Williams Donates $1.8M to Mass MoCA Fund Drive

By Tammy DanielsPrint Story | Email Story
Mayor John Barrett III, left, MoCA director Joseph Thompson and MoCA Foundation Chairman Duncan Brown share a laugh.
NORTH ADAMS - Williams College is strengthening its collaboration with Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art by using $1.8 million to seed a regional fund drive for the modern art museum. Backed by the rat-a-tat-tat of jackhammers and clouds of dust in Building 7, the announcement was yet another building block in the museum's emerging role as a focal point in Northern Berkshire's cultural and financial economy. The museum, which has spent years surviving on the knife's edge, has raised nearly two-thirds of the $36 million goal it set for an endowment and program support. Standing in the framework of what will become the Sol LeWitt gallery, museum officials on Monday kicked off the regional campaign to raise $5.8 million. The donation from Williams covers nearly a third of that goal. Museum Executive Director Joseph C. Thompson described Williams as providing stem cells toward the museum's growth. "If that's where the stem cells came from, then the entire history of Mass MoCA is one of constant, generous infusions by the college - not just of money but of intellectual capital and artistic capital." The college has been heavily involved in the development of Mass MoCA, the largest contemporary museum of art in the United States. It funds and coordinates the popular Kidspace, which provides schoolchildren throughout Northern Berkshire an introduction to modern art. Williams students will be involved in the construction of the 93 wall drawings by the late LeWitt that will fill three floors of the museum for at least the next 25 years. The museum's board is populated with Williams graduates. Mass MoCA is on its way to solvency after a long, rocky road, said college President Morton O. Schapiro. "This is a great institution. It's an institution that absolutely has financial backing now, that has the financial requirements to be here forever." "Williams is the single most important institution or group that made this all happen," said Mayor John Barrett III. He thanked Schapiro, his predecessor and the Williams trustees for keeping faith during the museum's long incubation and "staying the course" over its first 10 years. While many residents may not realize the impact the college has had on the city, he said the "city is eternally grateful for it." "I guarantee it may not be as big as some of the other gifts you have given, but I can tell you right now it will have a bigger bang for your buck," said the mayor, adding afterward that "this really solidifies what's going on." Thompson said the regional drive will continue over the next 18 months or so. Millions might be pledged, but it takes years for the money to funnel in - and to be used to pay the heating bills. The last significant local fund drive was 16 years ago, when the museum was still in the concept stage. Even though local funds will only be a sixth of the total, the campaign is an important factor in the museum's ultimate success. "I don't think any entity can exist without local support," said Duncan Brown, chairman of the Mass MoCA Foundation and a Williams graduate. He described that support as central to any organization hoping for permanence. While residing in Williamstown, he said his heart was in North Adams, having been raised in a similar New England mill town. "It's not just the art but preserving the building, and the hope of turning around the town of North Adams from a dismal spiral downward to a fast escalator upward." The museum has become a economic driver, said Holly Taylor, vice president of TrueNorth Insurance Agency and chairman of the local campaign. "What has changed the face of North Berkshire more in the last 15 years than Mass MoCA?" The museum is fast becoming a campus with multiple partners and venues, said Thompson. Its collaborations with Williams and the Williams College Museum of Art, the Clark Art Institute, Jacob's Pillow, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Yale University (through the LeWitt exhibit) and numerous artists and schools are offering a wide range of creative opportunities for residents, students and visitors alike. "I don't know how you can find a place that joins Williams and Mass MoCA better than the location we're standing in right now," said Brown of the halfway constructed "Williams classroom." The LeWitt installation, in collaboration with the Yale University Art Gallery, will open in November 2008. LeWitt died earlier this year. He is best known for his massive, abstract wall drawings, for which he left meticulous instructions that will be used by the students to create the pieces at Mass MoCA.
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North Adams Police Block Houghton Street for Crisis Intervention

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Houghton was blocked off between North and School streets, frustrating neighbors trying to get home. 

Update: Early this morning, the Police Department posted that the situation "has been resolved" and the road reopened. Officers may still be in the area to complete their investigation.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The upper section of Houghton Street was blocked off for hours on Wednesday night as authorities sought to deal with an individual reportedly having a mental health issue. 

 
In a Facebook post, police described it as a "critical incident" unfolding in the area and alerted people to avoid the upper Houghton "and allow first responders the space they need to safely manage the situation."
 
It started at about 9 p.m., said Police Chief Mark Bailey, speaking at about 12:30 a.m. He said no neighbors were evacuated and that mediators had been conversing with the individual. He declined to go into detail. 
 
He said further information would be provided either through him or through the mayor's office later in the morning. 
 
Members of the Berkshire County Special Response Team, including officers from Lenox and Pittsfield, were staged along the top of Brooklyn Street and Houghton was closed between School Street and North Street. 
 
Two ambulances were staged at the intersection with Brooklyn and Houghton, though one left before midnight. State Police stepped in to help patrol the city. 
 
Drones could be seen hovering over; Bailey said, "everything in the sky is ours at this time." 
 
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