[Forum] Meeting Notes & List Discussions

Tue Mar 6 11:04:47 EST 2007

The disconnect between the arts communities of North Adams and 
Pittsfield seems obvious in these posts.  I have to agree with Joshua.  
Pittsfield does not have a major contemporary arts venue to catapult 
from/with, yet they are doing amazing things in a fraction of the time 
we've had Mass MoCA.  It is not all about baseball mitt sculptures--that 
is such a small fraction of what they're doing.  Even though they may 
not be the most fascinating works of art they've accomplished their 
goal--to engage the local (non-art) Pittsfield community and raise 
awareness of the arts in their minds while bringing artists (who've 
chosen to paint large baseball mitts) together for a common cause. 

Pittsfield is making it happen for several reasons:

--Megan and her work with the mayor and city
--artists there are working with/reaching out to the city and are 
putting their ideas/words into action through organization and elbow 
grease (not to say some of the artists in this community haven't been 
doing that here). 
--June-Oct., the city of Pittsfield will be transformed by art every 
third Thursday.  Storefronts will be displaying artwork, 
events/performers will begin filling the streets, and artists, 
businesses, city leaders, and museums will all be working hand-in-hand 
to accomplish this. 
--A MAJOR South County gallery will be opening a new, large space in a 
couple of months. 
--Pittsfield is already talking about placing ads in major art mags (Art 
in America and ArtForum) touting Pittsfield/Berkshires as a hub for 
contemporary art--there is no reason North Adams cannot tie into 
something like that.

Part of the problem we've had in North Adams, in my opinion, is that 
there are some great ideas in the community but we continue to try to 
make them happen individually without organization or planning.  If we 
continue working in this way our audience reach will remain limited, 
individuals will continue spending MORE money on advertising & promotion 
while getting limited results, collaboration/cooperation with Mass MoCA 
and other arts organizations will not expand, and the North Adams arts 
community will look the same in two years as it does today.

I agree with Diane's statement that "Artists need to spend their energy 
and time making the art that interests them".  However, as it has been 
throughout history, artists need to make a living like everyone else in 
order to do just that.  That is the main reason I've chosen to sell 
art.  Many artists in this area have the means to spend their time 
making the art they want to make, while many others do not have that 
option.  If we are all to plug into the creative economy in the way that 
would benefit us all the most, we must become more organized not less. 

North Adams needs an "art czar"--someone working with/for the city who 
has the same passion for art as Megan Whilden does in Pittsfield.  Rod's 
focus is "tourism" not specifically art.  We need someone who will work 
with his office and the mayor's office to draw focus to the arts which 
are at the center of this creative economy we've been hearing so much about.

This discussion thread is exactly what we need more of on this forum, 
with even more voices involved. 

Diane Sullivan wrote:
> I qgree with Greg. Artists need to spend their energy and time making  
> the art that interests them. We don't need to copy Pittsfield but 
> rather celebrate all the diverse artists here. I think the galleries 
> and open studios have started doing just that. I would love to see 
> some individual artists design their own public art projects that 
> would show the comminity what we do. However, that has to be the 
> mayor's idea and maybe Ron Bunt would help with that??? I would be 
> willing to talk to him. Ron was helpful with the North Adams Open 
> Studio event last fall and seems to be supportive in general. It's 
> interesting to hear what people think about these topics. Keep 
> talking. Thanks Josh!
>
>
>> From: Joshua Field <joshua at joshuafield.com>
>> Reply-To: joshua at joshuafield.com
>> To: Kurt Kolok <kurt at kolokgallery.com>
>> CC: FORUM <forum at berkshirevisualarts.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Forum] Meeting Notes & List Discussions
>> Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:40:29 -0500
>>
>> i have a topic that i would love to hear thoughts on. lately, it 
>> feels like pittsfield is kicking north county's (depending on where 
>> you draw that line) butt in the promotion of all things cultural. 
>> some think this to be largely attributable to the the great job that 
>> Megan Whilden is doing running the "cultural pittsfield" initiative 
>> and the buy-in of their city government (the cultural council grant 
>> of $65 two years ago, the $40k last year and $50k year toward that 
>> initiative can't hurt either!). my question/topics for the group:
>>
>> 1) is it okay that pittsfield take the lead in promoting the 
>> berkshires as a cultural destination? should there be a similar 
>> effort in north county? should the effort be berkshire-wide? whose 
>> job is it anyway??
>>
>> 2) north adams may be home to mass moca, the eclipse mill, gallery 
>> 51, a burgeoning arts community and soon an arts focused program at 
>> mcla - but how does this fit under a broader umbrella that is 
>> something people outside of this community will 
>> understand/appreciate/be drawn to?
>>
>> my feeling is that ,while north county has the advantage of number of 
>> large arts organizations (moca, the clark, wcma/williams, mcla) who 
>> often cooperate, the arts community and smaller organizations seems 
>> to have a hard time breaking into that group (due to lack of 
>> coordination, funds, etc?) in order to take advantage of big summer 
>> marketing initiatives, group grants, etc. i personally feel that we 
>> would really benefit from someone in a role like megan's with buy-in 
>> from local gov't.
>>
>> if you aren't comfortable sending responses to the group, feel free 
>> to send them directly to me and i'll try to synthesize.
>>
>> thanks!!
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> // www.joshuafield.com
>> // joshua at joshuafield.com
>> // +1 [413] 329-4789
>> // 121 Union Street, Studio 1E
>> // North Adams, MA 01247 USA
>>
>>
>> Kurt Kolok wrote:
>>> I think we could accomplish a great deal more if we have some of 
>>> these discussions online (on this list-serve).
>>>
>>> I sent out a message a couple of weeks ago with a suggestion on how 
>>> we might actually begin to make some progress on achieving some of 
>>> our goals (first by identifying what they might be) and only noticed 
>>> one response.  It may be that many of you have never used something 
>>> like this for a discussion tool.  I think it's critical that we 
>>> literally record that type of information to begin putting words 
>>> into action and I think it's much easier to do that via email than 
>>> in person.  It is my opinion that if we're to accomplish any long 
>>> term/community-wide goals we need to be communicating between 
>>> meetings and social gatherings.  With this forum, we can do that 
>>> whenever each of us has the time.
>>>
>>> To take full advantage of this great opportunity driven by Joshua 
>>> Field's generosity...we should remind ourselves what the definition 
>>> of a forum is...
>>>
>>> --the center of judicial and business affairs and a place of 
>>> assembly for the people.
>>> --an assembly, meeting place, television program, etc., for the 
>>> discussion of questions of public interest.
>>>
>>> Food for thought,
>>>
>>> Kurt
>>
>>
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