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Biggs Museum gets building from State of Delaware

Delaware Public Media

The Delaware Department of State transfers ownership of the Kirk and Short Building in Dover to the Biggs Museum of American Art.

 

The Kirk and Short Building is at 15 and 21 The Green, and was most recently home to the offices of Delaware’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs 

The private not-for-profit Biggs Museum is adjacent to the building on Federal Street.

This transfer is not unusual since the state and museum have been engaged in a successful public-private partnership under a 1989 trust agreement.

Division of Historic and Cultural Affairs Director Tim Slavin says everyone benefits from this transfer.

"The Biggs now has enough room to expand and grow and kind of achieve that next level of success that we know they're going to have," said Slavin. "It helps the state of Delaware in many ways because we had different maintenance on these buildings that would have come out of taxpayer dollars."

The Biggs Museum will use private funding for maintenance and improvements to the building which was built in 1859.

Slavin says this transfer makes the Biggs Museum more of a destination.

"It's a significant thing for them that they'll be able to expand not only their public offerings, but their educational offerings that they'll have a bigger and I think a really better footprint here in Dover," said Slavin. "Some of their buildings now will face the Green, they'll be part of the kind of the cultural energy that's up here with the Green and the National Park and the State Heritage park, and the old State House."

The Division of Historic and Cultural Affairs is moving to Richardson Hall on North State St,

Joe brings over 20 years of experience in news and radio to Delaware Public Media and the All Things Considered host position. He joined DPM in November 2019 as a reporter and fill-in ATC host after six years as a reporter and anchor at commercial radio stations in New Castle and Sussex Counties.
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