Press Release
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Great Barrington, Massachusetts: The Berkshires are well known for festivals celebrating arts and culture, from the world-class dance festival at Jacob's Pillow to the Boston Symphony Ochestra's season at Tanglewood. In recent years, the summer season has been extended, with offerings beginning as early as May and extending into the fall. But a festival in March?
This year, during a month known colloquially as mud season, the Berkshires will boast a full line-up of film screenings, exhibitions, performances, talks and more to entertain locals, weekenders and visitors to the region. More than 60 events at 30-plus venues comprise the First Annual Berkshire Festival of Women in the Arts, the month-long, countywide festival planned for March 2009.
Presented by The Women's Times, the festival will include diverse programming that ranges from the historical to contemporary, traditional to radical, political to apolitical. Venues run the spectrum from the Berkshires' most established cultural organizations — e.g., Mass MoCA, the Norman Rockwell Museum and Shakespeare & Company — to new and improvised locations. There are opportunities for festival-goers to examine the role of women in the arts, celebrate the achievements of women artists or simply enjoy a diverse cross-section of artistic work. The festival's full schedule can be viewed at http://www.thewomenstimes.com
The festival will have two signature events:
- The Eighth Annual International Women's Day conference will be held on March 6-7th at Bard College at Simon's Rock, with the theme: The Power of Women in the Arts. Featured speakers include Carol Gilligan, Karen Allen, Kristin Jones, Martha Richards and Susan Fisher Sterling, Executive Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. (The conference and festival are related, but separate entities.)
- The First Annual Festival awards, She's Got Moxie! will be presented by The Women's Times. The awards will recognize the individual contributions of selected honorees and celebrate the power of Berkshire women in the arts. A gala and presentation of awards will be held on March 13th at Founders' Theatre at Shakespeare & Company. (Honorees to be announced in early February.)
Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, who directs an annual International Women's Day conference at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, conceived of the festival last summer as a way to expand on the rich topic chosen for the 2009 conference: The Power of Women in the Arts. "We have an incredible wealth of talented women in the arts in the Berkshires who ought to be recognized and celebrated for the powerhouse force they are," she says of her desire to create a larger happening.
Browdy de Herandez brought the festival idea to The Women's Times last fall. "We've had a great time working with Jenny and moving the festival forward," said Eugenie Sills, founder and publisher. "The Women's Times has always cast a spotlight on women's art, women artists and women working behind the scenes. A few years ago, we began an annual feature in our Summer Arts Preview called Where the Women Are-and Aren't. This March, the answer will be resounding: everywhere in the Berkshires!"
For more information, contact Eugenie Sills by phone at 413.528.5303 or by email at esills@thewomenstimes.com
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