Educational Media Reviews Online

North Adams, Massachusetts, once a thriving factory town full of textile and shoe mills, began showing a decline in the 1930s, when it was abandoned by industries seeking cheaper production overseas. Sprague Electric Company stepped in and provided employment for half the adults in the town, including the parents, grandparents, and godparents of documentary filmmaker Nancy Kelly. But when Sprague closed its doors in the 1980s, the town and its residents suffered a devastating blow. The American Dream was replaced by unemployment, vacant storefronts, decay, and hopelessness.

In this unlikeliest of settings-the smallest, poorest city in Massachusetts-a plan for the country's largest contemporary museum took shape in the 1980s. This is the compelling story of the development and opening of MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) and the incredible transformation of the town and its residents. Statistics tell part of the story: before MASS MoCA opened its doors in 1999, fewer than 1,000 tourists visited each year and 80% of the downtown was vacant. More than 100,000 visitors now come to town, restaurants and a new inn opened, and artists and small computer firms have relocated there.

The socio-economic changes are significant and encouraging, and the story of North Adams may inspire other economically depressed cities, to re-invent themselves in a similar way. But the transformations would not have been set in motion, without the commitment to save the community by widely disparate groups of people. Through interviews with family members, local business people and artists-including MASS MoCA director, Joseph Thompson, and local artist / gallery director Eric Rudd-- Kelly tells the story of the blue-collar locals, who do not understand contemporary art, but accept and even embrace it, because it offers the town's best chance at survival. And she tells the story of the visionary artists, who see themselves as part of the community and are eager to share their hope, optimism, and enthusiasm.

This film feels like a variation on The Little Engine that Could. The different populations are motivated to succeed in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles, and, with positive thinking and good will towards one another, they do. Kelly shot the film over a three-year period, and in this first-person documentary, she has beautifully captured a shift from hopelessness to hope, that took place in her hometown. With a glimpse of a brighter future, those that live and work in North Adams have a new sense of pride and empowerment.

Downside Up has many audiences; in an educational setting it may be viewed by students in art, urban planning, sociology, and museum studies. Highly recommended for academic libraries and medium-large size public libraries.