This year AAMD is celebrating the 10th annual Art Museum Day!

We launched Art Museum Day to underscore the ways in which art museums foster community, providing crucial opportunities for visitors of all ages to learn and be inspired by the limitlessness of what centuries of peoples and cultures have created. While many communities have celebrations that involve museum participation, Art Museum Day is an opportunity for our member institutions to coordinate and give back, providing everything from free admission to special programs. Last year, over 150 AAMD museums participated in Art Museum Day.

We encourage museums to offer free admission for Art Museum Day, to illustrate that arts museums welcome everyone. In addition, in celebration of the 10th Annual Art Museum Day, we hope you will consider offering a 10% discount in your shop and/or restaurant.

For museums that already offer free admission, or are unable to offer free admission, there are many other ways to participate such as offering special programs or discounts. If it is not feasible to develop special programming, existing exhibitions, programs, or events can be branded to be a part of Art Museum Day.

Some examples of ways to participate in the celebration include:

- Education programs or tours
- Free or discounted registration fees for new membership enrollments on May 18
- Encouraging dialogue on social media about the importance of art museums to their communities
- Free programs including special education programs for children and adults, and programs for families
- Extended hours to encourage attendance by new audiences
- Free admission to current special exhibitions
- Partnerships with other area museums

Once you're signed up, here are some steps you can take to make the most of Art Museum Day:

- Share the news with your community! Download a template press release announcing your institution's participation in Art Museum Day here.
- Start a conversation on social media! AAMD also encourages museums and museum visitors to use social media to share their Art Museum Day experiences with their museum and with their social networks using the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.
- Submit a photo! If you would like to add a photo to your Art Museum Day listing, such as an image of visitors enjoying your galleries or participating in education programs, please email it to Alison Wade awade@aamd.org with your preferred caption and/or credit. (The Art Museum Day website will go live the week of April 8, 2019).

Questions? Contact Alison at awade@aamd.org or 212-754-8084.