MassDevelopment.com: Press Room: State to Invest $16.7 Million in Cultural Facilities

State to Invest $16.7 Million in Cultural Facilities
New Program Leverages Support for Creative Economy Infrastructure in Massachusetts
September 11, 2007

Contacts:
Adam Bickelman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086
Greg Liakos, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 617-727-3668 x343

Sixty-two organizations* across Massachusetts will receive grants ranging from $675,000 to $3,938 from the state’s new Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF). The grants, totaling $16.7 million, were announced today by MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which administer the program jointly. Of the amount awarded, $16.2 million will support 45 capital projects; and $478,688 will be used by 17 groups for feasibility and planning studies. (*Complete list follows by region.)

CFF grants will support Massachusetts non-profit cultural organizations with building projects that increase tourism, create new jobs, leverage private funding and expand arts and cultural activities in communities across the state. The projects chosen for funding total $665 million in capital investment.

"Cultural organizations are central to our identity in the Commonwealth," said MassDevelopment President/CEO and CFF Advisory Committee Chair Robert L. Culver. "They attract visitors to Massachusetts and stimulate tourism, a major economic engine for Massachusetts. They need to be maintained and improved to meet contemporary and future needs. Investing in them supports a vital industry sector: the creative economy."

Recipients are located in 35 communities statewide from Provincetown to Boston to North Adams; and run the gamut from small neighborhood-based cultural groups to large, world-renown museums, science centers and theaters. Provincetown’s Fine Arts Work Center will draw on a $205,000 allotment to reconstruct an historic building to support emerging artists and writers. In New Bedford, the Zeiterion Theatre will use a $22,500 grant to evaluate the feasibility of expanding its facilities to a new building.

In Boston on Beacon Hill, the Museum of African American History will use $420,000 to restore the building’s exterior, increase handicap access, and undertake other building repairs. In North Adams, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMOCA) will use a $429,000 grant to renovate a 27,000-square-foot former mill building and create a new gallery.

"Over the last 300 years, the people of Massachusetts have created a unique resource in our unrivalled array of arts, science, and heritage institutions," said MCC Executive Director and CFF Advisory Committee member Anita Walker. "They are national treasures, and we have a responsibility to maintain and improve them for the benefit of future generations. These grants are a down payment on our future."

MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council co-administer the program. MCC, which solicited and evaluated CFF applications, received 201 requests for funding totaling $80 million. MCC recruited 28 experts from across the U.S. with experience in tourism, facilities finance, real estate project management, construction, facilities operations, organizational development, grant making and historic renovation and preservation to review and rank the applications using a weighted set of criteria. All applications were also reviewed by an appointed Cultural Facilities Fund Advisory Committee with statewide representation. The board of MassDevelopment approved the awards, which MassDevelopment manages and disburses. Award decisions were based on the recipients’ ranking and annual operating budget. Maximum awards were capped at $675,000. Grants announced today must be matched one-to-one by the recipient with funds from other sources.

The Legislature created the Cultural Facilities Fund in July, 2006 appropriating an initial $13 million as part of an omnibus economic stimulus bill. The FY 2008 state budget provided an additional $5 million.

GRANT AWARDS BY REGION

CENTRAL
Capital Grants:
Worcester Center for Performing Arts, Worcester - $675,000
Worcester County Horticultural Society, Boylston - $675,000

Feasibility & Technical Assistance Grants:
Fruitlands Museums, Inc., Harvard - $37,500

GREATER BOSTON
Capital Grants:
Arts Boston, Inc., Boston - $180,000
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston - $675,000
The Children's Museum, Boston - $675,000
Emerson College, Boston - $675,000
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston - $274,000
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston - $675,000
Museum of African American History, Boston - $420,000
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - $675,000
Museum of Science, Boston - $675,000
New England Aquarium, Boston - $455,000
New England Conservatory of Music, Boston - $357,000

Feasibility & Technical Assistance Grants:
Dorchester Community Center for Visual Art, Dorchester - $3,938
Dorchester Historical Society, Dorchester - $9,375
Lesley University, Cambridge - $37,500
Massachusetts College of Art Foundation, Boston - $18,750
Old North Church, Boston - $37,500
Paul Revere House, Boston - $37,500
Riverside Theatre Works, Hyde Park - $37,500
Suzuki School of Newton, Inc., Auburndale - $18,750

METRO WEST
Capital Grants:
Concord Museum, Concord - $98,000
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln - $477,000
Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. (Drumlin Farm), Lincoln - $184,000

Feasibility & Technical Assistance Grants:
The Discovery Museums, Acton - $37,500
The Walden Woods Project, Lincoln - $31,875

NORTHEAST
Capital Grants:
Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center , Gloucester - $95,000
Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust, Lowell - $21,000
City of Lowell - $564,000
Lynn Museum, Lynn - $283,000
The Trustees of Reservations, Beverly - $200,000

SOUTHEAST
Capital Grants:
Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro - $39,000
Thornton W. Burgess Society, East Sandwich - $39,000
Town of Falmouth, Falmouth - $173,000
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Provincetown - $205,000
Heritage Museums & Gardens, Sandwich - $288,000
New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford - $617,000
Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth - $339,000
Plimoth Plantation, Inc., Plymouth - $177,000
Plymouth Guild for the Arts, Inc., Plymouth - $370,000
Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, Truro - $83,000

Feasibility & Technical Assistance Grants:
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton - $30,000
Zeiterion Theatre, Inc. , New Bedford - $22,500

WESTERN
Capital Grants:
Amherst Cinema Arts Center, Amherst - $675,000
Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield - $84,000
The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield - $670,000
Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown - $353,000
Double Edge Theatre, Ashfield - $67,000
Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Inc., Becket - $104,000
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington - $147,000
Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams - $429,000
The National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst - $352,000
The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge - $22,000
Shakespeare & Company, Lenox - $395,000
Springfield Museums, Springfield - $675,000
City of Springfield, Springfield - $478,000
Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke - $414,000

Feasibility & Technical Assistance Grants:
Available Potential Enterprises, Ltd., Northampton - $18,750
The Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst - $28,500
Hancock Shaker Village, Inc., Pittsfield - $37,500
Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Inc., Becket - $33,750

The Massachusetts Cultural Council is a state agency that promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities, and sciences to improve the quality of life for Massachusetts residents and contribute to the state’s economic vitality. MCC is committed to building a central place for arts and culture in the everyday lives of communities through a combination of grants, services, and advocacy for cultural organizations, schools, and artists. MCC receives an annual appropriation from the state Legislature and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions and local officials to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. Between FY 2004 and FY 2006, MassDevelopment financed or managed 589 projects statewide representing an investment of more than $4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 5,505 housing units and more than 23,000 jobs: 12,381 permanent and 10,679 construction-related.