Star Wars creator George Lucas has narrowed the location of his futuristic-looking five-story Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The two finalists vying to play 'home' for the museum, which will include exhibit space, a cafe, theaters and a library, are San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Both cities will have one more opportunity to put their best foot forward to convince Lucas which will be the best location for his $1 billion project. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors support a Treasure Island site close to the waterfront, replacing a planned 200-room hotel development.
Photo credits: LA Times
The decision will hand down their decision by January 6, 2017, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Lucas originally proposed his museum to San Francisco in 2013, with the goal of building it in The Presidio and has been trying to get the project off the ground since 2010.. A drawn out discussion culminated with Lucas' museum team and The Presidio Trust unable to arrive at an agreement. This resulted in other cities being considered. Chicago made the short list as a site for the museum, but recently, the race has narrowed to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The goal of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art include a wide variety of visual art, beginning with cave drawings, to tell a story. Don Bacigalupi, the museum’s founding president and a much-credentialed art historian and museum director, says the museum will eventually have its pick of about 10,000 paintings and works on paper as well as 30,000 film-related objects that Lucas has acquired (and continues to acquire) over a period of 40 years.
What the museum is NOT is a Star Wars or a Hollywood memorabilia museum. Instead, it will display artwork from classic stories and illustrators, American life, great themes, graphic narratives and sketches and models depicting drafts of stories.
San Francisco is pulling up its sleeves, doing all it can to bring Lucas' museum to Treasure Island to enhance the city's existing museums and public galleries.
"It seems to be going smoothly from our end,” Adam Van de Water, a project manager for the City and County of San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We are doing our due diligence and hoping for the best.”
Article excerpts from San Francisco Business Times
