Frist Center is one of more than 1,800 museums across America to offer free admission to military personnel and their families this summer in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense
NASHVILLE, TENN. (May 21, 2013) – Today the Frist Center for the Visual Arts announced the launch of Blue Star Museums, a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 1,800 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2013. Leadership support has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families. The complete list of participating museums is available at http://www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
“Blue Star Museums is a collaboration between the arts and military communities,” said NEA Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa. “Our work with Blue Star Families and with more than 1,800 museums ensures that we can reach out to military families and thank them for their service and sacrifice. “Blue Star Museums is something that service members and their families look forward to every year and we are thrilled with the continued growth of the program,” said Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet. “Through this distinctive collaboration between Blue Star Families, the National Endowment for the Arts and more than 1,800 museums across the United States, service members and their families can connect with our national treasures with this unparalleled opportunity to visit some of the country’s finest museums for free.”
This year, more than 1,800 (and counting) museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are taking part in the initiative, including more than 450 new museums this year. Museums are welcome to join Blue Star Museums throughout the summer. The effort to recruit museums has involved partnerships with the American Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Association of Children’s Museums, the American Association of State and Local History, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers. This year’s Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers, and 75 children’s museums. Among this year’s new participants are the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum in Northport, Michigan, the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, and the World Museum of Mining in Butte, Montana.
During the period covered by the program, the Frist Center will feature several major exhibitions, including the highly anticipated Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles. The first major museum exhibition devoted entirely to Art Deco vehicles, this exhibition features 18 stunningly elegant cars and two motorcycles from the 1930s and ’40s from some of the most renowned auto collections and collectors in the nation. Visitors will also be able to enjoy Stop. Take Notice! in the Conte Community Arts Gallery; Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection in the Upper-Level Galleries; Vik Muniz: Garbage Matters in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery; and Jack Spencer: Beyond the Surface in the Upper-Level Galleries. Blue Star Museums is a collaboration among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 1,800 museums across America. The program runs from Memorial Day, May 27, 2013 through Labor Day, September 2, 2013.
The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), a DD Form 1173 ID card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps—and up to five family members. Please see the chart of the acceptable IDs (PDF). Some special or limited-time museum exhibits may not be included in this free admission program. For questions on particular exhibits or museums, please contact the museum directly. To find out which museums are participating, visit http://www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. The site includes a list of participating museums and a map to help with visit planning.
Museums that wish to participate in Blue Star Museums may contact ”, or Wendy Clark at 202-682-5451.
This is the latest NEA program to bring quality arts programs to the military, veterans, and their families. Other NEA programs for the military have included the NEA/Walter Reed Healing Arts Partnership; Great American Voices Military Base Tour; and Shakespeare in American Communities Military Base Tour.
Leadership support for Blue Star Museums has been provided by MetLife Foundation through Blue Star Families, an organization that connects and supports military families from all service branches.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Exhibition Sponsors
Stop. Take Notice! is presented by The Nissan Foundation and supported by The Memorial Foundation.
Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles is presented by Barbara, Jack, Sara and Richard Bovender, The HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA and the TriStar Family of Hospitals, Union Station Hotel, Sports Car Digest, Chubb Insurance and Porshe of Nashville.
Vik Muniz: Garbage Matters is supported, in part, by an award from the Goodrich Corporation.
Jack Spencer: Beyond the Surface is presented by The Atticus Trust.
CONTACT:
Ellen Jones Pryor: 615.244.1311, ”
Maggie Carrigan: 615.744.3351, ”
