Evening star., 1959-12-13

AAAAS - Oil duI1lu dDlC IuSd,
with very obvious advantages
for both the NYPL and the
Lincoln Center. I am some
what surprised that no COM
parable suggestion has been
made, to my knowledge,
about the D. c. Public Lii
brary's excellent land unac-
countably neglected. Music
Division in all the discussions
about the projected National
Cultural Center.
would go several steps
further. however, and urge
that not only the Music and
Art Divisions, but that the
whole Central Branch of the
DCPL be offered asylum in
the National Cultural Center.
Central has been desperately
searching for a new down.
: town home in some more
pleasing area of the city than
9th and K Streets NV, and
I can think of no better place
for it than Foggy Bottom.
There has been some talk
about the ominous possibility
that the National Cultural
Center could we'll develop into
a giant marble mausoleum on
the Potomac. This is a very
real problem. and no amount
Of pooh-poohing it will solve
1t.
What happens during day
light hours when concert hall,
opera house, central hall, and
theatres are silent as the
tomb? Culture implies people.
Where there are no people
there is no culture.
Lincoln Center has made
sure that there will be peo-
pie around at all times by well
coming the Juilliard School
of Music with open arms and
by making plans for a Ii
brary-museum. What are the
plans in our own bailiwick?
Far from being too gram
diose (as some have sug-
gested, it seems to me that
the architectural plans
for the National Cultural
Center have been too timid.
This is worth stresSing-the
concept of a National Cul-
.tural Center is a bigger, more
all-embracing one than that
of the Lincoln Center of Per-
forming Arts. Even our baby
brothers to the north in
Montgomery County. busy
planning an arts center too,
are making provision for
painting, sculpture. ceramics.
print-making, weaving and
other visual arts-as we'll as
an arts library.
But as matters stand now,
the National Cultural Gen.
ter looks a lot as if it is 60
ing to turn out to be a poor
relation of the big boy in
New York.
Cultural center" implies
all the arts. This means not
only the performing arts, but
all the others. DCPL on the
spot would be a step in the
right direction, but why not
a proper library-museum
worthy of a National Cul-
.tural Center?
A fortnight ago. Rep. Nc
Dowell, Democrat, of Del
aware proposed the creation
of what he called "a national
fine arts showcase" in Wash
ington. The purpose is to en-
courage the development of
the arts in American colleges,
which are notoriously
science-centered. This strikes
me as a natural for the Ma
tional Cultural Center.
Lincoln Center will have
. 'Juilliard-what will we have?
Nothing? Why not a national
conservatory devoted to all
the arts?
E. So long as we are going to
have a National Cultural
Center, why should we not
do the job properly and have
something that all Ameri-
cans can take pride in, some
thing which will be a cultural
beacon for the free world?
The time to think and
dream is now, before things
get past the drawing-board
stage. When the buildings
, start going up, it will be too
late.
OVERTONES: The Corco-
ran Gallery coyly announces
that It's soloist for the Febru-