The Wolfsonian–Florida University announced today that it will join museums around the United States in offering free gallery admission on Wednesday, May 18 as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) celebration of Art Museum Day. Coinciding with International Museum Day on May 18, 2011, Art Museum Day will also focus around the theme of “museum and memory.” Participation by AAMD member museums emphasizes the lasting impact art museums have on their communities, highlight the value of the visual arts in society, and provide new opportunities for audiences to participate in the wide-ranging programs that art museums offer. In 2010, The Wolfsonian along with ninety other AAMD member museums across North America participated in International Museum Day.
On this day visitors to The Wolfsonian may enjoy—in addition to the exhibitions on view—the museum’s display of works from the Page at a Time children’s program, which features handcrafted books created by students from Miami-Dade County Public Schools that uses The Wolfsonian’s collection as its primary teaching tool . Page at a Time, the long-running interdisciplinary arts-education program, which emphasizes the connections between art, history, and ideas, and explores the visual power of words and images, will be on display in the lobby of The Wolfsonian Thursday, May 12 through Sunday, June 12, 2011.
AAMD member museums—located across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—include smaller regional museums as well as large international institutions. International Museum Day is organized annually around the world by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). AAMD’s Art Museum Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the role of art museums in North America, as part of ICOM’s global celebration of museums.
“Art Museum Day is an opportunity to celebrate the collective memory of human creativity, both past and present, that art museums hold in the public trust,” said Kaywin Feldman, President of AAMD and Director and President of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. “AAMD believes that art should be accessible and relevant to all, and we are so pleased that The Wolfsonian is joining with us and the global community of museums to create new opportunities for audiences to engage with museum collections and programs.”
A comprehensive list of participating AAMD member art museums will be available in the newsroom of the AAMD website (http://www.aamd.org/newsroom/). Note that while AAMD’s Art Museum Day and ICOM’s International Museum Day is formally held each year on May 18th, some institutions shift their celebrations to adjacent dates.