“Film is a key element in cultural development and the creative economy,” said Megan Whilden, Pittsfield’s director of cultural development. “It’s very exciting that all of this energy is here.”

‘Pretty Poison’

Filmmaking in the county has operated at a steady pace since “Pretty Poison” became the first major motion picture made in Berkshire County. It was shot in 1968 in North Adams and Great Barrington and was followed a year later by “Alice’s Restaurant.”

This past spring, two out-of-town filmmakers came here to shoot low-budget short feature films:

New York City resident Anna Kerrigan did her drama “Roost” predominantly in Stockbridge but also in Lenox. Ryan Etzel, who just moved to Chicago, took residence at Hancock Shaker Village to shoot his Nathaniel Hawthorne-inspired love story “Come Life.“

For two days in June, former and current Berkshire natives brought up-and-coming comedian Godfrey (“Zoolander,” “Soul Plane”) to Pittsfield venues such as Shawn’s Barber Shop and the Madison bar to shoot a pilot called “G” for the Comedy Central TV network.

And in a July 7 article in Mass High Tech, also known as the Journal of New England Technology, visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull — a Berkshire resident whose credits include “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” — said he’s working to compose a new science fiction film that would be produced entirely in Western Massachusetts.

(Trumbull was traveling overseas and couldn’t be reached for comment by The Eagle.)

Just across the border, in New Lebanon, N.Y., Oscar-winning director Ang Lee filmed the major motion picture “Taking Woodstock” two summers ago, providing a short-term economic boon for the Berkshires in the form of casting paid extras and generating lodging and dining revenue.

Specifically in the Bay State, there was big film news more recently, as the Massachusetts Film Office last month heralded the release of two Hollywood films made in eastern Massachusetts.

“Knight and Day,” an action movie starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, was shot in Boston, Bridgewater, and other locales; and comedy flick “Grown Ups,” featuring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider, was filmed extensively in Essex.

In February, a University of Massachusetts at Boston study on the impact of the film industry in the state estimated that in 2008, the industry created about $1 billion in economic activity.

“The report has a map of films and transactions made by geography. You look at it and see that it’s all out east. We don’t want all of [the industry], but we want a little chunk, a little piece of the action,” Pearlman said.

This year, that action has come mostly from young, independent filmmakers such as Kerrigan, Etzel, and “G” writer/producer/director and Berkshire native Jesse Adams.

Smaller projects in mind

Pearlman said other film and video shoots done in Berkshire County in the past year include the season finale of the Bravo TV “docuseries” titled “9 By Design,” done in Great Barrington; Vantage Press shooting a series of 30-second commercials in the Stockbridge Public Library; and the filming of Theodore Collatos’ feature film “Tom Collins,” which was shot in Pittsfield in the fall.

Pearlman said that although it would welcome major motion picture offers, the Berkshire Film and Media Commission was initially developed with smaller, independent film and video commercial projects in mind.

“In my experience, this was the absolute perfect place to make an ultra-low-budget film,” said Etzel, who shot “Come Life” for his senior thesis project as a student at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.

Etzel said all of his cast and about half of his crew were composed of Berkshire County-area residents, and that Hancock Shaker Village was accommodating. He spent time at Shaker sites in Hancock and New Lebanon. Hancock Shaker Village even offered to host a premiere for Etzel and his film.

“The doors [of the museum] were totally open to us,” Etzel said. “That’s part of the coolness of the Berkshires. Folks are not as pretentious as they can be in a city, but they’re still smart and pretty savvy about film.”

Kerrigan said she found a wealth of support for shooting “Roost.” Much of the 90-minute drama was shot in and around the Stockbridge home of Cathy Deely, and makeup and application was supplied by Great Barrington-based Jane Iredale Cosmetics.

Kerrigan said she found a wealth of support for shooting “Roost.” Much of the 90-minute drama was shot in and around the Stockbridge home of Cathy Deely, and makeup and application was supplied by Great Barrington-based Jane Iredale Cosmetics.

Kerrigan enlisted advice and help from Stockbridge Police Chief Richard Wilcox, who appears in the film, and also from state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatell, D-Lenox.

Kerrigan, who also has done acting at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, said the film was inspired by her Berkshires visits and by her time living and working in the county.

“I decided to shoot here, too, because it’s so hospitable,” she said.

The filmmaker described the area as “a place that wants to foster young artists.”

Pignatelli agreed.

“We need to be cultivating the Anna Kerrigans of the world,” he said.

Pignatelli serves on three joint legislative committees tied to filmmaking: the committee for tourism, arts and cultural development; economic development and emerging technologies; and higher education.

“I definitely think there is an opportunity to grow this industry in the Berkshires, but we also don’t have the infrastructure in place to land a blockbuster film,” he said. “As a county, we don’t have an understanding of the benefit and the inconvenience that goes with [making a blockbuster film]. We still have people that complain about traffic for James Taylor.”

Legislatively, the biggest boon for filmmaking in Massachusetts came with the 2005 passage of a tax credit that, in part, offers incentives to filmmakers who incur at least $50,000 of production costs in the state.

Pignatelli called the legislation a “landmark” action, noting that several states have since approved similar tax incentives. He said the Berkshire Film and Media Commission will play the most integral role in the development of film industry in the county.

“They really need to take inventory of what our assets are and to make it easy for folks like Nick Paleologos [director of the Massachusetts Film Office] to tell filmmakers this is what the Berkshires has to offer,” Pignatelli said.

Area film professionals say the county has shortcomings to overcome if it wants to reach the next level in the industry. Among the amenities the county lacks are a competitive equipment-rental company; grants and other local funding for filmmakers; late-night catering/restaurant hours (after 10 p.m.); and multiple editing facilities.

Area film professionals say the county has shortcomings to overcome if it wants to reach the next level in the industry. Among the amenities the county lacks are a competitive equipment-rental company; grants and other local funding for filmmakers; late-night catering/restaurant hours (after 10 p.m.); and multiple editing facilities.

Some filmmakers say that although they were able to find some skilled local film production assistants and crew members, the population was limited.

“I absolutely think local schools — from high schools to community colleges to four-year colleges — should consider [filmmaking] programs for multiple reasons,” Maurino said. “Programs here would open doors for what I imagine are a great number of people who would like to learn and make their own films here, but don’t know where or how to start.”

For example, much of the talent Jesse Adams used for the taping of the Comedy Central pilot included Berkshire natives who relocated to places such as New York City and Los Angeles because they thought they couldn’t find high-quality work opportunities in the county.

“You’ve got almost everything you need here,” said J.P. Lipa, the pilot’s co-producer and a former Pittsfield resident.

“But the infrastructure isn’t really being set up,” said his brother, Chris Lipa. The two recently worked on the production of the Michael Jackson documentary “This is It.”

“We left to go to a film mecca because we need bigger people like Zack Snyder to step up and move in to help set things up,” Chris Lipa said, referring to the former Pittsfield resident, who directed blockbuster action films “300″ and “The Watchmen.”

Until that happens, Pearlman said, the local film commission will continue to develop its network and market its presence from the East Coast to Hollywood.

“We want to help foster productions that are just starting out in the Berkshires,” Pearlman said. “The rest is naturally evolving.”

Click here to visit the Berkshire Eagle online and learn more about what is happening in Berkshires and beyond!

This is the first states-side trip for Hasan and Yondonjamts.  “We are so thrilled to welcome international contemporary artists from Art Omi’s visual arts program into our community.  Their presence here is the result of a pilot program and may be a starting point for cultural exchange that will compliment other artist residencies taking place in the Berkshires,” says Ferrin Gallery Director Leslie Ferrin, who organized the program.  “Between the residencies through Storefront Artist Project, the Berkshire Museum, Project Art, MASS MoCA, MCLA and Bascom Lodge, these two artists will be introduced to artists and the sites where they are working.  It takes a team to pull something like this together and the Berkshires always shine when an opportunity such as this arises.”

Irfan Hasan was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1982 and graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore, in 2006.  He was awarded the Best Young Painter distinction in 2007 and 2008 by the Alhamra Arts Council, Pakistan. Following his 2008 residency at Studio RM in Lahore, Hasan’s first solo exhibition contained pieces that merged traditional miniature painting techniques he studied as an undergraduate with contemporary compositions and surreal imagery on a large scale.  He continues to dive into his subconscious, dreams, and surroundings as the works develop.  “The artist’s imagination is not bound by simplicity,” Hasan explains.  “It conflicts with common sense. An environment free of common sense invokes the abstract qualities of thoughts, thereby stimulating a uniquely energized dialogue. Each work is a reflection of the self in fragments, like pieces in a puzzle.”
Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development, lead by Megan Whilden, has generously supplied Irfan Hasan with an apartment at the Springside House in Springside Park, off Route 7 in Pittsfield, which will serve as his housing and studio space through the end of August.  He will spend this residency working on his ongoing series of contemporary paintings, which can be viewed by the public during open studio hours on Saturday afternoons between 10 and 12:30pm.  In addition, Hasan will lead a 5-week Mughal painting workshop at Storefront Artist Project, 124 Fenn Street, Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 6-8pm beginning July 27.  This free program will explore the process, aesthetics and techniques of traditional Mughal miniature portrait drawing and watercolor painting.  It is recommended that participants attend each week’s lesson to fully understand and practice this specialty art form.  For more information about Hasan’s residency, call or email Acting Director Julia Dixon at 413-442-7201 or mail@storefrontartist.org.  Workshop flyers and details can be found online at www.storefrontartist.org.

Like Hasan, Tuguldur Yondonjamts studied traditional painting techniques, both Mongolian flat painting and Thangka painting, as an undergraduate at the University of Arts and Culture Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  He participated in graduate level studies at the University of the Arts Berlin, Germany in 2004, and will travel to London to pursue an MFA this fall.  In his current work, Yondonjamts continues to incorporate complex narrative compositions and fine artisanship that Thangka painting demands.  His paintings and drawings explore the dichotomies that often define contemporary society:  “tourism and wilderness, actions and consequences, submission and dominance, consumption and environment.”  Large in scale and stark in color, he employs shark imagery as well as Mickey Mouse and Bigfoot (or Yeti) characters to compete in invented spaces.  “My works express concrete situations including globalization and conflicts, discoveries and innovation of human history, mostly based on current events heard through Mongolian, English, German, Russian and international radio.”

Melanie Mowinski, a painter, printmaker, book artist, curator and educator, is providing Yondonjamts with housing and studio space on her property in Cheshire, MA through Sunday, August 1, after which he will continue his travels to Oregon and New York City before heading to London to complete an MFA.  Mowinski regularly participates in artist residency programs throughout the United States and abroad, including a summer 2010 residency at Bascom Lodge, the top of Mt. Greylock in Adams, MA.  Her current curatorial project is a series of exhibitions at Gallerie Haiti, a temporary gallery at 49 Main Street, North Adams, as part of DownStreet Art.  She will resume teaching as an Assistant Professor of Visual Art at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) this fall.

The Storefront Artist Project is a non-profit arts organization active since 2001.  Operating in a gallery/office space in the heart of Pittsfield, it brings art and artists to diverse members of the community by presenting innovative art exhibitions and installations, providing non-traditional, visually accessible studio space to artists and connecting artists with the public through education, opportunities and exposure.  Its programs include the Artist Residency Program, the Mentor Program, the Artist Salon and the Intern Program.  Visit www.storefrontartist.org for more information.

Tuguldur Yondonjamts Berkshire Residency, July 21 – August 1, 2010
Irfan Hasan Berkshire Residency, July 21 – August 28, 2010

Mughal Painting Workshop
Storefront Artist Project, 124 Fenn Street, Pittsfield, MA
Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting July 27, 6-8 pm
FREE and open to the public
Bring your own materials *List will be provided at sign-up

When its biggest employer bolted, the proud old city of Pittsfield slumped and shrank

PITTSFIELD — City of art, city of funk. The SoHo of the Berkshires, the Brooklyn of the Berkshires.

The sobriquets urban planners bestow upon this bygone manufacturing hub speak of their confidence that Pittsfield can become a center of culture and entertainment on par with Lenox and Stockbridge and Williamstown.

July 30, 2010, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Berkshire Cultural Resource Center at MCLA Gallery 51, 51 Main Street, North Adams, MA

RSVP by July 26 to Adrienne Petrillo apetrillo@nefa.org 617.951.0010 x527 Space is Limited! RSVP today!

The meeting space is handicap accessible.  If you require other accommodation, contact Adrienne Petrillo ASAP.

Click here to read more about NEFA.

CONNECT WITH NEFA!

What does NEST stand for? Do I qualify for any NEFA grants? What IS MatchBook.org? Am I a part of the creative economy?

Learn the answers to these questions and much more at NEFA’s info session for organizations and performing artists about the New England Presenting and Touring programs:

• Expeditions: Provides grants to New England nonprofit organizations for high quality and innovative touring projects in New England.
• Meet the Composer/New England: Offers grants to nonprofit organizations in New England to provide interaction between New England-based composers and audiences, in conjunction with performances of the composer’s work.
• New England States Touring (NEST): Provides grants to New England nonprofit organizations for performances, readings, and related community activities by NEST-eligible artists listed on MatchBook.org.
• Presenter Travel Fund: Provides monetary assistance to arts programmers or curatorial staff in New England so that they may investigate new or unfamiliar work outside of their home community.
• MatchBook.org: An online cultural directory of New England’s performing artists, venues and presenting organizations.
• CultureCount.org: NEFA’s creative economy database.  Visitors can search a comprehensive directory of New England’s cultural nonprofits, creative businesses, and individual artists. Other financial, grants, and geographic tools are built onto the directory.

Questions and Contact: Adrienne Petrillo | Program Manager, Presenting & Touring |617.951.0010 x527 | apetrillo@nefa.org|Erin Johnstone | Program Coordinator Presenting & Touring, Native Arts|617.951.0010 x533 |ejohnstone@nefa.org

Dear Colleagues,

A legislative conference committee is now considering competing bills to reorganize state government agencies that foster economic development in Massachusetts. A final version of this bill must go to the Governor for his approval before the legislative session ends July 31 for the bill to become law.

We need your help to ensure that this important legislation does not compromise the mission of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) to foster the health and vitality of the nonprofit cultural sector!

One of the goals of the legislation is to streamline government agencies that market the state under the umbrella of a new quasi-public organization called the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership.  This Partnership would oversee the Massachusetts Film Office, the Sports Marketing Partnership, and the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT), among other agencies.

The Senate version of this bill would place the MCC under MOTT within the new Marketing Partnership. By contrast, the version passed by the House of Representatives would leave MCC where it is in the state government hierarchy: within the office of the state Treasurer, but not subject to its control.

The MCC Board believes strongly that MCC should maintain its place as an independent agency within Massachusetts state government. So we want you to tell the conferees (listed below) and the Governor to support the House version of this legislation—House Bill 4863.

Why is this important?

First, tourism and marketing are not central to MCC’s core mission. Our work involves revitalizing communities and neighborhoods through arts and culture, investing in education and youth development, and fostering civic engagement and participation in community arts and cultural activities.

We fear this work will be undervalued if MCC is charged with advancing a more narrow agenda focused on tourism.

Making the case for general operating support for organizations, funding for community arts, humanities, and science programs, and grants for individual artists, is a difficult task in an environment of scarce public resources. That argument will be made harder still if the impact of our support is measured in terms of tourism and marketing.

The cultural community of Massachusetts is unique in the public value that it provides to our communities and our citizens every day. It needs and deserves a state agency that understands that value and works on its behalf. Please add your voice to this debate and help the MCC maintain its proven role in state government.

Thank you for your help!

Anita Walker

Executive Director

Massachusetts Cultural Council

Contact information for the Governor & conferees listed below can be found via: www.mass.gov

Governor Deval Patrick

Senator Karen Spilka of Framingham

Senator Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield

Senator Bruce Tarr of Gloucester

Representative Brian Dempsey of Haverhill

Representative Garrett Bradley of Hingham

Representative Vinny DeMacedo of Plymouth

“Yet a museum is much more than its objects”

Mark Gold has a piece on deaccessioning in the latest issue of the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies (portions of which appeared in a 2009 article he did for Museum magazine).

He runs through the real-life example of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass. (about 90,000 visitors per year), which recently deaccessioned “three Russian paintings that had no relevance to the collection and had never been exhibited in more than 50 years of ownership” (my emphasis). The museum netted $7 million from the sale — “a very big day in the life of an institution with a $2 million operating budget.” The museum has recently had to reduce staff to meet budget shortfalls, and planned capital improvements have been put on hold. “The collection on the other hand is well cared for, and there is no interest in expanding in a new direction.” Despite all that, “the ethical rule prevents the museum from accessing those funds to support its present operating and capital needs and to sustain its programs.” That, he says, “is the tragedy of the rule.”

He concludes with a call for a “balancing of priorities”: “placing the viability of the museum and its programs on at least an equal footing with the collection. Why not make it ethical for a museum to weigh priorities and make difficult choices without fear of condemnation and ostracism?”

It’s a good question.

The Great Places initiative celebrates what is unique about the Commonwealth of  Massachusetts, its communities, and its people. It aims to boost visitation to Massachusetts as well as give local residents the opportunity to visit known and unknown historic sites, cultural venues, and natural landscapes.
The program is administered through a partnership of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development; the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and its regional tourism councils; and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).

ADAMS
Mount Greylock State Reservation
Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum
The Quaker Meeting House
Veterans Memorial Tower

ALFORD
Knox Trail

BECKET
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Upper Goose Pond

CHESIRE
Pioneer Monument at Stafford Hill

CLARKSBURG
Clarksburg State Park
Hairpin Turn Overlook on Route 2

DALTON
Crane Museum of Papermaking
Wahconah Falls State Park

EGREMONT
Catamount Ski

FLORIDA
The Zoar Gap
Elk Memorial Sculpted by Eli Harvey
Hoosac Tunnel

GREAT BARRINGTON
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Monument Mountain
Ski Butternut

HANCOCK
Ioka Valley Farm
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort

HINDSDALE
Bas Ridge Golf Course

LANESBOROUGH
Constitution Hill

LEE
Main Street
Museum of Animation, Special Effects and Art
October Mountain State Park
Prime Outlets

LENOX
Berkshire Scenic Railway
Cranwell Resort Spa & Golf Club
Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio
Kennedy Park
Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
Shakespeare and Company
Tanglewood
The Mount
Ventfort Hall

MONTEREY
Beartown State Forest
Berkshire Fish Hatchery
Bidwell House Museum
Bluff Head
Lake Garfield

MOUNT WASHINGTON
Bash Bish Falls

NEW ASHFORD
First women voter in US ballot box@Town Hall

NEW MARLBOROUGH
Lower Carroll Mill
The Buggy Whip Factory
The Meeting House
Thousand Acre Swamp

NORTH ADAMS
A Chapel For Humanity
Elf Parlor
Jack’s Hot Dog Stand
MASS MoCA
Natural Bridge
North Adams Library
North Adams Museum of History and Science
The Porches Inn
Western Gateway Heritage State Park
Windsor Lake

OTIS
Spectacle Pond

PERU
Middlefield State Forest

PITTSFIELD
Arrowhead, Home of Herman Melville
Barrington Stage Company
The Berkshire Museum
The Colonial Theater
Hancock Shaker Village

RICHMOND
Hilltop Orchards Richmond

SANDISFIELD
Sandisfield State Forest
Spectacle Pond

SAVOY
Tannery Falls in the Savoy Mountain State Forest

SHEFFIELD
Bartholomew’s Cobble

STOCKBRIDGE
Berkshire Botanical Garden
Berkshire Theatre Festival
Chesterwood
Ice Glen Trail
Main Street
The Mission House
National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Eden Hill
Norman Rockwell Museum
The Red Lion Inn

TYRINGHAM
Tyringham Cobble

WASHINGTON
Historic District

WEST STOCKBRIDGE
Baldwin Extracts

WILLIAMSTOWN
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Field Farm
Spring Street
The Orchards Hotel
Williams College Art Museum
Williams Inn

WINDSOR
Notchview Reservation
Windsor Jambs

Click here to read the Berkshire Eagle!

Charlie Deitz (2010-07-09)

“As a way to stimulate the local creative economy, a Pittsfield based group is connecting creative designers with large firms in the region through what’s being called the Creative Challenge. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Charlie Deitz reports that the most recent challenge saw about 50 people vying for a chance to win….”

Click here to listen to Charlie Dietz’s coverage of the Crane Creative Challenge