MMAS, Inc.

CONTACT:

30 Crocker Street PO Box 1283
Mansfield, MA 02048
508-339-2822
www.mmas.org

Ken Butler, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

When school budgets are slashed and teachers are compelled to teach to the tests, art and music classes often disappear. In 1993 Ken Butler and nine other artists founded MMAS to ensure that the children of southeastern Massachusetts would not lack opportunities to explore all areas of the arts. With strong community support and over thirty volunteers, MMAS programming has expanded beyond school-aged children to teens, adults, and seniors from over 40 area towns and all six New England states, and to include music, drama and dance. In the past five years alone, MMAS has provided visual and performing arts education to over 300 students, offering scholarships to children from at-risk families and including those with special needs. (After one rehearsal, a child with autism told his mother that he loved his theater class because, “when everyone is acting differently, nobody is different.”) MMAS offers opportunities for playwrights, actors, directors, and musicians to develop their crafts in concert series and quality productions that have won prizes and attracted a wide variety of audiences. The host and sponsor of the annual Southern Mass. Arts Festival, MMAS draws thousands of arts patrons to Mansfield to enjoy the works of artists from all over New England. Now MMAS wants to provide a permanent home for the arts in its community, and is planning to build a new facility with a black box theater, art gallery, and studio space. These are difficult times, and MMAS will need many new friends and supporters. Would you like to join them?

(2008: CULTURE: Arts)