The Rural We: Maggie Buchwald
She's being honored for her work on the board of The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.
Anybody familiar with the cultural nonprofit organizations in our area will associate Maggie Buchwald with the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass. Buchwald is a founding board member and past chair, and will be the honoree at the Mahaiwe’s annual gala on Saturday, Aug. 10. The performing arts center’s board is a hard working one, and Buchwald has been one of the hardest-working members ever since founder Lola Jaffe tapped her to be involved in the $9 million restoration project.
My husband and I came to the Berkshires over 20 years ago. Before that we had a house in Hillsdale; we’d followed friends who had a weekend house there. We decided we’d rather be on the Massachusetts side, and now we’re just 15 minutes from the Mahaiwe.
I was an actress when I was very young, but only did that for a short time. My husband is in the talent agency business, so I’ve always been around theater. I stopped working to raise our daughters, but when they got older went back to work in the fundraising field as a consultant with small theaters, American Ballet Theater, Channel 13 and other institutions.
I met Lola Jaffe when she was starting to rebuild the Mahaiwe, around 2004. She’s the kind of person where you meet her one day and the next day you’re on her board. I’ve been on it sine 2006. I can’t say enough about what a great board it is. It’s really a community-building organization, and we’ve made so many friends through it.
I’m proud of the way the board has evolved. They mostly come out of the patrons and members. New people have come on, and it has become more about the programs and services than the architectural rebuilding. Our executive director Beryl Jolly has done a fabulous job. Lola and I interviewed her in my apartment in New York, and what a find that was. She represents the Mahaiwe so well in the community, but also works to involve the board and bring on new members. My relationship with her has been a wonderful part of my experience on the board.
I’m also proud of the fact that we initiated and completed our impact campaign, which effectively retired all of the debt of the Mahaiwe. We are now debt free, and in fact have a bit of a reserve, which is unusual for a young board.
The next chapter in the board’s life will involve strategic planning to determine what direction it should take. While the theater is beautiful, there’s no lobby and just limited space for patrons to gather. We’re looking to see how we can expand in or around the building, which is almost 115 years old. Even though it was rebuilt, systems break down and get outdated. We also want to enlarge our outreach into the community to reach a larger segment of the Berkshires and beyond.
The thing I love most about the Mahaiwe is the opportunity to see the great ladies of the musical theater: Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Kellie O’Hara, Barbara Cook. In a space like the Mahaiwe, there’s an intimacy and warmth you don’t get at the Met. Here, I’m in row three!
Now that I’m no longer the board chair, I have all the fun without the heavy weight of responsibility. I’ve passed that on to Margaret Deutsch. I hope she has as good a time as I did.
