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TechnographPlans for arts center at ground zero move slowly
By Amy Westfeldt, The Associated Press
Posted: 5/20/08 Section: Diversions
NEW YORK - When he created ground zero's master plan, architect Daniel Libeskind added a performing arts center to bring life to a site devastated by terrorism.
More than 100 arts institutions applied for a spot on the 16 acres. Four were chosen.
That was four years ago. Since then, three out of the four groups that were to have anchored the new performance space have moved on, and the center's prospects appear to be fading.
Fundraising for the center, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, hasn't begun. Ongoing construction of other buildings at the site - including an office tower, a transit hub and a Sept. 11 memorial - have complicated building prospects. State and city officials are now considering moving the center off the site, on top of a nearby subway station.
Libeskind called the arts center disarray "a great pity."
"It should be exactly where it was planned to be," he said. "It's critical for the diversity, and for the symbolism of this site."
The arts were front and center in 2004, when officials announced that the rebuilt trade center would become the new home of two independent theater companies, the country's only museum solely devoted to drawing and a new museum celebrating freedom.
Architect Frank Gehry was hired to build the theater, a 1,000-seat facility for the Joyce Theater dancers and smaller spaces for the Signature Theatre Co.
One by one, plans changed for all of them.
In the summer of 2005, the Drawing Center opted to find space elsewhere after survivors of people killed on Sept. 11 and other advocates criticized some of the works on exhibit as inappropriate.
Then the International Freedom Center was taken off the site by then-Gov. George Pataki following a campaign by the families of some victims who feared its programming would offer unwelcome, political interpretations of the 2001 terrorist attack.
Last year, the Signature Theatre Co. dropped its plan to move to the site after city and state officials said it would cost too much to build separate theaters for both them and the Joyce.
More than 100 arts institutions applied for a spot on the 16 acres. Four were chosen.
That was four years ago. Since then, three out of the four groups that were to have anchored the new performance space have moved on, and the center's prospects appear to be fading.
Fundraising for the center, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, hasn't begun. Ongoing construction of other buildings at the site - including an office tower, a transit hub and a Sept. 11 memorial - have complicated building prospects. State and city officials are now considering moving the center off the site, on top of a nearby subway station.
Libeskind called the arts center disarray "a great pity."
"It should be exactly where it was planned to be," he said. "It's critical for the diversity, and for the symbolism of this site."
The arts were front and center in 2004, when officials announced that the rebuilt trade center would become the new home of two independent theater companies, the country's only museum solely devoted to drawing and a new museum celebrating freedom.
Architect Frank Gehry was hired to build the theater, a 1,000-seat facility for the Joyce Theater dancers and smaller spaces for the Signature Theatre Co.
One by one, plans changed for all of them.
In the summer of 2005, the Drawing Center opted to find space elsewhere after survivors of people killed on Sept. 11 and other advocates criticized some of the works on exhibit as inappropriate.
Then the International Freedom Center was taken off the site by then-Gov. George Pataki following a campaign by the families of some victims who feared its programming would offer unwelcome, political interpretations of the 2001 terrorist attack.
Last year, the Signature Theatre Co. dropped its plan to move to the site after city and state officials said it would cost too much to build separate theaters for both them and the Joyce.
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