Nelson-Atkins expansion raises attendance
- 06/26/2008 07:06 PM CDT
Almost half a million people have visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since the opening of the new Bloch Building a year ago.
Despite the poor economy, Kansas City artists and galleries have sold a lot of art this year. In fact, robust art collecting may be an anomaly in a sea of dismal sales figures.
Almost half a million people have visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since the opening of the new Bloch Building a year ago.
Things are looking up for the 2008 Avenue of the Arts. The annual display of temporary artworks along Central Street downtown was scheduled to open May 16, but the money, which comes from the city and a major private donor, wasn’t there. Now things are back on track.
Almost half a million people visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art since the opening of the new Bloch Building a year ago. But the museum’s attendance figures—465,000 visitors between June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008—falls 185,000 short of its goal of 650,000 visitors.
Kansas City’s rollout of new outdoor artworks continues Friday June 20, with the unveiling of a billboard-sized abstraction by New York artist Amy Myers. The artwork, titled “Liquid,” will appear on the south-facing wall of the Town Pavilion parking garage at 13th and Grand.
In coming months, an undulating wall of barnacles will enliven a patch of green space along Truman Road.