From Paper to Paint: North Adams' Transition to a Creative Economy

North Adams has transformed from a factory town to a thriving arts community within the past thirty years. The presence of MASS MoCA has made a large impact on how North Adams has been drawing people to the town. North Adams has adapted and grown into a creative economy, a system where people’s creativity and ideas thrive to make the cultural sector of the community strong. This has been a great shift from being a factory town to housing one of the most popular museums in New England. Before MoCA, Arnold Print Works and later, Sprague Electric resided in the buildings. Sprague was one of the largest employers in the town when that was shut down, the community was heavily impacted. Our exhibit exposes the transition from being a factory town, that provided support from war times and riots, to a cultural hub that now houses one of the biggest contemporary arts museum in the United States.