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and discovery. Hunter Runnette, founder of field, hopes the event will serve as a weekend-long“ mini college of ideas.” He was inspired by the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts in Wales, which Runnette attended, and hopes field could turn into a similar week-long event in the future, bringing people together from across the globe for a week of conversation and exchange in the Berkshires.
Says Runnette:“ We want to talk about environment. We want to talk about health. We want to talk about science. We want to talk about soft things like love, like what is love today? We really think that there’ s a need for that.”
Bernard Schwartz, who previously served as executive director of the Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y and executive producer of literary programs for the Authors Guild Foundation, is shaping programming for field. He calls Runnette’ s vision“ an inspiring one.”
Each conversation will be an hour-long collaborative talk, followed by time for audience participation, including sharing thoughts or asking questions.“ The virtue of the inaugural field festival slate of programming is how eclectic it is, from visual artists to historians to literary artists to public health experts to mental health experts,” says Schwartz.
“ One thing I think is always compelling to me is when you do live events, what you’ re striving for is some spontaneous and memorable encounter. Putting together a festival entails a lot of effort from a lot of people, and at its heart there are these moments that will happen on stage, backstage, on the grounds of Shakespeare & Co., between artists and the public and in private moments, or in the signing line that are unexpected and will be life-changing in a really affirmative way. That’ s such an inspiring enterprise to be able to play any kind of part in.”
The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires is serving as the festival’ s
This exhibition is supported in part by
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Your community foundation.
Learn how to open a charitable fund: berkshiretaconic. org
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Full image credits can be found at NRM. org / 250
American Stories:
Revolution to Rockwell
On view through October 26
NRM. org • 9 Glendale Rd. Stockbridge, MA • 413.298.4100
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Fall 2026 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 43