Editing North Adams, Massachusetts (section)

===MASS MoCA===

[[File:MASS MoCA 1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art]] (MASS MoCA), formerly Arnold Print Works and a facility of Sprague Electronics]]

After Sprague closed, business and political leaders in North Adams sought ways to re-use the vast complex. [[Williams College Museum of Art]] director [[Thomas Krens]], who would later become Director of the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|Guggenheim]], was looking for space to exhibit large works of contemporary art that would not fit in conventional museum galleries. When mayor [[John Barrett (Massachusetts politician)|John Barrett III]] (serving 1984–2009) suggested the vast Marshall Street complex as a possible exhibition site, the idea of creating a contemporary arts center in North Adams began to take shape.

The campaign to build support for the proposed institution, which would serve as a platform for presenting contemporary art and developing links to the region's other cultural institutions, began in earnest. The Massachusetts legislature announced its support for the project in 1988. Subsequent economic upheaval threatened the project, but broad-based support from the community and the private sector, which pledged more than $8 million, ensured that it moved forward. The eventual proposal used the scale and versatility of the industrial spaces to link the facility's past and its new life as the country's largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts.

Since it opened, the [[Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art]] (MASS MoCA) has been part of a larger economic transformation in the region based on cultural, recreational, and educational offerings. North Adams has become home for several new restaurants, contemporary art galleries, and cultural organizations. In addition, once-shuttered area factories and mills have been rehabilitated as lofts for artists to live and work in.