For the 10th anniversary year of Art Museum Day, the Portland Art Museum will join the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and hundreds of institutions across North America in offering great opportunities for our audiences on Friday, May 17, 2019. This year, the Museum will offer free admission to recognize the arts and the important role that art museums play in their communities. The Portland Art Museum also invites visitors to share their Art Museum Day experiences via social media, with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.
“Art Museum Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the role that our own art museum fulfills in the city and broader community, said Portland Art Museum Director, and former AAMD President Brian Ferriso.
AAMD’s Art Museum Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the role of art museums in North America. The initiative is an extension of the International Council of Museums’s (ICOM) International Museum Day, a global program embracing all different types of museums. Last year, the Portland Art Museum—along with more than 150 other AAMD member museums of varying sizes across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—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, like the Portland Art Museum shift their events to adjacent dates.
“It is so terrific that the Portland Art Museum will join so many peer institutions to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this important initiative,” said Christine Anagnos, Executive Director of AAMD. “Art Museum Day brings institutions and communities together to experience great art and special programs. And every year, I enjoy just as much the opportunity to follow along with visitor’s #ArtMuseumDay posts, reflecting the ways in which they engage with art and art museums, and appreciate the diversity of human creativity.”
In addition to Art Museum Day, the Museum offers free admission to children 17 years old and younger, quarterly family free days, free admission every first Thursday of the month from 5 p.m.– 8 p.m., participates in the Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Free Day program, and offers $5 admission every Friday night from 5pm – 8pm. The Museum also participates in a number of other admissions access programs including free admission to active military personnel and veterans year round, and Arts for All, among others.