New Broad art museum to be 'dynamic' resource for students
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To Benjamin Clore, the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum will not be just another “stuffy old museum.”
It will be an investment in students’ futures.
Clore, an MSU graduate student studying studio art, said the multimillion-dollar building will be an opportunity for students to expand their artistic horizons.
Construction for the museum officially is under way after a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday that attracted more than 400 people, including the Broads and the museum’s architect, London-based Zaha Hadid.
Construction of the museum is expected to take about 20 months.
“It’s an important way to get ourselves situated in the larger context of art and community,” Clore said. “It’ll be really dynamic.”
The museum has important academic implications for students at MSU — but perhaps none more than those studying in MSU’s Department of Art and Art History, department chairman Thomas Berding said.
The museum not only will be publicly accessible; it also will be home to programs and courses aimed at various disciplines, and art students in particular have much to gain, Berding said.
Berding said meetings will be held during the museum’s construction to come up with its academic dimensions.
“It’s a place of study,” Berding said. “It will act as a lab for students to reflect what is happening with the world at this point in time. I couldn’t imagine a better investment for the visual arts.”
Hadid said she was interested in submitting a bid for the international competition to find an architect for the museum because of its potential as an educational tool.
“I’m particularly interested in education,” Hadid said to during her remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony.
“I have witnessed over the years how students can get into a situation where maybe they don’t know (something), and how through learning and teaching and experimentation and research, they could really become enlightened.”
The museum’s educational components will be within the College of Arts and Letters’ purview, although the programs will benefit a wide range of disciplines, said Karin Wurst, the college’s dean.
“University art museums are responding by helping students explore their expressive capacities,” Wurst said in an e-mail.
“But beyond this, the arts help prepare students to thrive in an economy that is increasingly based on the generation — and visually compelling presentation — of creative content.”
Berding said the museum’s arrival will not give the art department an advantage over other departments facing program reductions. Instead, the museum will allow for the enrichment of courses offered in the art department.
“Basically, all programs have to trim back, and we’re no exception,” Berding said. “It’s in the conversation about how the Broad (Museum) could be a resource. But it is not a shield from some choices and trim-backs that we’ve had to make like everybody else.”
MSU Provost Kim Wilcox, the university’s top academic officer, said art students — and students in general — will benefit from the increased visibility of the arts presented by the museum.
Wilcox also said art students will benefit from collaborations with one another and the community.
“That last one’s a big part of it, for our students to feel like they’re part of the bigger arts community,” Wilcox said. “Not just the chance to see art, but to be part of something bigger.”
Commentary
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Lyle
(03/17/10 12:35am)Report
It’s a shame all this money is being spent on such an unnecessary eyesore. It doesn’t fit with the Universities own building plan to make all future construction complementary to the traditional structures.
Besides, with program cuts, layoffs, and increasing tuition and fees, it is a total waste of money.
Rick
(03/17/10 8:32am)Report
Hey Lyle: The money was DONATED. So quit yer bitchin’. You don’t like the design? Avoid looking at it.
Lyle I am with you!
(03/17/10 8:34am)Report
Lyle I couldn’t have said it better myself, high five!
ZT
(03/17/10 9:35am)Report
I can’t believe how many ppl bitch about the money. Like Rick, and all the stories say, it was donated by the Broads for this purpose. All funds raised were for this purpose as well.
I agree it isn’t too visually appealing, if only they could have tore down the Student Services building and built it there. Atleast that way it is a more modern eyesoar
st. patrick
(03/17/10 9:54am)Report
Every time a story comes up about the Broad Museum it’s the same comments: It’s ugly, it doesn’t fit with the north campus architecture, we could be using the money (which the Broads are donating for this specific purpose) for something more important. It seems like complaining just to complain. This is something that MSU certainly needs (have you seen Kresge? THAT is our art museum; it’s weak). This art museum is, in my opinion, a step forward. And if you hate it so much, then don’t walk by it on your way to Berkey.
OldTimer
(03/17/10 2:54pm)Report
Donated money it is, but what does the Michigan taxpayer see? Holes in the highway, and a shiny new building on the campus. Now, you can explain until blue in the face that these same dollars are not available to the general fund, but appearances rule. Expect Michigan’s legislators to slice MSU funding by (at least) a comparable amount.
Darko
(03/17/10 3:55pm)Report
Art.
It’s important. YGBMOT.
To Oldtimer
(03/17/10 5:14pm)Report
The state has already sliced MSU, and all other public school funding if you haven’t noticed. Also a school doesn’t decide where the money goes, the donor does. When Detroit was going to cancel the fireworks a few years ago because they did not have the funds to pay the police, a private donor donated funds specifically for this. The city did not lose a comparable amount of funds that way…
pirate_king
(03/17/10 9:29pm)Report
The Broads donated $28 million. They need $40 million. Guess where the rest is coming from? Open up your wallets.
pirate_king
(03/17/10 9:33pm)Report
St. Patrick wrote: “Every time a story comes up about the Broad Museum it’s the same comments: It’s ugly, it doesn’t fit with the north campus architecture……. “
Hello, it IS ugly, and it DOESN’T fit in with north campus. Those are valid complaints which have been registered from the outset. They should have designed a nice red brick building and concentrated on putting the modern art INSIDE the museum.
G
(03/18/10 7:20pm)Report
Well I am excited for it! I think it will be a great addition to MSU!
@Darko
(03/18/10 10:03pm)Report
Darko if you don’t mind, could you please tell me what YGBMOT, stands for?
PD
(03/19/10 9:01am)Report
It should be an interesting addition to MSU. Hopefully there are some cool pieces of art going in that place.
Kresge has to be demolished. When you look at it from the south, it looks like a chicago housing project, like cabrini green
Jaron Alfard
(03/24/10 7:18am)Report
Former defensive end Jamiihr Williams was sentenced to 18 months probation, 150 hours of community microsoft 70-640service and more than $1,000 in fines and court costs after pleading guilty to one charge of assault.Williams 70-642 transferred to Grand Rapids Community College earlier this year.Friday’s sentencings bring to eight the number of current and former players sentenced for their role 70-680 exam in the November incident. Former Spartan Glenn Winston and current players Oren Wilson and Myles White are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.