MCLA Berkshire Cultural Resource Center

MCLA’s Berkshire Cultural Resource Center(BCRC) delivers cultural experiences that embrace a wide range of aesthetic and conceptual points of view to support a diverse and vibrant North Adams.

We are engaged in the way cultural experiences are presented, positioned and developed in our region. We advocate for, nurture, and facilitate a diverse, vibrant cultural community at MCLA and in the greater region. Our work bridges the campus and greater community and engages creatively and critically with a wide range of visual and performing arts experiences programmed by BCRC in collaboration with community partners and students.

Currently, BCRC produces four major programs. They are:

MCLA Gallery 51, run by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts since 2005, presents work from a wide range of emerging and mid-career contemporary artists.  The gallery hosts ten exhibitions each year and countless events and happenings. Staffed by mostly student workers, MCLA Gallery 51 provides students with hands-on experience in the day-to-day operations of a gallery.

DownStreet Art is a public art project designed to revitalize downtown North Adams, a post-industrial city in the Berkshires of Western, MA (also home to MASS MoCA). Our mission is to promote artistic excellence, build economic and social capital and encourage the dialogue between our community and the arts. DownStreet Art does this by bringing professional artists and performers to venues throughout downtown North Adams, enlivening Main Street, increasing visitors, enhancing liveability, and encouraging resident participation. 

MCLA Presents! brings to North Adams and the MCLA campus some of the world's finest performers in music, dance, theatre, and spoken word. From large musical festivals held in the school gym and on the grounds to intimate one-person theatrical events and evenings of poetry held in the college's art galleries downtown, MCLA Presents! shares a unique performance series with the Northern Berkshire community. 

Collaborations are a series of initiatives focused on bringing diverse perspectives and voices that enrich our lives and highlight the power of the arts as a means to speak across discipline and personal boundaries to the MCLA campus. Collaborations activities include both private and public opportunities focused on working closely with faculty and student groups to provide co-curricular opportunities for students to think, create and write across the curriculum.