The long battle between The Friends of the Park and the City of Chicago is finally over and the Lucas museum is officially dead. George Lucas expressed interest in building his narrative art museum in Chicago two years ago. Almost immediately there was both excitement and opposition to the Lucas museum, especially the chosen location. Just south of Solider Field is a lazy parking lot where Mayor Emmanuel and Lucas were planning on building the museum. The problem is, that parking lot is part of the lake front park district.
This is where The Friends of the Park stepped in. The organization had a few complaints about the Lucas museum. First the design of the building was questionable. Second the location was an area the organization believed should remain untouched by new construction. Third they didn’t want a Star Wars museum sullying their precious lake front.
While I can agree that the design of the building is probably not the most attractive, it certainly wasn’t an eye sore. As for the location, I could see if this was an expanse of trees and natural habitat for animals that we would want to preserve. But it’s not. It’s a parking lot. Finally, as to having a Star Wars museum in the city. The Lucas museum was to be a narrative art museum with a wide variety of artwork, and workshops and educational opportunities were to be available.
Misinformation that the Lucas museum was to be a haven for Star Wars geeks and flocks of cosplay hardcores were simply exaggerated. The museum would have been a great addition to the already stellar museums located here. The Field Museum is an amazing artifacts museum covering dinosaurs to ancient Egypt. The Museum of Science and Industry has some of the best showcases of our technological history. The Art Museum has some of the world’s best pieces of artwork on display.
The city of Chicago just lost a great chance to further the art culture of the city, create much needed jobs, bring education to millions and infuse much needed revenue into the city. But hey! We still have a damn nice looking parking lot!
[button link=”http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rahm-emanuel-lucas-museum-met-0627-20160624-story.html” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Chicago Tribune[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
