The gallery hosts ten exhibitions each year and countless events and happenings. Staffed by mostly student workers, MCLA Gallery 51 provides students with hands-on experience in the day-to-day operations of a gallery. MCLA Gallery 51 is a project of MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center.

Click here to learn more,  and view past, current, and upcoming exhibitions!

Over 70 participants attended the 14 presentations on topics that ranged from the Pan Mass Challenge to Breaking through your Writing Obstacles to King Phillips War and beyond.

BeCreative BarCamp is the only event of its kind in Berkshire County. It is an opportunity for individuals to share information via short, informal, often tech supported presentations.

Special thanks to BeCreative BarCamp Supporter, Sponsor, and Host: Studio Two, Compuworks, and Shakespeare & Company!

Click here to see pictures from BarCamp!

Were you part of BarCamp? Click here to take a 2 minute survery and let us know what you thought of the event!

The BeCreative BarCamp is about creating conversation and opportunity. It’s about creating connections between people and their interests in a dynamic new way that we hope will catch on in the Berkshires. It’s about bringing out the creativity all around us and hearing new voices. It’s about what you make of it!

Do you have a topic you would like to present at the May 19th BeCreative BarCamp? Click here, join the creative conversation, and sign-up to present!

Want to learn more about what it takes to be a barcamp presenter? Click here!

Just want to attend or volunteer, but not present? Click here!

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What’s Behind the 2010 Pan Mass Challenge? + Q&A

Thomas Attila Lewis, NeedleMine

I’ll provide a description of the Pan Mass Challenge, I’ll explain why and how I got involved, and what a select few of us will be doing different in order to bring awareness to the Berkshires and Western Massachusetts.

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Break Through Your Writing Obstacles — How to get started, stay motivated, and finish the job!

Millie Calesky, Business & Life Coach, Speaker & Trainer

Ready for a breakthrough?This presentation will explore the obstacles that writers often encounter and ways to overcome these hurdles.  You will learn 10 strategies to increase your productivity and achieve your writing goals.

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Sales: It Doesn’t Have to Be Scary

Peter Coombs, FRONTLINE Training

Selling something you have created can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience. Participants will learn 10 tips to help them be more comfortable selling to others.

Living your life via Google

Helena Fruscio, Berkshire Creative

Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar-how to get organized online!

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Turn Your Blog into a Book

Claudia Gere, Claudia Gere & Co. LLC

Many successful books are based on blogs and for many it can be one of the easiest ways to write a book. Hear about strategies you need to know to turn your blog to into a book or to create a blog for writing a book.

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Practiced Spontaneity: Enhancing Creativity & Innovation Through Improv Theater Skills

Izzy Gesell

The skills that make Improv Theater people successful can make us all successful. This  interactive, entertaining and immediately applicable program uses improv principles to highlight how the development of the personal qualities of presence, acceptance and trust lead to more confidence, spontaneity and effectiveness.

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“Imagining History: The King Phillip’s War and Me (and You)”

Jeremy D. Goodwin

It was the war that set the stage for the next 300 years of American history, but it occupies only an obscure sidebar in the history books. In 2009 I took a driving tour of sites associated with the King Phillip’s War. This preliminary work-in-progress features photos from that trip, and begins to ask: How does a nation define itself through the way it chooses to remember its past?

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Why Brochure Distribution?

John H. Hart, Berkshire Brochure Display

I wish to detail the advantages of having brochures available to Berkshire County, Eastern NY State, and Northwester CT’s visitors and residents. I also want to explain what an effective brochure headline design is for brochure distribution.

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Topia Arts Center’s Kick Off Capital Campaign Local and Global Big Bang Constructive Community Arts Event – Symphony of 100 Carpenters

Caryn Heilman, Topia Arts Center

An outline of the conceptual framework and the practical tools employed to kickstart the capital campaign for this green arts and education center in development including the idea of constructive community artmaking, shared use space, online arts funding, downtown revitalization and green building.

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An Invitation to the creative community to participate as exhibiting vendors in the Pittsfield Farmer’s Markets

Barry Hollister, Berkshire Harmony

Background on the markets, goals and objectives for creating a community social network centered around locally grown food and the indigenous culture.

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When will the 3D Web arrive? And what are the business opportunities in it?

Maria Korolov, Trombly International

Analysts predict that a new, 3D version of the internet — complete with virtual meeting and collaboration locations, avatars, training simulations, virtual tours, and even 3D shopping — will arrive in about five years. Some early elements are here today, and having success in the enterprise. Here’s what they are, what to keep an eye on, and how to find your own market in this space.

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The Power of the Purse Is Changing the World:   How Women Are Creating Impact

Joanna L Krotz, Muse2Muse Productions

Women have a long tradition of giving to charity, but it’s only lately that so many are becoming philanthropists –  that is, giving in strategic ways that wield influence, secure seats at policy tables and gain a voice in setting social standards. Real-life stories about how women today are stepping up to give time, talent, treasure and technology that is transforming  communities and re-making the global economy.

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Trademarks in 15 Minutes

Paul Rapp

Basic trademark law including what trademarks are, how to get one, and how to avoid falling into trademark hell!!!

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Building a compelling brand

Kevin Sprague, Studio Two

My presentation will be about the steps that people and organizations can take to help define their message and their overall brand identity.

A chance for Berkshire Creatives to share their ideas, projects, resources, and innovations!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

5:30-8:30pm

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

Free

Click here for directions!

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RSVP DEADLINES

TO PRESENT: May 14, 2010 /TO ATTEND: May 17, 2010

Click here to present @ BeCreative BarCamp or click here to RSVP to attend!

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The BeCreative BarCamp is about creating conversation and opportunity. It’s about creating connections between people and their interests in a dynamic new way that we hope will catch on in the Berkshires. It’s about bringing out the creativity all around us and hearing new voices. It’s about what you make of it!

Visit berkshirecreative.org and learn more what’s happening in the Berkshire Creative Economy and how we are sparking innovative collaborations between artists, designers, cultural institutions and businesses to stimulate new job growth and economic opportunity in the region!

The Norman Rockwell Museum’s mission is to promote art appreciation, education, and engagement in visual communication through the art of Norman Rockwell and other outstanding illustrators. Norman Rockwell Museum is curating innovative exhibitions that examine Rockwell and the field of illustration art. Widespread reappraisal of Rockwell’s legacy by serious scholars and the mainstream media, ranging from art historian Robert Rosenblum to author John Updike, are praising Rockwell’s work and refocusing attention on his skill as an artist and on his vision of American society.

Norman Rockwell Museum is devoted to education and new scholarship that illuminates Rockwell’s unique contributions to art, society, and popular culture. “Visual communication is the language and currency of contemporary culture – Norman Rockwell was among the most powerful and beloved communicators of the 20th century,” says Museum Director Laurie Norton Moffatt. “His paintings continue to touch people in a way that transcends age and culture. The goal of Norman Rockwell Museum is to take a broad view of Rockwell, showing his endurance as an important artist and an American icon.”

A Brief History
Norman Rockwell Museum is one of the few museums in the country to have grown, literally, out of popular demand. In 1967, an historic home on Main Street in Stockbridge was threatened with demolition. A group of local citizens, including Norman and Molly Rockwell, joined the effort to save the classic white-clapboard building by raising funds for its purchase. The Old Corner House became the Stockbridge Historical Society in 1969, and the historical collection from the town’s public library was exhibited there.

Norman Rockwell agreed to lend some of his paintings to add variety in drawing visitors to the site. Primarily through word of mouth, people learned about the original Rockwell paintings on display in Stockbridge and attendance began to swell. Soon, the Old Corner House was identified primarily as a center for the exhibition of Rockwell’s works.

Located on Stockbridge’s historic Main Street for its first 24 years, the Museum moved in 1993 to its present home, which was designed by the renowned architect Robert A. M. Stern and is situated on 36 picturesque acres overlooking the Housatonic River Valley. Since moving to its new location and greatly expanding its educational programming, exhibition schedule, and special events, the Museum has become the most popular year-round destination in the culturally rich Berkshires of western Massachusetts.

The museum is a gathering place for reflection, involvement, and discovery through the enjoyment of the artist’s work. Norman Rockwell’s unique contributions to art and society, popular culture and social commentary influence the museum’s programs and interpretations.