The End of An Era for Arts Centers

The new Dallas Performing Arts Center marks the end of a boom in the development of arts centers and a moment in American architecture, says Nicolai Ouroussoff.

1 minute read

October 29, 2009, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Ouroussoff writes, "[A]s the dust settles on the last of these projects, what begins to emerge is a more complex image of America's cultural values at the birth of a new century. The formal dazzle masks a deeper struggle by cities and architects to create accessible public space in an age of shrinking government revenue and privatization. At their most ambitious, they are an effort to rethink the two great urban planning movements that gave shape to the civic and cultural identity of the American city."

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 in The New York Times

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