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A little over a year after construction started on the new Statue of Liberty Museum, the foundation behind the museum has now launched a fundraising campaign to see the 26,000 square foot space to completion.
For Lady Liberty, as this campaign is titled, is being hosted on Indiegogo, and is looking to raise $50,000 (or more) to finish up the museum. The campaign has already secured $8,903 from 298 donors. The foundation is suggesting a symbolic donation of $18.86 in honor of the year the statue was unveiled, and those making this contribution will be recognized within the museum in a digital list called the Founders Registry, and on the museum website.
The fundraising campaign also taps into a history of crowdsourced funding for the Statue of Liberty. In the 1880s, publisher Joseph Pulitzer launched a fundraising campaign to help complete the pedestal of the statue. More than 120,000 donors contributed, which aided in the opening of the statue in 1886. For the centennial celebration of the statue, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation was tasked with raising funds for a long-awaited restoration, and at that time the statue received donations totaling $6 million just from students across the country.
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The foundation is now hoping for a similarly enthusiastic response as it gets ready to debut the museum in May 2019. The museum was designed by FXCollaborative, and the exhibitions are being designed by ESI Design. The news of the campaign is also accompanied by new photos from the construction site including the rooftop terrace, and the exterior of the building, which reflects the Statue of Liberty. Entry to the Museum will be part of the ferry tickets purchased for Ellis Island and Liberty Island.
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