Whatcom Museum will begin offering one day of free admission per month for the next three years, beginning Friday, Jan. 5.
But that’s far from all. On the first Friday of every month, the museum will also bring in guest artists and performers, expanded programming, and will stay open until 9 p.m., coinciding with the Downtown Bellingham Partnership’s First Friday event.
The museum recently received a $240,000 “Access for All” grant from billionaire Walmart heir Alice Walton’s Art Bridges Foundation.
Adrienne Dawson, Whatcom Museum’s marketing director, said one requirement for the competitive, nationwide grant — which awarded a whopping $40 million to 64 museums throughout the United States — was that each museum was required to share its vision about how to remove barriers and welcome new visitors.
“Our goal is to make museum spaces more inviting and welcoming to our community,” Dawson said of Whatcom Museum’s priorities. “We know there’s a core contingent of visitors that actively seeks out museums, but we also know there are many, many more people who are interested in visiting museums but maybe don’t quite feel that it’s a space where they belong. We want to dispel that.”
Dawson said they hope that by waiving admission fees one day a month and staying open later, all while including a wide range of free programs, they can make the spaces more readily accessible to more community members.
Both the Lightcatcher Building and Whatcom Museum’s Old City Hall will be open during these events. The first one on Jan. 5 will feature an all-ages, drop-in community art installation hosted by Olympia-based artist Aisha Harrison at the Lightcatcher. Harrison’s sculpture “Boat of Hands” is being displayed as part of the Bellingham National exhibition, “Acts of Healing and Repair.”
Local singing duo Bliss is Ordinary will perform later that afternoon and the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG) will offer baby and toddler music classes with the Bellingham School of Music. In the evening, two gong and crystal bowl sound sessions will take place at the Old City Hall helmed by local yoga instructor Ruby Koa, who will continue the “healing and repair” theme through guided relaxation and meditation methods.
While checking out the programming, the hope is that people will peruse the exhibitions, as well. In addition to the wide-ranging Bellingham National show, the Lightcatcher is also displaying “Share, Like, Create: Moments of Learning and Growth,” the student-juried art show. The latter features 37 works by Whatcom County middle and high school artists who responded to the prompt of “moments of learning and growth.”
At Old City Hall, the permanent collection of the John M. Edson Hall of Birds can be perused on the third floor. On the main floor, “The Pet Show” features images of domestic animals by the late Jack Carver, staff photographer for The Bellingham Herald from 1945–81.
As museum staff gears up to host the first “Access for All” event, Dawson said the team has been “the most enthusiastic” she’s seen them, mainly because the grant gives them an opportunity to explore new programming ideas and experiment with different events, bring in visiting artists, and create activities designed to appeal to diverse groups.
Whatcom Museum is in good company. Among the other museums receiving grants are the Wichita Art Museum, The San Diego Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
In an NPR radio interview about the Art Bridges Foundation, Walton explained the impetus for the “Access for All” initiative was the pandemic’s impact on museums and the general public. She mentioned the repercussions in terms of mental health and stability for those emerging from the pandemic, and said now is “a crucial point in time where we all need to figure out everything we can do to create that access.”
Walton also said she hopes the grants give museums the opportunity to focus on long-term sustainability, especially when it comes to seeking help from their communities to help fund even more free opportunities at the various institutions.
“We often describe museums as being a ‘home’ for art, but museums should really be a home for people — anyone and everyone — looking to experience something wonderful through art,” Whatcom Museum Art Curator Amy Chaloupka said. “This three-year grant allows us to throw our doors open even wider, welcoming our friends and neighbors to come inside, be comfortable, explore and make this space your own.”
The inaugural “Access for All” event takes place from noon to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5 at Whatcom Museum’s Old City Hall and Lightcatcher buildings. The free event will continue on the first Friday of every month for the next three years. Whatcom Museum also partners with the Bellingham Public Library to provide free passes to the museum. Info: whatcommuseum.org.
