NYC ground zero theater to get $100 million boost

[October 07, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A performing arts center envisioned as one of the jewels of a rebuilt World Trade Center is at last getting a major funding boost.

State and city officials announced Wednesday that they will use $100 million in surplus federal disaster funding for the long-stalled theater project.

Plans call for a 1,000-seat venue that would be the primary home of the Joyce Theater, which hosts modern dance.

The money would come from a fund initially created to rebuild Lower Manhattan's smashed utility grid. About $200 million of that money is still unspent.

Planners have hoped that high culture could be a centerpiece of ground zero's rebirth.

But rebuilding office towers and a transit hub took priority, and some arts organizations selected for the site were criticized by groups that considered their exhibits unpatriotic.

[Associated Press]

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