A thousand *CHEERS* to Barbara Romer and ALL that are involved!
from the New Globe Theater website:
I urge you to embrace the public-private partnership proposed by the New Globe Theater as part of your preferred management alternative for Governors Island National Monument.
This innovative vision respects the site's history while achieving three vital objectives:
* PRESERVATION OF CASTLE WILLIAMS - structurally as well as spiritually, the new Globe's architecture would show off the site in the best light;
* PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT - through entertainment and education, showcasing history alongside Hamlet, the New Globe will infuse New York Harbor and its national parks with new life for years to come;
* FINANCIAL SECURITY - the New Globe's philanthropic contributions coupled with the steady revenue from theater performances and operations, over and above the park's income from visitation, will breathe new (and renewable) life into the park site, the castle and the harbor for the next generation and beyond.
The New Globe proposal has generated widespread support: from the New York congressional delegation to the entertainment, media and performing arts communities; from the public at large to a host of internationally respected civic and cultural leaders. PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS GROWING CHORUS THAT FAVORS THE NEW GLOBE AND RECOGNIZE THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF CASTLE WILLIAMS AND GOVERNORS ISLAND - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the NPS.
In his May 2007 report to the president, "The Future of America's National Parks," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne asserts: "We will engage community partners to reach young people and new audiences, enriching their lives and protecting America's treasures for future generations." Here is an opportunity to build a public-private partnership with the New Globe, reach young people and new audiences, enrich their lives and protect the treasure of Castle Williams ... which currently rests dilapidated and infested with hazardous materials.
Castle Williams was constructed to defend America against the British in the War of 1812. The "New Globe for the New World" celebrates this history by creating a unique cultural center, but this time working with our former English foe to preserve America's history and celebrate our common cultural heritage. Appropriately, the center would face the "French" Statue of Liberty (similarly united with Fort Wood) as a complementary symbol of US-UK friendship.
The New Globe plan protects and preserves the 1811 fortification and interprets its role in the defense of New York Harbor and the nation within a 3,000-square-foot museum on the ground floor - highlighting the history of the harbor's forts and exploring a wide range of themes: harbor defense systems, politics, culture, history, transportation, economy, ecology and more. In this manner, the New Globe proposal adheres to the national monument's stated purpose of providing "an excellent opportunity for the public to observe and understand the harbor history, its defense, and its ecology."
The New Globe plan fills the open courtyard with the stunning auditorium that (1) preserves the three-tiered open space at the center of the structure and (2) preserves the views onto the sandstone walls through its back walls made of glass. The Draft GMP argues that "visually, spatially, and in terms of communicating the fort's military function and history, the visitor to the National Monument would be confronted with a very large, permanent intrusion. This would not be the superlative visitor experience expected by the public." However, this statement ignores the fact that, during the public scoping period, 65% of respondents requested the presence of the theater in the open courtyard.
In March 2007, New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, New York delegation Chairman Charles Rangel and another dozen congressmen signed a letter which requests National Park Service approval of the New Globe plan. Additionally, some 3,000 emails in support of the New Globe were received by the NPS last year.
The planned New Globe is dedicated not just to exploring the military past via exciting interpretive exhibits, workshops and seminars, but also to creating an inspiring future that celebrates cross-cultural understanding via the performing arts.
In order to provide the financial underpinnings for the operation of this museum and for the maintenance of the historic site, and in order to attract a wider, more diverse audience to national parks, the New Globe plan also incorporates the construction of a visionary theater inside the open courtyard of Castle Williams. The reversible design by Lord Norman Foster (celebrated for his sensitive treatment of historic structures, such as the British Museum and the German Parliament) creates a stage for world-class productions of Shakespeare as well as works by modern playwrights, classical and contemporary concerts, jazz performances, lectures, and a wide range of other events. The theater, with its extensive education program (modeled on London's Globe, serving 100,000 students annually), will operate entirely independently of the museum, restaurant and roof deck, which would remain accessible to the general public at all times.
The New Globe performance space, with a total capacity for 1,200 visitors and with 400 "groundling" tickets at $10 for each show, will provide a continuous revenue stream to create a self-sustaining national park.
While the draft GMP rightfully thinks about Governors Island National Monument within the larger context of the National Parks of New York Harbor, the preferred Alternative D ("Harbor Center") duplicates a role already fulfilled by the visitor centers at Federal Hall, Castle Clinton, and others.
Drawing from the visitor base of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island by forcing the Monument to "become a primary stop on harbor ferry tours," Alternative D fails to attract a wider and more diverse audience to the National Parks of New York Harbor. On the other hand, the New Globe plan provides a clear differentiation from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, is open after 6pm, and attracts unique visitors to a new dramatic tourist destination and world-class educational and cultural center.
Furthermore, preferred Alternative D is the most expensive of all alternatives and thus proposes to spend $50-60 million in one-time capital costs plus $107-128 million in life-cycle costs to offer redundant programming to the same interest group already served by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and other National Parks in New York Harbor.
Taking all these considerations to their logical conclusion, Alternative D will seek to allocate over $100 million of federal funding to serve a redundant target customer base on Governors Island; in the process, it will cannibalize federal funding that should be directed towards Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the NPS plan condemns Castle Williams to remain sitting derelict for a few more decades, as the National Park Service is battling an $8 billion maintenance backlog and an annual $600 million operations shortfall. To prepare the public for this scenario, the draft GMP three times states that: "The implementation of the approved plan will depend on future funding and Servicewide priorities. The approval of a GMP does not guarantee that funding and staffing needed to implement the plan will be forthcoming. Full implementation of the GMP could be many years into the future."
Thus, despite President George W. Bush's mandate to "leverage philanthropic, partnership, and government investments for the benefit of national parks and their visitors," and despite the Centennial Initiative promise that "a new era of private-public partnerships will bring greater excellence to parks," THIS DRAFT GMP PROPOSES YET ANOTHER HUNDRED-MILLION-DOLLAR, FEDERAL-GOVERNMENT-DEPENDENT SITE WITHOUT A VIABLE SELF-SUSTAINING REVENUE SOURCE, WHILE REJECTING AN EXCITING, INSPIRATIONAL AND VISIONARY PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP THAT WOULD ENSURE THE FUTURE FINANCIAL *AND* HISTORIC INTEGRITY OF THE PARK AND ITS RESOURCES.
Thus far - 5 years after taking over management of the site - the NPS locally has been unsuccessful in securing the federal funding needed to stabilize the decaying structure.
The public-private partnership proposed by the New Globe will attract new large donors to give generously to the National Park Service, with the recognition that preservation and rehabilitation of the monument is not just the government's responsibility. The New Globe will help raise funds to forestall further severe deterioration, stabilize the structure, and remediate the building to allow for summer performances during the planning and development period. Furthermore, the proposal builds capacity for park operations and maintenance, since New Globe will provide for operation (incl. additional staffing) and maintenance of the national monument without government subsidies - thereby relieving the federal budget of an additional burden. Finally, for self-sustaining operations, an endowment will be raised from private sources. (And in the unlikely scenario that an exit strategy becomes necessary, the endowment is earmarked for the removal of the reversible theater inset in the open courtyard.)
Given the New Globe proposal has attracted overwhelming public interest and support as a bold and imaginative public-private partnership; and given the New York congressional delegation's urging "that the GMP for Castle Williams National Monument allow for the adaptive reuse proposed by the New Globe Theater," I respectfully request the National Park Service - as the American public's steward - find a way to adjust or expand the existing legislation to include the New Globe.
If in the 1880s the same rules and regulations that the National Park Service is trying to rigidly enforce on Castle Williams had been applied to the Statue of Liberty, that symbol of freedom would not grace our Harbor today. I therefore strongly urge you to listen to the general public, to be "mindful that boldness matches our history" (to quote Secretary Kempthorne's opening sentence of "The Future of America's National Parks"), and to have the vision to create another great American icon in New York Harbor - the New Globe Theater at Governors Island National Monument.
*
more info: http://www.newglobe.org
http://www.myspace.com/newglobe
