The Chihuly museum proposal, a safely guarded secret for months now, is finally available to the public (here's the .pdf). As the Seattle Times noted yesterday, the revamped proposal includes partnerships with the Seattle Public Schools, the Pilchuck Glass School, the Pratt Fine Arts Center, and ArtsFund.

Here's what's been added to the proposal:

—A $1 million playground on the Seattle Center grounds.

—An eighth-grade arts curriculum with Seattle Public Schools and a free field trip.

—Free admission for Pratt Fine Arts Students and and a week-long art-centric lecture series for students.

—Pilchuck School of Glass students will also get a lecture series.

As far as the general public goes, here's what the Chihuly museum would provide free of charge: wider sidewalks. Aside from the sidewalk, the entrance to the museum—you know, where they get you to pay—is described as welcoming and the Cafe has "intimate terraces available" for enjoying lunch or a coffee.

In the fancy rendering, not in the proposal.
  • In the fancy rendering, not in the proposal.
Here's what's still missing from the Chihuly museum proposal: free public access to the museum. This proposal's idea of creating open public space is widening a sidewalk. There's no word in the proposal of the eight-foot, $2 million "art wall" proponents of the project touted in public meetings in March—although it's represented in renderings.


The proposal also never mentions ticket prices. It does, however, estimate how much the public could potentially save by buying a discounted annual pass ("Have I got a deal for you!")—$200,000 off a total ticket prices that, again, haven't been disclosed—and that seniors and children will be eligible for discounts, like for every other activity in the city. The proposal estimates public savings without giving us a price of entry.

Instead of dwelling on entry fees, the proposal ballyhoos the money a museum would make for the city—and clearly it will make money—at least $350,000 annually in rent. The proposal also estimates $561,000 collected in taxes for the city annually, but this number is based primarily on ticket sales—if they don't sell tickets, the city doesn't collect taxes.

The Seattle Center states on its website that the proposals will be evaluated on "a proponent's demonstrated ability to fund, implement and operate the proposal." There is a clear advantage for the Chihuly museum proposal, in that it is privately backed and financed. The Chihuly proposal states that all upgrades to the arcade pavilion will be privately funded at no cost to the city—no cost, that is, until Seattle residents actually want to get into the museum. However, what's just as important to consider in this process is what kind of audiences these proposals draw—and this is a harder factor to quantify.

The Chihuly museum proposal notes that its partner, the Space Needle, "has been a significant attraction and tourism driver for greater than 48 years." It also estimates this new project will bring 400,000 tourists to the Seattle Center (without explaining how that estimate was derived). This is the meat of their proposal—it's exciting for tourists. But for most Seattle residents, this proposal is still nothing more than a static collection of glass shielded from view by a stupidly expensive eight-foot-tall wall.