It’s a great time to be the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Riding high after the 2007 $15 million gift from Hallie Ford to establish the Ford Institute for Visual Education (FIVE) and the launch of the PNCA + FIVE Idea Studios with visits by James Turrell and Jacque Rancière, today PNCA has more Big News. PNCA’s president, Tom Manley, announced that the college has acquired the Federal Building at 511 NW Broadway, that massive former post office (that just so happens to be on the National Register of Historic Places) on the Park Blocks, just across Davis from the DeSoto Building (Museum of Contemporary Craft). And get this, “the government has agreed to transfer the building at no cost to the College” thanks to the “public benefit conveyance law for educational institutions.” So, the College applied to the Department of Education for the transfer and nailed it. That didn’t happen without a lot of work from the college on its application for the transfer and its advocates in government.
This ensures that PNCA can continue to grow, makes it the master of its own destiny (rather than a tenant), and is a big add for the visual arts on the Park Blocks. The proximity of non-profit (and free) Museum of Contemporary Craft and Blue Sky, major galleries like Froelick and education can only increase interaction with benefits all around.
WHAT TO DO NOW?