New Marlborough — “The action’s about to start,” announces Jane Burke, as a trio of campers crowd around her in the pottery studio at Flying Cloud Institute in New Marlborough. She begins quickly and quietly by centering four pounds of red clay on her stand-up electric wheel where an impromptu throwing demonstration is about to ensue. “How do you do that, Jane?” the young campers question, incredulously. “Lots of muscles, lots of practice” is Burke’s reply, a fitting one that also addresses how she has approached her role as Executive Director of this organization, a post she will vacate at the end of the year.
Burke, 71, founded the organization 32 years ago when she arrived in the Berkshires with a graduate degree in science education from Harvard and aspirations to be a professional potter. She had taught science in Newton, Massachusetts, Los Angeles and Australia. At the age of 25, she stumbled upon a potter’s wheel for the first time after she decided to take a textile class and it was full; as to her passion for pottery, Burke says “I fell in love because it’s Chemistry and Geology, [all] really wonderful stuff.” Burke, who has taught Ceramic Chemistry all the way through high school, notes “glaze is really taking silica and feldspar and other minerals and finding a melting point that works for the clay and gives you the colors you need.” This marriage of Burke’s dual passions, science and art, has created a bit of a South County legacy.
“I didn’t set out to create anything [at Flying Cloud]” Burke asserts, rather emphasizing, “I love to teach [and] Chemistry is not just bubbles.” What began as a plan to help her father, the late David Schwartz, run the 200 acre property where The Flying Cloud Inn was situated took a very different turn after just six months. Burke and her husband Larry were not terribly interested in innkeeping; Schwartz, a biochemist who knew nothing about innkeeping, decided to give the property to Burke and told his daughter and her new husband to figure out what they wanted to do with it. In 1984 Flying Cloud Institute was born, bearing the name of Donald McKay’s most famed clipper-ship and the Inn that stood there.
Burke’s early days were built around six neighborhood kids, who came to her property for three half days each week thanks to a $200 award from the Arts Lottery Council of New Marlborough. Those first “campers” spent time each day in both the pottery studio and dance studio before going home. Burke knew she was offering children the kinds of opportunities they might not be getting in school and as she discovered new, talented people, her program grew. Burke developed a knack for taking, “teachers who have deep experience and know the frustrations of schools” and putting them to good use at Flying Cloud. She credits Susie Hardcastle for starting the art program and Jason Brown for starting the theater program. In these early days, Burke recalls “doing it all.” She would take the phone and the registration book into the pottery studio and take calls while teaching. The original Board consisted of Burke, her husband, and her father. There were parents in the early years who encouraged Burke to turn her program into a private school; Burke’s response? “I believe in public education, let’s take it to the schools,” she said. Thus began her first partnership, with Southern Berkshire Regional School District (SBRSD) in Sheffield.
In the ensuing 30 years, Flying Cloud has brought programs in the sciences and engineering to young people through creative strategies in the arts. To date, it serves over 3,500 students in schools throughout Berkshire County. Today, Flying Cloud Institute is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire young people and educators through dynamic science and art experiences that ignite creativity. This summer, Burke and her widely talented staff will welcome 50 campers in each of two sessions; 40 percent of these campers, ranging in age from 5-14, will receive some form of scholarship, a reflection of Burke’s belief that “access is everything.”
What changes are underfoot at the New Marlborough campus in anticipation of Burke’s departure? The administration is moving out, joining other nonprofits in a new space on the third floor of St. James Place in downtown Great Barrington. The summer program, “so perfect in this spot [at Burke’s property]” will remain for the foreseeable future. The Burkes have entered into a lease agreement with the Board that will allow the summer program, educational retreats and field trips to use their 200 acre property for the next five years, at a competitive rate. How Burke remains involved is yet to be determined. She has requested to remain an educator and lead residencies as she has been. She will focus on writing and publishing some of the work she has done over the years, and she hopes to do an independent study with Stephanie Graham at Southern Berkshire Regional School District. The course, in Glaze Chemistry, will be offered to high school students who don’t want to take traditional Chemistry. In addition, she will be a volunteer scientist in the Young Women in Science Program. As to her role on the Board, she will take one year off and if, after that time, they want her back “she’ll consider it.” Burke’s enthusiasm is apparent as she remarks, “I’ll get to do some of the projects I would not get to do if I were the leader [of Flying Cloud Institute].”
Regarding the projects Burke will steward, one is the new STEAM initiative which, “as it turns out [Flying Cloud] pioneered 20 years ago.” The Massachusetts Cultural Council has called Flying Cloud the “gold standard” for what STEAM is meant to be. While the organization has not branded itself this way, Burke points out the obvious: “We have scientists and artist working together” she says; “We’re doing real science, and real art with a meaningful connection.”
Burke has several thoughts on what type of individual will succeed her as Executive Director; first and foremost, she hopes to see someone who respects the creativity of the staff and gives them free reign to continue in the direction each is going. Burke is proud of the environment she has fostered over the years; “those who work here know I respect their intellect and [Flying Cloud] is a place where they can develop their own ideas.” Of course someone with business sense and management skills would be an asset. And, while Burke might have gone overboard in her own time spent in the classroom, the new Executive Director “should be able to [be in the classroom]; I feel like if one is separated from the goings on of what [the organization is doing] then you are not in the heart and soul of it.” At the end of the day, the ideal
candidate will have passion, charisma, and people skills–which, according to Burke, “doesn’t mean [he/she is] a specialist in science or in art; it means that [he/she] passionately understands what we are doing and is committed to helping the program directors to succeed while making sure the public knows about it.”
Burke sums up her sentiments concisely: “We’ve chosen, up until now, to be small and deep with a commitment level that is quite unique in the schools where we are working,” and there is no plan to lose this intimacy that has been a hallmark of Flying Cloud. Furthermore, the community should be very confident that, in terms of service delivery, there will be no noticeable changes. If anything, the addition of more high quality staff so Flying Cloud can be in more places is the most anticipated change. As to the timing of her departure? “I’d better just stop while I’m at the top of my game and not bring the institution down by staying longer than I should,” Burke explains. And, as she expertly flutes the edges of the festive wedding plate that just minutes earlier was a pile of clay, it appears that her timing is impeccable.
