As a longtime Rochester resident facing a roomful of city and
county movers and shakers, Thomas Tischer alluded to the piles of architectural
renderings whose promise never sees the light of day.
“Beyond
plans,” he said, sitting in the Dryden Theater Monday morning, “you want
reality.”
And with
that, ambitious plans were unveiled for the George Eastman Museum and its
attendant Dryden Theatre. A shimmering glass entryway, a new visitor’s center,
gift shop, and café. Repairs to structures in the gardens. Even the restoration
of the windows in what had been the stable where Eastman kept his horses. That
room, known as the Curtis Theatre until now, will become an education room and
meeting hall. Eastman’s horses could never have imagined the new technology
that will, with the flip of a switch, screen out the light from those windows
when the room is in use.
The plans
are unfolding into reality after last summer’s $1 million grant from the ESL
Federal Credit Union, and $1 million from the New York State Council of the
Arts, working with the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. And
another $1.5 million from Tischer.
“You may
wonder,” Tischer said, “Who is this person?”
Indeed.
Tischer moved here in 1961 to work as a research chemist for the Eastman Kodak
Company. A longtime Greece resident, he retired in 1992, but kept his hand in
photography by supporting a handful of the museum’s initiatives, including the
long-running “Wish You Were Here” photography lecture series. He is joined by a
handful of other private and corporate sponsors of these Eastman Museum
improvements.
Bruce Barnes
recalled a conversation with Tischer in the museum’s café during the fall of
2012, just after Barnes had taken over as the museum’s director. Tischer was
pushing for a more-welcoming entry to the museum than the current door, which
is a long walk from the parking lot. Especially, as Barnes wryly noted,
considering Rochester’s “occasionally inclement weather.”
“This is a
great example of a public-private collaboration,” said Monroe County Executive
Adam Bello.
“We all know
that these projects take a village,” said Mara Manus, executive director of the
New York State Council of the Arts.
Rochester
Deputy Mayor James Smith called such “secret sauce” collaborations one of the
keys to “bringing in brilliant minds” from places such as Tischer’s native
Wisconsin. Referring to the vast history of photography here, Smith called the
Eastman museum, “an homage to all of the men and women in this community who
made these pictures happen.”
The swarm of
community leaders also included State Senator Joe Robach, Assemblyman Harry
Bronson and Don Jeffries, president and CEO of visit Rochester.
The new
glass and steel entryway — to be called the ESL Federal Credit Union Pavilion —
will preserve the outside façade of what was once George Eastman’s garage. This
construction, as well as ongoing renovations to the colonnade and the glass
windows overlooking the gardens, will affect the George Eastman Museum’s hours.
The museum will remain closed through January 30. The mansion itself is also
closed, reopening on February 14 for the Dutch Connection floral show. The Dryden
Theatre and café will be closed through June 3, re-opening for the Nitrate
Picture Show festival.
Future
fundraising, Barnes said, could address plans such as an 18-foot by 60-foot
outdoor screen that would accommodate the Kodak Colorama photos once displayed
in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.
Jeff
Spevak is WXXI’s arts & life editor and reporter. He can be reached at jspevak@wxxi.org.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2020.
