A Peek Inside The Currier

An estimated 4,000 people turned up for the re-opening of the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester on Sunday. After a 21-month renovation that cost 21.4 million dollars, the museum can now exhibit 50 percent more of its collection.

The Currier is one of dozens of museums being built or renovated across the country, many by "star architects," like Daniel Liebeskind in Denver, Zaha Hadid in Cincinatti and artist Maya Lin in New York's SoHo. Critics say these costly expansions are unecessary or even irresponsible, that mediocre collections are being housed in flashy new buildings. Some museums are cutting programs and firing employees, while they're, as one naysayer put it, "hell-bent on creating new spaces for wealthy donor parties." But the Currier staff say they wanted to increase access and programming space for the New Hampshire community at large.

Word of Mouth's Virginia Precott took a tour of the museum with Scott Aquilina, a project manager of the Boston-based firm of Ann Beha Architects, which has been working since 1994 to open the Currier up to new audiences, and provide space for educational programs and new exhibitions.

Visit the Currier Museum of Art's website

(Photo by lunita)