ISSUE Project Room's renovation project has reached new milestones, selecting the architectural firm WORKac to design the renovation of our historic McKim, Meade and White theater. We are also pleased to announce that an additional $1.9 million has been raised for our capital campaign.
WORKac, a talented young New York architectural firm, was chosen from a field of eleven competing architectural firms through the City's Department of Design and Construction's Design Excellence Program to renovate ISSUE Project Room's new home in Downtown Brooklyn. Headed by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, WORKac's design projects include the Diane von Furstenberg Studio Headquarters, the Clark Gallery at MASS MoCA, The Chidren's Museum of the Arts in Lower Manhatan, Bronx Children's Museum, Kew Gardens Pulbic Library in Queens, P.S. 216 Edible Schoolyard, a new cultural center in St. Petersburg, and the master plan for the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Cultural District. Before establishing their own firm, Wood and Andraos worked on major projects such as the Seattle Public Library, the Prada flagship stores, and the master plan for Universal Studios in Los Angeles while at Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).
The design process to renovate ISSUE's new 4,800 square-foot venue in the historic McKim, Meade and White building at 110 Livingston Street will begin in late fall 2012, and construction is estimated to begin in 2014. In the meantime, ISSUE's programming will continue in alternate venues throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan in the coming months. Please check our weekly e-newsletters and website for up to date program locations.
ISSUE Project Room's fundraising campaign to renovate it's new home reached $4,062,000 with new gifts from Mayor Bloomberg, the Department of Cultural Affairs, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Speaker Quinn and the City Council, The Brooklyn City Council Delegation, Councilmember Stephen Levin and State Assemblywoman Joan Millman totaling $1,725,000.
In addition to fundraising for the capital campaign, the Board of Directors launched a Founders Club to raise $500,000 for operations and progamming over the next two years while design and construction take place. Since January, $175,000 has been raised toward this goal.
If you would like to help support the continued presentation of projects by more than 200 interdisciplinary artists each year, please consider becoming a Member with a tax-deductible gift of $50, $100, $250, $500, or $1,000.
As always, thank you so much for your vital support.
ISSUE thanks its current capital contributors: Arnow Family Fund, ARUP, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, The Edwards Foundation Arts Fund, Four Star Air Conditioning, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, mediaThe foundation, inc., New York City Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, New York State Assemblywoman Joan Millman, New York City Council, New York City Council Member Stephen Levin, New York City Council Member Dominic Recchia, Jr., New York City Council Member Jimmy van Bramer, NV/da, WORKac.
