The Princeton University Art Museum announced the launch of their participation in Blue Star Museums, a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and more than 600 museums across the United States in offering special benefits to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2010. The complete list of participating Blue Star Museums is available at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
One of the nation’s leading art museums, the Princeton University Art Museum is proud to show its appreciation for those who are serving the nation in the armed services. The Art Museum is free and open to the public year round, and is pleased to offer a special 10% discount at the Museum Store as well as a 10% discount on memberships to the Art Museum at the individual and family levels to active duty military personnel and families. The Art Museum will honor these discounts from Saturday, May 29, through Sunday, September 5. For hours and information about special exhibitions and summer programs, visit http://artmuseum.princeton.edu.
“This summer marks the return of exciting summer exhibition programming at the Princeton University Art Museum, and we’re pleased to offer special benefits to the nation’s military personnel and their families,” notes Museum director James Steward. “Whether visiting from nearby bases such as Fort Dix, Fort Monmouth, or McGuire Air Force Base, or from around the country, we hope many of our military families will join us over the summer months.”
“America’s museums are proud to join the rest of the country in thanking our military personnel and their families for their service and sacrifice,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman. “I cannot imagine a better way to do that than welcoming them in to explore and enjoy the extraordinary cultural heritage our museums present. The works of art on view this summer will inspire and challenge viewers, and sometimes they will just be a great deal of fun.”
“There have always been wonderful examples of partnerships between museums and military installations, but the scale of this gift from the museum communities to military families is thrilling,” said Blue Star Families Chairman Kathy Roth-Douquet. “Military families work hard for this country, and it is gratifying for us to be recognized for that. We anticipate that thousands of military families will participate in the program and visit museums this summer–many of them for the first time. Blue Star Families will work hard to help our military families make the most of these opportunities.”
In addition to being Chair of Blue Star Families, Ms. Roth-Douquet is married to a Marine Corps officer, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan. They have two children, and Ms. Roth-Douquet and the children plan to take a road trip this summer to visit Blue Star Museums up and down the East Coast.
More than 600 museums in all 50 states and the District of Columbia are taking part in the initiative, with support from the American Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and the Association of Children’s Museums. In addition to thirty children’s museums across the country, participating museums represent a broad range of art, history, science, and cultural topics–from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Texas, to the Mission San Luis, a living history site and historic landmark in Tallahassee, Florida; to the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska, to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Blue Star Museums Details
Blue Star Museums runs from Memorial Day, May 31 through through Labor Day, September 6, 2010. Because the Princeton University Art Museum is closed on Mondays, including Memorial Day, it will begin offering benefits on Saturday, May 29. Benefits of the program are available to active duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holders and up to five immediate family members), including active duty Reserve and active duty National Guard.
For a full list of participating museums, and a map to help with visit planning, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
This is the latest Arts Endowment program to help bring quality arts programs to the military, veterans, and their families. Other NEA programs for the military have included Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, Great American Voices Military Base Tour, and Shakespeare in American Communities Military Base Tour.
About Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families is a national, non-partisan, non-profit 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 with civilian community and leaders. Membership includes spouses, children, parents, service members, veterans and civilians. For more information, visit www.BlueStarFam.org.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts–both new and established–bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.
About the Princeton University Art Museum
Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the nation’s leading art museums. Its collections feature approximately 72,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary, and concentrating geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, Asia and the Americas, with particular strengths in Chinese painting and calligraphy, the art of the ancient Americas, and pictorial photography. The Museum is committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions while serving as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. Intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.
The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from Princeton’s Nassau Street. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Free highlights tours of the collections are given every Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays. For information, please call (609) 258-3788 or visit the Museum’s Web site at http://artmuseum.princeton.edu
