Boston, always a great museum city, is becoming an even better one. A flurry of museum expansions is opening up new venue choices and stellar sightseeing experiences.
“Cultural and historical tourism is a huge part of what we’re all about,” says Patrick Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston CVB. “These museum expansions are strengthening this, while also bringing new options for meetings.”
While one of Boston’s most unique and important museums for over 100 years, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (www.gardnermuseum.org), which houses a stunning European art collection in a mansion designed to resemble a 15th century Venetian palace, has never been an event-friendly venue. That is about to change with the January opening of its new Renzo Piano-designed, 70,000-square-foot wing, which has spaces for events. At the same time, the museum is making its historic areas available as well.
The dramatic new glass wing offers venues that include Calderwood Hall, a 3,000-seat, cube-shaped performance hall; The Cafe, which offers private indoor dining for up to 115 guests and an adjoining terrace accommodating up to 100; and the 2,000-square-foot Special Exhibition Gallery.
Historic areas include The Cloisters, an enclosed courtyard filled with flowers and fountains that can host receptions for up to 200; and The Drawing Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner’s elegant private drawing room, available for small gatherings. Groups of up to 425 can rent the entire museum.
While limited as event space to corporate donors, two recent expansions of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (www.mfa.org) have made this museum a must-see destination for visitors. Its new $504 million Americas Wing, which opened in November 2010, is a spectacular addition with 53 galleries, period rooms from historic American houses and a soaring glass indoor courtyard. This past September saw the unveiling of the Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, an 80,000-square-foot space devoted to works by living artists.
Part of Boston’s waterfront revival, The Institute of Contemporary Art (www.icaboston.org) moved to a stunning building near the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the new Seaport District a few years ago. The museum, which has emerged as a popular venue, offers such spaces as the Water Cafe by Wolfgang Puck, seating up to 80 guests and opening onto a waterfront terrace; a 325-seat theater; and a lobby lined with large-scale artworks and accommodating receptions for up to 278.
Another prime waterfront attraction, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum (www.bostonteapartyship.com) will reopen in June 2012 following an expansion that will double its exhibition space and offer new video presentations and living history programs. Among its major artifacts will be one of the surviving tea crates from the Boston Tea Party demonstration on Dec.16, 1773.
Two traditional tall ships, replicas of the Dartmouth and Eleanor, will join the museum’s current tall ship Big Beaver. The expanded museum, which will have both indoor and outdoor venues, will be able to host groups of nearly 500.
