Pittsfield's 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival Returns with Music, Art, and Outdoor Activities

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The 14th annual 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival, presented by the City of Pittsfield and Barrington Stage Company in partnership with Mill Town Foundation, will take place February 13-23, 2025.

The festival features a range of events including theater, music, visual arts, dance, outdoor activities, and fireworks.

Highlights include the 10x10 New Play Festival at Barrington Stage Company, A Taste of Downtown coordinated by Downtown Pittsfield, Inc., and beer releases at Hot Plate Brewing Company. The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts will showcase OFF the STREETS, a group exhibition of local mural artists, from February 5-28, with an opening reception on February 13.

Outdoor activities include the Winter Festival at Clapp Park on February 17, featuring sled races, snowshoeing, and a snow sculpture contest. Ice sculptors Peter Vacchina and Robert Markey will create installations at Palace Park on February 14, weather permitting. The festival's fireworks display will take place at 6 p.m. on February 22 at the Common on First Street, with a pre-fireworks event hosted by Berkshire United Way.

Additional programming includes dance workshops at Jacob's Pillow, historical exhibits by the Berkshire Historical Society, and Hancock Shaker Village's The Big Chill event. For more details, visit the festival's official website or social media pages.

BCC Trustees Vote to Hire Hara Charlier as Next President

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:23AM / Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Catheryn Chacon Ortega, the alumni appointment, liked how Hara Charlier easily connected with students faculty; Melissa Myers, alumni representative, also noted how comfortable Charlier was with various groups. Charlier, right, was called after the vote and accepted pending negotiations and state approval. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It wasn't hard for BCC's Board of Trustees to elect a new president from Minnesota on Monday.

One by one, during a special meeting at Berkshire Community College, board members expressed their conviction that Hara Charlier was the best candidate to lead after Ellen Kennedy retires. They unanimously recommended Charlier as the next president of BCC to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.

"We're not trying to hire a replacement for Dr. Kennedy; We are trying to hire our next leader," Chair Julia Bowen said.

Charlier, currently the president of Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minn., was one of four finalists identified by the Presidential Search Committee who visited the campus. She was not on site, but was called after the vote.

Catheryn Chacon Ortega was impressed by how Charlier connected with students and faculty, as well as her passion and breadth of experience.  

"As the appointed alumni, I put myself in the students' shoes when I was thinking about this, and I think I feel very represented by her, like if I come back as a student here, I think she will be a person that will be open doors to me, to my community, to the immigrant community, to everybody," she said.

Danielle Gonzalez feels Charlier has a "very" clear commitment to the community part of community college, and a deep experience of serving underserved populations, "really just with great enthusiasm."

"I think that in addition to having really deep community college leadership experience, she was able to articulate a very thorough understanding of the issues of the college of Berkshire County, of what those opportunities might look like, and how she would connect what her experience has been with how she could drive the school forward," said Julie Hughes, a newer member of the board.