Location: Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Photo Credit: Christopher Duggan

As Director of Jacob’s Pillow, Pam Tatge’s vision for the future of one of the nation’s longest-running dance festivals is focused on a strategic plan that will help make it, and the Berkshires, a year-round cultural destination.

Tatge came to the Pillow in 2016 from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she was artistic director for nearly 17 years. “It’s thrilling to move to a community with rich cultural partners,” she says.

Location: Jacob’s Pillow in Becket

In fact, the word ‘partners’ is a mantra for the Pillow’s community engagement plan that’s in the works for completion by 2022. The plan extends the Pillow’s education and outreach programs into local communities, creates partnerships with other cultural institutions in the area and gives world-class artists an opportunity to come to the Berkshires to study and develop new works.

“The Berkshires are an astonishingly fertile region for arts and culture,” says Tatge. “The concentration of creative energy here makes for an engaged and enlightened audience. There’s no other place like it.”