AMHERST — A capital campaign for the build-out of downtown Amherst’s first live performance venue, which opened last spring, is coming to a close after the Drake and the Downtown Amherst Foundation this week received a $180,000 state Cultural Facilities Fund grant.
“This grant and the amount awarded to our foundation shows the confidence and excitement from Mass Cultural in what we have built here in Amherst and our future as a longstanding arts and cultural entity in this community,” Amherst Business Improvement District Executive Director Gabrielle Gould said in a statement.
The Drake, located on North Pleasant Street, was the recipient of one of three Cultural Facilities Fund grants awarded in western Massachusetts, all in Hampshire County, by MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The other grants went to Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program in Williamsburg, and the Sevenars Academy in Worthington.
At Snow Farm, the $20,000 award will be used for a variety of projects at the Clary Road site, including renovations to interior and exterior walls, relocation of stairs, vaulting work, electrical and lighting upgrades, and window replacements. In addition, there will be new heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems in the Flameworking Studio.
Sevenars Academy is using its $20,000 award for foundation work and new windows in the concert hall at its historic building on Ireland Street.
“We are very, very grateful,” said Rorianne Schrade, executive director of Sevenars Concerts Inc. “It means so much to have support for cultural activities, music and concerts.”
The building Sevenars calls home was constructed in 1828 and expanded by Russell H. Conwell to accommodate an academic program in the late 1890s. Schrade said the acoustics inside the historic building are wonderful, and her organization is honored to continue holding concerts there.
The state support will ensure that Sevenars doesn’t have to deplete all of its own resources for the necessary ongoing work, Schrade said.
For the Drake, former space in a downtown bar was overhauled with a new stage, sound system, lighting and a green room. The state money went toward the costs of those renovations.
The announcement of the grants, which statewide totaled $1.55 million, were made at Battleship Cove in Fall River on Monday. Gould was there with Downtown Amherst Foundation President Tony Maroulis.
MassDevelopment President and CEO Dan Rivera said in a statement that the Cultural Facilities Fund aids in capital projects that preserve, improve and expand indispensable artistic and cultural spaces.
“Cultural organizations are the anchors of local economies across Massachusetts,” Rivera said.
“These awards recognize the key economic impacts these cultural facilities provide their communities and the commonwealth and invests in their future sustainability,” said Mass Cultural Council Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt.
In its time in operation, Gould said The Drake has collaborated with Amherst Regional High School, Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts, and hosts many performers who have received Amherst Cultural Council grants.
“In less than 180 days, over 1,000 artists from our own backyard and from across the globe have arrived in downtown Amherst and performed on our stages,” Gould said. Acts have included music from rock and jazz to experimental and world, poetry and spoken word, and open mic nights.
While the grant completes the $1.3 million capital campaign undertaken by the Downtown Amherst Foundation, seeded initially with a $175,000 Massachusetts Office of Business Development’s Regional Pilot Project Grant, the Drake will be announcing a new annual membership program in November, Gould said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
