The World Cultural Center

The World Cultural Center
The New School - The New School
Museums and the City: A Creative Combination?Can cultural institutions help make cities better places to live, work, and learn? Museums around the world, from Bilbao to Milwaukee and London to Beacon, attract tourists and spark economic renewal. But the relationship between museums and their urban settings has become increasingly complex.What benefits do museums offer their cities, and what should we expect of them? Are they mere indulgences of the elite, draining precious public funding, or democratic expressions of time and place? Do they contribute to the sustainability of the city by offering innovative solutions to urban problems? Should cultural institutions become developers?Linda Lees, founder and director of Creative Cities International, moderates a discussion of questions like these with Kinshasha Holman Conwill, deputy director, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution; Marc Pachter, Director Emeritus of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Fred Manson, an urban renewal specialist from Britain whose past projects include the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge; and Frederic Schwartz, an architect and planner whose projects include the new Staten Island Ferry Terminal and the new airport in Chennai, India. Sponsored by the Wolfson Center for National Affairs - The New School