The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association, with partners The City of Pittsfield, MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI), Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (DPI), and the Pittsfield Community Design Center, are seeking public input and contributions to activate Dunham Mall with lighting, plantings, sculptural seating, and programming that supports area business, recreation, pedestrian networks, and parking accessibility downtown for residents and visitors. Three design schemes for Dunham Mall have been created by Group AU, a local architecture and urbanism firm led by Tessa Kelly, based on a community input session that was held on January 31, 2024, at Hot Plate Brewing Co.

The public is invited to rank the three proposed design schemes, provide feedback, and contribute to a community fundraiser on Patronicity (Patronicity.com/ImagineDunhamMall) to help determine the concept that moves forward to implementation. Pittsfield Beautiful has pledged to match community donations dollar-for-dollar up to $15,000. If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $35,000 by May 31, 2024, the project will receive a matching grant with funds from MassDevelopment’s Commonwealth Places.

Thank you for your overwhelming response to the Imagine Dunham Mall designs. We have heard that the addition of plants, flowers, shade, lighting, and seating is important to you, and creating a space for people of all ages to gather is a must. Our goal is to make Dunham Mall a comfortable and welcoming destination for the community – and based on your feedback, we will be presenting a new design: “Imagine! Dunham Mall 2.0”. Stay tuned for more information, including live sessions where you can engage with the design team and organizers in person. Please continue to use the Patronicity site to digitally share your thoughts with us: Patronicity.com/ImagineDunhamMall

The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association and its partners have already secured all property owner interest and agreement. The City of Pittsfield will assist with labor and installation for lighting projects.

Before the designs are implemented, the remainder of the funds for a matching $35,000 Commonweath Places grant must be secured.

In November 2023, the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association was awarded a $50,000 Commonwealth Places Grant: $35,000 to activate Dunham Mall and Burbank Place and $15,000 to enhance the Berkshire Lightscapes program. This award must be matched to access the funding. Berkshire Lightscapes will match $15,000 for Lightscapes internally. Administered by MassDevelopment, Commonwealth Places provides funding to support place-based, locally driven placemaking projects in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts throughout Massachusetts.

For more information on IMAGINE DUNHAM MALL, contact Rebecca Brien, Managing Director of Downtown Pittsfield, Inc., at 413-443-6501 or [email protected].

IMAGINE Dunham Mall FAQs

What is the IMAGINE Dunham Mall project?

To activate Dunham Mall and Burbank Place with lighting, plantings, seating, and programming that supports area business, recreation, pedestrian networks and parking accessibility in Pittsfield’s downtown core for all residents and visitors.

Who is organizing IMAGINE Dunham Mall?

The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association (DPCA), The City of Pittsfield, MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI), Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (DPI), and the Pittsfield Community Design Center are spearheading this project. Architect Group AU and Pittsfield Beautiful are community partners.

Where is the money coming from for this project?

In November 2023, the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association was awarded a $50,000 Commonwealth Places Grant: $35,000 to activate Dunham Mall and Burbank Place and $15,000 to enhance the Berkshire Lightscapes program. Administered by MassDevelopment, Commonwealth Places provides funding to support place-based, locally driven placemaking projects in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts throughout Massachusetts.

Why are we being asked for donations?

This grant is designed to promote a collaborative process through which people in communities work together to raise funds to improve vacant, underutilized, or repurposed publicly accessible spaces and maximize their shared value. This award must be matched to access the funding.

Who is the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association?

The Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association (DPCA) is a 501c3 non-profit organization created to promote and operate cultural, artistic, educational, and community enhancement programs in and around downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts and to support and collaborate with other Berkshire County cultural artistic, educational, and community initiatives, which favorably impact art, cultural, and educational programs, and the general well-being of downtown Pittsfield. DPCA acts as the fiscal agent for projects such as First Fridays Artswalk, Artscape, Berkshire Lightscapes and the Let It Shine! Art initiative.

More about IMAGINE Dunham Mall organizers and partners:

The Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) is MassDevelopment’s signature place-based economic development program for Gateway City downtowns and commercial districts. TDI uses an accelerator model, committing intensive resources for a defined period to real estate development, small business stability and growth, arts and cultural amenities, placemaking, and targeted technical assistance and strategic planning. This work is laid on a platform of community engagement and partnership development; the agency requires that cities assemble a cross-sector partnership to apply, and over the course of the program works to make the partnership more representative of the neighborhood and use it as a platform to grow sustaining, working relationships. MassDevelopment designated downtown Pittsfield a TDI District in 2022. TDI Fellow Julie Copoulos works full-time in the community with local partners to support investment in housing, pedestrian infrastructure, public space activation, and creating a supportive ecosystem for small businesses that is self-sustaining.

The mission of Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. (DPI) is to strengthen and promote Downtown Pittsfield, Inc.’s membership through advocacy, collaboration, and celebration.

Since 1983, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. has been the recognized leader, facilitator, and principal advocate for downtown. DPI is a membership organization consisting of property owners, businesses, residents, cultural & entertainment venues, restaurants, and non-profit organizations who have joined forces to increase economic activity by promoting downtown as a great place to live, work, and play.

The mission of the Pittsfield Community Design Center is to inspire positive changes to Pittsfield’s urban design, in order to build more connected, authentic, neighborly, and strong communities around the city.

Pittsfield Beautiful is a Pittsfield based non-profit that operates with the goal to create a welcoming presence in public sites throughout Pittsfield, Massachusetts with colorful plantings of flowers and ornamental shrubs.

Tessa Kelly is a co-founder of Group Architecture and Urbanism (Group AU), as well as co-founder of The Mastheads, a public design non-profit in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

At Group AU, Tessa spearheads urbanism projects that have been supported by both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and which engage the local communities through themes of urban history, cultural and literary heritage, and identity-building through design. Group AU was selected as one of Architectural Record’s ten Design Vanguard firms in 2022.

Tessa is a graduate of the Harvard School of Design and has taught previously within the Studio Art Department of Williams College and at the Yale School of Architecture. She is currently teaching ARC 404 at the Princeton School of Architecture.