Past BarCamp Hosts Archive

The mission of the Berkshire Museum is to enrich, inspire and educate through interactions with the arts, history and the natural world.

History:

In 1903, Berkshire Museum founder, Zenas Crane, was inspired by such institutions as the American Museum for Natural Science, the Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He wanted to blend the best of these establishments in a new museum for the people of Western Massachusetts. Thanks in large part to Mr. Crane himself, the Berkshire Museum’s broad and varied collections include pieces from virtually every continent, a mixture of the whimsical and the exemplary, important fine art and sculpture, natural science specimens, and ancient artifacts.

As the third-generation owner of Crane & Co, a paper manufacturer that was (and is) the official supplier of paper to the U.S. Treasury, Mr. Crane invested his wealth in his community. He sought out art and artifacts for the Berkshire Museum, and encouraged collections that would bring home to the Berkshires a wide cross-section of the world’s wonders. The Berkshire Museum became a “window on the world.”

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Founded in 1978, Shakespeare & Company aspires to create a theatre of unprecedented excellence rooted in the classical ideals of inquiry, balance and harmony; a company that performs as the Elizabethans did — in love with poetry, physical prowess and the mysteries of the universe.

With a core of over 120 artists, the company performs Shakespeare, generating opportunities for collaboration between actors, directors and designers of all races, nationalities and backgrounds. Shakespeare & Company provides original, in-depth, classical training and performance methods. Shakespeare & Company also develops and produces new plays of social and political significance. Shakespeare & Company’s education programs inspire a new generation of students and scholars to discover the resonance of Shakespeare’s truths in the everyday world, demonstrating the influence that classical theatre can have within a community.

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