The Cleveland Art Museum is slated for a $258M expansion in the coming year. I’m glad that they’ll have a chance to get more of their large collection on display, but I can’t help but think that $258M dollars [and the $8M chipped in by the state] could do a lot more good elsewhere. Yes, private donors can donate wherever the hell they want to, but what’ll it take to make ’em donate to the economic development of the region? Hopefully the $80M/yr estimate will hold true by attracting more visitors to the area, and I’m glad to see that they say admission will still be free, but we’ll see what six years of construction does to that tune. I wish they’d gotten a Cleveland architect for the design instead of Rafael Viñoly. A friend of mine also took exception to this:
Apparently norteamericanos don’t get really excited about stuff? Welcome to Cleveland, bub.
Hey, I’m grouchy today; I’m complaining about good things. I’m also ignorant and not rich so I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll have changed my mind somewhat. I’m still glad it is happening. Shaddup Adam.
Evidently, the Cleveland MA has one of the largest endowments in the country, partially enabling them to keep their admission free. I don’t see this changing in the next six years. It’s some ridiculously high million dollar number or something, and half of that endowment goes toward purchasing. The other half is used for other purposes. So they don’t need to make money. They also seem to pride themselves on their free admission, touting that they and the National Gallery of Art are the only remaining free major art museums in the country.
With Cleveland being this great big dead city like it is, it is nice to see at least SOMEthing in the city is revered enough to be developed. Cleveland does have one of the finer art collections in the country (perhaps not as impressive as New York), so it is worth investing in.
Yea, I gotta agree with your last sentence (the whole “shaddup” thing). Sure, the $$ *could* be used for other civic developments. But, to their own credits, the arts continue to be a hard sell in Cleveland. We’re making improvements, but it still has a ways to go. So, to that end, I say “yeah!” for the Cleveland Museum of Art having the cash to be able to make these improvements and expansions. I’ve been to a good # of art museums and CMA continues to be one of the best around (obviously, not as good as NYC, but that’s NYC), so I see their improvements as keeping up the level of quality they’ve had through the years. True, I feel their modern art section to be lackluster and pretty bland, but here’s hoping they improve that with the funds.
I would much rather see this cash go the Museum rather than something like another godawful convention center or, worse yet, a casino or some shit.
Yeah, I don’t think a convention center or casino would do any good either, but I seriously doubt that expanding the museum is going to supply $80M to this area. Even Legacy Village fell through on its much much lower estimate
That’s because, while legacy village is nice to look at, I don’t know anyone who can afford half the crap they sell there.