Taking the Museum of Arts and Design to New Heights
The driving force behind the Museum's decision to relocate to 2 Columbus Circle is a dramatic upsurge in interest in the field. The Museum of Arts and Design has soared in popularity over the last five years, which is reflected in a nearly 100% increase in annual attendance to 275,000 visitors. Acclaimed touring exhibitions organized by the Museum combined with outreach efforts and off-site education programs extend the Museum "beyond its walls" to serve hundreds of thousands more visitors every year.
The Museum's Board of Trustees and professional staff are deeply committed to building on these successes and taking the Museum's services, exhibitions, and programs to new heights. The new Museum will be the only visual arts museum on the Upper West Side, in one of the most highly visible neighborhoods in New York. The Museum will be the first multi-disciplinary art museum to form a gateway between Manhattan's Midtown and Upper West Side and Lincoln Center cultural corridors. As such, it will serve multigenerational audiences in several neighborhoods with exciting and relevant exhibitions exploring the multi-disciplinary nature of decorative arts, craft, and design today.
The Museum of Arts and Design will also be able to further expand its mission to reach out to underserved communities by becoming the first neighborhood arts institution to offer critical arts-in-education, hands-on art making, and after school programs to the Clinton/Midtown West neighborhood. School children will benefit significantly from the enhanced educational offerings through programs unique to New York City, such as an Artist-In-Residence Studio program within the museum experience that will connect process and creativity to gallery visits. Further programmatic expansion will serve adults, families, special needs audiences, and seniors with a rich mix of opportunities to experience art as a continuing process of creation in the world of design around them.
From the outset, the Museum of Arts and Design has been a powerful advocate for new talent in the arts, and serves an astonishing range of artists and designers-glass artists, ceramists, sculptors, fabric designers, jewelers, product designers, fashion designers, architects, furniture makers, and artistic metal and woodworkers. The Museum is proud of this history of support and encouragement for young or under-recognized artists, and will be able to serve this role with added energy.
Museum of Arts and Design
Capital Campaign for 2 Columbus Circle
To realize its bold, new vision of service at 2 Columbus Circle, the Museum has organized the Campaign for 2 Columbus Circle with a long-term fundraising goal of $90 million. Campaign funds will acquire and create the new home for the Museum, provide a smooth transition into the new facility, and increase the endowment to support enhanced programs and expanded operations. In addition, the Museum has a goal of raising $20 million in endowment funds to provide a consistent source of support for its expanded and enhanced annual operations.
The Museum of Arts and Design is now poised for the most dramatic transformation in its history. As the visual arts anchor for the gateway to Central Park South and the City’s mid-town corridor, the Museum will play an essential role in the cultural and economic revitalization of Columbus Circle and New York City. The Museum will be able to thoughtfully serve its growing audiences with distinguished exhibitions and engaging public programs, bringing the status of a strong cultural identity to this high profile site.
Everyone in the Museum’s constituency --- Members, Trustees, collectors, artists, neighbors, leaders in New York’s cultural community and those committed to the revitalization of Columbus Circle and New York City --- are invited to participate in the Capital Campaign for 2 Columbus Circle.
For more information on the Campaign for 2 Columbus Circle please call 212.956.3535 or email info@madmuseum.org