“I never fail to consult the Berkshire Review without being impressed by the responsiveness, sympathy, and understanding informing its contents. Perhaps above all, the Review takes the arts – from theater production to fiction, from film to music – as having values aside from those of commercial entertainment, values that have to do with what it means to be human, and what it might mean to be more human. When practised at this level, criticism, too, is one of the arts.”
—Paul Griffiths
Michael Miller, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, The Berkshire Review for the Arts and New York Arts. Photo 2012 Lucas Miller.
Thanks to the generosity of some of our readers, we are now eligible for grants from private and government foundations, which are as crucial to our public programs of concerts, exhibitions, and readings, as they are to vitality of New York Arts and The Berkshire Review. Of course your generosity at any level is warmly appreciated. But please continue your support! Private donations are essential to our ongoing operations, and foundations look for private community support in considering the awarding of grants.
Contributions to New York Arts, an International Journal for the Arts, and The Berkshire Review (Arts Press publications) are now tax deductible as part of our fiscal sponsorship with Fractured Atlas, a national non-profit arts service organization, which “empowers artists, arts organizations, and other cultural sector stakeholders by eliminating practical barriers to artistic expression, so as to foster a more agile and resilient cultural ecosystem.”
There are other changes at the Arts Press. Our headquarters have moved to New York City, to place us at a global arts center. Our national and international coverage has moved from The Berkshire Review to New York Arts. The Berkshire Review will carry on with its original mission, concentrating on the summer festivals in the Berkshires. Both publications were founded with the intent of providing in-depth discussion and criticism of the arts written by thoughtful, committed, and entertaining writers with a deep knowledge of their fields, whether as artists, critics, or academics.
New York Arts assumed its new role as our flagship publication with an exhibition of master drawings and a Baroque concert, played and sung by some of the most distinguished musicians in the Northeast, including Paula Robison and Kenneth Cooper. Our second event, a reading by Senior Music Editor Lloyd Schwartz of poems by W. B. Yeats accompanied by Irish traditional music and an exhibition of photographs of Ireland by Michael Miller, took place in early June. The lively success of this event has reaffirmed an earlier plan to sponsor multidisciplinary events of a unique sort, reflecting the broad interests of our publications. This will include art exhibitions, concerts, readings, performances, lectures, and symposia. As a center for the enjoyment and discussion of the arts and as a local publication with an international scope, New York Arts plans to build a strong community in the city and in the world at large.
These events require considerable advance funding for hall rental, publicity, etc., not to mention a guarantee of the participants’ fees. Your support is absolutely crucial to the success of our program. Another, equally important goal is to compensate our writers properly for their work. Many online publications (including of necessity ourselves) do not pay writers or pay them insultingly small sums, and this has pushed down the rates in traditional publications. The Arts Press does not wish to be a part of this. As our work expands, we must recruit help with administration and fundraising—all the more reason why your support is needed. And, for that matter, operating in New York is expensive! We need your help to reach our next phase of growth—and simply to make New York Arts and The Berkshire Review bigger and better! Please give generously. The writers, our readers, and I will be extremely grateful for your donations at whatever level.
The Arts Press is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of The Arts Press must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Contributions for the purposes of The Arts Press must be made payable to Fractured Atlas, either through the secure online form or by check, which should be mailed to the attention of Michael Miller, Publisher, The Arts Press, 127 East 91st Street, New York New York, 10128. Or just click on the Fractured Atlas logo below or in the appropriate box on the sidebar of every page of New York Arts and The Berkshire Review.
Please give generously, so that we may continue to publish the high-quality criticism the arts deserve and to offer our new program of exhibitions, performances, lectures, and symposia.
Serious criticism is absolutely essential if the arts are to survive and flourish, since the artists themselves use it to refine their work, and it plays a powerful role in educating and encouraging audiences to attend and support the arts. To learn more about New York Arts and The Berkshire Review[and to read some of the comments made about us by leaders in the arts community], click here for New York Arts’“About” page, and here for Berkshire Review‘s.
Sincerely,
Michael Miller
Here are a few more comments our publications have received:
What a review!! Why don’t we have anyone this good writing for the New York audience? Compliments to our audience aside, I thought he was right on the mark in every detail. Thanks for sending this around. It has truly made my day.
—Claire Brook, Editor
Your writing demonstrated passion, conceptual depth, integrity and imagination—and, above all, an eagerness to learn more and stretch your approach to theater with a brave and conscientious zeal.
—Sasha Anawalt, Director of Arts Journalism Programs, USC Annenberg Arts Journalism Programs
I just spent about an hour browsing through your Berkshire Review and am staggered at its breadth and depth. I found so many pieces I wanted to read. What a wonderful resource.
—Karen Halvorsen, Photographer
Yes, I very much enjoyed reading this piece, and I salute your publication for actually doing real criticism, just about disappeared from these parts.
—D. Kern Holoman, Professor of Music, University of California, Davis.
Last year a marvelous new source came online for reliable and well-written reviews of musical performances, as well as theater, art exhibits, and (promised for the future) books—including books on music. It’s called The Berkshire Review for the Arts. […] As the “for” in its title suggests, the Berkshire Review tries to draw attention to major artistic effort and achievement, not to tear it down for the greater glory of the smug critic (as sometimes occurs in, say, concert reviews in daily newspapers).
—Ralph P. Locke, Professor of Musicology, Eastman School of Music; Senior Editor, Eastman Studies in Music, writing on Dial “M” for Musicology, July 9, 2008
Please send contributions by check to Michael Miller, Publisher, The Arts Press, 127 East 91st Street, New York New York, 10128. Checks should be made payable to Fractured Atlas, with “The Arts Press” in the memo line. You can also make secure contributions by credit card online. Just click on the Fractured Atlas logo in the appropriate box on the sidebar of every page on New York Arts and the Berkshire Review.”
