The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in Astoria, Queens in New York City in a former building of what is now the Kaufman Astoria Studios. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the American Museum of the Moving Image. In March 2008, the museum broke ground for a $65 million expansion that doubled the museum’s size and added a new theater and educational space. While the museum remained open during most of the construction period, with its old theater demolished and the new ones yet to be built, screenings series and other events were held off site, although the collection was still available to scholars. The museum opened its redesigned and expanded building, designed by Leeser Architecture, on January 15, 2011.
The Museum of the Moving Image exists to expand public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique and technology of film, television, and digital media by collecting, preserving, and providing access to moving-image related artifacts via multimedia exhibitions and educational programming. The exhibits include significant audio/visual components designed to promote an understanding of the history of the industry and an understanding of how it has evolved. Panel discussions about current movies are frequently held at the museum. It is also home to one of the most significant collections of video games and gaming hardware. The museum’s attendance has grown from 60,000 in 2000 to an expected figure of 120,000 in 2011.
The museum’s history as the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Center Foundation traces its history to 1970, when the Foundation took control of the former Astoria Studios in an effort to preserve the now-landmarked building which was home to a number of significant productions. The foundation’s work was a success, revitalized the site and consumers’ interest in the industry and plans were made to expand the consumer access to the studio in the form of a museum.
Following seven years of work, and at a cost of $15 million, the American Museum of the Moving Image opened on September 10, 1988, in the former East Coast home of Paramount Pictures as the first museum in the United States that was devoted solely to the art, history and technology of film, television and video. This was followed, days later, by the opening of the British museum of the same name. The New York theater, ultramodern by the standards of 1988, was equipped to present 70-millimeter, 35-millimeter, 16-millimeter and video formats and was one of only two sites in New York with the ability to present old nitrate prints. It also re-created moments from television and video history and allowed visitors the opportunity to watch television in a TV lounge from the early days of television.
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