Museums & Attractions
Kudos
- Michigan’s Grand Rapids Art Museum took the wraps off its new downtown facility in October. Located adjacent to Ecliptic, an urban park designed by Maya Lin, the 125,000-square-foot museum is touting itself as the world’s first LEED-certified art museum, incorporating energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems, recycling systems, and making use of natural light throughout the public and private spaces. The $75 million facility, which moved from its former home in the Beaux-Arts style Federal Building, is organized around a central pavilion of glass and light-colored concrete flanked by a reflecting pool and open-air courtyard, which can be used as function space. The adjacent three-floor gallery wing features glass skylight lanterns and is open to groups. In addition, there is a flexible-seating auditorium, an education center, art reference library, and conference and study rooms on the premises. The museum houses 5,000 works of art, of which more than half are works on paper. For more information, call 616.233.0500 or visit www.gramonline.org.
Kudos
- The Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) and the city of Minneapolis recently collaborated to provide services and food for Minneapolis homeless. The MCC in October donated nearly 10,000 square feet of meeting space for an event nfamed Project Homeless Connect, which drew more than 1,000 area homeless, as well as 500 volunteers and more than 100 service providers, businesses and other participants. More than 1,000 lunches were provided by the convention center’s in-house catering company, Kelber Catering. Started by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in 2005, the program was designed to offer a one-stop shop of available services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Service providers who worked on Project Homeless Connect included mental health care professionals, benefits and legal assistance, eye doctors, hair dressers and transportation providers. For more information about the program, call the MCC at 612.335.6000 or visit www.minneapolisconventioncenter.com, or call Project Homeless Connect at 612.673.2525 or visit www.homelessconnectminneapolis.org.