some of the preamble:
May 27, 2004, Thursday
EDITORIAL DESK, New York Times
Culture in Lower Manhattan
( Editorial ) 517 words
Ever since 9/11, there has been serious talk of including a strong cultural presence in the rebuilding at ground zero. It's worth remembering why. For all the gravity of the site itself, and for all the dignity of Michael Arad's memorial design, ground zero is about more than remembering the lives of those who died in terrorist attacks or the events that caused their deaths. It is also about the creation of new vitality. The emergence of a new cultural hub in Lower Manhattan is a way of going beyond memory, a way of enriching, fulfilling and reinterpreting the emotional context of 9/11 itself. We should visit ground zero to honor the victims and remember that day, but we should stay to celebrate life itself in a way that only the arts allow us to do.
For the past year, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has been preparing a short list of cultural entities that might occupy two sites -- one in a new performing arts center just east of the planned Freedom Tower, and another cultural complex to the south, also at Fulton and Greenwich Streets. Two possibilities have been discussed from the very beginning -- a so-called Freedom Museum, which has often sounded like little more than an excuse for vigorous flag-waving, and the New York City Opera, which has been hoping to find a new home outside Lincoln Center.
We love City Opera, but in the end, its proposal to build a 2,200-seat theater and expand its programming to fill those seats beyond its own operatic season seems to us too unwieldy for the setting. It is not so much a question of the wrong art as the wrong space.
The most interesting possibility is a mix of at least three different cultural entities on the two sites. One attractive combination would include the Joyce Theater, the Signature Theatre Company and the Drawing Center, along with a reimagined Freedom Center. They would bring together at ground zero the worlds of dance, theater and the fine arts, in a cluster of performing arts and gallery spaces that would fill the cultural calendar year-round.
The Joyce, the Signature and the Drawing Center were all planning to expand or move before 9/11, and they offer a diversity and a quality of cultural imagination that fits Lower Manhattan and would galvanize cultural life in that part of the city. Instead of a single 2,200-seat theater, there would be at least four theaters, ranging from some 200 seats to 1,000 seats.
Making this work will take someone with vision and energy -- and political capital -- to head a new foundation that will create the cultural center and the memorial. This isn't only a fund-raising opportunity, though that will certainly be part of the task. This is a chance to rebuild Lower Manhattan from the ground up, to amplify and illuminate the meaning of 9/11, and to light up the neighborhood.
And then the shortlist (NYT, June 8)
Now we need a drumroll..
|
May 27, 2004, Thursday
EDITORIAL DESK, New York Times
Culture in Lower Manhattan
( Editorial ) 517 words
Ever since 9/11, there has been serious talk of including a strong cultural presence in the rebuilding at ground zero. It's worth remembering why. For all the gravity of the site itself, and for all the dignity of Michael Arad's memorial design, ground zero is about more than remembering the lives of those who died in terrorist attacks or the events that caused their deaths. It is also about the creation of new vitality. The emergence of a new cultural hub in Lower Manhattan is a way of going beyond memory, a way of enriching, fulfilling and reinterpreting the emotional context of 9/11 itself. We should visit ground zero to honor the victims and remember that day, but we should stay to celebrate life itself in a way that only the arts allow us to do.
For the past year, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has been preparing a short list of cultural entities that might occupy two sites -- one in a new performing arts center just east of the planned Freedom Tower, and another cultural complex to the south, also at Fulton and Greenwich Streets. Two possibilities have been discussed from the very beginning -- a so-called Freedom Museum, which has often sounded like little more than an excuse for vigorous flag-waving, and the New York City Opera, which has been hoping to find a new home outside Lincoln Center.
We love City Opera, but in the end, its proposal to build a 2,200-seat theater and expand its programming to fill those seats beyond its own operatic season seems to us too unwieldy for the setting. It is not so much a question of the wrong art as the wrong space.
The most interesting possibility is a mix of at least three different cultural entities on the two sites. One attractive combination would include the Joyce Theater, the Signature Theatre Company and the Drawing Center, along with a reimagined Freedom Center. They would bring together at ground zero the worlds of dance, theater and the fine arts, in a cluster of performing arts and gallery spaces that would fill the cultural calendar year-round.
The Joyce, the Signature and the Drawing Center were all planning to expand or move before 9/11, and they offer a diversity and a quality of cultural imagination that fits Lower Manhattan and would galvanize cultural life in that part of the city. Instead of a single 2,200-seat theater, there would be at least four theaters, ranging from some 200 seats to 1,000 seats.
Making this work will take someone with vision and energy -- and political capital -- to head a new foundation that will create the cultural center and the memorial. This isn't only a fund-raising opportunity, though that will certainly be part of the task. This is a chance to rebuild Lower Manhattan from the ground up, to amplify and illuminate the meaning of 9/11, and to light up the neighborhood.
And then the shortlist (NYT, June 8)
Now we need a drumroll..
- selma 6-10-2004 6:40 pm