Utica, N.Y. — On Wednesday, June 18, Munson celebrated its transformational landscape project along Genesee Street with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the completion of one of the largest projects included in Utica’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from New York State.
Following years of planning, Munson, working with Steele Landscape Architecture, has created a stunning, accessible, and welcoming community space that restores Philip Johnson’s original vision for the Museum and uses native greenery to give the area a park-like feel.
The original $819,000 project included the creation of a 49,000-square-foot community-access contemporary park. Thanks to additional support from The Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Family Foundation, Christian and Cheryl Heilmann, Elizabeth Lemieux, and the Family of Carmel Sullivan, Munson was able to significantly expand the project to include an ADA-accessible Genesee Street entrance to the Museum featuring a paved garden path leading to a welcoming plaza for public use and private events.
“The Munson Genesee Street project transformed a barren and concrete-heavy landscape to a welcoming, park-like setting with trees, gardens, and community spaces,” states Anna D’Ambrosio, Munson President and CEO. “It will create an accessible front entrance to the Museum of Art, a beautiful setting for events, and will recapture the essential neighborhood environment lost over the last few decades.”
In culmination of this project, the Museum’s sculpture Three Arches (1963) by Alexander Calder, has returned to the Museum’s front lawn after being restored with funding through the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. Calder, the celebrated modern artist, has work in permanent collections around the world, including the Whitney, the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and nearby in Albany’s Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection.
