Campaign Update
Following our purchase of a barn and 42 acres and successful fundraising to transform the barn into a multi-use performance venue, we now have the opportunity to purchase an adjacent 40 acres with turn-key accommodations for guest artists, people in transition, students and interns.
Phase 1:
Transform the Barn
Funding complete!
Adding septic, lighting, bathrooms, farm store, insulation, parking, wheelchair ramp and more!
Phase 2:
Purchase Adjacent Parcel
Includes two houses, three apartments, gardens, and orchards.
Phase 3:
Build Cabins Above the Barn
By the end of phase three, the center will be able to accommodate 20+ people!
Consider the benefits of a robust Center to...
- Local Economy: more tourism, more jobs
- Youth: engagement with arts and nature, Bee & Blossom program has already been running for two years
- Pollinators: pollinator sanctuary and educational apiary
- Community: more arts, more coming together = more resilience
- Local Farmers & Artisans: an "art-farm" stand, already in place
- Arts Groups & Educators: an accessible Charlemont venue
Envisioning the Center
Piti Theatre envisions an arts-infused entry point into the forests, geology and ecosystems of this unique region of "the Hilltowns" in Western Franklin County. The Center will be founded on the belief that creativity can be leveraged on behalf of a sustainable future and a deep sense of place.
The Center will be an environmental education hub where people of all ages can connect and re-connect with the natural world. In this place of meeting points and crossroads, of synergy between art and action, scientists and children, policy-makers and parents will come to nourish their vision for a livable, thriving planet and get professional support for communicating that vision with the world. Piti Theatre has been bringing their unique blend of art and environmental education to schools, theatres and festivals around the U.S. and internationally since 2008.
There will be space for making performances, plenty of outdoor space, wild space, there are bees and mushrooms, chickens and swings. Children are coming here during the day and in the afternoons. Adults, artists and "non-artists" are coming here for the day, the week, the month and the year. Performances are being created for touring and for the community. The center is connected to an international network of change-makers and creators. There are international exchanges in motion.
And slowly, over the years, new ways of thinking (and old ways of thinking that have been forgotten) will be carved out and then leap, like peepers from their home pond, out into the world in the service of a living planet where social and environmental justice is the norm, not short-term profit for a few. We see this center as offering a unique contribution to the performing arts and to the diverse movements for a sustainable human presence on earth.
