Domino Sugar Factory Inspires Artists
A group of Brooklyn artists is lobbying to create an art museum inspired by [Londons Tate Modern at the Domino Sugar Factory] site in Williamsburg instead of the housing complex, waterfront esplanade and commercial space that [developers currently have planned](http://www.newyorkpress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=49150121). The highly successful [Tate Modern](http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/) is housed in a former power plant by the London shore, and artists are saying that they see [similar potential](http://www.nysun.com/article/59509) for the now-defunct industrial space: I look at this place and I say Tate Modern, Tate Modern, Tate Modern, Greg Stone, a Brooklyn-based artist emphatically told the Sun. He and other local artists, including Pierogi gallery owner Joseph Amrhein, say that the Tate has created hundreds of jobs and brings more than $200 million a year in economic benefits to London. They believe that a similar project in Brooklyn could do the same.
But art aficionados shouldnt break out the wine and cheese just yet. The artists havent proposed any funding sources nor have they suggested possible tenants. (Silly minor details always getting in the way...) Meanwhile, Community Preservation Corporation Resources $1.3 billion proposal, which still needs City Council and City Planning Commission Funding, will have its first public hearing tonight.
But even if the Tate plans dont work out, the state may be adding another Museum to its attractions list. The Theodore Roosevelt Association is pushing to build a [$50 million state-of-the-art museum] and study center and is considering Oyster Bay, Long Island, as a possible location. Also in the running: Washington, D.C. and Cambridge, Mass. Were not quite sure how Oyster Bay is going to stand up to D.C. (no disrespect to Long Islanders), but Roosevelt did have a home in the area and held many offices in the state.
Photo courtesy of [MuntyPix on Flickr]