Individual Presentation or Panel Title

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art: The People’s Museum

Abstract

The Berkshires in Massachusetts are filled with cultural gems of American society, including places such as the Norman Rockwell Museum and Tanglewood Music Center. The area was not always on the cusp of artistic endeavors; however, it was always exemplary of current events in America. Community members were typically middle to lower class and worked in blue collar professions for the factories or mills. The people in the town of North Adams were irrelevant in the artistic community; the local places of artistry were slated for tourists. However, the place of the blue collar worker within the artistic realm changed in the 1990s when the private and public sectors worked together to create something new to rejuvenate the depressed city. In 1986, during a high point for contemporary art, Thomas Krens, the director of the Williams College Museum of Art, proposed the reformation of an old mill complex to establish the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. North Adams, a small town trying to be a big city, deserted by industry and left with a floundering economy, became the new home of the largest contemporary art museum in America. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art allowed the dejected city of North Adams to move out of the 20th century and into the 21st. By tracing its sociohistorical development, I found North Adams to be a city with the ability to use and renew its local resources, allowing it to remain relevant in contemporary times.

Presenter Information

Allison Schmitt, Hollins University

Location

Goodwin Private Dining Room

Start Date

11-4-2015 3:30 PM

End Date

11-4-2015 4:20 PM

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Apr 11th, 3:30 PM Apr 11th, 4:20 PM

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art: The People’s Museum

Goodwin Private Dining Room

The Berkshires in Massachusetts are filled with cultural gems of American society, including places such as the Norman Rockwell Museum and Tanglewood Music Center. The area was not always on the cusp of artistic endeavors; however, it was always exemplary of current events in America. Community members were typically middle to lower class and worked in blue collar professions for the factories or mills. The people in the town of North Adams were irrelevant in the artistic community; the local places of artistry were slated for tourists. However, the place of the blue collar worker within the artistic realm changed in the 1990s when the private and public sectors worked together to create something new to rejuvenate the depressed city. In 1986, during a high point for contemporary art, Thomas Krens, the director of the Williams College Museum of Art, proposed the reformation of an old mill complex to establish the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. North Adams, a small town trying to be a big city, deserted by industry and left with a floundering economy, became the new home of the largest contemporary art museum in America. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art allowed the dejected city of North Adams to move out of the 20th century and into the 21st. By tracing its sociohistorical development, I found North Adams to be a city with the ability to use and renew its local resources, allowing it to remain relevant in contemporary times.