Great Barrington — When you’re reading something interesting on The Berkshire Edge, do you ever think of going behind the scenes to find out what it takes to publish The Edge – why we started it, where we want it to go, how we keep it fresh and lively, how we approach important local issues and where we fit into the larger media landscape? We will be answering these and other of your questions in our upcoming classroom course Voices from The Berkshire Edge.
The Berkshire Edge is partnering with OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College, to bring the Edge beyond your screen and out into the classroom.
The spring discussion course, Voices from the Berkshire Edge, kicks off Tuesday, April 12th and continues every Tuesday through May 17th, from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Berkshire Community College’s South County Center at 343 Main Street, Great Barrington.
If this course interests you, we have a special offer: Join OLLI, and the course is free for Berkshire Edge readers. (Normally, OLLI members would pay $45 for the course.) Your OLLI membership opens the door to many other interesting courses, activities and events.
If you are not yet an OLLI member, you’ll need to join – memberships are $50 a year, with partial scholarships available for those in financial need. To register for Voices from the Berkshire Edge, call the OLLI Office at 413-236-2190 and be sure to mention you are a Berkshire Edge reader to register for free.
OLLI is a member-run learning community with more than 1,000 members across the Berkshires. Members organize more than 80 courses, trips, speakers, and special events a year, designed especially by and for people 50 years old and up. For more information visit their (soon to be completely renovated, but not quite there yet) website at berkshireolli.org.
Here’s what we’ll talk about in Voices from The Berkshire Edge:Â
Session One — Publishing The Edge, with Marcie Setlow, publisher: the nuts and bolts of the business of publishing;
Session Two — Editing The Edge, with David Scribner, editor: a look at the content side of the publication;
Session Three — The media landscape of the Berkshires and Beyond, and where The Edge fits into it, with Bill Densmore, journalist and media visionary, founder of the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts, visiting professor of journalism at the University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute, former Associated Press reporter, and co-founder of the Williamstown Advocate;
Session Four — What stories are we developing now, with Heather Bellow, managing editor and lead writer.
Session Five — The delicate back and forth between the press and our public officials, Massachusetts State Rep. William ‘Smitty’ Pignatelli and Great Barrington Selectman Ed Abrahams speaking with David Scribner;
Session Six  — Challenges and opportunities in covering culture for an online newspaper, with Edge contributors Laurily Epstein, Carole Owens and David Edwards, among others.
Built into every session is plenty of time for your questions. We look forward to hearing from you.
