The Mount

A great day trip that enlightens and enriches the soul is as close as Berkshire county, home of Hancock Shaker Village. Spending a day learning about the Shakers, sharing dinner and thought with Peter Jennings son, Chris Jennings, and attending a concert with members of WILCO and transplanted local troubadour, Johnny Irion, can turn any day into sunshine.

Works by Stephen Hannock are in global museum collections. His Oxbow painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art will be included in a survey of Hudson River artist Thomas Cole. Hannock's mate Sting will also be involved in the project. When he created paintings for his friend's hometown of Newscastle the studies were shown at the Berkshire Museum. He gave one of the studies to the museum to honor philanthropist Nancy Fitzgerald. The fact of that work and the entire fine arts collection of the museum is unknown. We talked at length with the Berkshire based global artist about the impact of the museum's strategy to sell its fine arts collection with a radical makeover as an interactive educational museum for history and science.

Milford Sound with scenic fjords, national parks with spectacular mountain views and cascading waterfalls, and Dart River with thrilling jet-boat rides are the rewards of South Island. Traveling west across the Southern Alps, the rewards continue with the snow-capped Mount Cook region, Fox and San Josef Glaciers, a craggy coastline with "Pancake Rocks", and the artists' haven town of Hokitika.

Since June, 2014 Berkshire poet, Charles Giuliano, has published three books of gonzo verse. A fourth is in production for a summer release. On Tuesday April 18, at 7:30 P.M. he will give a reading at the Williams Faculty Club (WFC), 968 Main Street, Williamstown, MA 01267. The event is free and open to the public.

Now that it is assured of ongoing financial stability The Mount, a landmark in the Berkshires, is moving toward increased winter programming., Here is a schedule of upcoming events.

For 24 years Carl Belz was the director of the Rose Art Museum where he was a champion of regional artists with an emphasis on women. There was an annual major exhibition sponsored by Lois Foster who was later instrumental in his ouster when she and her husband Henry were the primary donors of an addition in their name designed by Graham Gund. Belz passed away recently at the age of 78.

The Mount in Lenox announces its schedule of events for the 2016 season.

Blantyre in our backyard, is only minutes from Tanglewood and the arts of the Berkshires. Rooms are beautiful and wine and gourmet food is affordable.

On June 5 at The Mount in Lenox, Mass. the publisher/ editor of Berkshire Fine Arts, Charles Giuliano, will launch Shards of a Life. From 5:30 to 7:30 PM on the porch there will be a reception and reading. In 1970 Giuliano coined and was the first to publish the now common word gonzo. The book of poems continues his development of the unique gonzo style.

The book of poetry Shards of a Life by Charles Giuliano will be launched with a reading and book signing at Edith Wharton's The Mount. The free reception will will occur on Friday, June 5 from 5:30 to 7:30. The critical essay "Beyond Gonzo" was written as the introduction for the book by J.M. Robert Henriquez

Shakespeare & Company presents its lineup for the 2015 summer season, which includes three Shakespeare plays, Henry V, The Comedy of Errors and Hamlet, plus the Regional Premiere of Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti, and the World Premiere of Jane Anderson’s Mother of the Maid, starring Tina Packer. In addition, the summer season includes The Unexpected Man by Yasmina Reza, and opens with the provocative new play by Sarah Treem, The How and the Why. The summer season was announced today by Rick Dildine, his first as Shakespeare & Company’s new Executive Director.

Berkshire Theatre Group announces 2015 Summer Season Musical, the 10th Annual Community Theatre Production, The Fitzpatrick Main Stage productions and a medley of lively acts scheduled to perform at The Colonial Theatre and The Unicorn Theatre. BTG will be announcing a second round of programming, including The Unicorn Theatre's Summer Season, in the next several weeks.

When Tony Simotes took over Shakespeare & Company from founder Tina Packer five years ago it soon was revealed that the company was on the brink of ruin. With negotiations and austerity the company was put on a more secure footing. It is now more stable as leadership passes to Rick Dildine..

A delightful comedy of love combining the world of reality with the unseen world of spirits and faeries, all with a backdrop of the Jazz Age of New Orleans.

The Mount, Edith Wharton’s country estate in Lenox, Mass suffered severe damage from last week’s record-breaking storm that dropped six and a half inches of rain over a five-hour period. Thanks to a quick response from the organization and financial support from the community, the damage to The Mount’s flower gardens and access road has, to a large extent, been addressed and the house has been able to reopen.

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Since it opened in 1955 with a superb permanent collection the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has long been regarded among America's finest regional museums. With a $145 expansion and renovation designed by Tadao Ando the Clark is now a whole lot more fabulous. Combined with nearby Mass MoCA, Williams College, and the Wlliamstown Theatre Festival the Northern Berkshires are an even better first class arts desitinaton.

This summer, The Mount is pleased to announce a full schedule of lectures, readings, performances, music and more. The Mount will be open daily starting May 3rd through October 31st.

The Berkshire International Film Festival will showcase 75 of the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films from some 18 countries. The festival, which takes place from May 29 – June 1, 2014 in Great Barrington and May 31 – June 1st in Pittsfield, MA, will bring films, filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans together for a four-day festival celebrating independent film featuring 29 documentaries, 28 narrative features and 16 short films. Some of the countries represented this year are Jordan, Afghanistan, Philippines, India, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Morocco, Iceland, Israel and France, and a record 41 filmmakers will be in attendance with their films.

When in Savannah Georgia you simply must have lunch at Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room. During a campaign swing through town President Obama sampled the famous fried chicken and Southern hospitality.

Shakespeare & Company has planned a celebratory season packed with Shakespeare, modern works, premieres and special events in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Tickets for the 2014 Performance Season go on sale in Mid-February. For specific date and info please check online at: www.shakespeare.org or by calling the Box Office at (413) 637-3353, or in person at 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.

Not long after he took over as Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company in 2009 Tony Simotes had to deal with near extinction caused by some $10 million in debt. With the board and managing director, Nicholas J. Puma, great strides were accomplished to reduce and restructure debt bringing stablity to the company which Tina Packer founded in 1979. In a major change the board has created the new position of Executive Director, Jerry Bilik, whom Simotes and Puma will report to. Those close to the company see this as a long term step foward.

Jon Kern, a writer for The Simpsons, was inspired by the aborted bombing attempt in Time Square to create the comedy Modern Terrorism: Or They Who Want to Kills Us and How We Learn to Love Them. This darkest of comedies attempts to humanize and humorize a suicide bomber avenging American drone strikes and attacks on Islamic citizens.

During the four day festival with 75 screenings we managed three days with seven films and one short film. So we review only a slice of the 8th annual Berkshire International Film Festival. Even with limited exposure it was an intense and absorbing experience.

Edith Wharton was 35 in 1897 when, in collaboration with Ogden Codman, she published her first work, the widely influential treatise "Decoration of Houses." Eight years later, in 1905, she published her first work of fiction "House of Mirth. " By then the Whartons had been living in The Mount, their estate in Lenox, Mass. for three years. The mansion and grounds expressed many of her theories of architecture, interior deign, and landscape gardening. She left under unhappy circumstances in 1911 never to return to the home she no longer owned.