NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — MCLA is significantly enhancing its arts curriculum by developing a new teaching center through a gift from artist and author Carolyn Mary Campagna Kleefeld.

 

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President James Birge informed Tuesday's opening breakfast for the second semester that Campagna Kleefeld will fund the construction of the center on Porter Street and fund its operation for three years. The announcement prompted a wave of applause.

 

"Sometimes it seems to me like society has forgotten the value of a liberal arts education," he said. "Our work here, that of the faculty, staff and the administration, can seem lonely at times, but there are those wonderful moments in our lives when we're reminded of just how important our work is and that we are, in fact, not alone in our belief that liberal arts improves the world."

 

Work is expected to start immediately at 94 and 100 Porter St. with construction slated to begin in the fall. A public session to inform neighbors about the project will be held Jan. 30. The college will also offer updates on the project on its website.

 

Birge did not give a cost for the project but had told the Board of Trustees last year that the gift could be up to $10 million. 

 

The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts will support the college's programs by providing opportunities for students to engage with artists, their work, and the community. Located between the science center and the Church Street Center, it will be the primary gallery and arts programming space on campus.

 

College officials say it will serve as a "dynamic and flexible space" for faculty engagement and curricular innovation, fostering meaningful interactions with a rotating array of exhibits and programs.

 

"I think one of the most exciting elements of this project is that we will be able to bring to campus many different kinds of art from numerous artists, so that we can learn about the inspiration of artists, their motivations and why each of us appreciates art different," said Birge. "Valuing the aesthetic of art isn't just appreciation for the work itself, but rather how an arts management, for example, learns how to curate, discern and share our work that might be controversial or provocative or a different form of art."

 

A cornerstone of the center will be its integration of Campagna Kleefeld's art and poetry, offering opportunities for students to curate and engage with her work as a model for exploring the creative process. It will also provide spaces for student artists to showcase in-progress and completed work, supported by peer and faculty critiques.

 

The London-born contemporary artist grew up in California and studied art and psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. She has written 25 books of on poetry, art and reflection. Her work has been exhibited nationally and featured in a line of fine art cards.  

 

"The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts will be a vital hub of creativity that will also provide a compelling teaching and learning environment," Campagna Kleefeld said in a statement. "This will allow others to explore and engage with the artistic practices that have meant so much to me throughout my life."

 

She gifted $10 million in 2019 to the California State University at Long Beach along with 120 of her works for its permanent collection. The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum now houses her literary archives as well.

 

Birge was clear in that the MCLA center will not an art museum but rather a teaching lab that will host revolving exhibits of student and visiting artist work as well as Kleefeld 's. Unlike Long Beach, her work will not be permanently housed on the campus though she and her representatives will be involved in the construction project. 

 

"The center will be a teaching lab for all students, regardless of nature, to explore, create and learn about art and its expression," he said. "This transformational gift only hands all students experiences on campus linking the arts academic disciplines from humanities and social sciences to business and computer science and serve as an essential part of the MCLA learning process."

 

This new venue will also support the Benedetti Teaching Artists-in-Residence program and student artists-in-residence. Alma Benedetti was longtime art teacher in the public schools in North Adams and a 1937 graduate of the college.

 

The construction means the removal of the offices of interdisciplinary studies, modern language and philosophy to vacant space on campus, while the offices for fine and performing arts and the Porter Street Art Gallery will relocate to the new building. The offices are located in former single-family homes adapted for college use.

 

It also means that the activities at Gallery 51 on Main Street, opened by the college in 2006, will move back to the campus when the building is completed. The gallery and the attached Design Lab at 49 Main St., opened in 2017, had been strong components of the downtown scene for years but stepped back during the pandemic and changes in leadership within what had been the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center. 

 

Birge said instructor Jeremy Winchester is leading Mosaic, a rebranding that has been working more in collaboration with Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Clark Art Institute and the Adams Theater. 

 

"Those activities are still around, but they've been more focused on partnerships with other people, instead of just recreating things here," he said. 

 

The gift is the work of three years of discussion with Kleefeld that took on more tangible form last year as Birge updated the Board of Trustees on the talks. He credited Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Richard Glejzer and Vice President for Institutional Advancement Robert P. Ziomek as instrumental in developing the gift as well as faculty members Winchester, Jerome Socolof, Melanie Mowinski and Victoria Papa. They and others were involved in showing the college's best when Kleefeld 's team visited the campus in September. 

 

"Carolyn's real gift for MCLA is the inspiration to be creative, to have a space where we can wrestle with the definitions of what art is and how creativity is a form of expression of who we are and how we value one another," Birge said.