[ad_1]
The New-York Historical Society is expanding its headquarters to include a new museum that will chronicle the LGBTQ community and its history. Construction on the project is slated to begin in 2022.
The American LGBTQ+ Museum will take up 60,000 square feet of space New-York Historical Society’s building at 170 Central Park West. It will make history as the city’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ life, culture, and history. The Leslie-Lohman Museum of the Art is also LGBTQ-focused but is primarily focused on art.
Under this $140 million project, the museum will boast a comprehensive collection of queer artifacts to spotlight underrepresented queer figures and educate youth about LGBTQ history.
The president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, Dr. Louise Mirrer, said this museum will act as a living archive for the LGBTQ community.
“With great foresight, our trustees acted in 1937 to purchase the lot adjacent to New-York Historical’s building, knowing that our growing collections and evolving programs for scholars, students, educators, and the public would someday need room to expand,” Mirrer said in a written statement. “Now that day has arrived — and how gratifying it is to realize the dream of telling the American story in all its complexity in state-of-the-art educational spaces and a brand-new gallery dedicated to the struggle for civil rights of the American LGBTQ+ community.”
In 2017, the American Museum of LGBT History and Culture Task Force began discussing plans for the museum, and a year later, the New York City Council threw its weight behind the project. The following year, the museum snagged a partnership with the New-York Historical Society. To help kick off the project, organizers surveyed more than 3,200 LGBTQ people across the nation. The findings revealed that individuals sought a space that was intersectional, responsive to the community’s needs, and accessible.
The New York-based firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects is set to design the facility, which will include study areas, access to a rooftop garden, and a “compact storage facility” for the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library. The first phase of construction — to begin next summer — will focus on “below-grade library stacks,” while the second phase will build galleries and classrooms, organizers said.
Richard Burns, a museum board chair, praised the project for bringing visibility to LGBTQ issues.
“We’re delighted to partner with New York’s foremost museum of history to build a new museum dedicated to an exploration and celebration of the richness and diversity of LGBTQ+ history and culture in America,” Burns said in a written statement. “The respect and rigor with which New-York Historical has approached this process, including their consultation with local communities, mirrors our own commitment to building a thoughtful, welcoming, queer, and inclusive experience for our visitors and partners. We look forward to bringing a dynamic new museum to life within this cherished, deeply-respected, and growing New York City landmark.”
The construction of the American LGBTQ+ Museum in New York comes after the Leslie-Lohman Museum of the Art, an LGBTQ gallery that has focused on exploring and preserving queer artwork since 2016.
To sign up for the Gay City News email newsletter, visit gaycitynews.com/newsletter.
[ad_2]
Source link
