May 10, 2007
Newseum Pulling It Together for Fall Opening
Over five years ago the Newseum shut its doors in its Rosslyn neighborhood and started laying down bricks on Pennsylvania Avenue. The venue dedicated to the First Amendment is still on schedule for its grand opening this October, and in the meantime has been stoking its coffers with donations from news makers all over the country. This week they received their biggest gift so far, $15 million from The Annenberg Foundation. Newseum will name its theater the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater in recognition of the Foundation's gift.
The Newseum's Web site has all the details on what the new location will feature, including an impressive entryway:
The exterior’s unique architectural features include a 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment and an immense front wall of glass through which passers-by will be able to watch the museum fulfilling its mission of providing a forum where the media and the public can gain a better understanding of each other.An interactive newsroom will let visitors strut their stuff as an on-screen newsbreaker and one gallery will show off captivating Pultizer Prize winning photographs. We're looking forward to the exhibit on electronic media, and the 4-D theater, mostly because of WTOP's amusing-for-science-nerds description, "'The fourth dimension will be misting water, rumbling seats and other "surprise special effects,' [Newseum spokeswoman Susan] Bennett said." By which they mean "time."The Newseum will feature seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It will offer a unique environment that takes museumgoers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.
WTOP also notes that the museum will display Virginia Tech student Jamal Albarghouti's cell phone, which captured video and sound during the April 16 shooting, though the article doesn't say if the recording will actually be played.
The Newseum never announced a goal for its fundraising, but has so far raised $79 million from news organizations for the venue that will cost a princely $435 million. If it seems like they might be looking for a Hail Mary, you'll be less surprised to hear it's about to become the most expensive museum in the District to visit. Starting at $17.91 for adults, not including admission to the theaters, its going to be a costly trip down newsy memory lane for you and the family, especially when you consider the Rosslyn venue was open to the public for free. We hope those surprise special effects are damn good.
Photo by erin m.
|
18 bucks? Fo reals? I get my news free on the interwebs, so why would I be expected to pay for meta-news?
A month or so ago I was walking in front of the National Gallery, across the street from the Newseum site, listening to some college age tourists reading the amendment text and then asking each other what it was. Was hard not to want to smack them upside the head.
dont forget the most ingenious portion of this project which the apartment building attached to the back of the building complete with a snazzy Wolfgang Puck restaurant, The Source.
(www dot museumresidences dot com)
$17.91? What the fuck? That place will be empty year-round.
Empty - Not if they use the same publicist that Spy Museum did. When that place opened you could not turn around, or pick up a piece or tourist oriented literature without hearing about it. They really opened up the door to museums in DC charging admission, which has always been a no-no, what with all the free Smithsonian ones. however, as those institutions have become tired there is definitely a place for something new and modern. However, the big question is can they make the "news" as sexy as cloak and dagger spy stuff?
Prediction - no.
Nerd Alert... I always thought time was the Zeroth Dimension, since it's not really spatial. But I'm just in law school, so I could be off there...
Rereading my comment, I realize that the "I'm just in law school" quip sounds sarcastic and high-handed, which I did not intent. I meant it to convey something more like "I haven't actually studied or thought much about physics since high school," and not "look at me, I go to law school because I'm so smart." Anyway....looks over there! Free Speech costs $18!
(Nerd alert indeed) - Time was "added" as the fourth dimension when Einstein developed the general theory of relativity, when he was able to relate space and time. You're right, time isn't "really spatial" - or spatial at all - only the first three dimensions are.
Which also proves that you can be a lawyer AND a science geek, so there's always hope A-T!
The Newseum residences website is www dot newseumresidences dot com. Perhaps not surprisingly, museumresidences dot com is in fact a legit URL; it just happens to be a fantasy camp apartment building from a different starchitect.
How was the Newseum in its initial Rosslyn incarnation? I wasn't here then. I guess I get scared when I hear words like "Freedom Forum" because I assume they are used in the Orwellian Neocon sense of "Amerika Ueber Alles".
How can one speak truth to power for less than $17.91? Is that too much to pay for an informed citizenry, even without home delivery?
Of course, the 4-D Playboy Centerfold Theater costs a bit more.
Will their be a "hall of liberal bias" or the "right wing blow hard hall of fame".
hey thanks for catching my mistake on the url Guy Incognito.
"www dot MUSEUMresidences dot com" appears to be the website for the new apartments across from the Denver art museum that were partly designed by Daniel Libeskind.
the NEWSEUM residences building here in DC, designed in tandem with the newseum by James Polshek are much more classy and refined in my eyes. Plus the building isn't wrapping a stupid parking garage for a-hole suburbanites like the one in Denver.
There's some pretty choice quippage about the Newseum over at gawker.com.
I predict a revisionist masterpiece covering the media's inability to grow a pair during their coverage of the WMD "slam-dunkage."
I doubt that your average DC tourist (think Billy-Bob and Jo-lene from Swampfart, Missouri) will be willing to shell out $17 to go to the Newseum. The average DC tourist is much more inclined to go to the Spy Museum. I think the Newseum will have more of a local draw. I do worry that the high entrance fee will negatively affect the Newseum.
Hello? Subsidize that admission fee with advertising, dog! THAT's what the news is about!
A few years ago I visited the "Travelling Newseum" when it rolled into Michigan. It was as series of tractor trailers packed with exhibits (lots of old news photos and copies of front pages) and one trailer used as a theatre with the "fourth dimension" effects. I remember when they showed footage of an old atomic weapons test the seats did shake. It was a decent way to spend an hour, but it was free.
That museum is going to have really be something special to get me to shell out $18.
I'll probably never set foot inside, but the place looks pretty cool on the outside and is a welcome addition to Penn Ave in my book.
did we ever learn why the worker was found naked and dead at the bottom of the elevator shaft during construction?