Amazing Facts - Arts and Culture

If you’re planning a trip to New York City any time soon and you’re one of those inclined to take in a “show”, then give your regards to Broadway and instead head on down town.

Next to the new-ish One World Trade Centre tower a new performing arts space has just opened. The Perelman Performing Arts Centre, named for Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire cosmetics mogul who made the initial donation of $75 million to begin the project, is a stunning piece of architecture. By day it resembles a sugar cube, a perfect white box with a stairway like the access ramp into a flying saucer beneath. By night, it takes on an amber glow as it is lit from within, prompting artistic director Bill Rauch to describe it as “a true beacon of hope”. And although it is named for Perelman, it was New York’s former mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who donated an additional $130 million, telling the New York Times, “I can afford it and they needed the money.” In the end, it cost $500 million.

The PAC NYC, as it’s known, is constructed from thin sheets of Portuguese marble, laminated on both sides with glass to protect it from air pollutants, marble being porous. The sheets are white but with streaks of iron oxide, hence the amber glow at night. It has three theatres but the walls between can be raised at the push of a button, as can the floors, and the audience levels can be raised or lowered.

The lobby is a public space, accessible for free. It has sofas, a small stage, and a restaurant, named for its chef, Marcus Samuelsson, who claims in the PAC’s promotional video that his restaurant is “one of the coolest places, not just in New York City, but in the whole world.” Not to oversell it. There are varying levels of membership, including corporate memberships which allow them to rent spaces for events.

Being built on the site of one of the US’s worst disasters is an ever-present aspect of all of the Trade Centre’s development, including the PAC. It shares the space with the memorial pools and the sobering 9/11 Memorial Museum. Paula Grant Berry’s husband was killed in the attacks. She now serves on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s Families Advisory Council and on the museum’s board of trustees. She says, “As a family member it’s critical to have a place to go to grieve, and a place to go to be informed what happened that day. And now we have a performing arts centre, a place to go to celebrate life.”

It’s clear that the PAC NY is seen as part of the healing from the events of 9/11, almost a way to clear the bad energy left behind, while at the same time never forgetting.