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- Framingham Centre Common Cultural District
The Framingham Centre Common Cultural District is now a separate 501(c)3 organization. Please visit their website at: www.framinghamcentrecommon.org/
Be sure to follow them on Facebook to stay up to date: www.facebook.com/FramCentreCommonCulturalDistrict/
On January 28th, 2020, the Massachusetts Cultural Council voted to designate the Framingham Centre Common Cultural District (FCCCD) as the 49th and newest cultural district in the Commonwealth. Their meeting was held at the historic Village Hall right in the district and followed by a great reception in the lower level.
Over the past few years, the City of Framingham has been partnering with a number of key local institutions in Framingham Centre to submit an application to the State to designate the Framingham Centre Common Cultural District.
On October 3, 2018, we held a public meeting on the district at Edgell Memorial Library. You can view the presentation from that event here. In February of 2019, the City submitted the formal application to the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) for cultural district designation. In the spring of 2019, we worked with a Framingham State University Graphic Design class to develop a logo for the cultural district.
We held a site visit with the MCC on November 26, 2019. As part of that site visit, we held a community conversation about the cultural district at Volturno. We had over 80 Framingham residents and business members attend! Anita Walker, director of the MCC, stated that it was the biggest turnout she had ever seen for one of the community conversations. The MCC held their January 28, 2020 board meeting in Framingham, where they voted to approve our Framingham Centre Common Cultural District.
Background
The Framingham Centre Common Cultural District will be located in the area of our historic Centre Common, which is anchored by several of the City’s most significant cultural organizations. Our founding partner organizations include the Framingham History Center, Framingham State University, and the Danforth Art Museum – which will shortly relocate to their new home in the Jonathan Maynard Building.
This designation would further the following goals:
The key benefit will be a focused effort to coordinate programs, events, and outreach for the district and the constituent institutions. We hope to create a space in and around the Centre Common where arts, culture, and history are elevated and celebrated and serve to draw visitors from around the region.
We have established district boundaries according to Mass Cultural Council guidelines that correspond roughly to a walkable district in which nothing is more than 10 minutes away on foot. This district includes over 100 businesses that will benefit from the collaboration and increased visitors to the area.
There are a number of ways to participate, including: