BRONX MUSEUM OF THE ARTS PLANS MAJOR EXPANSION

The Bronx Museum of the Arts announced today that it has launched a $25 million capital campaign to fund the institution’s renovation and expansion project and to establish an endowment for the first time, Randy Kennedy of the New York Times reports. “We’ve been very secret about this, because we didn’t want it to be public until we were sure,” director Holly Block said. “It’s so great for the Bronx to have any kind of capital projects like this. And we’ve been waiting a very long time.”

Designed by architect and dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University Monica Ponce de Leon—who is a cocurator of the US pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture, which opens on Saturday—the expansion will add more galleries and spaces for educational and public programs. Block added that the building, which has never been cohesive, will soon be a visual and architectural whole. “When you walk or drive up the Grand Concourse it will be very clear what this building is,” she said.

The first phase of the project, which has already received $7 million from the mayor’s office, the New York City Council, and the Bronx borough president’s office, is slated for completion in 2020, with the museum remaining open while construction is under way. Mayor Bill de Blasio said his administration was “proud to invest in this project that will bring the talents of a remarkable architect to help build an even stronger institution.”

Founded in 1971, the museum saw a surge in visitorship after it ended its suggested $5 admission policy in 2012. Now that it welcomes more than 100,000 annually, the new endowment fund—which will be raised from private donations—will grant the institution financial stability and allow it to expand its programming.