Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
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The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, commonly referred to as MASS MoCA, is a museum located in North Adams, Massachusetts, USA. Designed by the Cambridge architecture firm of Bruner Cott & Assoc, it was awarded highest honors by the American Institute of Architects and The National Trust for Historic Preservation. The site is a large 19th century former factory building. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Along with a large variety of contemporary art displays, the museum also hosts film screenings and has seen performances by a variety of musical acts, including Cat Power and Steve Earle.
The museum is located on the site of the former Sprague Electric Works factory. The site is listed as a superfund contaminated site. When the factory shut down during the 1980s, the city's economy suffered. Finally, in 1999, MASS MoCA opened its doors. It is considered to be the largest contemporary arts museum in the world, and has started to revive a dying economy within the city. It opened with 19 galleries and 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space. It was originally to be an art musem but has grown to include many commercial entities that have taken from the city's tax base.
At first, the museum was largely controversial. While remediation has begun, the site is still listed as a Federal Superfund Site. The City of North Adams holds a mortgage of $3.7 million dollars for the Mass MoCA property.
MASS MoCA is the home of the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, where composers and performers from around the world come to create and perform new music. The festival, started in 2001, includes concerts in galleries — usually twice a day — for three weeks during the summer.
