News
October 6, 2016Downtown Exhibit Gives Albany’s Past a Future
The Downtown Albany Business Improvement District (BID) announces the 2016 public exhibit Signs of Greatness: Albany Stories will launch on October 17, 2016. Featuring eleven interpretive panels highlighting the Capital City’s rich heritage placed throughout Downtown, Signs is presented in cooperation with the New York State Museum, SUNY Central Administration, and the City of Albany. Panels can be viewed prior to installation at the Launch Party, being held October 13 at 5:30 PM inside SUNY Plaza (353 Broadway); tickets, $40 – $65, are on sale now at downtownalbany.org.
The longest continuously chartered city in the United States (1686), Albany’s existence as a community reaches back even deeper into the past to when today’s Capital City was the point of contact between the region’s Native peoples and the Dutch adventurers who first came here in 1609. This permanent exhibit of eleven interpretive panels tells stories of Albany’s settlement and development, trade and industry, and landmark social innovation, all wrought in our historic streetscapes and noteworthy buildings over the last 400 years. The installation is the first phase in what will hopefully be the catalyst for citywide placement to showcase Albany’s rich history.
“With the growth of Downtown residential and increase in visitors associated with the opening of the Capital Center next year, this exhibit offers a sense of where our District is today and from where we’ve come,” says Georgette Steffens, executive director of the Downtown Albany BID. “We are so excited to partner with SUNY and the NYS Museum to give people another reason to walk our streets and experience everything Downtown has to offer, from an extensive history to the transformation into Albany’s newest neighborhood.”
During the exhibit’s Launch Party, Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum, will be awarded the BID’s 2016 Norman S. Rice Arts, Culture, and Education Award. The annual award recognizes individuals in Albany who have demonstrated significant accomplishment in exposing the arts to a public audience.
Schaming, whose tenure at the museum spans more than 25 years, has worked to expand the organization’s footprint beyond the brick and mortar with traveling displays on exhibit around the state since becoming director in 2012. Within the walls of the 180-year-old institution, Schaming is currently at the helm of a massive renovation that includes 35,000-square-feet of new exhibitions that will tell the stories of New York State from culture to politics and beyond. With over 700,000 visitors annually, the new galleries will be an extension of existing displays ranging from the prehistoric to an acclaimed 9/11 exhibit.
“I am honored to receive this award in recognition of the work the Museum team does every day,” says Schaming. “So much happens behind the scenes to engage with the public whether at the Museum, at City Hall, a traveling exhibit, the Science Café series, or on the streets of Albany, and it is humbling to be acknowledged by peers for the hard work that goes into this effort.”
The Signs of Greatness exhibit is funded through sponsorship from Broadway Plaza Liquor, Columbia Development, M&T Bank, and Palace Theatre. Full information about Signs of Greatness: Albany Stories, and the October 13 launch party, can be found at downtownalbany.org. An interactive map will be available once all panels have been installed.
