To celebrate the 9th annual Art Museum Day, the Museum will offer FREE ADMISSION on Friday, May 25, 2018. An initiative of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), Art Museum Day gathers hundreds of institutions from across North America to recognize the arts and the important role that art museums play in their communities.
The Museum also invites visitors to share their experiences on Art Museum Day via social media, with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.
The theme for Art Museum Day 2018 is Hyperconnected Museums, a recognition of the many ways in which museums serve as central points of connectivity within their communities, both online and in person. Art museums are often anchors for public spaces and neighborhoods, and they partner with school systems and civic organizations in ways that make their towns, cities, and regions better places for everyone who lives and works there. Hyperconnected Museums also serve as engines for the creative economy, tapping the human creativity embedded in works of art—whether thousands of years old or as recent as 2018—to inspire new ideas and ways of thinking.
“Participating in Art Museum Day is important,” said Brian Ferriso, The Marilyn H. and Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Director and Chief Curator. “The goals and themes resonate deeply with our museum and I am grateful for the advocacy and support that AAMD provides. The concept of Hyperconnected Museums is something that we strive for on a daily basis. Our intention is to be a museum of our community, not just in the community.”
AAMD’s Art Museum Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the role of art museums in North America, an extension of the International Council of Museums’s (ICOM) International Museum Day. AAMD represents 240 art museums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—from regional museums in small towns to large museums in major urban centers. Last year, the Museum—along with more than 161 other AAMD member museums—participated in Art Museum Day. A comprehensive list of participating AAMD member art museums will be available on the AAMD website. Note that while AAMD’s Art Museum Day and ICOM’s International Museum Day are formally held each year on May 18, some institutions shift their celebrations to adjacent dates.
“I am thrilled that the Portland Art Museum is again participating in Art Museum Day, an opportunity to bring communities together to experience great art and special programs, both in Portland and across North America” said Christine Anagnos, Executive Director of AAMD. “Art is vital to our lives, a reflection of both the incredible diversity of humanity and the many common elements that unite us.”