NORTHBRIDGE — The Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund has awarded ValleyCAST!, Blackstone Valley Culture, Arts, Science Together, a $160,000 grant to help complete renovation of Alternatives’ Whitin Mill.

ValleyCAST!, a subsidiary of Alternatives, is a partnership of area cultural, historic and art organizations and individuals who have come together to support the arts and culture in the Blackstone Valley, using the Whitin Mill as their base.

“The Whitin Mill project is a great example of what a community can accomplish when it uses the resources from its past to build a better future,” said Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

“We’re proud to invest in this building, and look forward to working with the ValleyCast! partners to create a richer cultural life for the Blackstone Valley.”

Research shows, said Walker, that every dollar spent on arts and culture will generate $5 for the local economy.

“We are delighted to receive these funds, which will enable us to complete the project of turning an out-ofwork mill into an inclusivecommunity treasure for the whole region to enjoy,” said Dennis Rice, executive director of Alternatives.

The Cultural Facilities Grant will enable the installation of an audio system, additional lighting and an LED device enabling those with impaired hearing to more fully participate in performances and public meetings in the Singh Performance Center, Rice said.

The grant will also make possible the transportation and installation of important interpretive artifacts, according to Rice. These include the 1833 Holbrook Bell, on loan from Old Sturbridge Village, and a Whitin Spinning Frame, loaned by the Lowell Textile Museum, he explained. Narrative and general identity signage and an emergency generator providing backup for key parts of the mill’s infrastructure, including the geothermal system that provides 100 percent of the complex’s heating and cooling, are planned as well.

“With completion of the final renovations of the Whitin Mill and the installation of key technical equipment,” Rice noted, “ValleyCAST! will have the resources essential to live up to its full potential of providing a bustling cultural destination for all of the citizens of the Blackstone Valley and visitors from the region.”

Of interest to those who have followed the makeover of the Whitin Mill is the publication of a book on the Valley as the impetus to the development of industry in America. The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission and the Worcester Historical Museum last Tuesday, June 7, celebrated the release of “Landscape of Industry,” an illustrated history of the cradle of American industrialization with a forward by Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Congressmen James McGovern and Richard E. Neal were scheduled to speak at the event.