MASS MoCA is 10 years old this summer, and in the past two weeks, WBUR has had two excellent reports on the museum and its economic and cultural impact on North Adams, its home.
A few numbers from the reports: with 150,000 sq. ft. of gallery space in a 400,000 sq. ft. complex, the museum draws 110,000 visitors annually. It pumps $14 million a year into local hotels, restaurants and shops. The state put $35 million into the project, and this year, according to director Joe Thompson, MASS MoCA moved out of the red and is finally making money. (WBUR doesn’t mention it, but as I recall from past reports, it’s real estate revenues that MASS MoCA taps to make money.)
Not everything works, and MASS MoCA has seen many bumps over the past years, but still — for a town deserted by its manufacturing companies, it’s not a bad deal.
Nonetheless, according to WBUR (its reports are here and here), the wisdom of relying on MASS MoCA is apparently fueling a political debate in North Adams among its mayoral candidates.
While I understand the apprehension surrounding the idea of a former manufacturing town relying on something as loosey-goosey as art, one of the questions is a stunner. State Rep. Daniel Bosley, who supports MASS MoCA, told WBUR he receives questions from constituents asking “why aren’t we putting manufacturing in those buildings, why are we putting art in those buildings?”
They are not, apparently, impressed with MASS MoCA’s exhibitions, profile and status in the art-world. (One example: the Sol Lewitt exhibition, above, I recently visited.)
I’d be asking a different question were I a resident, and that is, “what’s the next step?” Manufacturing is never coming back with the strength it once had.
But what goes with art? You can answer that question in two ways (aside from tourism, which the town has down-pat), and both happen to be expanding sectors of the economy: health care and education.
I recently asked Five Questions of MASS MoCA’s education director (here), but felt that the museum should be doing more to assess its Kidspace programs. Arts education is a growth area — why not grow with it?
The connection between art and health is still largely unexplored, but research so far has suggested tantalizing possibilities for both therapy and cognitive development. Here’s a link to just one recent article about art as therapy for disturbed children. There’ve been many others.
It seems to me that North Adams’ town fathers and mothers should be thinking along those lines to expand on the success of MASS MoCA.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of MASS MoCAÂ