Lower Manhattan in high gear

Last month, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) received $5 million from the September 11th Fund. The sum is the largest ever given to a cultural institution by the post-9/11 charity, which has raised over $500 million for victims' families and other projects. LMCC director Tom Healy told the press that most of the money will be used for a new grant program to encourage artists and small and medium-size arts organizations to relocate to Lower Manhattan. Working in tandem with the Downtown Alliance, an agency founded to facilitate business development in the area, the LMCC is offering $50,000 grants for feasibility studies by eligible institutions that have been in operation for at least three years. Those accepted will be given up to $225,000 in the form of matching grants. Smaller awards will assist individual artists wishing to relocate to the area, and help support those already living and working there. According to Healy, the timing of the initiative is crucial, since the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan will cause real-estate prices to escalate.

At the same time that it announced the new grant program, the LMCC launched Site Matters, a book commemorating the World Trade Center artist residency program, which the council sponsored from 1997 until 2001. Published by the LMCC to mark its 30th anniversary, the colorful, 320-page volume covers work by all 130 artists who participated in the program and is dedicated to sculptor Michael Richards, who was on the 92nd floor of Tower One on Sept. 11 and lost his life in the disaster. Among those featured in the book are long-established artists such as Rackstraw Downes, Richard Haas and Yvonne Jacquette, along with then-emerging figures such as Paul Pfeiffer, John Pilson, Patty Chang, Sanford Biggers, Emily Jacir and Jennifer & Kevin McCoy. Essays by Anthony Vidler, Olu Oguibe, Erin Donnelly, Moukhtar Kocache, Liz Thompson and Healy examine the residency program and its implications before and after 9/11. The program, which temporarily relocated to Brooklyn after 9/11, is currently housed in an office space on Broadway and Pine St. donated by Silverstein Properties. Proceeds from the sale of the $50 book will go toward future LMCC programs.

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