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.
anon@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.
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