Great Barrington — On November 19, Bard College at Simon’s Rock announced that they would close their Great Barrington campus after the spring 2025 semester. The closure means an uncertain future for more than 100 full-time and 100 part-time employees. It also means an uncertain future for those in the community who use the Kilpatrick Fitness Center and the community organizations who use the Daniel Arts Center.
The Berkshire Edge will report on the future of the Kilpatrick Fitness Center and the organizations who use it in the near future.
The Daniel Arts Center is a two-building complex that includes a 300-seat theater, a 100-seat black box theater, along with a dance studio and production facilities. According to Architizer, the arts center was built in 2005.
Since 2019, the Daniel Arts Center has been home to local theater organization Great Barrington Public Theater, who has used the Daniel Arts Center since 2019 for its summer theater productions, excluding a hiatus in 2020 during the pandemic.
Great Barrington Public Theater has used the Art Center’s Liebowitz Black Box Theater and McConnell Theater for performances featuring actors and actresses from all over the country.
In an interview with The Berkshire Edge, organization Marketing Director Mike Clary, Director of Development Serena Johnson, and Artistic Director Jim Frangione all said they did not know about the campus shutdown until it was publicly announced on November 19. “We didn’t know anything, but I had seen the handwriting on the wall for the last couple of years,” Frangione said. “My wife Anne O’Dwyer is a longtime psychology professor and academic dean at the college. I’ve been hearing a little bit about the declining enrollment. Anybody paying attention knew that there was little time before the college had to do something drastic. My wife and I heard about it just like everybody else, and she didn’t even know that they were moving the campus.”
Frangione said that he was not prepared for the closure to happen. “Fortunately, we were able to secure commitments for our 2025 season next summer at the Daniel Arts Center, which is great,” Frangione said. “It gives us a whole season to prepare for this. We’ve been at the college for five years, and during that time we’ve built our audience in a great theater facility. I know there is a lot of consternation towards the college right now, but we’ve had a great relationship with them.”
Frangione said that the theaters at the Daniel Arts Center are all state of the art, and the organization has made a name for itself by having its performances at Simon’s Rock. “People have come to recognize who we are through performances at the Daniel Arts Center,” Frangione said.
“It’s a beautiful space, and they are top-notch, state-of-the-art theaters,” Johnson said. “We ended up in a beautiful facility expressly designed for theater performances.”
Frangione said that the organization is now looking for a new space for its performances in 2026. “For years, we’ve had a space at St. James Place [in Great Barrington], which is great for readings and development work,” Frangione said. “But in terms of a full-sized theater, it’s going to be tough to find another one.”
“One of the difficulties for all of the arts organizations around here is finding a theater where you can book almost any kind of a show or performance of a large size,” Clary said. “It’s difficult to find a home theater for your company when you require a top-notch facility. The theaters we have at the Daniel Arts Center are great for the kind of work that we do, which includes the premieres of new plays and small-cast plays.”
Clary said that having performances at Simon’s Rock over the years has helped the organization to grow a wider audience for its performances. “This is a big loss for us in terms of relationships, friendships, audiences, and alumni who come back to campus year after year,” Clary said. “It’s a big challenge for an organization to be able to cultivate audiences and establish long-term relationships.”
Despite the campus closure, Johnson, Frangione, and Clary all said that the organization will press on. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Frangione said. “We’re going to continue to grow, and we have built a reputation for quality work here in the South County.”
“This is a bump in the road,” Johnson said. “We are going to figure out our next steps. We have so much going for us in this community that I don’t see us going anywhere. We will continue to move forward and keep growing as an organization.”
“There is a need for theater professionals in Berkshire County to have a place where they can do all the levels of their work, whether it’s to germinate a script or to be on the stage,” Clary said. “It’s important to bring people together and have a place where they can see live theater.”
Another community organization that uses the Daniel Arts Center for programming is Close Encounters With Music. The nonprofit organization, founded in 2003, organizes chamber music performances and lectures throughout the year. [DISCLAIMER: Berkshire Edge Publisher Marcie Setlow is also the president of the Board of Directors of Close Encounters With Music.]
Since 2023, Close Encounters With Music has been holding its annual Berkshire High Peaks Festival at the Daniel Arts Center. The festival, which will go on as planned at the Daniel Arts Center in 2025, brings together young musicians from all over the world for intensive studies from the faculty of the organization.
Caitlin Marsden McNeill, director of operations for the organization, told The Berkshire Edge that, just like members of Great Barrington Public Theater, the organization did not receive any advance notice from Bard College at Simon’s Rock that the campus would be closing. “On the day they announced that the campus would close, I received an email in the afternoon from a colleague of mine who is an alumnus of Simon’s Rock,” McNeill recounted. “Members of our organization were previously scheduled for a meeting on that day to discuss our plans for the festival. When we showed up on campus, the overwhelming sadness and shock from people was palpable. It was crazy because [the staff] had just been informed by the trustees about the closure. We were doing a walk-through in the theater for our rooms for the 2025 festival, and out of respect for the employees at Simon’s Rock, we all said, ‘Listen, why don’t we just circle back some other time? I think you all have a lot to process right now.’”
McNeill said that members of the organization are saddened by the future closure of the campus. “Simon’s Rock has been an incredible partner for us,” McNeill said. “We collaborate very well. All of our performances during the festival are free and open to the public. Through the arts center, we were able to engage South County and the breadth of the demographics that are here during the summer in the Berkshires. There is something special about the arts center, and I believe that it has to do with the people who work there. It’s so well organized, and there is a lot of magic because they gave us all a sense of community and belonging that we all felt has been very special to us.”
McNeill said that Close Encounters With Music will continue to hold its festival in a different location starting in 2026. “We are a dynamic organization that is always engaged in future planning,” McNeil said. “Unfortunately, I cannot disclose what is coming next. We have an amazing relationship with another venue that we will be actively pursuing, and we look forward to many more years of the High Peaks Festival in the Berkshires.”
