Last night a few of Toronto's bloggers toured the ROM Crystal and its first curated shows. Reading Toronto took a lot of pictures and we'll have them here--along with some commentary--as soon as we can get some time to download them. What's our take on the architecture? The Crystal may be the city's premier public space, but it needs programming that can compete with the architecture for our attention.

1. Wow, Best Public Space?! Based on what criteria???

   Given that the Crystal was largely funded by private donors and NOT public coffers, and its admission charge of $20/an adult (or $10 on Friday nights) and hours of operation of 10am-5:30pm SEVERELY restricts public access, the Crystal barely even qualifies as a “public space” in my mind. The Crystal would therefore wind up somewhere near the bottom of my list of contenders for Toronto’s Best Public Space, not the top. It doesn’t help that accessibility is actually being reduced since Friday nights were once free. The only thing that might change my mind is if the ROM’s exhibits were curated by the public at large, but that wasn’t the case before, and I highly doubt that’s the case now.

   I have no problem with you nominating the Crystal for some distinction, but I would ask that you PLEASE consider re-naming the category.

   Posted by  on  11/03  at  08:29 PM

2. Looking forward to the photos. :)

   Posted by bikingtoronto  on  11/05  at  10:29 AM

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