{"id":75,"date":"2016-04-28T09:59:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T13:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/hist371-16s\/?page_id=75"},"modified":"2016-05-26T10:10:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T14:10:01","slug":"mass-moca","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/hist371-16s\/mass-moca\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass MoCA"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MASS MoCA opened in 1999 and, since then it has become the largest\u00a0contemporary art museum in the country, garnering praise and visibility. The museum\u00a0draws thousands of tourists to North Adams every year, but local residents\u2019 views of the\u00a0museum remain mixed. After Sprague closed in 1985, much of the community saw MASS MoCA as a beacon of\u00a0hope for the struggling economy. At that\u00a0time, many believed\u00a0that as long as Sprague’s former buildings were unoccupied, North Adams would\u00a0remain stuck in the shadow of the factory’s closing. But residents also worried over the lack\u00a0of jobs in the city and whether an art museum could bring an economic revival. In 2016,\u00a0MASS MoCA is on the precipice of another huge expansion project, largely\u00a0funded by\u00a0the state. It seemed important to revisit the relationship between North\u00a0Adams and MASS MoCA and examine its role in North Adams\u2019 changing identity from a\u00a0post-industrial factory town to a tourism-focused, culture hub, placing North Adams in\u00a0the international sphere.<\/p>\n

The museum both has failed and succeeded in meeting residents’ expectations. Robin Martin, a lifelong resident of North Adams, credits Mass MoCA with connecting the city to life outside the area.\u00a0Even so, MASS MoCA cannot fill the place of a\u00a0single large employer the way Sprague did, which still is anchored to the North Adams\u00a0identity.<\/p>\n

I think it did change the face of North Adams in that it made us more aware of the rest of the world. \u00a0Because before that, here we were. \u00a0We didn’t have to worry about anything that was going on anywhere else unless it was a major war. \u00a0When Sprague went out and MoCA came in, many people resented the whole thing. \u00a0I don’t think MoCA itself gives back that much to the community. \u00a0However, all the little fingers that come off of it [do].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Martin, former North Adams resident, Steve Melito, questions who benefits from MASS MoCA. Is MASS\u00a0MoCA here for, tourists or residents? And can both groups benefit?<\/p>\n

MASS MoCA? I give a big sigh because it\u2019s better. North Adams is\u00a0better that it exists, but North Adams is not nearly as well off as the hype would like us to\u00a0believe. So why do I say that? You know, it\u2019s great that there\u2019s a world-class museum in\u00a0that building. It\u2019s great that tourists come in, but MASS MoCA has not been a job creator\u00a0for the people of North Adams and it tends to be an island unto itself so that when people\u00a0come to visit North Adams, they stay on the MASS MoCA campus and they don\u2019t leave\u00a0for whatever reason so the tax breaks go to MASS MoCA, the dollars go to MASS\u00a0MoCA, but there\u2019s not a lot of jobs for local people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Melito has seen first-hand the limited impact that MASS MoCA has on the local business community.<\/p>\n

I think people are always willing to start their own shops in North Adams.\u00a0My wife had a consignment-clothing store. So this is maybe kind of an example. She was\u00a0on Holden Street which is not far from MASS MoCA and she was hoping to get some of\u00a0the overflow traffic from MASS MoCA and when there were events at MASS MoCA she\u00a0was, you know, pretty successful. \u00a0But there\u2019s not enough that happens at MASS MoCA\u00a0for it to spill out and benefit the rest of the community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rose Thomas, who worked at Sprague for several decades, believes that many residents’ have unreasonable expectations for the museum. An enthusiastic supporter of MoCA, Thomas frequently\u00a0volunteers during performances and other special events.<\/p>\n

Oh I think it\u2019s great now. When MASS MoCA first\u00a0came out somehow people got the idea that everybody in North Adams was going to have\u00a0a job at MoCA. It\u2019s a museum, not a job center, it\u2019s a museum! They hire a lot of people\u00a0of course, but they can\u2019t give everybody a job\u2026 I love it but not everybody loves it. We\u00a0need jobs, we need jobs; My mother was like that, \u201cwe need jobs.\u201d Well all small towns\u00a0need jobs, it can\u2019t be helped. We need factories, well let\u2019s face it people the factories are\u00a0gone, they\u2019re now museums, and various other things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Thomas, Colleen Taylor, a local business owner, questions people’s assumption that MASS MoCA would literally and figuratively fill the hole that Sprague left when they closed their factories in North Adams. Taylor owns and runs restaurants in Williamstown and North Adams and believes the museum has helped close the distance between the two neighboring towns.<\/p>\n

When I first arrived they were all talking about this MASS MoCA\u00a0happening. MASS MoCA coming to town and a museum coming to town. And so I think\u00a0there\u2019s two things. When we first moved here there was this line, very thick. What I mean\u00a0by that there was this you know, thick line between North Adams residents and\u00a0Williamstown. And even though the line – it\u2019s an imaginary line \u2013 still exists, it has\u00a0dwindled down to like, it\u2019s almost transparent it\u2019s dwindled so much…. \u00a0people had a misnomer about what Williamstown was like and what North\u00a0Adams was like. Williamstown thought North Adams was one way and North Adams\u00a0thought, and as the line has dissipated it started to get quicker, the dissipation. It was\u00a0a lot to do with the museum. The museum, I think some of the older people couldn\u2019t see\u00a0how, couldn\u2019t imagine the museum, Mass MoCA, transcending a few of these, you know,\u00a0remaking the whole city. And it took a long time for them to get there. I mean it\u2019s been\u00a0twenty years since I\u2019ve been here, and when we first moved here they started doing things over there at the Mass MoCA…. In the beginning there was even from the \u2013 the\u00a0locals wouldn\u2019t necessarily go into Mass MoCA. Now they\u2019ve really come to accept it,\u00a0and I think that has been done not just by the visual arts there, but by some of the\u00a0businesses that are there now and some of the museum, some of the concerts they have. People have come on campus and once they go on campus it feels\u00a0more comfortable for them to go back and forth.\u00a0Along with these examples of positive experiences with MASS MoCA, Sprague\u2019s ghost\u00a0remained a strong piece of the story and remains as a part of the legacy of North Adams.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lorraine Maloney, Otto Wied and Linda Saharczewski, all former Sprague employees,\u00a0still have vivid recollections of Sprague that trips to Mass MoCA rekindle. Lorraine Maloney appreciates that the museum continues to use equipment from Sprague that symbolizes the high quality work completed there:<\/p>\n