The Berkshire Theatre Group has announced a major grant from longtime area supporters and business leaders.
The Feigenbaum Foundation announced a $5 million donation to the Berkshire Theatre Group Friday afternoon. Part of the funding will support an educational center at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. Kate Maguire is the company’s artistic director and CEO. She says the Feigenbaum brothers, Donald and Armand, were instrumental in creating Berkshire Theatre Group through a 2010 merger with the Colonial Theatre and the Stockbridge-based Berkshire Theatre Festival.
“They just created an environment which was about educating and about always changing and keeping your eyes open and looking forward,” Maguire said. “So it seems kind of perfect that they would now want to create a center that can be a center for the arts on the stages as well as a place where the community can come and learn.”
The Feigenbaum Center for the Performing Arts at The Colonial Theatre will be located in an existing brick building behind the theatre on North Street. Maguire says a study will be done to develop the facility.
“What we’re looking to do is to develop a space that already exists, it’s about a 10,000 sq ft. building, and to be able to create spaces within that for classes…music, dance and theater,” Maguire explained. “I hope to be able to collaborate with other artistic organizations in the area to offer these classes.”
Maguire says the education center fits in with Berkshire Theatre Group’s expansive youth involvement through residences, classes, camps and after school programs reaching more than 17,000 schoolchildren.
“It’s our way of making sure that for years to come we understand our greater responsibility to the community,” said Maguire.
The 10-year $5 million endowment cannot be drawn up until BTG raises an equal amount. Maguire says the donation is a pathway to the future, but that doesn’t mean the group can stop putting on quality productions to support its $3.3 million annual budget. She says the company is launching a fundraising effort to match the donation.
“Maybe we can reach that $5 million before 10 years with the help of the community and others who want to give and make sure we are here for the rest of time, is what we’re aiming for,” said Maguire.
The 780-seat Colonial Theatre built in 1903 reopened in 2006 after a $21 million renovation spanning nearly two years. The Feigenbaums were major donors for the renovation. Emil George is executive director of the Feigenbaum Foundation.
“This great effort to restore the Colonial Theatre at a time when the city of Pittsfield was still reeling from the loss of its major employer was and is very important to the city,” George said. “It really has changed the city. It has transformed it to a cultural center.”
The new science center at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts also bears the Feigenbaum name.
