Volunteers are needed as event staff and parking attendants and are asked to work 8 hours over the course of the three day festival (one 8 hour or two 4 hour shifts) in exchange for:

• Free access to festival when they are not volunteering
• free parking within walking distance (carpooling is strongly encouraged)
• MASS MoCA event staff tee-shirt.

Interested parties should visit MASS MOCA’s website or email vounteermassmoca@gmail.com for more information.

Featuring internationally renowned installation artists such as Liz Nofziger and Pepón Osorio, as well as showcasing homegrown talent, DownStreet Art continues to act as a catalyst for drawing thousands of visitors to downtown North Adams.

“DownStreet Art continues to grow in size and scale, with more visual arts destinations and events this summer and fall than ever before. While global in scale, there is a wonderful sense of the small world in which we live, with many of this year’s exhibitions exploring, showcasing and dissecting the meaning of community,” said Jonathan Secor, director of special programs at MCLA.

The third annual DownStreet Art will kick off in downtown North Adams on Thursday, June 24, 6-9 p.m., with a massive block party celebrating the arts. There will be gallery exhibition openings, street musicians and specials at local businesses. The event is free and open to the public. All of the participating artists will be in attendance.

“We expect we will once again see the streets of North Adams filled in celebration of the arts. It is a great chance to meet the artists, see the art, and help kick off this celebration of the North Adams art world,” Secor said.

MCLA President Mary K. Grant said, “It’s so exciting to see how DownStreet Art has grown thanks to the many partners who continue to support this innovative initiative which fills our downtown storefronts with art exhibits and performances throughout the summer and fall. Over the past two years combined, this public art project drew approximately 35,000
people to downtown North Adams. DownStreet Art not only highlights the incredibly talented community of artists that call the Berkshires home, it serves as a draw for artists from across the globe. With more venues and artists than ever before, we expect another terrific season as local residents and visitors alike enjoy the wide variety of art to be found across the community. It’s also a great opportunity to sample local restaurants and support local businesses.”

“DownStreet Art is an extremely important initiative that perfectly blends the arts and business community,” said Brian Micsik, president of Develop North Adams. “It benefits our businesses by bringing thousands of people downtown, and benefits our entire community by providing an expanded presence for these artists and their work.”

DownStreet Art’s 34 visual arts destinations also will include Gallery Haiti, showing the work of contemporary Haitian American artists. Proceeds from the sale of this artwork will go to support the arts community in Haiti. The exhibition is curated by MCLA Professor Melanie Mowinski, as well as Art for Change in New York City and Haitian artists and performers.

“Haiti has a deep, deep cultural history – both past and present. Currently what we see on most of our TVs are the images of people
struggling just to survive, and it is important to remember them and to continue the support of those people. But we must not forget that this is a nation rich in talented artists and performers,” Secor said. “This gallery will attempt to show what is happening in their art scene. It will continue to remind people of the need in Haiti, while reminding them that there’s a vibrant arts community there.”

Local Color will focus on supporting, growing and showcasing the community that has existed in the region for decades. Area artist Wendy James will work with untrained artists in North Adams to present this exhibition of their art.

At the location once known as the “The Artery Lounge” the art exhibition named “The Artery” will transform what was once one of North Adams’ most popular watering halls into a new art work by Boston-based artist Liz Nofziger.

“The Artery was one of the last of its kind – a working class, blue-collar bar – that opened before the first shift of the area’s factories,” said Secor. “Liz Nofziger is taking the bar as it was left one year ago – with Budweiser stickers stuck on the walls and smoke stains on the ceiling. She will bring new life to the space, using its history and environment.”

In the former Gateway Motors Ford dealership on Route 2, Philadelphia-based, Puerto Rican artist Osorio will create an expansive, multi-media work that looks at the differences between the City and Williamstown. The work was commissioned by the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), and will move from its North Adams location to the Williams College Museum of Art in the fall.

According to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) Director Joseph Thompson, “DownStreet Art is great for many reasons: it provides a wide range of accessible venues for the growing number of talented artists who live in our region; it creates more good reasons for visitors to check out downtown North Adams; it’s an excellent training ground for many interns; and it’s a lovely excuse for an all-city party! This year, we’re especially lucky to have the Williams College Museum of Art adding what promises to be an especially powerful installation by Pepón Osorio.”

Visitors to the MCLA Gallery 51 Annex will find an interactive installation work produced by Sadie and Ephraim Hatfield. Avalon Seafood has three exhibitions currently planned, including a look at what it means to be patriotic and a redesigning of North Adams.

“The artist has collected the city plans from the past few decades. Using these, as well as current plans, suggestions, hopes and ideas, he’ll be creating the utopian North Adams, with the visitor having an opportunity to weigh in,” said Secor.

With the opening of an exhibition featuring the work of artist Daisy Rockwell in the Galerie Inqilab at 5 Holden St., the Berkshires will have three generations of Rockwell artists on view. From June 24 to July 25, Daisy Rockwell’s work will join the work of Norman Rockwell, her grandfather, exhibited at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, as well as the work of her father, Jarvis Rockwell, whose work will be exhibited on Main Street in North Adams.

Later on this summer, Galeria Inqilab will feature the work of wood cut prints from the Asaro collective in Oaxaca Mexico, in a show titled “The Art of Dissent,” curated by MCLA Professor Ann Scott.

“DownStreet Art has become quite a phenomenon here in North Adams,” said the city’s mayor, Richard Alcombright. “It has contributed significantly to bringing the art community into the downtown, and, in doing so, fostering activity for local businesses.~Through the efforts of Jonathan Secor and many others and with the support of MCLA, DownStreet Art will grow again this year to more than 30 locations in the core of our beautiful city.~ I am truly looking forward to the opening of this wonderful collaboration and I am confident it will once again be highly successful.”

According to Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), “DownStreet Art continues the North Adams tradition of innovative approaches to building community through the arts. The MCC is pleased to support DownStreet Art’s efforts to revitalize North Adams and enhance its attractiveness as a place to live, work, and visit.”

DownStreet Art Thursdays will continue on the last Thursday of every month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. These events will feature music, performances, gallery openings and other downtown activities.

DownStreet Art is a project of MCLA’s Berkshire Culture Resource Center, partnering with the City of North Adams, Develop North Adams, Orbit Visual Graphic Design and Scarafoni Realty. The program is made possible through lead sponsorship support provided by Greylock Federal Credit Union and Greylock Investment Group. Additional support is provided by: Adams Co-Operative Bank, Berkshire Bank, the City of North Adams, Gramercy Bistro, Hoosac Bank, The Hub Food and Spirit, Doug Morin MD, Papyri Books, The Party Place, Petrino’s Café, The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA , Supreme Pizza and Wings, Taylor’s and TGL Photoworks.

The initiative was designed to revitalize downtown North Adams by identifying the City as a cultural haven. The program serves not only to increase MCLA’s visibility, but to showcase what other local arts organizations have to offer. For more information about DownStreet Art and the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center, go to [ http://www.downstreetart.org/ ]http://www.downstreetart.org www.downstreetart.org and www.mcla.edu/bcrc

Barrington Stage Company Professional Internship Program (PIP)

The Professional Internship Program (PIP) is an intensive summer internship program offered to college age students interested in pursuing careers in theatre. Participants are chosen through a competitive application process to train and gain professional experience in various facets of Professional Equity Theatre. Click here to learn more and apply!

Berkshire Museum

Deadline: Rolling

The Berkshire Museum has a diverse art, history and natural science collection of approximately 30,000 objects. Currently the museum is seeking Programming and Special Events Interns, Marketing/ Graphic Design Interns, and Summer Camp Interns. Click here to learn more and apply!

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival

Deadlines: Summer Priority Deadline has passed. Regular Deadline is March 1, 2010 after March 1, call 413-243-9919 x17 to inquire if openings are available. Off-season deadline: Rolling

Summer Internships are comprised of real-work projects and responsibilities that develop professional skills and careers. Interns receive staff-led seminars, training and mentoring, on-campus housing, 3 meals a day, $500 stipend, and a $150 travel/sundry expense allowance. College credit, work-study, independent study, and/or cooperative learning programs may be available through your school. Or you may register for college credit at Jacob’s Pillow, through their partnership with the Division of Continuing Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Off-season interns assist in the preparation for Jacob’s Pillow upcoming season. Off-season interns gain a broad perspective on arts administration, the dance field, and dance history while receiving on-the-job training, and experience working alongside professional staff both independently and collaboratively. Onsite housing can be arranged and is shared with other Pillow interns, as well as with artists-in-residence. Full and part-time internships for the fall, winter, and spring can be tailored to meet college credit needs and individual interests. Dates and times are flexible. Click here to learn more and apply!

IS183 Art School of the Berkshires:  Young Artists Program Intern

IS183 is seeking interns with an interest in the visual arts and/or education, combined with interest and enjoyment of children and young teens for their 2010 IS183 Summer Young Artist Program. The program will run from June 28 to August 20, 2010, and candidates may apply for a 2- to 8-week internship commitment. Hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday thru Friday.

Candidates should be pursuing art as a major or supplementary course of study, and able to demonstrate some experience working with children. Interns receive a stipend of $100/week for their work as well as the opportunity to audit one evening or week-end adult class during the summer. In addition, you may be able to receive academic credit from your college or university. IS183 will also provide references for your future employment/academic pursuits upon request, dependent on performance. Click here to learn more and apply!

Richmond [Berkshire Co.] Historical Commission

Richmond [Berkshire Co.] Historical Commission requires interns to assist in completing its community historical resources inventory. The internship will run from June 15 to August 31. The inventory is a state-mandated project that will be submitted to the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Local History Researchers (2)
The interns will research and write historical narratives discussing the history of community buildings including their associations with local (or state) history as well as uses, and the role(s) the owners/occupants in the community. Full or part time researchers will be considered. Housing may be available at no cost to an intern.

Architectural History Researcher (2)
The interns shall have the responsibilities of describing buildings, structures, objects, areas, burial grounds, landscape features, and sites that are of historical, architectural, or archaeological importance. Most research will be concerned with buildings. The internship offers the opportunity to learn a marketable skill in the historic preservation field. Full or part time researchers will be considered. Housing may be available at no cost to an intern.

Click here to learn more!

Shakespeare & Company Internships in Carpentry, Props, Paint, Sound, Electrics, Costumes, and Stage Management

Interns sought for an Equity L.O.A. 14 show, 3 stage season at Shakespeare & Company. This opportunity is for individuals early in their career to develop skills and work with theatre professionals. Duties will include show running and/or change-over responsibilities. Season runs from early May through March 2011, although most positions for summer only. Late season and early start contracts may include theatre-in-education support. Housing negotiable. Stipend available.Click here to learn more and apply!

Does your organization or business offer creative economy internship opportunities? Email them to info@berkshirecreative.org!

Do you have an item you would like to share about the creative economy? Suggest a Post to Berkshire Creative!

Edgers writes of Boston, “Just 10 years ago, we were culturally a city of have-nots, with crusty institutions desperately trying to stay a step ahead of the next round of budget cuts. Consider these snapshots: A Museum of Fine Arts embroiled in controversy over curatorial firings; an Institute of Contemporary Art barely able to draw 20,000 people a year to its cramped Back Bay space; no Opera House, Calderwood Pavilion or — brace yourself — Guitar Hero. Certainly, not everything has been rosy in the last decade. We’ve watched crushing deficits and general inactivity damage the Citi Performing Arts Center (formerly the Wang Center for the Performing Arts). Museums, theater companies, and even the mighty Boston Symphony Orchestra have had to make cuts. But the real story of the ’00s has been a cultural building boom that’s brought nothing short of an arts revolution to Boston. Here are the 10 biggest developments”

Click here to see the list!

Twenty “low- to moderate-income” artists can receive a $100 per year stipend (for a multi-year study) to share information on their household income and credit history. No surveys or interviews; you just submit copies of your last 2 federal tax returns. It’s no more of a time-waster than that! All information will be kept strictly confidential and used only for research purposes. The study is intended to help the program partners better understand the financial conditions of local artists and evaluate the relative impact of the training and matched savings grants provided through Assets for Artists, now in its second year of operation with an innovative model to promote the financial success of working artists.

Eligibility for the study is based on household income: a one-person household with adjusted gross income of no more than $41,450 (as documented on a federal tax return) will be eligible. Income limits are higher for larger households.

Artists in any discipline who would like to be considered for the research study should contact Blair Benjamin at MASS MoCA (413-664-4481 x8104 or blair@massmoca.org) to discuss the details. Slots for eligible participants are available first-come, first-serve. If you’re not eligible, please help spread the word to other artists who may be eligible.

ASSETS FOR ARTISTS IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE SUPPORT OF:

A chance for Berkshire Creatives to have an open conversation about their businesses, ideas, projects, and creative visions!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

5:30-9:30pm

Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA

Free

Click here for directions to the museum!

RSVP DEADLINES

TO PRESENT: OCTOBER 21,2009 /TO ATTEND: OCTOBER 26, 2009

Click here to present @ BeCreative BarCamp or click here to RSVP to attend!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE BECREATIVE BARCAMP ONLINE AND LEARN MORE!

The BeCreative BarCamp is about creating conversation and opportunity. It’s about creating connections between people and their interests in a dynamic new way that we hope will catch on in the Berkshires. It’s about bringing out the creativity all around us and hearing new voices. It’s about what you make of it!

“I wish we could do 10 time as much,” Olver said.

Locally, the NEA awarded $50,000 grants to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation in North Adams, and the Rockwell Museum.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) awarded $10,000 stimulus grants to The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge and Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. The Colonial Theatre Association in Pittsfield received a $4,500 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Click here to read the full Berkshire Eagle article!

Click here to view the full list  of recipients!

Do you have an item you would like to share about the creative economy? Suggest a Post to Berkshire Creative!

Saturday, September  19, 2009

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

Last year’s event featured several light sculptures and drew  thousands to downtown North Adams. This year’s festival, which conincides with the summerlong DownStreetArt and MASS MoCA‘s presentation of Project Bandaloop : The Intimacy of Spectacle: a site-specific reaction, will celebrate the native trout which inhabit the river, and the hot air ballooning that historically happened in North Adams.

Click here for more information about participating and volunteering at the event!

Do you have an item you would like to share about the creative economy? Suggest a Post to Berkshire Creative!

Both Tammy Daniels of iberkshires and Jennifer Huberdeau covered the event. Huberdeau quotes Gov. Deval Patrick as stating that the idea of the meeting “is to listen to your ideas on how to take the extreme strength of this area and build upon it….We have a sensibility about the visual and performing arts here in Berkshire County that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. We should not take that for granted.”

Daniels reported that topics discussed ranged from “better ways to support not only its well-known venues but its work force, including establishing zones that encourage collaboration between nonprofits and businesses…how the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism was marketing the region to how filmmakers could be persuaded make the Berkshires a backdrop to how the area itself could provide housing and jobs for the creative individuals needed to ensure a strong cultural base.”

Daniels also reported that “One obstacle he (Kevin Sprague) and others saw was the ability for cultural entrepreneurs and developers to get the capital backing for new ventures, such as theaters or housing.”

“Artist and real estate developer Eric Rudd said projects like his Eclipse Mill are difficult to do because of the limited profitability. The studio/living condominiums in his mill sold out before they were completed, showing there was a market for medium-priced artists’ housing. But break-even ventures don’t attract a lot of capital.”

“His neighbor across the street, Ariel Sutain in the former Hoosac Mill, didn’t completely agree, but noted that the types of development he was pursuing didn’t fit neatly in the categories outlined by MassDevelopment. ‘We didn’t fit into the development mold.’”

“’Conventional finance won’t work,’ said state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley. ‘Banks have to get involved, he said, but are limited because of regulatory issues. ‘“

Huberdeau also reported “Patrick suggested the region begin focusing on a cultural venue to become a destination, similar to the Edinburgh [Scotland] International Festival — a festival combining classical music, opera, theater and dance.”

Click here to read the full North Adams Transcript article by Jennifer Hunberdeau or here to read Tammy Daniels coverage on iberkshires.com!

Click here to listen to Charlie Dietz’s coverage of the event on WAMC!

Do you have an item you would like to share about the creative economy? Suggest a Post to Berkshire Creative!