Edward
December 11th, 2002, 10:53 AM
NEW YORK TIMES
December 11, 2002
More Museums for New York, Despite Poor Economy
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Two new museums with a combined construction cost of nearly $100 million — one devoted to contemporary art and one to art of the Himalayas — are in the works for Manhattan, despite a tight economy that has forced cutbacks at other cultural organizations.
The Rubin Museum of Art, devoted primarily to Himalayan and Tibetan painting, is currently being developed in the former Barneys store at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Chelsea. Its $60 million, 70,000-square-foot space, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, is to open in 2004.
The New Museum of Contemporary Art in SoHo, the quarter-century-old bastion of cutting-edge art, is planning to build a new $35-million, 60,000-square-foot home along a motley stretch of the Bowery, at Prince Street, by 2005.
In addition the Jewish Children's Museum is planned for the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Children's Museum, also in Crown Heights, has begun a $39-million expansion that will double its size.
These projects come at a time when cultural organizations like the Guggenheim Museum are retrenching, and others are paring their operations to weather New York City's budget cuts.
"It's very exciting that we have this crop under way, given how tough the climate is," said Kate D. Levin, the city's commissioner of cultural affairs. "You've got a bunch of organizations that have reached a level of curatorial maturity."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, said it was important for cultural institutions to press ahead with building or expansion even when the economic picture was bleak. "If you go back and look at the great public works in our nation's history, they often happened in very difficult times," she said. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt built the National Gallery in the Depression. You've got to have more of a vision."
The New Museum's new location, a parking lot at 235 Bowery, is only a few blocks from its current 30,000-square-foot home, but in neighborhood terms, it is a world away. Now surrounded by upscale stores like A/X Armani Exchange and Dean & Deluca, the museum in its new location will be surrounded by restaurant-supply stores and be two doors from the Bowery Mission, which serves 500 meals daily to the homeless.
"It would be disingenuous if I said I was not nervous," said Saul Dennison, president of the museum's board. "But based on a number of things, I feel pretty confident."
That confidence is based largely on the expected sale (still being negotiated) of the current site, which has increased in value over the museum's 20 years there, and by the rapidly shifting fortunes of the Bowery. Although the New Museum, which will sit between Rivington and Stanton Streets, would be the first major arts organization on the city's historic Skid Row, several new bars have recently opened along the wide boulevard, and Prince Street, which begins at the Bowery where the museum will be, is part of the chic neighborhood known as NoLIta (North of Little Italy), which has several restaurants and shops. Many artists have settled in lofts on or near the Bowery.
"We recognize the potential of the area," said Lisa Phillips, the museum's director. "It could be a bridge instead of a barrier between everything that goes on in SoHo and the Lower East Side."
The two museums in Brooklyn have already received funds from the city, Ms. Levin said: the Brooklyn Children's Museum, $25 million, and the Jewish Children's Museum, $9.3 million.
The Rubin Museum is being supported largely by the Rubin Cultural Trust, set up by Donald Rubin, who owns a managed-care company, and his wife, Shelley. Organizers say they hope the museum, which will include art from the Rubins' personal collection, as well as pieces donated and lent by other collectors and institutions, will become one of the major centers of Asian art in the West.
The Brooklyn Children's Museum expansion, which will add 50,000 square feet to the building's current 51,000 by 2006, was designed by Rafael Viñoly, who also designed the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia and the forthcoming Frederick P. Rose Hall for Jazz in the AOL Time Warner Building at Lincoln Center.
Carol Enseki, president of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, at 145 Brooklyn Avenue, said the expansion, which will use solar energy and be painted daffodil yellow, would allow for expanded cultural and educational programs. "Families with limited leisure time were looking for high-quality activities to do with their kids," she said.
The Jewish Children's Museum, to open in September at 332 Kingston Avenue, is a multimedia institution that will serve both as a museum and as a community center. It was designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, known for their work on the additions to the original Guggenheim Museum and the Fogg Museum at Harvard University.
Created by Tzivos Hashem, an international nonprofit children's organization, this 50,000-square-foot project seeks to promote Jewish culture and history through hands-on instruction and interaction.
"I hope it will give people a better appreciation of what Jewish culture is about," said Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten, the museum's director.
Alan J. Gerson, a councilman who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, said the New Museum plan was particularly significant in the aftermath of last year's terrorist attacks. "This is one of the first significant steps in the cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan," he said.
Ms. Phillips, the New Museum's director, said that the institution was committed to remaining downtown, particularly after the attacks, and that she hoped to create a high-profile destination for contemporary art.
"The most important thing is that the building itself announces that it is a museum, has a strong identity as a museum and serves as a beacon for contemporary art," she said.
An architect is expected to be named within a year. The New Museum, which has an annual operating budget of more than $5 million, plans to raise additional money for the project through a $12-million capital campaign and a bond offering.
Museum officials also hope to get some government funds. In addition to critically acclaimed shows like its current Carroll Dunham retrospective, the museum has a popular bookstore that includes volumes on photography, design and architecture.
When the New Museum first moved to Lower Broadway in 1983 from a small gallery at the New School for Social Research (now the New School University), the neighborhood was one that people tended to avoid. "It was really desolate, all sweatshops," Ms. Phillips said. "The museum's presence helped change what Broadway is."
Ed Morgan, president of the 93-year-old Bowery Mission, predicted the museum would make a significant impact on the Bowery as well. "I think it will start to bring 24-hour vitality to the district," he said. "It will put it more on the map as a destination."
December 11, 2002
More Museums for New York, Despite Poor Economy
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Two new museums with a combined construction cost of nearly $100 million — one devoted to contemporary art and one to art of the Himalayas — are in the works for Manhattan, despite a tight economy that has forced cutbacks at other cultural organizations.
The Rubin Museum of Art, devoted primarily to Himalayan and Tibetan painting, is currently being developed in the former Barneys store at Seventh Avenue and West 17th Street in Chelsea. Its $60 million, 70,000-square-foot space, designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, is to open in 2004.
The New Museum of Contemporary Art in SoHo, the quarter-century-old bastion of cutting-edge art, is planning to build a new $35-million, 60,000-square-foot home along a motley stretch of the Bowery, at Prince Street, by 2005.
In addition the Jewish Children's Museum is planned for the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Children's Museum, also in Crown Heights, has begun a $39-million expansion that will double its size.
These projects come at a time when cultural organizations like the Guggenheim Museum are retrenching, and others are paring their operations to weather New York City's budget cuts.
"It's very exciting that we have this crop under way, given how tough the climate is," said Kate D. Levin, the city's commissioner of cultural affairs. "You've got a bunch of organizations that have reached a level of curatorial maturity."
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, said it was important for cultural institutions to press ahead with building or expansion even when the economic picture was bleak. "If you go back and look at the great public works in our nation's history, they often happened in very difficult times," she said. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt built the National Gallery in the Depression. You've got to have more of a vision."
The New Museum's new location, a parking lot at 235 Bowery, is only a few blocks from its current 30,000-square-foot home, but in neighborhood terms, it is a world away. Now surrounded by upscale stores like A/X Armani Exchange and Dean & Deluca, the museum in its new location will be surrounded by restaurant-supply stores and be two doors from the Bowery Mission, which serves 500 meals daily to the homeless.
"It would be disingenuous if I said I was not nervous," said Saul Dennison, president of the museum's board. "But based on a number of things, I feel pretty confident."
That confidence is based largely on the expected sale (still being negotiated) of the current site, which has increased in value over the museum's 20 years there, and by the rapidly shifting fortunes of the Bowery. Although the New Museum, which will sit between Rivington and Stanton Streets, would be the first major arts organization on the city's historic Skid Row, several new bars have recently opened along the wide boulevard, and Prince Street, which begins at the Bowery where the museum will be, is part of the chic neighborhood known as NoLIta (North of Little Italy), which has several restaurants and shops. Many artists have settled in lofts on or near the Bowery.
"We recognize the potential of the area," said Lisa Phillips, the museum's director. "It could be a bridge instead of a barrier between everything that goes on in SoHo and the Lower East Side."
The two museums in Brooklyn have already received funds from the city, Ms. Levin said: the Brooklyn Children's Museum, $25 million, and the Jewish Children's Museum, $9.3 million.
The Rubin Museum is being supported largely by the Rubin Cultural Trust, set up by Donald Rubin, who owns a managed-care company, and his wife, Shelley. Organizers say they hope the museum, which will include art from the Rubins' personal collection, as well as pieces donated and lent by other collectors and institutions, will become one of the major centers of Asian art in the West.
The Brooklyn Children's Museum expansion, which will add 50,000 square feet to the building's current 51,000 by 2006, was designed by Rafael Viñoly, who also designed the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia and the forthcoming Frederick P. Rose Hall for Jazz in the AOL Time Warner Building at Lincoln Center.
Carol Enseki, president of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, at 145 Brooklyn Avenue, said the expansion, which will use solar energy and be painted daffodil yellow, would allow for expanded cultural and educational programs. "Families with limited leisure time were looking for high-quality activities to do with their kids," she said.
The Jewish Children's Museum, to open in September at 332 Kingston Avenue, is a multimedia institution that will serve both as a museum and as a community center. It was designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, known for their work on the additions to the original Guggenheim Museum and the Fogg Museum at Harvard University.
Created by Tzivos Hashem, an international nonprofit children's organization, this 50,000-square-foot project seeks to promote Jewish culture and history through hands-on instruction and interaction.
"I hope it will give people a better appreciation of what Jewish culture is about," said Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten, the museum's director.
Alan J. Gerson, a councilman who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, said the New Museum plan was particularly significant in the aftermath of last year's terrorist attacks. "This is one of the first significant steps in the cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan," he said.
Ms. Phillips, the New Museum's director, said that the institution was committed to remaining downtown, particularly after the attacks, and that she hoped to create a high-profile destination for contemporary art.
"The most important thing is that the building itself announces that it is a museum, has a strong identity as a museum and serves as a beacon for contemporary art," she said.
An architect is expected to be named within a year. The New Museum, which has an annual operating budget of more than $5 million, plans to raise additional money for the project through a $12-million capital campaign and a bond offering.
Museum officials also hope to get some government funds. In addition to critically acclaimed shows like its current Carroll Dunham retrospective, the museum has a popular bookstore that includes volumes on photography, design and architecture.
When the New Museum first moved to Lower Broadway in 1983 from a small gallery at the New School for Social Research (now the New School University), the neighborhood was one that people tended to avoid. "It was really desolate, all sweatshops," Ms. Phillips said. "The museum's presence helped change what Broadway is."
Ed Morgan, president of the 93-year-old Bowery Mission, predicted the museum would make a significant impact on the Bowery as well. "I think it will start to bring 24-hour vitality to the district," he said. "It will put it more on the map as a destination."