Cultural Resource Center Awarded $40K State Grant

By Jen Thomas - April 01, 2008
iBerkshires Staff

MCLA President Mary K. Grant chats with MCC Deputy Director Charles McDermott and Jonathan Secor at Gallery 51 Monday.

NORTH ADAMS — A Main Street "anchor" will continue to help create partnerships between the artist community, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the state Legislature.

On Monday, at MCLA's Gallery 51, representatives from the Masssachusetts Cultural Council joined college officials, local artists, students and Sen. Benjamin B. Downing and Rep. Daniel E. Bosley to announce a $40,000 John and Abigail Adams Creative Economy Grant to the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center.

According to Jonathon Secor, MCLA's director of special programs, the MCC funds will be used to support BCRC-sponsored lectures and seminars, the gallery and the summer's Berkshire Hills Internship Program, an arts management internship for students.

"At the end of the day, this grant means we're able to stay open. It makes sure we have the fundamentals, a strong basis for exploring new programming and building on what we already have," said Secor.

The BCRC, a collaboration of MCLA, the city and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts, is a go-to organization for artists, arts managers, arts scholars and arts-related entrepreneurs, providing resources, training and support.

MCLA President Mary K. Grant said she was proud of the willingness of the college and community to work together in what she called "innovative ways."

"Gallery 51 is such an important space. It's a teaching space, a learning space, a community space," said Grant. "We're tying the college together in deep ways with our larger cultural community."

The gallery's current show, "Bloom," was curated by students in Lauren O'Neal's museum studies class at MCLA and exemplifies the connections that can be forged between the college and the community.

"You've taken the unique assets and opportunities of the area and the partnerships that are the lifeblood of this community and maximized them in, I think, a very sophisticated way," said MCC Deputy Director Charles McDermott. "I love North Adams, I love Berkshire County, I love this project and I love this gallery."