Levine Center for the Arts facts for kids
The Levine Center for the Arts is a special place in Charlotte, North Carolina, where you can explore art and culture. It's located on South Tryon Street and is home to several amazing institutions. These include the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, the Knight Theater, and the Mint Museum Uptown. The center is named after Leon Levine, whose foundation helped provide the money to build it.
Contents
How the Center Was Built
Planning for Culture
A long time ago, in 2003, a big plan was made to create more cultural spaces in Charlotte. This plan, called the Cultural Facilities Master Plan, aimed to build on earlier successes like Spirit Square and Discovery Place. The first part of this new plan was very ambitious. It included moving the Mint Museum to a new location uptown, building a new museum for modern art named after Andreas Bechtler, and creating a new center for African-American culture. It also planned for a large theater with 1200 seats.
Getting the Money
To make these dreams come true, a fundraising campaign started in 2006. Many important groups helped, including the Arts & Science Council, Bank of America, Duke Energy, and Wachovia Corp. Part of the plan was to use money from property taxes and a small tax on car rentals. This car rental tax needed approval from the state government in North Carolina.
Building Begins
The official start of construction happened on September 27, 2007. This project was first known as the Wachovia Cultural Campus. The tallest building in the area was planned to be the Duke Energy Center. Other parts of the complex would be the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the Bechtler Art Museum.
The Bechtler Museum
The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art was designed by a famous architect named Mario Botta. It was built to hold about 1200 pieces of art collected by Andreas Bechtler and his family over 75 years. This museum is a wonderful place to see modern art.
The Knight Theater
A tall building called the Wachovia Condominium Tower was also planned. However, because of a big economic downturn around 2008, only one part of this tower was built at first: the Knight Theater. This theater is a great venue for performances. The rest of the tower, now called the Museum Tower, opened later in 2017.
The Gantt Center
The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture has four floors. It cost $18.6 million to build and has lots of space for art galleries, classrooms, and offices. It was officially opened on October 24, 2009.
A New Name for a New Campus
After Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, the city made sure the project would still be finished. Later, the campus was renamed for Wells Fargo. But then, thanks to big donations from Duke Energy and the Leon Levine Foundation, the project reached its funding goal. Because of this, the Wells Fargo Cultural Campus was renamed the Levine Center for the Arts.
On October 1, 2010, the new Mint Museum Uptown opened its doors. This completed the entire campus. To celebrate, Charlotte's city council even changed the name of First Street to Levine Avenue of the Arts on November 16.
Images for kids
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Mint Museum in uptown Charlotte
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Levine Avenue sign
