Art and Place: A Local, National and International Conversation

August 6-8, 2010

Double Edge Theatre has been profoundly affected by its 1994 move from Boston to the small town of Ashfield in Western MA, a move that had its origins in economic survival and artistic freedom. Today Double Edge is intricately tied to the community of Ashfield, the Berkshire Hilltowns and the Five College area. The theatre's site includes two performance venues, hosting year-round cultural activities at its home and on tour.

During the last two years, Conversations has developed as a series of two-hour live and web-streamed public cultural events. In March 2010, the first "Art and Place" Conversation was held. The framework was to have local artists examine the role of "place" in their creative process, and in turn question the effect of their art on the community. To this end, the "Art and Place" conversation was re-envisioned as a two-day gathering to explore fundamental questions - questions shared by everyone concerned with the arts and culture - on a local, national, international, and rural level.

Art and Place, March 2010

Art and Place: A Case Study

Double Edge Theatre and the Role of Place and Community in the developlent of "Living Culture": 1994 - 2010.

Art and Place: Local Models

What is unique to this region of New England, the second most impoverished county in MA; what is the releationship between the strong-willed independence of the members of this community and the area's flourishing artist community? How does artistic responsibility relate to the region's history of accepting outsiders - including the Salem witches, the Underground Railroad, and gay/lesbian

communities - and its lack of racial diversity? Are there

distinct models for theatre, music, art and writing?

Art and Place: National and International Models

Examples of unique urban and other models and how each relates to its

community: how does artgrow and impact its community and how can the

community support its artists? Is there a need of an interdependent culture in urban environments? How is community defined in an urban setting? What is cultural activity, and how does it extend from art?

Art and Place: A Rural Conversation

If metro'centric points of view are dominant in the arts, yet eighty percent of our country's land is rural and one fifth of our people, aren't rural community really worthy of focus? Is there a different rural art or a different quality of place? How does art impact a rural community, culturally and ecomonically? As in the initial "Art and Place" Conversation, this will be open to the public.