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Date: 10/12/2021
SPRINGFIELD – In the past 164 years, the Springfield Museums has only been forced to close just once – for four months last year.
To assist the museum overcome the financial impact, Congressman Richard Neal announced at a press conference on Oct. 7 the institution had received a $1,200,000 Shuttered Venue Operator Grant (SVOG) from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Kay Simpson, the president of the Springfield Museums noted the pandemic had “a very dramatic impact on put economy … including the entire tourism industry.”
She said that in 2017 with the opening of the Dr. Seuss museum attendance at the Quadrangle doubled. At the beginning of 2020 there was an additional growth of the number of visitors.
Since reopening, the museums installed “many expensive renovations for safety,” Simpson explained.
The $1.2 million and other government assistance is a “lifeline,” she noted.
Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Massachusetts District Director Robert Nelson said, “I can’t imagine what life would be like without the fabric off cultural institutions.”
According to the SBA website, “The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program was established by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act, and amended by the American Rescue Plan Act. The program includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues, to be administered by SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance. Eligible applicants may qualify for grants equal to 45 percent of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million. $2 billion is reserved for eligible applications with up to 50 full-time employees.”
In Neal’s district the other awards went to: Shakespeare & Company, Inc., Lenox – $566,181.60; Phoenix Theatres Berkshire, LLC, Pittsfield – $617,053.86; ROZ100, Inc., Pittsfield – $4,705,721.10; Step Up World, Shelburne Falls – $52,000; Roomful of Teeth Vocal Arts Project, Williamstown - $219,362.45.
Neal called the Quadrangle “everybody’s neighborhood” in the city and added, “it’s a good day for the Quadrangle and a good day for Western Massachusetts.”