Article by Dave Read.

The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., a popular cultural venue in the Berkshires, houses 574 of Norman Rockwell’s paintings and drawings. Rockwell (1894- 1978), who lived in Stockbridge for the last 25 years of his life, helped establish the museum, which occupies 36-acre site overlooking the Housatonic River, with a main gallery building designed by Robert Stern and including Rockwell’s studio.

In addition to permanent displays of Rockwell’s work, the museum schedules traveling exhibitions and special educational, curatorial, and entertainment programs with an emphasis on illustration and story telling. Over the years, the schedule at the Norman Rockwell Museum has included exhibitions featuring the art of the New Yorker, Frederic Remington, James Gurney, National Geographic Society illustrators, and Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Norman Rockwell Museum hours and contact info.

• 9 Route 183 – Stockbridge, MA 01262
• phone: 413-298-4100
• May-October and holidays: open daily: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and until 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays in July and August
• November-April: Weekdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Weekends and holidays: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• www.nrm.org

Norman Rockwell Museum driving directions

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Article by Dave Read.

MASS MoCA occupies an industrial complex built between 1870-1900 by the Arnold Print Works, which produced printed textiles until becoming unprofitable during WWII. Then, the local Sprague Electric Company bought the property and manufactured capacitors and electrical components until competition forced it to close in 1985.

See also: performing arts events at MASS MoCA in 2014.

Within a year, a group from the nearby Williams College Museum of Art looked at the property as a place to display and exhibit large works of modern and contemporary art that wouldn’t fit elsewhere. That began the process that led to an $18.5 million grant from the state and the 1999 opening of MASS MoCA.

The exhibition, Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective, which Time magazine called the “…top museum exhibition of 2008,” will be exhibited in a 27,000 sq. ft. building through 2033. Since 2001, MASS MoCA has been home to the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, which was curated in 2010 by Wilco.

MASS MoCA contact info., map, driving directions

• 87 Marshall St.; North Adams, MA 01247
• Fall, Winter, Spring Hours: 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. closed Tuesday
• Admission: $15 adults; $10 students; $5 children 6–16
• Phone: 413.MoCA.111
• Web: massmoca.org

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Article by Dave Read.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, which is widely known as simply The Clark, opened in Williamstown, Mass. in the midst of the Cold War in 1955, where the founders hoped that their remarkable collection of Old Masters, Impressionist, and Barbizon school paintings would be safer from Soviet missiles than in New York where the Clarks had been ammassing their private collection for forty years. Sterling Clark was an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and had ties to Williamstown because his father and grandfather had been Williams College trustees.

In 2008, the Clark added significant exhibition space and a conservation studio with the opening of the Stone Hill Center, designed by Tadao Ando. Today, The Clark’s schedule of public exhibitions makes it one of the most popular venues in the Berkshires and its research center attracts top academics and students from around the world.

Clark Art schedules Romantic Nature: British and French Landscapes – through Sept. 20, 2011

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute contact info

• 225 South Street
• Williamstown, MA 01267
• 413-458-2303
• web: clarkart.edu

Clark Art Institute driving directions

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Article by Dave Read.

Barrington Stage Company, which was founded in 1995, has been located in Pittsfield, MA since moving into a renovated theatre on Union St. in 2007. BSC developed, workshopped, and premiered The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, in 2004 in Gt. Barrington, MA. Spelling Bee opened on Broadway the next year and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor, as well as 3 Drama Desk Awards and numerous others. Barrington Stage Company 2014 schedule

Barrington Stage Company contact info.

• Mainstage: 30 Union Street
• BSC Stage 2: 36 Linden Street (Pittsfield VFW)
• Box Office: 413-236-8888
• Administration: 413-499-5446
• Website: barringtonstage.org

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Baby lambs May, 2016

Article by Dave Read.

Berkshire Theatre Festival, one of the oldest professional regional theatres in the United States, was founded in Stockbridge, Mass. in 1928. BTF’s Main Stage was designed and built in 1888 by Stanford White as the Stockbridge Casino (a miles away from the current location). It seats 408, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A Christmas Carol at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre

Also in Pittsfield, A Christmas Carol, the Victorian story of Ebeneezer Scrooge by Charles Dickens runs at the Colonial Theatre between Dec. 14 and Dec. 29. The Christmas 2013 schedule at the Colonial begins with Mary Verdi: Christmas at the Colonial on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 followed by 4 performances of The Nutcracker by the Albany Berkshire Ballet Dec. 7 and 8.

Berkshire Theatre Festival contact info:

• PO Box 797, Stockbridge, MA 01262
• Box Office – 413-997-4444
• website: BerkshireTheatre.org

Berkshire Theatre Festival driving directions:

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