An important but underutilized piece of the cultural fabric of Upstate New York is getting a makeover thanks to a new master plan for Utica’s Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute from Cooper Robertson. 

The 103-year-old institute’s campus features a Pratt-affiliated school, performance center, and centerpiece International Style art museum designed by Philip Johnson in 1960. The master plan will address space issues within the existing campus buildings in addition to authoring changes that will aid the institute in its expanded effort to offer itself to the surrounding community as an enhanced public resource. 

"This project will be about making the entire Munson-Williams environment into a more welcoming destination,” Cooper Robertson's Mike Aziz said in a statement. “We see so many opportunities for the campus to open up, embrace a broader community, and strengthen its role as an anchor for the neighborhood, the city, and the region.”

The project will also include the construction of a new 49,000-square-foot public park located at the base of the museum and extending to nearby Cottage Place and the 19th-century Fountain Elms building. The firm hopes the park renovations will create an inviting entryway to the city’s downtown that can be filled with a variety of programming, including performances, civic celebrations, and art from the museum’s 12,000-piece collection. 

For its part, Cooper Robertson says it will be liaising with different members of the community as to the best uses of the institute’s holdings projecting forward into the future. “There’s a diverse array of stakeholders in the Utica area,” Aziz said, “we’re hoping to connect with and learn from them. We’re also eager to hear from business leaders, other arts institutions, and government representatives in Utica and the surrounding region on how Munson-Williams can better support these groups’ goals and initiatives as a partner, and how its role as a cultural arts district can more effectively serve Utica’s continued revitalization.”