Opinion
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NEA Head Rocco Landesmann at Mass MoCA
Wrapup of Creative Communities Exchange
By: - May 21st, 2011Last February NEA head, Rocco Landesmann, dropped a bomb when he applied the need for Darwin's concepts of Survival of the Fittest for the over expanded and under financed theatre community in the face of diminished audiences. During remarks at a lunch that concluded a conference at Mass MoCA he thanked its director, Joe Thompson, for publicly supporting his controversial but insightful position. It provided a lively bookend to the Creative Communities Exchange sponsored by Berkshire Creative and NEFA.
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Creative Communities Exchange
Conference at Mass MoCA by NEFA and Berkshire Creative
By: - May 20th, 2011Artists and arts administrators from all over New England gathered at Mass MoCA for Creative Community Exchange. During breakfast the attendees were greeted by the organizers, Rebecca Blunk, director of New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and Helena Fruscio, the director of Berkshire Creative.
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Freedom Riders: An American Experience
A Journey for Justice That Became A Trip To Hell
By: - May 18th, 2011The PBS program Freedom Riders is the powerful story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives and endured savage beatings and imprisonment for simply traveling together on buses and trains through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence. Coming from all strata of American society, they embarked on these Freedom Rides knowing the danger but willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of justice. A personal connection is that George and his wife Ann Withorn were married nearly forty years ago by one of the Freedom Riders.
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Arnie Reisman on Boston Media in the 1960s
Boston After Dark Became Boston Phoenix
By: - May 15th, 2011As part of our ongoing dialogues about the arts and culture in Boston during the 1960s and 1970s we interacted with Arnie Reisman. He was an early editor of Boston After Dark which merged and morphed into the Boston Phoenix. He later moved on to broadcast journalism at WGBH. Among his award winning documentaries was Hollywood on Trial.
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Lakers Swept Celtics Down by Three
The Agony of Defeat
By: - May 10th, 2011Rajon Rondo, playing hurt, missed an easy layup that would have evened the series. Just two points that would have saved a game, series and era. There was a lot of pride last night for the aging and wounded warriors. But youth defeating age is one of the oldest plot lines in sports. The Celtics showed heart and pride while Kobe Bryant and the once dominant Lakers were not only swept but blown away. Now it's up to the Heat to make their bones as the feared and dominating new hoop dynasty.
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NEFA Conference at Mass MoCA
Arts Groups Meet May 19 & 20
By: - May 03rd, 2011Berkshire Creative of Berkshire County, MA, and the New England Foundation for the Arts of Boston, MA, will host the Creative Communities Exchange, a major regional event highlighting successful creative economy work on May 19 and 20, 2011, at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA.
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The Mount 2011 Season Program
Opens May 7 through October 31
By: - Apr 27th, 2011The Mount, the historic estate of Edith Wharton, has announced its 2011 summer season. The official opening day is Saturday, May 7. The Mount will be open daily from 10 am to 5 pm through October 31, 2011.
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Steve Nelson, WBCN, Part Four
Hello Freeform Radio, Bye-Bye Boston Tea Party
By: - Apr 18th, 2011We have more of our conversation with Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, and manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. This fourth part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano recounts the revolution in music programming on FM radio and the changing club scene in Boston.
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Mass MoCA Summer Schedule
Wilco and Rosanne Cash to Katharina Grosse
By: - Apr 18th, 2011The summer season at Mass MoCA launches with a concert by Rosanne cash on May 28. Not long after, June 24 to 26, North Adams will be transformed into a tent city ersatz Woodstock for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival. There's also lots to see and enjoy in the galleries of North America's largest contemporary art museum.
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2011 Pulitzer Prize List
"Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long at the Boston Opera
By: - Apr 18th, 2011"Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long, premiered on Feb. 26, 2010, by the Boston Opera at the Cutler Majestic Theatre won for music. Sebastian Smee of the Boston Globe won for criticism.
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Red Sox Nation in a Tailspin
Panic in April as Team Goes 2-10
By: - Apr 16th, 2011There is no joy in Mudville. Who knew when my buddy Mark invited us to opening day at Fenway that would be just one of two wins by mid April. You have to go to the record book for a slower start. This from the team that pre season was predicted to make it all the way to another World Series. You wish. Panic mode strikes fear in Red Sox Nation. Say it ain't so Joe. The fix is in.
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Regime Change at National Arts Club
O. Aldon James Takes a Well Earned Vacation
By: - Mar 31st, 2011While drawing no salary for the past 25 years, as president of the renowned National Arts Club in New York, O. Aldon James, with his twin brother John, and their inner circle of friends have enjoyed remarkable perks. After decades of fights, feuds, law suits and scandals it is the end of an era as the NAC Board announced recently that James is taking a "well earned vacation."
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Spring Arts Listings
Covering Boston and Beyond
By: - Mar 19th, 2011Our Boston correspondent Barbara Brilliant provides a dense schedule of arts events in Boston. The listings provide capsule and links for box office connections. Events range from Hair and Educating Rita to a complete breakdown of the Boston Pops.
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NY Times States Pay to Play
No More Free Lunch
By: - Mar 18th, 2011The New York Times today in an e mail blast is announcing that it will no longer put out for nothing. While it makes sense to charge for world class content there is a glut of free information on line. Why does this feel like a desperate last stand for the once mighty media giant. What is not evident in this move is the potential decline of readership and an erosion of authority and influence. While older Times readers may well pony up it is unlikely that anyone under 40 will bother and the Times, accordingly, has abandoned its next generation of potential readers.
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Seven
It's a Wrap
By: - Mar 12th, 2011In this final installment of their dialogue Murray and Giuliano discuss cutting edge theatre which is a mainstay of America Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. And why there is nothing like that in the Berkshires. Murray defines an approach as providing information to readers to help in making informed choices. With so much being offered this summer it is less about competition and more about a critical mass of superb theatre.
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Steve Nelson, The Bosstown Sound, Three
Boston Hype Fizzles, James Brown Sizzles
By: - Mar 06th, 2011We continue our conversation with Steve Nelson, president of the Music Museum Of New England, and manager of legendary 1960s rock and blues club The Boston Tea Party. This third part of an extended dialogue with Charles Giuliano reviews “The Bosstown Sound,†a record business promotion to cash in on the emerging musical talent in Boston, and recalls how Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination impacted the club and the city.
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Six
Media Impact of Social Networking
By: - Mar 01st, 2011Blogs and the social networks routinely scoop print media on news, previews and reviews. By the time newspapers cover arts stories they may be days old. Arts organizations continue to rely primarily on print reviews to sell tickets but that has changed dramatically in the past few years. Through blogs and tweets Broadway shows with long previews may be dead in the water by opening night. Through internet coverage audiences make up their minds on ticket sales before reviews appear in print.
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Eagle Drops Shoe on Berkshire Living
Slogging Through the Mud Months
By: - Feb 26th, 2011For the past six years Berkshire Living and its related publications have competed for the advertising that had previously been the domain of the Berkshire Eagle/ North Adams Transcript and weekly Advocate. An Eagle news report aggressively explores the sale and merger of Berkshire Living with Today Media. The story includes the personal financial issues of publisher Michael Zivyak as well as recent news coverage of editor Seth Rogovoy who was "discharged from the jury of a high-profile Berkshire Superior Court case after he posted a court-related comment on Twitter."
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Critic Larry Murray Five
Blogs and Social Networking
By: - Feb 22nd, 2011In the current political turmoil in the Middle East we have seen how Facebook, e mail, and social networking have resulted in resistance and regime changes. Developments in information technologies have eroded the dominance of traditional media systems. Today with access to the internet and web sites anyone can be a critic or journalist. Murray and Giuliano explore the implications and their role in covering the arts.
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Art Critic Greg Cook Four
Maintaining a Critical Distance
By: - Feb 18th, 2011In addition to writing about art for the Boston Phoenix and the new England Journal of Aesthetic Research Greg Cook is also a studio artist. In this final installment of a dialogue Cook describes how he attempts to avoid any perception of conflict of interest. As an artist, however, he feels solidarity with their struggles. In particular he resents the lack of national recognition for all but a few Boston artists.
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Stuart Chase’s Berkshire Museum Resignation
Clarification and Further Questions
By: - Feb 18th, 2011The Berkshire Museum insists that there is no substance to our speculation that the resignation of Start Chase as its executive director was "abrupt" or the result of a conflict with the Board regarding the use of the Florence Keep & Josephine Crane Fund. It is named for the donors of the works which were sold for $7 million. By e mail Chase responded to a request for clarification of the current status of the acquisition fund and its recent use.
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Stuart Chase Resigns Abruptly from Berkshire Museum
Push Comes to Shove in Board Conflict
By: - Feb 15th, 2011Other than a press release nobody is talking about the surprising and sudden resignation of Stuart Chase as director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. Sources indicate that there was a conflict with the Board about the proper use of $7 million thorough the sale, several years ago, of three paintings by the Russian artist, Boris Dimitrievich Grigoriev (1886-1939).
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Berkshire Critic Larry Murray Four
Separating the Personal and Objective
By: - Feb 14th, 2011Interviews provide access to the primary source. There is much to be learned through dialogues with actors and directors. But it also entails a conflict of interest and concerns when we have to write about their work. Does that entail softening the blow when we don't respond to a production? This installment of an extensive dialogue explores the tricky business of honestly informing the reader. It is the reason why some critics refuse to conduct interviews.
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Hat Dance: Cook and Giuliano Three
The Critic as Artist and Curator
By: - Feb 07th, 2011Can one be a servant of two masters? What happens when art critics Greg Cook of the Boston Phoenix and Charles Giuliano of Berkshire Fine Arts wear more than one hat as artists and curators. This installment of their extended dialogue focuses on Giuliano's epxeriences working with artists as director of exhibitions for New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University.
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Critic Larry Murray Three
From PR and Marketing to Berkshire on Stage
By: - Feb 05th, 2011After a career in marketing and PR for the BSO and Boston Ballet, and years running Arts Boston, in the past few seasons Larry Murray has made the transition to theatre critic. In this installment the publisher/ editor of Berkshire On Stage discusses how a life in the arts has entailed both side of the footlights.
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