Features:

When Mass MoCA opened a decade ago artists migrated to North Adams attracted by large, cheap loft spaces. For the second season that growing arts community is trying to revitalize the business district through a city wide project known as DownStreet. Artists hope that their commitment and sweat equity will start to pay off.

The Tanglewood Music Festival kicks into high gear this week. The official gala opening of the season will be marked by James Levine conducting an all Tchaikovsky program on Friday, July 3. Followed by the traditional fireworks pop star Diana Krall appears on the Fourth of July. And on Sunday afternoon there will be a different kind of pyrotechnics when Levine leads the orchestra in Stravinsky's magnificent and visceral "Rites of Spring."

Imagine the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet as a ballet set to music by Radiohead. From July 1 through 5 Ballet Maribor will bring this acclaimed production to Jacob's Pillow. The launch of the season will be marked by numerous free events.

Just a week before the start of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, which opens on July 1 and runs through August 23, the artistic director, Nicholas Martin, took time from rehearsals to discuss his second season in the Berkshires, cutbacks in the face of a tough economy, and an ongoing personal struggle to recover from a stroke he suffered in September.

BFA talks to Shirley Jones about posing nude for Playboy, why Frank Sinatra wasn't in Carousel, details on her July 6 Pittsfield concert. A funny, heartwarming interview with one of the greats of stage, screen and tv.

From Thursday, July 16 through Saturday, August 1, Bang on a Can and MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) will present the eighth annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA. The Festival is dedicated entirely to programming today's most innovative new music and includes public performances, workshops for participants in everything from Balinese music to improvisation, master classes, music business seminars, and more.

In recent years the Berkshires has emerged as a major theatre community. With four professional companies and eight stages it's becoming a force in American theatre. And behind the scenes there is another show going on as well. Read all about it.

Summer Begins with an amazing array of performing arts events to choose from. Both Tanglewood and Jacob's Pillow kick off their busy schedules while the main stages of the Berkshire's four resident professional theatre companies all kick into high gear. Our capsule descriptions and handy links will guide you through the dense array of superb cultural resources. In season world renowned artists perform in the Berkshires.

In a classic meeting of the minds, two titans of the Twentieth Century, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis debate timeless issues that still resonate today.

One of the first major buildings constructed after German reunification, the Jewish Museum (Judisches Museum Berlin), was, after winning a competition, designed by prominent and often controversial architect Daniel Libeskind. One of the foremost proponents of Deconstructivist theory, Libeskind illustrates this design approach by the museum's architecture. The museum exhibits are underwhelming and somewhat confusing, but the museum structure is daring and compelling.

Shakespeare's great play Hamlet is one anyone can understand and learn from. Even Presidents and Kings. This immensely popular version of the classic play began in Lenox, traveled the country, and returns for a Summer long run.

The nonsensical patter between Edward and Flora in Pinter's "A Slight Ache" recalls the tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, arguing over carrots and turnips in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." Here the futile, absurdist desperation is acted out in a seemingly bucolic but actually barren and desperate English cottage garden, over tea, during the gorgeous longest day of the year. Not. How Pinteresque.

Harold Pinter's - "Pinter's Mirror" is presented with riveting performances by Shakespear & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. It is one play in two acts and three unique pieces: A Slight Ache - Family Voices - and Victoria Station.

The Main Stage season for Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield always starts with a musical. Artistic director, Julianne Boyd, has produced a winner in the old chestnut and certain hit the 1945 "Carousel" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Be still dear heart.

As part of the Tenth Anniversary celebrations the artist, Richard Criddle, who has been in charge of installations and fabrication for Mass MoCA gave a power point presentation of some of his most interesting and challenging collaborations with artists. The slide lecture was followed by a guided tour of the museum's efficient workshops. But Criddle's dog Winston had the day off.

In addition to working on a Tanglewood production of the opera "Don Giovanni" this summer the North Adams based artist and lighting designer, Julie Seitel, is also creating a series of light sculptures she refers to with the theatrical term "Practicals." They will be seen in a group show "Illuminati: Working in Light" which she is curating for the Eclipse Mill Gallery. She is a graduate of Williams College where she works for its 62 Center.

A capacity audience attended "Mujeres" with Belen Maya and Rocio Molina, which launched the 77th season of the summer long Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. There is a great tradition of Flamenco at the pillow starting with the first season in 1942 which featured the legendary La Argentina.

In his first visit to Venice the Canadian artist and critic, Ben Klein, offers highlights of the vast Venice Biennale 2009. Mostly he was riveted by the work of the American artist Bruce Nauman.

"Easy Virtue",a delicious update on Noel Coward, opened in limited release at the end of May...tuned to our times. Alfred Hitchcock made a silent film based on the play. Why would Hitchcock have been attracted when Coward is first and foremost a wordsmith and sound was not available for the 1927 production?

The intensity of this production is so overwhelming it's hard to believe that it's been trimmed by an hour for modern audiences. Despite the simple setting and smaller cast Shakespeare & Company's Hamlet has more heart and guts than most. If you didn't see this groundbreaking Hamlet last time 'round it's time to get thee to Lenox.

Dorothy Robinson's second solo show at the Slate Gallery presents a revelation in landscape painting. They are a powerful metaphor for the human condition. The paintings are grandiose and beautiful as well as haunting and destructive.

In a gutsy move, Pittsfield's Colonial Theatre has greatly expanded both the number and kind of programs it will offer in the coming year. 46 different groups will present 60 performances in a dozen categories, including comedy, musicals, family events and cabaret singers.

William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker" won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1959. But Gibson's "Golda" folded after a few performances in 1977. It was reworked as a one woman play "Golda's Balcony" with a premiere at Shakespeare & Company in 2002. Annette Miller won the Norton Award for that performance. She is back in Lenox, with original director, Daniel Gidron, as one third of the sensational Diva Series at S&Co.

Throughout his career, architect Frank Gehry has been a practitioner of building as sculpture. His efforts often result in debate, heated arguments and civic tumult. This building was the first major introduction of American global culture to Prague after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Today, the Dancing House is an integral part of Prague's 1200 year urban history. This internationally recognized structure began in a not surprising state of intellectual and design controversy.

The two day event Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival last weekend at the Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center was an artistic success that drew 12,027 visitors. In a tough economy that represents a slight increase over last year's attendance for the annual event. Highlights included Patti LaBelle, George Benson and Dave Brubeck.

The BTF season begins with this challenging play by Brian Friel exploring the shifting concept of truth in the modern world. Does he heal? How does it happen? Three characters tell their intertwined stories through four extended monologues. They do not appear on stage together until the final curtain call.

North Adams, and Mass MoCA now celebrating its 10th anniversary, have come a long way from rock bottom when Sprague Electric left town, during the 13 terms of Mayor John Barrett, Jr. For the first time in 26 years Barrett has a tough opponent in Dick Albombright. Some 800 plus turned out for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser last week. It's shaping up to be a tight race.

An expansive show of large and small Dutch seascapes from the 17th century, organized into five informative thematic sections. Art patronage was fueled by wealth in trade with Dutch colonies during the Golden Age.

Yo Yo Ma advances cultural diffusion with his extraordinary mix of East and West The Silk Road Ensemble performed at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

A few years after the Berlin Wall fell, American architect Peter Eisenman was chosen to create a Berlin memorial to the 6 million murdered Jews of Europe. As with many public art pieces, there was controversy, debate and even anger. These elements were added to by public shame, national guilt and community remorse. The result is still not championed by all, but it certainly is a provocative, thoughtful and rather wonderful piece of civic design.

Nielsen Gallery stages a benefit for the Danforth Museum, before Nina Nielsen and John Baker begin a one-year sabbatical. AS one of the oldest and most prestigious contemporary galleries in Boston its absence on Newbury Street is palpable.

Allen M. Hart has expressed his life through painting for over six decades. The new figurative work is even more intense and emotional. His work is surveyed in a one man show at the Upstream Gallery in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

A commercial gallery in the heart of Chelsea brings us a democratic change of pace in the role of exhibition selection. A number of the Lohin Geduld artists are showing their own works and inviting others to participate. This has resulted in a lively and eclectic exhibition.

The hottest tickets in New York from the 10th to the 14th of June were to events featuring physicists, neuroscientists and other exotic individuals. There was, indeed, much ado about nothing.

The poster was everywhere evoking the calm, collected well-spoken presidential nominee. The ubiquitous image of the cool, elegant, post modern, 21st Century campaign image of Barack Obama was created by street artist/graphic designer/fine artist Shepherd Fairey. Boston’s ICA correctly guessed that this 38 year old was worthy of a museum show. An artist of the people and for the people, Fairey wants his art to be affordable and prices it that way. His work has an appeal that resonates. Obama won, and Shepherd Fairey's portrait now hangs in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.

Stuart Chase, the director of the 106 year old Berkshire Mueum in Pittsfield discusses the recently completed $10 million renovation that was "on time and within budget." He also deaccessioned three paintings by the Russian, Grigoriev, that added $7 million for future acquisitions. Not bad during these hard times.

Drawing on great depth in its collection the Williams College Museum of Art, from July 18 through September 20, will present "Prendergast in Italy." The exhibition features works by Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858–1924). The exhibition will be accompanied by a major catalogue and will travel internationally.

Despite a drastic 20% budget cut Kate Maguire, the artistic director and CEO of Berkshire Theatre Festival is excitied about the coming season and the return of Randy Harrison in Ibsen's "Ghosts." During an upbeat interview she stated that "I'm not a director. I love directors. I'm married to one (Eric Hill). I love directing directors and I wanted to build a director's theatre."

Did you know that frogs are older and outlived dinosaurs? There is a lot most of us don't know about the curious crittiers other than having cut one up in a high school biology class. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield will tell you all about the fascinating creatures in an exhibition that will be fun for the whole family.

Over a Beer and Burger we learned a lot about the artist, Phil Sellers, who with his wife Gail runs River Hill Pottery in the Eclipse Mill. This year he is chairing the annual North Adams Open Studios slated for October 17 and 18.

When General Electric moved out in the late 1980s, with 10,000 lost jobs, Pittsfield fell on hard times. The recovery started in 2003 when the new Mayor, James M. Ruberto, mandated that arts and culture would be a focus for economic development. Megan Whilden disussed how she joined the team in 2005 and the remarkable progress since then that has reshaped the city as a cultural destination.

A breath of fresh air for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a generational show that focuses on a close group of avant-garde artists who combined ideas and imagery.

Prague is one of the oldest continuous cities in the world. Its architecture ranges from Romanesque to Gothic to Baroque to Art Nouveau and Art Deco. However, a rather special architectural design took roots there during the first two decades of the 20th Century. It is distinctive and abstract. The mystery includes why it took form there and did not proliferate.

The precise canvases of Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein appear effortless. A wonderful exhibition takes a look at the artist's rigorous process that will change the way you view his work. This show originated in Europe where it was presented at several museums before its American debut at the Katonah Museum of Art.

Love him or hate him, Francis Bacon was one of the most compelling artists of the 20th century. This is the first major retrospective in 20 years devoted to the painter. The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts this seminal exhibition through August 16.

It takes a community to make something like the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center succeed, and in Great Barrington this local theatre is a success in every sense of the word. Executive Director Beryl Jolly tells us why.

A new season of events kicks off July 5 with the reigning "Pied Piper of Music," Dan Zane and Friends and continues with opera, dance, theatre and "something for every taste."

The Artist A.E. Gallatin collected and organized the Museum of Living Art at New York University. When the museum closed in 1943 Gallatin donated a number of works to the Berkshire Museum. They form the core of this exhibition focused on American Abstract Art.

In 1924, a widow, Mrs. Truus Schroeder-Schrader adventurously commissioned a young architecturally trained furnituremaker to design a special house for her three children and her. The result was an amazingly austere yet sculpturally beautiful edifice that she lived in for over 40 years. The young architect was Gerrit Rietveld who was a member of the Dutch The Stijl art and design group. The impact of the house was clear. Two of Mrs. Schoeder's children became architects, and the house is one of the world's legendary structures.

To mark the launch of the 2009 Tanglewood Season the BSO is organizing a 150 mile cross state relay run starting at Symphony Hall on June 29 and ending at the Lenox campus, hopefully, a day later in time for the first rehearsal on July 1. Literally the season will be off and running.

Until its move to the Lenox campus Shakespeare & Company for many years presented its productions at the historic home of writer Edith Wharton The Mount in Lenox. From August 20-23 The Wharton Salon in partnership with The Mount will stage her comedy Xingu adapted from a short story by Dennis Krausnick.

Despite a tough economy the Tanglewood Music Festival is planning a spectacular 2009 season. Although there is a dense schedule another week has been added between the official end of the BSO performnances and the annual Jazz Festival. During the interim James Taylor will be in residence from August 27-30.

Barrington's Main Stage will feature audience favorites Carousel, Streetcar Named Desire and Sleuth, while on Stage 2 Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session will receive its world premiere, followed by Glen Berger's off-Broadway hit, Underneath the Lintel. Bill Finn's Musical Theatre Lab will be back with two workshops, as will the Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre presenting Disney's High School Musical 2.

With eight productions and principal casting announced for the Summer 2009 Season, the Berkshire Theatre Fetival continues to deliver a satisfying banquet of comedy, drama and music under the steady leadership of Kate Maguire.

The complete Beethoven Symphonies will be among the 15 programs that James Levine will lead during the 2009-2010 season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In addition to Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Renee Flemming performing the Four Last Songs of Strauss there will be premieres by Carter, Harbison, Leiberson and John Williams.

The live in HD series of broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera were an enormous success this past year for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. There will be a preview of the season which starts in the fall with a broadacast of a vintage performance of Renee Fleming starring in Eugene Onegin on July 11. The Mahaiwe is planning a stunning schedule of dance, music, film and theatre for the coming season.

Despite the poor economy tickets to the 32nd annual Freihofer Jazz Festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, June 27 and 28 are selling briskly. Jazz fans are advised to act quickly to avoid disappointment.

The retrospective of work, from 1989 through 2008 "Tabitha Vevers: Narrative Bodies" is now on view at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. The traveling exhibition originated at the DeCordova Museum in LInoln and was curated by Rachel Rosenfeld Lafo.

Spiro Veloudos has been a fixture on the Boston theatre scene for more than thirty years, and is currently Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Stage. In a revealing conversation, he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a Boston theatre company.

There are many highlights offered in the dense schedule for the 2009 season of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Founded in 1914 the PAAM has served one of the nation's oldest and most renowned artist colonies. The exhibitions and programming reflect that rich history.

Last night the near-sellout audience in the Colonial howled with laughter and gasped with delight as scene after scene of merry mayhem unfolded. As the company of The Producers took their first bows in the Berkshires, the audience stood and literally cheered this modest but clever company from Cohoes, New York. It was a moment, and a show, to remember.

For her final season as Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company, Tina Packer has pulled out all the stops for a dense and intense 2009/ 2010 season. Mostly Packer aspired to fully book the first season of the new Evelyn P. Bernstein Theatre. Tony Simotes takes over day to day operation on June 1 and Packer informed the media that "I can't wait." She anticipates a new phase of her career as an actor, writer, teacher and director.

Given the poor economy, artistic director, Nicholas Martin, has reduced the number of Nikos Stage productions from five to three plays and shortened the seaon (July 1 through August 23) by two weeks. By making these cuts he has avoided any compromise of the quality of productions for one of the nation's most renowned theatre companies.

Music Director James Levine conducts a new production of Tosca on Opening Night as well as four other operas Many of the world’s greatest singers are featured in new roles. Debuts include conductors Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Esa-Pekka Salonen; directors Pierre Audi, Luc Bondy, Patrice Chéreau, Richard Eyre, and William Kentridge; designers Herzog & de Meuron, Rob Howell, Richard Peduzzi, and Miuccia Prada In its fourth season, The Met: Live in HD series will include nine live transmissions to more than 35 countries around the world

The first installment of the New Museum's signature triennial brings together fifty artists from twenty five countries all under the age of thirty-three. Talking about my generation.

The world renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance announced a full schedule of performances by 50 companies on three stages. The 77th season in the Berkshires features world/ U.S. premieres and special events including the 90th birthday celebration of choreographer Merce Cunningham.

In the span of the past few years the Tanglewood Jazz Festival has quickly become established as a Labor Day Weekend tradition in the Berkshires. For 2009 it will come following an extra week of programming featuring James Taylor. So the Second Line will rock and goove home titubating the last gasp of summer.

The late August Wilson, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award premiered a number of his plays at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. The 2009-2010 Huntington season will highlight a production of his acclaimed "Fences."

There was a full weekend schedule of events celebrating the opening of a new building on the campus of Mass MoCA which, for the next 25 years, will house "Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective."

The enormous and ambitious retrospective "Fritz Scholder: Indian/ not Indian" is being presented in two parts simultaneously by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall in Washington, D.C. and at The George Gustav Heye Center in lower Manhattan. Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) exploited Native imagery but largely deined his heritage as one quarter Indian (Luiseno, a California mission tribe). The NMAI has taken on a complex and controversial project.

Who would not like to travel to foreign destinations? The next best thing, however, is to read about journeys captured in beautiful writing. 35 women compose a mosaic of travel and life in countries around the world.

As an artist, writer, and teacher Gabriel Laderman has been a leading realist painter. With permission of the curators, David Carbone and Lincoln Perry, we are publishing their essays for the traveing retrospective which is now on view at the Museum of Art of the University of New Hampshire.

A poem and photo essay of New Hampshire's country side and hills. In memory of a great friend.

Ecuador is one of the most geographically and culturally diverse countries.The Andes form a rocky spine from north to south, separating the Amazon Basin in the east from the subtropical coastal plains. The capital, Quito, is a well-preserved city of hilly, narrow streets, beautiful colonial buildings, opulent churches and indigenous craft markets. Located near the equator, the city enjoys eternal spring.

Known as Oriente to the locals, the Amazon Basin, east of the Andes, fascinates with its flora, fauna and indigenous cultures unique to the rainforest.

The Galapagos is an archipelago of distinct volcanic formations, characterized by the geology of various eruptions. Sea birds and mammals are all around at close range. With no fear of predators, they feed, nurse, court and mate, oblivious to other creatures, including humans. Visiting five of the thirteen major islands was an amazing experience.

The "spine" of Ecuador, the Andes, has deep green valleys and spectacular volcanos. It has ethnic markets and other points of interest filled with local color.

The "Devil's Nose" train ride rewards the traveler with a spellbinding journey not to be forgotten easily. Cuenca is Ecuador's colonial jewel, which is also the cultural and economic center of the southern Sierra. The Cuenca basin is a magnet for artisans.