Museum begins expanded summer hours on Monday, May 30
Milwaukee Art Museum to Participate in Blue Star Museums
Active duty military and their families receive free admission all summer long, seven days a week
Milwaukee, Wis. – Today the Milwaukee Art Museum announced its participation in the 2011 Blue Star Museums program to offer free Museum admission to all active military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Blue Star Museums is a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 1,300 museums across America to benefit America’s active duty servicemen and women.
“The Blue Star Museum program is a small way of saying thank you to all the men and women who selflessly serve our country,” said Daniel Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. “This program is a wonderful way to give back to those who sacrifice so much for us while providing them with an opportunity to experience all that the Museum has to offer.”
The Milwaukee Art Museum will officially launch the program on Monday, May 30, 2011. This will coincide with expanded summer hours for the Museum, which will be open Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (8 p.m. on Thursdays), from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
“Last year, the success of the inaugural year of the Blue Star Museums program showed that partnerships between nation’s museums and military communities are natural,” said Blue Star Families Chairman Kathy Roth-Duquet. “We are thrilled that 300,000 military family members visited our partner museums in the summer of 2010. We hope to exceed that number this year as the military community takes advantage of the rich cultural heritage they defend and protect every day.”
This year, more than 1,300 museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are taking part in the initiative, including 500 new museums this year. This year’s Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers, and 70 children’s museums.
Beginning in June, the Milwaukee Art Museum celebrates the Summer of CHINA, which will feature five simultaneous exhibitions on Chinese art and architecture spanning three thousand years. The centerpiece will be The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City, a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition featuring over 90 objects from the Qianlong Garden in Beijing, never before seen by the public.
ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
The Milwaukee Art Museum’s far-reaching holdings include more than 25,000 works spanning antiquity to the present day. With a history dating back to 1888, the Museum houses a collection with strengths in 19th- and 20th-century American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative arts, and folk and self-taught art. The Museum includes the Santiago Calatrava-designed Quadracci Pavilion, named by Time magazine as “Best Design of 2001.” For more information, please visit www.mam.org.
ABOUT BLUE STAR MUSEUMS
Blue Star Museums runs from Memorial Day, May 30, 2011 through to Labor Day, September 5, 2011. The free admission program is available to active-duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members). Active duty military include Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members. Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free admission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, please contact the museum directly. To find out which museums are participating, visit
www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
ABOUT BLUE STAR FAMILIES
Blue Star Families is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. In addition to morale and empowerment programs, Blue Star Families raises awareness of the challenges and strengths of military family life and works to make military life more sustainable. Membership includes military spouses, children and parents as well as service members, veterans and civilians.
To learn more about Blue Star Families, visit www.bluestarfam.org.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov.
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