Cape Cod Life Philanthropy Edition:
Provincetown Art Association and Museum

CHRISTINE MCCARTHY JOKES THAT THE PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM (PAAM), WHERE SHE'S BEEN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR EIGHT YEARS, CAUSED A FEW CASES OF WHIPLASH WHEN IT CONSTRUCTED A GLASS FACADE AS PART OF A MAJOR RENOVATION A FEW YEARS AGO. "This was built as a sea captain's house with a high hedge that kept people away," she says of the original structure. "People going by weren't expecting to see it - and now they see art all day and night."

PAAM was founded in 1914 by business people and note-worthy artists who established Provincetown as a premier arts colony: Charles Hawthorne, Oscar Gieberich, William Halsall, Gerrit Beneker, and E. Ambrose Webster. Since she joined PAAM, making Provincetown's rich artist-colony history and lively cultural scene accessible to the community has been the foundation of McCarthy's vision for the organization. The award-winning building, the first art museum in the country to be certified as "green" by the U.S. Green Building Council, reflects the marriage of modern and traditional art - inside and out. McCarthy has helped bring PAAM to a level where it gets attention not only from passersby, but from museums worldwide. "Now we can borrow from the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Whitney," says McCarthy. "Hans Hofmann's students' drawings are sitting in a drawer at the Met. An exhibition's not going to happen there, but it's certainly going to happen here."

PAAM and McCarthy have come a long way since 2001, when the young director of administration and planning at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art looked at the eight-page job description for PAAM's executive director, which paid 40% less than her previous salary, and had duties that she says "included everything." McCarthy hadn't planned to take the job, but came for an interview on a whim. She ended up talking about Provincetown all night with her host, the late trustee Ruth Hiebert. "She opened up this whole world to me about these artists. I just couldn't get enough of this," McCarthy says. McCarthy promptly accepted the position.

McCarthy's goals have involved overseeing the fundraising for and renovation of the old building and a new wing, which was completed in 2006. She also would like to strengthen PAAM's remarkable array of 200 programs for members, students, and the community, and to bring Provincetown's art - which had been donated far and wide - back to Provincetown. McCarthy wants to ensure the organization thrives as the centerpiece for the arts community. "In the grand scheme of things, we're the history of the artists' colony on Cape Cod," McCarthy says. Residents generously lend art from their private collections - McCarthy laughs that she's always casing a home whenever she visits. She looks forward to hosting a show of abstract expressionist painter Robert Motherwell, who spent much of his career in Provincetown, in 2011.

Like other cultural institutions, PAAM faces difficult financial decisions in the current economic downturn. McCarthy feels grateful for the support PAAM receives from volunteers, who do the work of one-and-a-half full-time employees, and from a broad spectrum of donors. Staff hours and budgets are back to their original levels after previous cuts earlier in the year. McCarthy hopes to engage the community further as PAAM approaches its centennial in 2014. She says, "I'll be damned if this organization closes before it's 100."