10×10 festival to return in February

PITTSFIELD – Last year’s popular 10×10 on North Arts Festival is coming back to downtown in February under a slight name change.

The Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development recently announced the second annual 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival would take place Feb. 14-24. The 2013 festival, spearheaded by Barrington Stage Company (BSC) and the City of Pittsfield, will expand to include more venues in the city’s newly-designated Upstreet Cultural District.

The Upstreet Cultural District stretches from the Colonial Theatre on South Street to BSC’s Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center in the northern part of downtown, and from First Street to Center Street.

“We’re thrilled to see Pittsfield’s vibrant Upstreet Cultural District come alive with creative art, performances and programming again this February,” said Pittsfield Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi.

The 2012 festival brought in more than 3,000 people to enjoy 44 performances and events, featuring more than 120 new works including plays, songwriters, poets, visual art, film and dance.

This year’s festival will mark the return of popular events such as BSC’s 10×10 New Play Festival, featuring 10 10-minute plays; the “Ten Spot” art show at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, including 10 billboards around Berkshire County featuring local artists; the smartphone 10-minute film festival at the Beacon Cinema, featuring short films 10 minutes long or less; a 10×10 art show at Gallery 25; 10 singer/songwriters at Mission Bar and Tapas; and 10 poets at Y Bar.

New festival programming includes 10 decades of jazz composers from Berkshires Jazz; 10 improvised mini-musicals by the Royal Berkshire Improv Troupe at the Colonial Theatre Garage space; PechaKucha “(10+10)×(10+10)” at Berkshire Museum; the “One Billion Rising” WAM SLAM dance party at Spice Dragon; a 10×10 stand-up comedy show; Berkshire Art Association and Storefront Artist Project’s 10×10 “RAP” (Real Art Party) at Berkshire Museum; a visual art exhibit by Hancock Shaker Village; and “10×10on10,” an interdisciplinary spoken word and art exhibit by WAM Theatre and Alchemy Initiative.

“Winter is going to be a whole lot livelier in The Berkshires,” Mayor Bianchi said. “I’m especially excited by all the events for youth and families this year.”

This year, the 2013 festival will also include a family arts component, as the festival takes place during February school break.

Family programming for the 2013 10×10 Upstreet festival includes “10 Days of Play” at Berkshire Museum; 10 creative projects in 10 days at Bisque, Beads and Beyond; a Shaker music and dance program by Hancock Shaker Village; and “The Teen Ten: A High School Art Show” at Pittsfield City Hall, organized by Miss Hall’s School students.

A full schedule of events, venues, dates and times will be announced later this month. Visit discoverpittsfield.com/10×10 for more information about tickets and the schedule of events.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on January 3, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Community Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry