The Mastheads is a public arts and humanities project in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. We seek to connect residents to the literary history of the region, create a forum for thinking about place, and support the production of new creative work. Founded in 2016, The Mastheads is at once an urban architectural experiment, a literary research initiative, a writers’ residency, and an educational program.
Our Projects
Architectural Studios: The physical spaces of The Mastheads are five writing studios on wheels, each the architectural interpretation of the original structure from which one of five American Renaissance authors wrote while in Pittsfield: Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and Henry David Thoreau. The studios have been installed in different locations around the Berkshires for diverse Mastheads public programming and events, including Mass MoCA, Hancock Shaker Village, Springside Park, and Canoe Meadows. They are now permanently installed in the fields at Melville’s Arrowhead.
Writers’ Residencies: Every July, we host a month-long residency that brings five emerging writers from across the country to live and work in Pittsfield. Residents receive exclusive use of one of the Mastheads studios, travel reimbursement, meals or a meal stipend, and a private room in a house or dormitory shared with the other residents. Beyond July, The Mastheads studios are open seasonally for day-residencies on the grounds of Herman Melville’s Arrowhead.
Public Humanities Programming: We produce city-wide humanities programming with a new theme each year. Our events include public lectures, park festivals, community conversations, and literary readings. Featured historical writers have included Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, W.E.B DuBois, James Van Der Zee, Catherine Maria Sedgwick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, Mark Twain, Henry James, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and Fanny Kemble.
Educational Programming: During the school year, The Mastheads operates its poetry-in-schools program, Fireside, in Pittsfield’s Public Schools. Students compose original poetry, and each ten-week course culminates in an anthology of student work and a public showcase. We collaborate with other Berkshire cultural organizations to create high-quality pubic events that celebrate student work, such as our annual Party at Kellogg Park, a poetry reading and family luncheon in the ballroom at Hotel on North, and text installations throughout the city.
Publications and Design: We publish work by historic Pittsfield writers, our Fireside students, our July residents, and current Berkshire writers through engaging design that is easily accessible by local residents. We have produced newspaper folds for The Berkshire Eagle; a series of Mastheads Readers, carefully curated and collections of writing by Pittsfield authors; and anthologies of student poetry. We’ve installed text on billboards, sidewalks, park fences, hats, gloves, tree tags, and inside essential businesses during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. We collaborate with local artists to decorate the city with the words of Pittsfield authors.
Our Team
Tessa Kelly, Co-Founder & Design Director
Sarah Trudgeon, Literary Director
Jeff Lawrence, Research Director
Alicia Mireles Christoff, Social Justice Initiatives
Christian Schlegel, Development
Don’Jea Smith, Poetry Instructor
Chris Parkinson, Co-Founder
About the name "Mastheads"
Aboard the Pequod, the whaling ship in Moby Dick in which Ishmael sails, crew members take shifts climbing up high into the masthead, looking out for whales. From that new vantage point, they see the world around them from a different perspective, elevated far off the ship’s deck. At the same time, Ishmael describes the masthead—a space large enough for only one person—as an opportunity to look inward, and encounter new aspects of oneself.
info@themastheads.org
photos by Iwan Baan