Jacob’s Pillow announces year-round dance studio
Becket — On Saturday, Aug. 27, during the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Finale, director Pamela Tatge announced the Pillow’s plans to build a new dance studio on its campus. A kick-off to the coming 85th anniversary season and an anchor project of the organization’s upcoming capital campaign, the building of the studio signifies the Pillow’s commitment to year-round creative development, engagement, and educational programs. An official ground-breaking ceremony will take place at the Pillow on Friday, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m.
The Pillow has contracted with Allegrone Companies of Pittsfield to construct the new studio, to be named the Perles Family Studio in recognition of a lead gift from the Perles Family Foundation and Jacob’s Pillow Trustee Claudia Perles. The project will be designed by Flansburgh Architects of Boston and is projected to be complete by the end of Festival 2017.
The Perles Family Studio will be the new home for the School at Jacob’s Pillow and its pre-professional training programs. Sommers Studio, the School’s current rehearsal building, was built in the late 1920s, moved to the Pillow property in 1951, and renovated in 1955. The Perles Family Studio will boast a 3,500 square foot sprung dance floor, high ceilings, a private porch overlooking the Inside/Out stage, dressing rooms, offices, storage space, and temperature control for year-round use. An observation deck will seat up to 29 patrons, will double the capacity for viewers, and will include a separate entrance to minimize disturbances while encouraging observation of the students in rehearsal. The space will also allow for more than 150 patrons to viewings of the School during indoor Inside/Out performances, contrasting the limited 45 seats currently available for performances inside Sommers Studio.
–E.E.
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Kinderland Arts & Activism Festival
Tolland — Camp Kinderland will launch its inaugural Kinderland Arts & Activism Festival Saturday, Sept. 3, and Sunday, Sept. 4, at Camp Kinderland. The family-friendly Festival aims to foster artistic collaboration for social justice, and bring together musicians, artists, dancers, activists and organizers for a celebration of art as an agent of peace. Headlining the festival are folk musician and songwriter Dar Williams and blues artist Guy Davis. The festival will feature more than 20 musical guests from around the world and a variety of genres including folk/Americana, jazz, Latin, East African, klezmer, children’s, hip-hop, and funk.
In addition to the musical guests, social justice activism will also play an essential role in the Festival. The Festival itself aims to make a global impact by putting on a zero waste event. In its commitment to produce as little waste as possible by recycling, reusing, composting, and using solar-powered, green, and compostable materials where possible and by equipping waste stations with educational material on how to “rid responsibly,” the Festival will attempt to do its part to be environmentally sustainable.
Local businesses including Villa Mia, Wandering Star Brewery, and Les Trois Emme Winery will provide food and beverages. The town of Tolland’s police and fire departments are working closely with the festival organizers to ensure safety, and residents of the local zip codes 01034 and 02155 are invited to attend at a 50% discount.
Festival tickets start at $30 and children under the age of 18 will be admitted free with a parent or guardian. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (718) 643-0771 x102.
–E.E.
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BOOM to introduce performance space
Pittsfield — The Berkshire Organization for Original Music (BOOM) has announced the opening of its showcase space, the Boom Room, on Thursday, Sept. 1, in the Crawford Square building at 137 North St. Each Thursday and Friday from 5 – 8 p.m., the Boom Room will feature local, original artists performing their songs in an acoustic format. Artists who are currently scheduled to appear include Jeb Barry & the Pawn Shop Saints, Jesse Taylor Cole, and Tom Corrigan (Sept. 1); the Matchstick Architects, Alan Monasch, and Good Good (Friday, Sept. 2); Sam Rosen and Starseed (Thursday, Sept. 8); Chad Tarves (Thursday, Oct. 6); John Davidson (Friday, Oct. 7); Sherry Steiner (Friday, Oct. 21); and Robin O’Herin (Friday, Nov. 4).
Admission to all shows is free. For more information, contact email@boom413.com.
–E.E.
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Leonard Quart to address small business challenges
Pittsfield — On Thursday, Sept. 1 at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will present professor and Edge columnist Leonard Quart, who will speak at Congregation Knesset Israel about the challenges facing small businesses in New York City. Quart will analyze what has happened to small shops, why France has been able to preserve a small store culture, and what politicians are doing, with little success, to hold the line against the overwhelming surge of chain stores.
Quart is professor emeritus of cinema studies at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and the College of Staten Island, and a contributing editor to Cineaste, and the co-author of “American Film and Society Since 1945 – Fourth Edition” (Praeger, 2001).
For more information, call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 x10.
–E.E.
