On July 25th Archer Music Hall will be hosting a Latino dance party. Recently they had local boxing matches. The Archer is a NIZ project by J.B. Reilly, near 10th and Hamilton. To further identify the intersection as the new arts district, the Allentown Art Museum will move to that corner.
Although that move enhances Reilly and has the blessings of the city, this dour blogger continues to speak out. Last time I checked, the Arts Park was supposed to enhance the art district on 5th Street, which consisted of the park, Baum Art School and the Museum.
The Museum board puppies are going along with Reilly's scheme, and not a yelp out of the Baum board puppies. When the dust settles, we will no longer have a cultural district in either place.
I don’t recall ever reading an Allentown Art Museum “we are forced to move out of our present location because . . . .”
ReplyDeleteThe present location seems appropriate to me. But, is there some sort of structural issue that cannot be solved, not nearly enough public parking, neighborhood too dangerous, etc. explanation out there?
Maybe it’s one of those ‘new huge source of state or federal funding being identified that can only be used to build brand new some place else’ deals.
Nothing wrong with the existing location, they own a small parking lot, and a lot next to their building that could be used for an expansion if needed. The HVAC may need to be replaces but that would not cost $55 million. The only explanation I hear was that they want a "purpose built building" as opposed to the existing one, and want to be where there is "more foot traffic" thank on 5th Street.
Deleteanon@6:16: Their stated reason is that the building and systems are too old for their "masterpieces". An old building seems to do for the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Mike! Around here, we tend to quickly tear things down rather than upgrade and maintain. Of course, you well know this. Having visited dozens of similar sized cities across nearly every American state, I can attest this “burn it all down” mentality is not common everywhere else. There are some beautifully maintained small cities out there with true character that respects enduring excellent design.
DeleteMoving the Art Museum is the answer to a question that no one asked. Western Reillyville needs an anchor amusement and this seems to be his solution. Unfortunately it is easier to raise money for a glossy new building than to raise money to fix the old systems in the old Presbyterian Church part of the building. I haven’t heard anything that convinces me that moving would be advantageous to anyone else but Reilly. Similar gallery space, less storage space, and a worse parking situation just isn’t logical. Really, people won’t park in a building and walk a block to go to the Art Museum.
ReplyDeleteI would think it would be appropriate to do a cost breakout of renovation vs. relocation. In earlier times, such a published evaluation would be distributed and that cost justification made public. After all, the Art Museum does(or should) try to attract donors.
ReplyDeleteNice investigation piece for the Morning Call. HA!
Renovation costs equal much higher that the relocation and than the local monopoly farce game can go on forever. If there had or has been a evaluation it to would be one sided with the calculation being paid for and the numbers will be in favor of gross and net taxes collected.
ReplyDeleteThat’s the thing about numbers. Whether it’s a political poll, a financial impact study, etc. The numbers can be manipulated to produce whatever net result desired.
DeleteFor example, every Morning Call paid-for Muhlenberg College political poll always comes out favorably for the Liberal or Democrat viewpoint. Duh!