Major urban monuments of the late twentieth century reflecting public support for the arts and strategies for competitive urban development. Earlier nineteenth and twentiethcentury centers for theater, opera, symphony and ballet often depended on individual philanthropy and the power of collective elite representation evoked by “opening night” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. By the 1950s, the Met’s move to Lincoln Center resulted in slum clearance and neighborhood revitalization funded by city and federal revenues. Both smaller (Louisville’s Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts) and larger cities (Washington’s Kennedy Center and Philadelphia’s $240 million new center) have used these monuments to promote urban prestige and downtown development, alongside other features of the commoditized metropolis, including stadiums, festival marketplaces and historical theme parks.