Berkshire Business Journal Expanding art for all

Name change and new location provided Berkshire Art Center with tools to grow

By John Townes

STOCKKBRIDGE — The past year has brought two significant changes to one of the Berkshire’s most wellknown art centers.

In June, the nonprofit IS183 Art School of the Berkshires in Stockbridge changed its name to the Berkshire Art Center. In September, BAC expanded its physical scope by opening a new site in downtown Pittsfield.

The new name better conveys the art center’s role as an inclusive and multifaceted regional center for the creative arts, according to BAC’s Executive Director Lucie Castaldo.

“The previous name was confusing and didn’t represent all that we do,” Castaldo said. “Education is a central part of our mission, but the school is just one facet of what we offer.”

The most recent name change — BAC has changed its name twice since its inception in 1991 — was prompted by the nonprofit’s involvement with the Inclusive Leadership Cohort, an initiative led by Multicultural BRIDGE.

BAC is one of the organizations participating in this effort to develop strategies to foster equity and inclusion in the Berkshires. With funding from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, BAC has been conducting an extensive examination of its role, and how it can reduce barriers and increase community access and engagement through art.

“The change in name grew out of an ongoing process that has involved surveys, meetings and other outreach and research,” Castaldo said.

BAC was originally known as the Interlaken School of Arts when it was founded 32 years ago by a group led by Sam Kasten, a weaver who lived and worked in the Stockbridge village of Interlaken. The school changed its name IS183 in 2002 following a legal challenge from a similarly named school in Michigan.

The school’s main studios and offices are still located in a former public schoolhouse named Citizen’s Hall in Stockbridge (the name IS183 fused the school’s location near Route 183 with the spirit of other contemporary arts centers that are located in former public school buildings, like PS122 in New York City). But the new Pittsfield location provides the newly named BAC with additional room for classes, other activities and programs. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday; and on evenings when events take place.

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