April 16, 2024

To create the Berkshire Busk! festival, Gene Carr needed partners in City Hall, on Main Street

By Matt Lehrman

Social Prosperity Partners


When we launched the “Community Catalysts” podcast in February, we promised real-life stories about local leadership that contain practical advice for anyone looking to make a difference in their own community, whether or not they hold elected office or other official title. That’s because innovation often requires some kind of public-private partnership.

To create the Berkshire Busk! festival with Community Catalysts podcast.

My guest this week, Gene Carr, offers the perfect example. He is the founding director of the Berkshire Busk! outdoor music festival in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It started as a response to pandemic-era social distancing, but it continues today as a popular annual attraction in a region where tourism is huge.


As an experienced arts marketer and an accomplished musician himself, Gene had a vision for bringing together local artists to deliver a compelling experience for the community. But he needed partners — both public and private. The keys to his success, he says, were:

1. Active support from local government.

“This entire festival wouldn’t have happened at all, and I wouldn’t have lifted a finger to do it, if it weren’t for the town manager,” Gene says. “He basically said, I will help you knock down the inevitable barriers that you’re going to encounter — I’m on your side.” One example: extending the town’s insurance coverage to an adjacent church’s lawn for the performance of aerial dancers.


2. Financial support from the business community.

“My first question to that town manager was, who are the movers and shakers that I need to talk to who are likely to be open-minded and entrepreneurial?” In the episode, he gets into specifics such as sponsorship incentives and realistic budgeting.


“These kinds of festivals are unlikely to spring from within an administration of an existing town and municipality,” Gene says. “It’s more likely that an individual in the community is gonna come and approach the town and say, I wanna make this happen. And if that’s the case, that individual has to feel supported because they’re creating an idea out of nothing, and they are suddenly going to take this huge project on their shoulders.”


Listen now on Apple, Spotify and all podcast platforms.

To create the Berkshire Busk! festival with Community Catalysts podcast.

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