Berkshire Busk!, a new summer event, celebrates music and live performance each weekend from July 2 through September 4 on the streets of Great Barrington, MA. This immersive arts experience will place performers (“buskers”) at an array of locations from one end of the charming small town to the other. 

Berkshire Busk! builds upon the success of the outdoor dining and community response to the music that occurred last summer in downtown Great Barrington on Railroad Street, The Gazebo, and the Triplex, which will continue this year. 

According to Festival Director Eugene Carr, “performers of all kinds, cooped up for over a year, are bursting with anticipation to perform in front of live audiences. And those audiences are eager to welcome them back in settings that keep everyone safe and engaged.” 

The Berkshire Busk! online application for all performers is at www.berkshirebusk.com. Selected performers will be provided with a stipend for their participation, and solicitation for tips is also allowed -- and encouraged. 

Great Barrington Town Manager Mark Pruhenski adds “We see this festival as an innovative and creative way to help ensure that the stores and restaurants in our downtown district recover from the pandemic, and the many new stores just opening up do so successfully.” 

The project is being supported by a broad group of local political leaders, business owners and arts professionals, which can be viewed here: https://www.berkshirebusk.com/about-us/team. A full schedule of performers and locations will be updated in the late spring on the Festival website at www.berkshirebusk.com. 

ABOUT BERKSHIRE BUSK! 

Conceived of and produced by entrepreneur Eugene Carr, Berkshire Busk! was born from a love of arts and desire to support his adopted hometown through economic development. Great Barrington, voted “Best Small Town in America” by Smithsonian Magazine, felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting slow down in tourism. While summer 2021 will bring back some level of normal activity, there will still be constraints on experiencing music and art in small, enclosed spaces. Berkshire Busk! will bridge this gap bringing the celebration of the arts to the streets. 

Berkshire Busk! is made possible by support from lead sponsors, Calyx Berkshire Dispensary, Départ Wine, Warrior Trading, Berkshire Money Managment, The Downtown Great Barrington Cultural District and over 20 other sponsors. The current list can be viewed at: https://www.berkshirebusk.com/sponsors. The project’s fiscal sponsor is the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires. 

ABOUT EUGENE CARR 

Eugene Carr is the co-founder and former CEO of technology company Patron Technology and PatronManager.com, and co-founder of ALO.ai. He lives in Great Barrington and is an entrepreneur who has been a visionary in bringing internet-based technology solutions to arts and cultural organizations since the early days of the consumer web. Carr’s first technology company in 1995 was the groundbreaking national arts listing and online ticketing site CultureFinder.com, funded by AOL and Comcast Ventures. 

Carr began his career in arts management and event production, serving as the Executive Director of the American Symphony Orchestra and Concordia Orchestra, where he produced hundreds of concerts at venues in New York City primarily at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. 

Carr earned degrees in Cello Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory History from Oberlin College, received an MBA from Columbia Business School. He is the co-chairman of LaunchU, an Oberlin alumni-led entrepreneurship program through which he has mentored young entrepreneurs around the world. He has written several books and is the co-author of Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Management for the 21st Century.