What’s all the fuss about this MASSMoCA place, anyway? I’ve been throwing the term out there without really going into any detail. Any time you catch me doing something Williams- or Berkshires-centric like that, call me out and smack me upside the head. If nothing else, that should elicit some sort of explanation from my end.
Since we’ve just officially booked the space for our reception (woohoo! Feel free to join the facebook celebration here) I feel like a bit more elucidation may be in order.
So! It’s the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the state’s premier exhibition space for contemporary and performing arts, located in North Adams. It brings to 3 the number of fantastic, truly world-class museums within minutes of the Williams campus (the Williams College Museum of Art and the Clark Art Institute being the other two). Big Sister Clarissa actually interned with the organization back when it was just getting its feet off the ground, when she was a student at Williams. The museum is located in a large, refurbished, abandoned mill. North Adams used to be a thriving industrial/light-manufacturing hub in the region, but when big companies such as Sprague Electric (whose building it had been) ditched the region, the town pretty much went bust for a while. In recent years, North Adams has seen an exciting revival of its downtown, its arts scene and the economic outlook in general. Part of this revival has been the establishment of this fantastic museum. I believe the museum boasts one of the largest indoor exhibition halls in the country. This allows for some really wild and interesting exhibits of contemporary art.
Cool performing arts acts are brought in every Friday and Saturday night in the summer months and October… which is why we are getting married on a Sunday. The large museum also offers enough space for a whole bunch of us to sit down, have some food and also boogie the night away - indoors! No tables in hallway corners! Plenty of bathrooms with running water… oh, and some pretty nice art if we end up wandering into the galleries. Not a bad deal at all!
I’m actually pleasantly surprised they’re allowing us to book the space. They must not know that I am a part of the infamous Williams College Class of 2001, whose entire senior week was rained out. So instead of having our senior dinner dance at the traditional Mt. Hope Farm, (which does not allow alumni weddings, incidentally), someone was able to convince the museum that 500+ drunken, dancing reveling students who were done with school and about to graduate would not burn the place down. It was a lot of fun, a lot warmer than Mt. Hope, and also less soggy. Oh, and, porta-pottyless. And the museum seemed to survive, though I’ve heard they won’t allow any more Williams senior dinner dances there… Oops. Here we are at MASS MoCA (dare I admit it??) almost 10 years ago.
Bridesmaid Sarah, Mama Marcela & I - back then….
and a pseudo recreation from the Acton MA party:
Yay! Can’t wait for more partying pics next October! :)
Caveat: this is all information I have seen/gathered/learned/heard over the years. Feel free to consult MASSMoCA’s own website or wikipedia to find out how much is actually reflective of the truth! I didn’t want to go and read all about the museum and just regurgitate it all..
