The Berkshire Edge: Summer Fundraiser

The next generation of FCI artists, scientists, and makers dig into the fun and festive evening on Monday, July 24. Photo by Beth Carlson of Silo Media.

Flying Cloud’s summer fundraiser celebrates 39 years of engaging local students at the intersection of art and science

“This is where science meets art,” said one young maker from the Flying Cloud Institute, employing a phrase coined by Larry Burke.

BY HANNAH VAN SICKLE

New Marlborough — In a fitting return to its roots, Flying Cloud Institute (FCI) partnered with the former Cantina 229 in New Marlborough to host one heck of a S•M•Arty Party on Monday, July 24, a scant three miles north of the eponymous farmstead where—in 1984—Jane and Larry Burke hosted their first group of summer campers keen on getting their hands dirty making art. A crowd of about 140 friends, supporters, and alumni of the nonprofit turned out for an evening of celebrating the off-the-beaten path FCI has tread in the Southern Berkshires for nearly four decades.

“What Flying Cloud is, and what it represents, is not just held in any one program—or one child’s experience—it’s how [the organization] has cumulatively moved the needle in our region about what it is to be a creative person, what it is to go to school and be held as an artist and a scientist, and how we look at each other collaboratively and cooperatively to solve problems,” said Executive Director Maria Rundle in her welcoming remarks, before acknowledging that the very spirit of creative engagement being applauded by the crowd before her is currently under threat.