GREENFIELD — Located near the junction of Interstate 91 and Route 2, with the Mohawk Trail and scenic Routes 5 and 10 running directly through it, downtown Greenfield has been officially designated a Crossroads Cultural District by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The Cultural Council approved the designation by a unanimous vote Tuesday afternoon, citing Greenfield’s blossoming arts scene, variety of small shops and restaurants and a dedicated group of individuals working to foster creativity in the community. The statewide initiative encourages communities to strengthen their sense of place while stimulating economic activity, increasing tourism and creating a better quality of life.
With the five-year designation comes access to $5,000 in startup grant funding for this first year and promotion through the Cultural Council’s partnership with major public radio stations. It also opens the door for Greenfield to apply for more state funding under the state’s economic development bill.
Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, said downtown Greenfield is the 35th cultural district to be designated over the program’s five years. Although the official designation was approved Tuesday, she said benefits for towns really begin during the planning process, which typically takes about a year.
“One of the most powerful things that we’ve discovered about our cultural district program is it brings people together who share a vision around what their community can be,” she said. “So that’s exactly what happened in Greenfield. There was so much enthusiasm from the mayor to the artists to the shopkeepers to the people who live here.”
Walker said the first thing she looks for when visiting a community during the application process is whether it has an engaged group of people who have a vision and a plan, and that’s exactly what she found in Greenfield.
“We absolutely were smitten. We all wanted to move there,” she said.
Walker played a slideshow prior to the council’s vote on Tuesday with photos of the downtown area’s creative features — from public art pieces like the bee crosswalk and the mural on the side of the Greenfield Community College building, to the Pushkin Gallery and newly painted parking meters.
“It was just this hidden gem. I had never been there and when we started walking around, behind every door there was something so special. Everything from the galleries to just the creative way people thought about the use of space,” Walker said. “People really want to make it special.”
Mayor William Martin said creating the cultural district is one step in a larger plan to bring the town back to its heyday of the early 1900s. He said other efforts include the solar array that was built atop the capped landfill, the town’s energy aggregation program and an ongoing initiative to bring low-cost, municipal Internet to Greenfield.
“We’re doing things that create a huge sense of independence and a huge basis of sustainability, but what we’re really missing is the stage, and this Crossroads Cultural District is going to be our stage,” he said.
Greenfield Business Association Coordinator Caitlin von Schmidt said Greenfield’s artists, shopkeepers, restaurateurs, residents and visitors all played an integral role in achieving the designation. John Lunt, assistant to the mayor for special projects, said the designation also recognizes the growing importance of the creative economy in town.
Recreation Director Christy Moore agreed, adding that highlighting Greenfield as the crossroads of Franklin County will continue to bring more tourism and economic development to town.
Linda McInerney, artistic director of nonprofit theater company Eggtooth Productions, said the designation is also an affirmation for all the art that has taken place downtown over the years.
“With that affirmation, we hope that many more people will recognize it as the cultural destination that it is becoming,” she said.
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