Happy Art Museum Day!

Celebrate the Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) Art Museum Day at Shelburne Museum! Visitors will receive reduced admission of $14 for adults and $7 for children ages 5-18.

Plus, in Webby’s Art Studio from 11am – 3pm, visitors can join in on a collaborative art making project called Print your Vermont. Using the Museum’s antique printing press, visitors will make relief prints that picture their Vermont community. Once all of the prints are dried, they will hang side by side to create a beautiful printed quilt of Vermont that will be exhibited in the classroom of Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education.

Also on that day, Shelburne Museum hosts 50 middle school students from the towns of Shelburne, Williston, Hinesburg, and Charlotte to gather in the Pizzagalli Center for Arts and Education for a special “think tank” to talk about learning and the future of education. Together with the help of Chittenden South Supervisory Union (CSSU) district coaches and other community leaders, students will think, talk, design, share, and ultimately develop a district-wide concept that puts students at the center of decisions that are normally made about them.

Shelburne Museum also invites visitors to share their experiences on Art Museum Day via social media, with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.

The theme of this year’s Art Museum Day is Art Museums Foster Vibrant Communities. AAMD members across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will be offering programs and initiatives to celebrate the arts and the important role art museums play in their communities. In addition to bringing the best of human creativity to people across North America, museums serve as engines for the creative economy, partners with school systems and civic organizations, and anchors for public spaces and neighborhoods, making their regions better places for everyone who lives and works there. Last year, more than 175 other AAMD member museums across North America participated in Art Museum Day.

”Museums play such a pivotal role in strengthening and supporting communities,” Shelburne Museum Director Tom Denenberg said, “and participating in this annual event is vital to our mission.”

“The arts are shared by people across every time period and every place—creativity is a vital part of what makes us human and what makes our cities and towns better places to live,” said Chris Anagnos, Executive Director of AAMD. “On Art Museum Day, museums across North America invite everyone to come together with their families, friends, and neighbors to celebrate that creative spirit, connect in common experiences, and see new points of view. AAMD greatly appreciates Shelburne Museum’s participation in Art Museum Day, and the contributions all art museums make to the vibrancy, economy, and strength of their communities.”

AAMD represents 245 art museums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—from regional museums in small towns to large museums in major urban centers. International Museum Day is organized annually around the world by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). AAMD’s Art Museum Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the role of art museums in North America, as part of ICOM’s global celebration.

A comprehensive list of participating AAMD member art museums is 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.