Central Square program gets grant for future

By David Liscio - The Daily Item
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

LYNN - Redevelopment of any urban neighborhood boils down to two basic factors: creating new commercial and residential spaces, and attracting people to work and live in them. Sometimes, the arts can help.

In Lynn, with the downtown business district undergoing a facelift and plentiful private investment, city development officials last year initiated a program aimed at bringing people into Central Square and the surrounding streets. It was called Third Thursdays, simply because on the third Thursday of each month, with the city's help, businesses and organizations would put up a united front by offering special events and discounts on everything from coffee and ice cream to artwork and jewelry.

These special events, which often included live music, street performers, children's activities and art openings, proved a whopping success, and a $45,000 grant awarded Tuesday by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) will help ensure they continue in 2006.

Rep. Steven Walsh, a Lynn Democrat, executive director of LynnArts and a member of the Legislature's fledgling Joint Committee on Tourism, the Arts and Cultural Development, was present for the ceremony at the Lynn Museum, corner of Union and Washington Street, a hub of the city's so-called ArtsBlock district.

"This was an incredibly competitive grant, sought after by most communities that are doing anything with arts and culture in their downtowns," said Walsh. "That we received it lends credibility to what we're doing in Lynn. There is a tremendous collaboration going on."

Walsh said the grant could help pay to advertise downtown cultural events. "Individually, businesses might not have an ad budget, so they can't get the word out about what's happening, and that's where this kind of grant can make a difference," he said. "With a marketing plan, we can put Lynn on the map and bring people back to Central Square. The MCC obviously feels we are going to see more growth in Central Square and now they have invested, and that tends to be a multi-year investment."

MCC Executive Director Mary Kelley said awards such as those made Tuesday in Lynn, Lowell, Fall River, Worcester and other relatively old urban communities can provide the necessary fuel to jumpstart local economics. Boston and New Bedford also have implemented programs similar to Third Thursdays, and Lowell this week received funding for its new Destination World program, designed to foster cultural programs that revolve around the city's diverse community.

"The model has definitely worked in some of the older cities in helping to generate tourism and the economy," said MCC spokesman Greg Liakos.

Daniel Hunter, executive director of the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities offered a similar assessment during the Lynn ceremony.

Tuesday's grants were given greater significance due to the looming state budget cuts in Gov. Mitt Romney's fiscal 2007 budget, which would slash MCC funding by $2.4 million. Approximately $1 million of those proposed cuts would be applied to the MCC's John and Abigail Adams Arts Program for Cultural Economic Development, which currently funds 34 community projects, Liakos said.

The Third Thursdays grant was part of $200,000 the MCC awarded to cultural economic development projects along the North Shore and Merrimack Valley.

Third Thursdays was formed as a partnership, with the Lynn Museum as the lead organization, and included the city, Columbia Insurance Co., the Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce, the Lynn Economic Development Industrial Corp., LynnArts, the Mayo Group property development firm, the jewelers Omar & Oscar Inc., and RAW Art Works' therapy studio.

The MCC provides grants, services and advocacy for cultural organizations, schools, communities and artists. It receives an annual appropriation from the state Legislature and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Liakos said the grants are part of $1.35 million that the agency is investing across the commonwealth to stimulate the state's burgeoning creative economy.

"This program is designed to help communities use their cultural assets to stimulate activities in the downtown, or to generate new cultural tourism, and more broadly to weave the arts into economic development efforts," he said.