This just released by MCLA’s team:
June 19, 2008
NORTH ADAMS, MASS – Students from across the county are taking part in Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ Berkshire Hills Internship Program (B-HIP) this summer as nearly three-quarters of them attend other colleges or universities.
Joining four MCLA students in B-HIP are others enrolled in bachelors and masters programs or recent graduates of institutions including those in Indiana, New Jersey, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia, as well as other colleges in Massachusetts – such as Westfield State and Merrimack College.
B-HIP unites non-profit arts organizations – including the Berkshire Opera Company, the Berkshire Museum, the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center in MCLA Gallery 51, the Mahaiwe Theatre, Images Cinema and Kidspace at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) – with college and graduate students interested in a career in arts administration.
Last summer’s interns included those from Japan, Italy and Romania.
“There are reasons folks come from colleges and universities from all over the world to MCLA to enroll in the B-HIP program,” said Jonathan Secor, MCLA director of special programs. “MCLA is in the unique position of having a top-notch arts management program, while situated in the culturally rich Berkshires. Add the fact that, as a state college, the tuition is more than reasonable, and that you are in the Berkshire Hills for the summer, and you have the reasons why students and graduates attend the B-HIP program.”
A recent graduate of Westfield State College, Caroline Collins of Lee is following up her bachelor’s degree in fine arts with an internship at the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center in MCLA Gallery 51.
“Westfield State just has a fine arts department. There are not many other options there, except in graphic design,” Collins said. “I thought the B-HIP program would be good because I’d like to work in a gallery or in education.”
Erin Dougherty, who is working on her master’s degree in art education at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., is interning at Kidspace in MASS MoCA.
“I wanted an internship program where I could do some hands-on teaching and practice some art skills,” Dougherty said. “I want to go into museum education, so this program offered an arts management component, along with the educational experience.”
Eva Lin, who studies telecommunications at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is interning with the Chuck Davis Documentary Project, at Williams College’s ‘62 Center.
“I see the arts as a form of communication,” Lin said. “The B-HIP program just spoke to me as it saw that connection as well. It also seemed perfect for me because I’d like to produce documentary films.”
Although each B-HIP intern stays at his or her chosen cultural institution throughout the program, each Tuesday morning, the aspiring arts administrators meet as a class with MCLA arts management professors to discuss and dissect what they have been working on. They also meet with cultural leaders from throughout the County for informal art talks, where the leaders to discuss their jobs and talk about the history and running of their cultural institutions. Each Thursday, the interns travel to see various performances and art at not only the program’s participating venues, but also at places like the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Fringe Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, Club Helsinki, Ferrin Gallery, Tanglewood and the Norman Rockwell Museum.
“I’m enjoying it,” said Joe Gross, a Williams College student interning at the Berkshire Opera Company. “It’s been a good experience so far. I’ve learned a lot.”
The 13 students participating in this summer’s 12-week program are Erin Dougherty from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., at Kidspace in MASS MoCA; Ellen Dahill-Brown of West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, W.V., at the Berkshire Museum; Joe Gross of Williams College at the Berkshire Opera Company; Colleen McDonald of The College of New Jersey in Ewing, N.J., at Skyboro Sound/Windsor School of Music; Kerrilee Knights of Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., at the Mahaiwe Theatre; Eva Lin of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., at the Chuck Davis Documentary Project at the ‘62 Center; Halli Chamberlain of MCLA at the Kolok Gallery; Mary Domenichelli of MCLA at the Williams College Department of Dance; Elizabeth McWhirk of MCLA at Northern Berkshire Creative Arts; Caroline Collins of Westfield State College at the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center; Abbi Hermosa of Merrimack College in North Andover at Greylock Arts; Darren Fitzgerald of MCLA at Images Cinema; and Angela Zammarelli of Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minneapolis, Minn., at the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development.
For more information, 413-664-8718, or go to [ http://www.mcla.edu/b-hip ]www.mcla.edu/b-hip .
Rich is presenting some new video art, as well as some of his better-known works such as his short film, “Jeweler’s Eye,” which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival earlier this year, and “Common Pictures: A Journey Through the Eyes of Found Photography,” which was an opening act for the electronic music duo, “The Books,” on their spring 2007 tour.
