Norman Rockwell Museum

Candlelit dining, gourmet food and a historic presence make this unique New England Inn special in every way.

Blantyre in our backyard, is only minutes from Tanglewood and the arts of the Berkshires. Rooms are beautiful and wine and gourmet food is affordable.

Now in his final weeks as director of the Clark Art Institute Michael Conforti hosted a media event promoting a blockbuster season for Northern Berkshire County. There were presentations by Joe Thompson for Mass MoCA, Tina Olsen for the Williams College Museum of Art, and Mandy Greenfield for the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Notably absent from the media event were North Adams based arts presenters Downstreet, The Eclipse Mill Gallery, The Rudd Museum of Art and the fall annual Williamstown Film Festival.

This week representatives of the Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Mass MoCA met with the media to promote plans for a spectacular Northern Berkshires season. The Clark reopens following extensive expansion and renovation. Mass MoCA offers the first full season of its Anselm Kiefer building. Jenny Gersten has planned a blockbuster program for WTF. WCMA plans special events like a Think and Drink series. In high season it may be hard to book a hotel or dine at the best restaurants.

The September/ October edition of Art New England includes a section devoted to the Berkshires. To celebrate there was a reception hosted by the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams. We got a chance to catch up with publisher Tim Montgomery whom we knew back in the day when he was in sales for the legendary Rock of Boston the pioneering WBCN. Several years ago he acquired the publication and continues its mandate as the foremost publication covering New England.

It was steamy in the Shed last night for the sweltering launch of the gala, 2012, 75th season of Tanglewood. With Christoph von Dohnányi, a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1952, the orchestra replicated the very first BSO concert that took place on August 5, 1937. A capacity audience enjoyed the all-Beethoven program, opening with the Leonore Overture No. 3, followed by Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and Symphony No. 5.

As part of the celebrations for its 35th Season, Shakespeare & Company is pleased to introduce a series of presentations and events tailored to its summer performance season. Engaging discussions, riveting talks, and insightful Q&A’s will all be featured in the Company’s packed calendar of special events. For more information on all of Shakespeare & Company’s special 35th Season offerings, including Founders’ Talks, Author! Author!, Tuesday Talks, Wednesday Q&A’s, Behind the Scenes Tours, and other special events.

Tanglewood, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this season, June 22-September 2, is offering a number of ticket programs designed to give visitors and Berkshire residents a wide variety of options when planning their visit to the BSO’s summer home. Kripalu and the Clark Art Institute are each teaming up with the BSO this summer to offer three new ticket deals showcasing a variety of different Berkshire summer attractions.

On an unseasonably mild February afternoon, during the off season, we sat with Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, for an in depth overview of his 25 years of developing the largest contemporary art museum in North America. In this first installment we discussed the beginnings and mandates for the 17 acre campus and its 650,000 square feet of "developable" space. We spoke on the record for an hour and a half then another hour after that. It is most unusual to spend that much time with a busy museum director.

The fine arts collectors Jay and Jane Braus divide their time between summers in the Berkshires and winters in Florida. When they sold their home in Larchmont a collection of major abstraction expressionist works was liquidated. But those bare walls in a Florida condo started them going again. Through October a selection of works from their collection is on view at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield.

During the 2011 season, June 25-September 4, Tanglewood is offering a number of ticket programs designed to give visitors and Berkshire residents a wide variety of options when planning their visit to the BSO’s summer home. Ticket deals and programs include free tickets to children and young adults 17 and under and discounted tickets for students 18 and over.

During the opening weekend of M.C. Escher: Seeing the Unseen the Berkshire Museum was packed. With school vacations and ski season it is likely that the museum will be mobbed with families from now until May 22. As this large selection of work demonstrates Escher was a master and genius but in a class by himself. In the populist museum there is a crowd pleasing companion exhibition Henry Klimowicz: Constructs.

Under dynamic executive director, Susan Wissler, The Mount, the former estate of author Edith Wharton, has struggled to stabilize the National Historic Landmark. While there has been progress in debt reduction a tipping point is approaching. In May a $1 million principal repayment is due. In this tough economy that's a daunting amount to raise in the next few months. When news of the crisis was reported an anonymous donor stepped forward with a donation of $300,000. Hopefully that will inspire further giving to meet the imminent deadline.

With three days of programming the arts and the creative community were underplayed in the recent Berkshire Forum. Although the arts are a major employer and drive the economy of the Berkshires just one session was devoted to this essential agenda. The too few seats at the table excluded any representatives from the four major theatre companies, or even Jacob's Pillow. Mass MoCA director Joe Thompson was included in another panel where he commented on the important Wilco Festival this summer.

A three-day conference promising inspiring ideas and stimulating dialogue led by a remarkable network of business owners, economists, social innovators, technology visionaries, cultural enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and thought leadersâ€"bound by a devotion to region worth preserving and an interest in shaping its cultural and economic future.

The Berkshire season was launched in a sensational manner with three sold out Tanglewood performances by James Taylor and fellow singer/ songwriter, the legendary Carole King. They shared music, memories and intimate moments during concerts that averaged two and a half hours. Fans who bought lawn tickets last winter were rewarded by a gorgeous summer evening under the stars.

With seven additional visual art destinations over last year’s offerings and 11 new galleries, this year’s DownStreet Art initiative â€" organized by the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) â€" not only will increase in scope and size; its installations will highlight communities from around the world.

The Fifth Annual Richie duPont Award Benefit will take place at 8 pm Saturday, May 22, at Firefly on Church Street in Lenox. What began in 2006 as a memorial to Richie duPont, a promising young actor lost in his prime, will be a celebration of his life at a party to raise funds for awards for budding local thespians to attend Berkshire Theatre Festival’s summer and school vacation acting camps.

Back in the day the Berkshire Museum, the oldest in the region, collected everything from soup to nuts. The museum's director, Stuart Chase, is challenged to find projects drawn from a vast collection of 30,000 objects. The interactive exhibitions are fun for families and instructive for 13,000 annual visiting students.

During 26 years as Mayor of North Adams, John Barrett has done a lot for the city. Just ask him. Thanks, but it is time to move on. Berkshire Fine Arts endorses Dick Alcombright for the Mayor of North Adams. It is more about hope, ideas, survival and progress than just change for the sake of change.

When Mass MoCA opened a decade ago artists migrated to North Adams attracted by large, cheap loft spaces. For the second season that growing arts community is trying to revitalize the business district through a city wide project known as DownStreet. Artists hope that their commitment and sweat equity will start to pay off.

Despite a drastic 20% budget cut Kate Maguire, the artistic director and CEO of Berkshire Theatre Festival is excitied about the coming season and the return of Randy Harrison in Ibsen's "Ghosts." During an upbeat interview she stated that "I'm not a director. I love directors. I'm married to one (Eric Hill). I love directing directors and I wanted to build a director's theatre."

This is the third, self published book by artist/ entrepreneur, Eric Rudd. The superb images in this picture book were photographed by Kelly Lee who worked for ABC News and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in D.C. before he settled in the Berkshires.

Part One: Use this handy guide to Berkshire museum discounts, and you can enjoy the same wonderful attractions that draw tens of thousands of people to our region each summer.

Berkshire Museum director, Stuart Chase discusses plans and impact of a $9 Capital Fund Campaign.