Robin Pogrebin noticed the unusually large $50m grant proposed in Mayor Bloomberg’s final city budget to help fund a new organization that would build the Diller + Scofidio-designed Culture Shed on Related’s new platform over the Hudson Yards in a space adjacent to the retail podium that Related has proposed as Sotheby’s new headquarters:

Plans call for a 170,000-square-foot visual and performing arts institution at the southern end of the expansive site. The Bloomberg administration promotes the building as a large-scale column-free space for exhibitions, performances and events like Fashion Week. Other cultural groups will be able to rent the space on a sliding scale, with favorable rates for nonprofits.

“It’s a highly flexible facility that allows existing organizations in the city, around the country and around the world to do things that they don’t currently have space to do,” Ms. Levin said. “It’s not meant to compete with other organizations. It’s meant to help them fulfill their potential.”

City Allots $50 Million to Favored Arts Project (NYTimes)