Bamboozled at E. 110 and Fifth
Curbed breaks a reports about a protest on the site to house the new Museum of African Art. Supposedly the land is being used to develop luxury condos with storage space for the museum and a lecture hall rather than a permanent home as originally promised. If the accusations are true, then it is the shadiest deal to go down since local Native Americans traded the island of Manhattan. [Note, unless you are planning to shower afterwards you may want to steer clear of the comments section. I'm just saying.]
Read the post: Curbed
Related: The very short list :: amNY
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The African Museum http://www.africanart.org
is a significant cultural institution in NYC that was on Broadway just south of Houston (SOHO) for a number of years and which moved to Queens (along with MOMA) to cut costs while they raised for this site. Fundraising has been slow and they have had a couple of false starts (Edison Schools was supposed to co-develop the site with them before that company ran into financial difficulties itself). These are the realities of non-profit cultural institutions. They entered into a co-development relationship with the condo developer so that the museum could be built
so what, this deal just happened with no input from the community? If community had anything to do with it, then they shouldn’t complain. They would’ve known that it wasn’t gonna be much of a museum.
i was reading about this in AMNY this morning and it said something like 20 gardens in East Harlem alone were going to be undergoing similar cuts. First, I had no clue that many gardens existed. Seems to me that there should a smaller amount of gardens that should be revamped and turned into something more interactive for the community. One example of this is the Botanical Garden where they have programs where people learn about gardening and get involved with hands-on projects, etc or programs tailored for children. Perhaps between community organizations and the dept of parks something like that would make better use.Regarding the museum, seems like their just getting a space to stuff their stuff. I surely hope that it’ll be something more fitting.This would be the newest cultural addition to museum mile on like 50 years or so.They should make it worthwhile.
i dont think they are saying they are not building the museum and just building condos. i think the plan is to build both, at least as i remember it when the plans were announced a few weeks back. what’s news (but not surprising) is that it wont be much of a museum…more of a sad excuse for one, housed in the bottom of a luxury condo building.
it’s also news that there are white people chaining themselves to a fence on 110th and 5th ave. something tells me those arent the locals who have been using/not using that public garden for years.
as for that curbed posting thread…i swear it’s just one person posting all that nonsense, posing as different people just to get their kicks.
as for public gardens in harlem–i dont know about you guys, but the one near my house hasnt been touched by a green thumb in years.