By Nathan Duke
The project, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009, will double the size of the museum by adding three stories to its current location at 35th Avenue and 36th Street, said museum Director Rochelle Slovin.”With this groundbreaking, the Museum of the Moving Image is about to enter an exciting new era of programming and service,” she said. “We have a wonderful audience of young people, teachers, artists, scholars, film buffs, video gamers and many of New York's most creative forward-looking business people.”The expansion project will include a new 264-seat theater, which will screen 35mm and high definition theatrical video projection, an education center with digital classrooms, a smaller 64-seat classroom screening room, an exhibit gallery and a courtyard, Slovin said.The museum will close its Riklis Theater following the final screening of its retrospective of director John Ford on Feb. 24, a spokeswoman for the museum said. But the Moving Image will continue to host talks, panels, special programs, film series and retrospectives at various sites in Manhattan during its construction project, she said.The museum's gallery will close to the public on March 23, the spokeswoman said. But its collection of 130,000 film and television-related objects will still be available for scholars and researchers, she said.Slovin said the museum serves an estimated 25,000 students per year and that the expansion project's new digital classrooms will allow for twice as many class groups to use its facilities.The museum will expand its operations on a portion of the same lot where Kaufman Astoria Studios, located at 34-12 36th St., will construct a new 18,000-square-foot stage and 22,000 square feet of office space, dressing rooms, wardrobe and make-up areas, said Hal Rosenbluth, the studio's president.The museum's expansion was designed by Manhattan-based firm Leeser Architecture, Slovin said.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
