As pandemic limits visitors, museums work to adapt

When Covid-19 began to spread into the region in early March, museums were gearing up for the year’s major exhibitions and the usual wave of summer tourists. But over the next couple of weeks, museums went dark across the Berkshires, Vermont and eastern New York. Most were able to offer only online programming as the public health emergency stretched from weeks into months. As restrictions eased, museums began to reopen on a limited basis this summer. But the blockbuster shows were canceled or postponed until next year, and crowds remain forbidden. As a result, some museums say their revenues are down as much as 90 percent this year.
read more

Cheese gives new life to landmark

Artisan producer expands to former restaurant at edge of Adirondacks.
read more

In taut stories, women characters explore race, grief

The award-winning fiction writer Danielle Evans will hold a virtual conversation about her newest collection, “The Office of Historical Corrections,” this month in Lenox. Evans’ stories tell the stories of women living day to day, and she looks at broad currents in contemporary society with a clear analytical eye.

read more

At historic home, a holiday landscape of light and sound

Edith Wharton loved the stars and the night sky. She had books on astronomy, and wrote of her memories stargazing on the terrace and the widow’s walk at The Mount, her historic home in the Berkshires. Honoring that spirit, the Mount will extend its programming this year into the holiday season with NightWood, a sound and light show that aims to transform the property into a landscape of mystery and fantasy.

read more