Canyon Ranch may be just down the road for Berkshireites, but in the time of Covid, it's as inaccessible as the moon. Jessica Robinson suggests how to satisfy a spa yearning safely.

MFA director Jan Fontein appointed Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. as John Moors Cabot Curator of American Art. For three years he was also head of the departments of American and European painting as well as the department of 20th century art. He acquired 600 works for the museum including 100 from the Lane Collection of American modernism. In terms of acquisitions and exhibitions few curators compare to his impact on the museum. \

Long before we had heard of, or even imagined, viruses like Covid-19, Post-Minimal painter, multi-media artist and art theoretician Joseph Nechvatal was generating them. Not the contagious types, but computer-robotic assisted ones.

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions financially supports artists and nurtures their creative process during these challenging times. Works & Process at the Guggenheim is granting over $150,000 for artists to create new works while observing social distancing. New works will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (@worksandprocess) every Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm.

When I interviewed Alan Shestack in 1992 he had been MFA director for five years. It was a time of economic downturn and the museum faced an annual deficit of $3 million. We discussed ways in which the museum might meet this challenge including a relationship with a museum in Nagoya, Japan which it helped to launch and program. He spoke adamantly that selling works to cover costs violated the mission and covenant of museums and their donors.

Maria Scarpini is multi-faceted to put it mildly. She is a trained restorer of old master paintings, monuments and frescos. She is also a self-taught painter who has been in group and solo exhibitions from Brooklyn, New York to the American University in Paris. Now she turns to the settings of opera.

When John Walsh left for the Getty Museum, and with a hiatus in the contemporary department, Theodore E. Stebbins, chaired three departments. He seized the opportunity to acquire American and European modern and contemporary art. There were huge gaps to fill when works that now command millions were relatively affordable.

Robots are with us, in fact, for the future and in decades of industry and popular culture. Dustin A. Abnet, assistant professor of American studies at Cal State Fullerton, takes us on a serious tour of robots in American industry and culture in his new book, The American Robot: A Cultural History.

Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1969, was the former summer home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), one of America’s foremost 20th century public sculptors. Although French is best known for his statues of the Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., he also had a passion and talent for garden and landscape design.

While Broadway and American Theatre are closed from now until whenever It is a time of reflection, accountability and change. The American Theatre Critics Association acknowledges but does not codone and pledges to end instance of racism by some of our members. Moving forward ATCA will strive to be an anti-racist organization that embraces diversity and inclusion.

Broadway League announces further suspension of performances—all the way through Sunday, January 3, 2021. The same is true for Off-Broadwayj shows.

Starting Friday, you can watch Hamilton's original Broadway cast on Disney Plus. The musical's debut on Disney Plus comes right in time for the Fourth of July. You'll need to subscribe to Disney Plus in order to watch the production. This is not a film adaptation of the musical. A film crew captured a live performance of the original Broadway production.

Lawrence Brownlee sang a two-part concert at the Park Avenue Armory in 2017. In the Officer's Room he performed the bel canto arias we have come to associate with him. He is entirely comfortable. And he is sure that Bellini would welcome him, black or not, in any role. He moved to the Veteran's Room for the second part of the program. There he performed pop songs, gospel and folk. He was less comfortable in the more relaxed atmosphere. Now with downtime he discusses race.

In response to the financial impact caused by COVID-19, Shakespeare & Company is cutting expenses and launching the Springboard fundraising campaign to help cover the loss of earned income from ticket sales this summer. The Company’s administrative offices will be on limited hours and limited operations July 6 through October 4.

Opening day at Tanglewood, at 10 AM in July 5, was not what one expected.

During the pandemic Northeastern University has restricted access to artists in its historic African American Master Artists in Residency Program. It was founded in 1978 by Dana C. Chandler, Jr. Speaking out against the university for its actions against AAMRP is Dana Chandler III the son of the founder,

In collaboration with Actor's Equity, Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Theatre Group have finalized a path forward. Barrington Stage Company is producing Harry Clarke, a one-man show that will employ two Equity members, a performer and a stage manager. It begins performances in August. Berkshire Theatre Group is mounting the musical Godspell, an outdoor production with a cast of about ten and two stage managers.

My colleague Phillip S. Kampe spent opening day at Tanglewood. It. was not what he expected. He enjoyed bottled water only. Yet the scenery and the quiet was transforming. You can fill in the real thing with rich program streaming from the Boston Symphony.

Broadway star Nick Cordero dies from complications of COVID-19. Cordero, 41, portrayed tough guy characters in musicals. Cordero's wife, Amanda Kloots, chronicled Cordero's condition on Instagram. Kloots and others used the hashtag #WakeUpNick to hope that Cordero would awaken from a long coma while in intensive care.

“City of Angels”, the Showtime TV movie series, is a powerfully relevant TV series and a sharp reminder not only of why the painful American Civil War of 1861 was fought, only later to introduce new Jim Crow laws in the South. The tensions between LA’s Chicano community and the corrupt white power structure within the city government of 80 years ago centers around the more militant factions of young Mexican-Americans known as ‘Pachucos.

How one man lovingly – and obsessively - constructed his very own movie palace in the basement of his suburban home.

Pinocchio and The Rake’s Progress, video recordings of performances at Aix, are now being offered. They continue on YouTube after the Digital Festival 2020 ends. The importance of Aix as a creator of new work and new productions is clear in these two works.

The American Theatre Critics Association has announced the finalists for the Primus Prize. Critics will announce the winner next month. There were 21 submissions. The three finalists explore the aftermath of violence.

This week we lost a neighbor and friend the artist/ activist Phil Sellers. He grew up in Ohio where he and his wife Gail Kolis Sellers launched a pottery business. They moved to North Adams to be with her family. Together they ran River Hill Pottery in the Eclipse Mill. The Sellers were involved in many arts and politcal activities. That entailed organizing artists to help oust long term mayor John Barrett,III. They became close friends with mayor Dick Alcombright who helped with their many public art projects.

The pandemic has turned many us into food junkies, where online viewing of food shows is at a all time high. Travel show viewing is a close second. My family follows suit and have found two outstanding communicators to follow. This is my story about them.