Art Bridges awards Palmer Museum largest grant in the museum’s history

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State has been awarded $168,000 from the Art Bridges Foundation through its new Access for All grant initiative. The funding will help to defray the expense of offering extended evening hours one night a week when the new Palmer Museum of Art opens in late spring 2024.

“For the first time in the museum’s history, we will add Thursday evenings to our regular museum hours thanks to the generous support from Art Bridges,” said Palmer Museum Director Erin M. Coe. “Many members of our campus and local communities have schedules that don’t allow for a daytime visit. By keeping the museum open ‘after hours,’ one evening a week, we are advancing our strategic goal of making the museum’s collection, exhibitions and programming accessible to all.”

Access for All is a transformative, three-year funding initiative from the Art Bridges Foundation, the national arts nonprofit founded by philanthropist Alice Walton. The initiative aims to increase access at museums across America and foster engagement with local audiences. The $40 million pilot program will provide support to 64 current Art Bridges museum partners by covering the costs of admission, programming, outreach and additional efforts that reduce barriers to access. The Palmer was one of five partner museums in the state of Pennsylvania to receive an Access for All grant.

At the Palmer Museum of Art, funding will support expanded security staff, visitor services associates and program staff to keep the museum open late for ongoing access to the galleries and public spaces every Thursday. The grant also will support art-making activities in the new studio classroom for visitors of all ages. A portion of the funds will provide for the acquisition of adaptive mark-making tools and assistive listening devices to ensure greater accessibility throughout the museum, as well as interactive experiences in the family-friendly Exploration Gallery.

"We are thrilled to have this support that will not only expand our operating hours into Thursday evenings but also increase our ability to create and offer programs for diverse audiences,” said Brandi Breslin, director of education for the Palmer Museum of Art. “The funding toward adaptive art tools and hands-on interpretive materials is transformative and will enrich visitors' experiences in the museum."

As an Art Bridges partner museum, the Palmer Museum of Art has received significant funding from the foundation in recent years. During the pandemic, the museum received two “Bridge Ahead” grants that supported timed-entry ticketing; the creation of digital assets, including virtual tours and online programs; and reopening activities. Since 2021, the Palmer has implemented visitor surveys thanks to funding through the Art Bridges COVES (Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies) program. The Palmer also has received Learning and Engagement grants in support of outreach activities related to loans of works of art from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Museums participating in the Access for All initiative span 36 states and Puerto Rico. In addition to the Palmer, recipients include the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; and the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana. The full list of participating museums can be found on the Art Bridges website.

“We are thrilled to launch Access for All, a historic partnership with cultural institutions across the country to make it easier for people in every U.S. region to see and experience art. At Art Bridges, we can’t wait to see our trusted partners get creative and deliver impact to their communities,” Walton said.

About the Palmer Museum of Art

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is the largest art museum collection between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and the most significant academic art museum in the state of Pennsylvania. A key element of Penn State’s land-grant mission of teaching, research and public service, the museum is a vital and accessible cultural resource for Penn State’s students, faculty and scholars, as well as for all visitors to and from the entire central Pennsylvania region. Through its world-class objects, programs and outreach, the free museum is a welcoming, inclusive and vibrant forum for authentic arts experiences and cultivates meaningful dialogue about today’s most potent ideas and pressing concerns.

An expansive 21st-century teaching museum, the Palmer Museum of Art is a beacon for advancing the arts and humanities on Penn State’s University Park campus and throughout its diverse communities. The museum is dedicated to catalyzing groundbreaking research, scholarship and publications and providing impactful, object-based learning for Penn State and K-12 students. The museum’s rewarding and thought-provoking exhibitions and programs promote visitor participation, belonging and discovery.

The Palmer Museum is temporarily closed to the public while it prepares to open its new museum building at the Arboretum at Penn State in spring 2024. The innovative new museum will allow the Palmer to foster academic collaborations and strengthen student engagement through hands-on learning in a purpose-designed classroom space and in spaces like the Teaching Gallery, designed for innovative cross-disciplinary programs.

About Art Bridges

The Art Bridges Foundation is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton. The mission of Art Bridges is to expand access to American art in all regions across the United States. Since 2017, Art Bridges has been creating and supporting programs that bring outstanding works of American art out of storage and into communities. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of over 220 museums of all sizes and locations on nearly 700 projects across the nation, impacting over 4.1 million people, to provide financial and strategic support for exhibition development, loans from the Art Bridges Collection, and programs designed to educate, inspire and deepen engagement with local audiences. The Art Bridges Collection represents an expanding vision of American art from the 19th century to present day and encompasses multiple media and voices. For more information, visit artbridgesfoundation.org.