By Tajudeen Sowole
This is not exactly cheering news, coming from the
U.S. The ongoing construction of new building at Museum for African Art in New
York has been scaled down. The authority recently announced plans to scale
down its construction plans for financial constrains.
Lobby of the ongoing construction at Africa Centre, New York, U.S. |
Recall that the museum was one of the
venues for the touring exhibition, Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria - a collaborative effort of Nigeria’s National
Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and foreign partners - which
traveled across Europe for nearly two years.
Originally scheduled
to have opened in 2008, the project’s long delay, according to a source last
year was due to expanding the institution into New Africa Centre with museum
and policy institute. The new expansion, they said, will accommodate members’
club for business executives, cultural leaders and policy makers who may have
interest in African subjects.
About a
year ago, the museum went on wide fund raising, under what was to be a new
name Africa Centre. But it got less than $1 million against an estimated target
of more than $7 million raised in the previous year
It
was budgeted at $135 million dollar originally. The project, according to the
latest development, has been scaled down to $95 million dollar. Sacrificed to accommodate the new
reality are features such as carved wood expected from Ghana and a spiraling
staircase as well as a theatre and restaurant.
Founded
three decades ago, the museum was ready to sell what it called “naming rights”
for $50 million. But sadly, it “found no takers.”
The
plans for the new face of the edifice have been in the making since 1997, and a
design unveiled ten years after.
Making a contribution, the Vice President of
Clinton Foundation, Chelsea was said to have pledged a $9 million donation.
However, October date completion has been targeted with the hope of raising $11
million.
To complete the construction of the edifice, which started in 2007,
about $60 million dollar was being raised last year towards a target 2015
completion period.
Opened to the
public in 1984, the Museum for African Art is dedicated to the arts and
cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora. The Museum is internationally
acknowledged as a preeminent organizer of exhibitions and publications related
to historical and contemporary African art, with programs that are as diverse
as the continent itself.
The Museum is
currently planning a new building that will enable the long-needed expansion of
the Museum's exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives.
Designed by the celebrated Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, the new Museum
for African Art will own and occupy about 90,000 square feet in a mixed-use
joint-development project. The new Museum building is located at the corner of
Fifth Avenue and East 110th Street, in New York City, where it will join Manhattan's
"Museum Mile." With its expansive exhibition and programming spaces,
the new facility will enable the institution to dramatically expand the
audiences it serves. An announcement of the Museum's public opening date will
be made during the final phase of construction.
While it prepares for the
public opening of its new quarters, the Museum continues to develop important
exhibitions that travel to major venues internationally and are accompanied by
scholarly publications. The Museum also presents a wide range of public
programs for adults, families, and schoolchildren, held at locations throughout
New York City.
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