It was like a Facebook reunion when hundreds of actual and virtual friends of the Berkshire Creative Economy Council gathered at Seven Hills in Lenox on Thursday, December 4, for the Sparkle holiday party. Berkshire Creative's chairman Nancy Fitzpatrick (left) urged guests to bid on silent auction items to help the council raise funds for a $100,000 state matching grant that will allow the council to stimulate new job growth and economic opportunity in the region by sparking innovative collaborations between artists, designers, cultural institutions and businesses.
Marketing consultant Carolann Patterson with her brother Brian Butterworth, the Red Lion Inn's director of sales; Maisie Deely, Nancy Olivver Jassaud and Hilary Deely.
Design-and-marketing guru Kevin Sprague with Carrie Saldo of the Berkshire Visitors Bureau
Pittsfield Director of Cultural Development Megan Whilden and Berkshire Fringe founder Sara Katzoff; weekenders-turned-full-timers Nick Kierstead and Lisa Cavender.
Seven Hills new owner Robin Gerson Wong and motivational speaker Richard Fabozzi.
Writer Bess Hochstein with the Berkshire Museum's Stuart Chase; writer and blogger Gina Hyams and Michael Zivyak of Berkshire Living.
Artist Darren Ovitsky and Dr. Nancy L. Ovitsky, chair of the department of Business Administration & Economics at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
