Winter Arts Festival in the Berkshires
10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival
February 14th-24th, 2013

The 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival features over 70 events during Pittsfield’s second annual contemporary winter arts festival February 14-24, 2013. The 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival features dozens of artists, actors, musicians, writers, comedians and more. New this year are a variety of family friendly daytime activities, perfect for a week when many schools are on vacation. They include daily arts projects at Bisque, Beads & Beyond, daily adventure play at the Berkshire Museum, a teen art show at Pittsfield City Hall, a program of ten Shaker dances and songs at Treehouse Children’s Boutique, and a concert at Berkshire Music School.

The month of February brings a host of cultural events to downtown Pittsfield as the 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival returns! Formerly called 10×10 North, the festival takes place from February 14th-24th, 2013 and  fills the city’s newly designated cultural district (the first west of Boston) with performances of theater and music, art shows featuring work in a variety of media, original comedy and film, and a wide variety of other arts-related events, exhibits, and shows.  The festival draws exclusively from local talent in order to provide the community with such a large amount of new and exciting work, and offers families numerous opportunities to see exciting performances featuring talented actors and musicians, view unique and fascinating artwork, and to learn about all of the creativity and innovation that exists right here in the region.

Highlights of 10×10 Upstreet for families include:

• WeeMuse: 10 Days of Play: A Pop-Up Adventure Play – The Berkshire Museum will fill its Crane Room with materials for creative free play (including paper and cardboard boxes), offering families a chance to transform the space into anything from the surface of the moon to the Sahara desert.  The collaborative nature of the project offers kids a chance to work together and practice cooperation, while still exercising their creativity! Takes place Thursday through Saturday, February 14th-23rd.

• 10 Decades of Jazz Composers – The Armen Donelian Trio will perform work from ten jazz composers whose work defined the first century of jazz.  Young jazz musicians and students interested in music history can learn about the history of jazz composition and performance by attending the concert, which will take place at Baba Louie’s on Friday, February 15.

• 10×10 Shaker Faces – Treehouse will host an exhibition of historic photographs of Shaker life in villages from Maine to Kentucky.  Their way of life was practiced by shakers living at Pittsfield’s Hancock Shaker Village until 1960, and families can learn about their culture and history through the photographs included in the exhibition.  Shakers of all ages are portrayed in images that help visitors learn about the aesthetics, beliefs, and traditions of Shaker culture.  Families can learn much about the Shakers by visiting the exhibit, and can use knowledge of American history to help put what they learn into historic and cultural context. On February 22nd from 10-11am, stop by for an interactive hour of Shaker songs that will get your hands and feet moving.

A full schedule of events and exhibits will be available soon from Cultural Pittsfield, as well as information for community members interested in sharing their work during the festival.  discoverpittsfield.com/10×10