“We hope to accomplish letting people know that contemporary art is more than what is found on the walls of a museum,” she said.

A documentary film, “The Greenhorns,” will be shown to kick off the event at 7 p.m. Friday at Room 107 South Kedzie Hall. California-based artists Amy Franceschini and Fritz Haeg then will join community members from 3-5 p.m. Saturday at the former Barnes & Noble site.

An indoor farmers’ market also is slated for 5-7 p.m.

Gass said the event aims to be both educational and outreach-oriented, using art to disseminate the message of living sustainably.

“(The event) engages in looking at what art and sustainability looks like at MSU (and) what are some major issues that we need to hit,” she said.

Special education junior Lisa Gerds said she’s excited to see the empty site, which has had its windows covered in “Barns Are Noble” wrapping paper this week to preview the weekend event, finally being put to use.

“It seems like a good thing that people are using it,” she said, adding she might check out the event and future museum activities.

The Land Grant falls on the days the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum originally was scheduled before construction delays moved the opening to an unspecified date during the fall semester. The budget for the project is estimated between $40 million and $45 million, and officials still need “a couple million dollars” to meet fundraising goals, museum director Michael Rush said.

“We’re very much in an active fundraising mode … (as we welcome) people into the process,” he said.

As MSU officials still search for funding, East Lansing officials are looking for tenants to occupy the Barnes & Noble space.

Lori Mullins, the city’s community and economic development administrator, said although the space is not owned by the city, she knows that the property owners have been in discussions with multiple potential tenants.

City Center Partners 2 LLC, the property owner, and The Christman Company, the property’s managing partner, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

For this weekend’s event, Gass said using the space fit with museum officials’ goals to get involved with the community.

“The … space felt right to us. It’s a significant space of economic development in the city, and people are looking closely,” Gass said.