(USA, 2012, 61 min, color, DVD, Unrated) What can residents of communities that have been devastated by deindustrialization do to improve their condition during a time of austerity, war and anti-labor attacks? The film focuses on the introduction of a massive museum of contemporary art in the same buildings that housed Sprague Electric Company in a typical New England mill town. Billed as an engine of economic development, the museum hasn't produced the jobs it promised and the city's downtown is semi-deserted. The film argues that national policy must change and that vibrant unions and social movements are needed to bring about a new 'New Deal' to deal with the social and economic crisis facing U.S. cities today. Director Maynard Seider will present his film and stay for a discussion after the screening. “Farewell to Factory Towns? focuses on North Adams, MA, as a community that has experienced some of the most devastating impacts of deindustrialization and is undertaking community revival through the arts. These are processes that are increasingly important to understand but there are few resources I know of that bring them to light as clearly and accessibly as does this film. I can’t wait to show it to my urban politics students.” –Martha Ackelsberg, Professor of Government and of the Study of Women and Gender, Smith College