On July 14, the Cheshire Summer Stage will host the Minerva Arts Center, a nonprofit organization based out of Williamstown that performs mostly educational theater.
The Minerva Arts Center, operating under the artistic direction of Minerva Stage, strives to promote the importance of an arts-based education by providing high-quality arts programming, to inspire creativity in our community, and to offer opportunities for students and adults of all ages to realize their true artistic potential.
“Since I’ve been coming to the Berkshires, all industries have grown but certainly there’s been a lot of revitalizations in the art with things like MASS MoCA and Common Folk,” said Jennifer Howard, Minerva Arts Center Teaching Artist and Executive Director.
Founded by Kathleen O’Mara in 1996, Minerva Stage has been providing residents of Berkshire County with arts education, including theatre, music, dance, video, creative writing, and the visual arts. The Minerva Arts Center provides classes, workshops, community theatre productions, concerts, staged readings, and performances.
Since then, the Minerva Arts Center has come to fruition under the guidance of Jennifer, who has a student of Minerva Stage in the 90s and began working for Minerva Stage Summer workshops in 2000. Part of her extensive background in theatre work, according to her biography on the Minerva Arts Center website, includes producing the Original Playwright, Choreography and Artists Festival (OPCAF) and the Student Independent Film Festival (SIFF), directing the McCann Musicals, and assisting with the Mt. Greylock Middle School productions for several years for Minerva.
Last Summer, along with their annually scheduled summer workshops, the Minerva Arts Center performed at the Cheshire Summer Stage and enjoyed their participation.
“Last summer, we had the teaching artists perform, and it was a lot of fun,” Jennifer said. “We saw everything from little kids running in the field to grandparents being there; just all walks of life. It was cool to see the different performers all performing together at the end where it turned into one big jam session.”
“For this summer, we are planning on having some of the teaching artists and some of the students performing,” Jennifer continued.
For Minerva, according to Jennifer, the reason they perform is definitely for the love of the arts and she believes Susan and Laurie’s vision of having an outdoor performance stage on the lake is a great idea.
“I was introduced to Sue and I met with them [Susan and Laurie]. They told me what they were trying to do, and it seemed like a natural overflow for Minerva,” Jennifer said. “It [Cheshire Summer Stage] is something important for the community and we wanted to give them support and help promote the arts in the community.”
“We are performers who love to perform, so if you give us a stage we’ll be there,” Jennifer continued. “In performing, hopefully, we reach someone who doesn’t know about us.”
Currently, the Minerva Arts Center is in the planning stages of an initiative to build a performing arts center in North Berkshire County. Their vision, according to Jennifer, is to create an arts center that is accessible to the whole community, not just Minerva.
Make sure to check their performance, and other performance by other artists, at this year’s Cheshire Summer Stage.
For more information about volunteer opportunities, the organization, and workshop opportunities, visit their website: www.minervaartscenter.org.