Reopening of New York City's Museums

Now that New York City is in the reopening process, I was thinking about all the museums within the city and the surrounding boroughs and if/when they plan on reopening their doors in the wake of the Coronavirus situation. Almost all of the 80+ tours I’ve arranged in the last few years want to schedule a guided tour, an art workshop or a combination of both at one or more of the many museums to choose from. 

I was elated to find out that some of my favorite museums do have reopening dates.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMOA) is planning on reopening in late August. Officials have indicated the days and hours when visitors can visit the exhibitions will be reduced in order to adhere to social distancing requirements. The Met will not offer tours, talks or concerts through the end of 2020. They expect to resume these activities in 2021.
• Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) is currently closed and will continue to post updates about their reopening process. The museum has recently indicated a reduction of 160 employees from its staff along with cuts to the museum’s “Exhibition” and “Overall” budgets. The education department remains completely staffed.
• The 9/11 Memorial Museum is having a fundraising campaign to reopen the Memorial to it’s extended 9/11 community and to the workers on the frontline of the Covid-19 situation on Saturday, July 4, 2020. On the following Day, July 5, the Memorial will be opened to the public.
• DIA: Beacon Museum is making plans to reopen in Phase 4 that include safety measures of staggering the number of people allowed in each gallery at a time. They are also looking into installing hands-free faucets in the bathrooms.

Other museums are remaining closed but offer a variety of options to experience the best of what that museum has to offer.

• Whitney Museum of American Art. Go to their website to review a guide to digital offerings as well as online events including artist talks, art history courses and creative projects.
• The Frick Collection has temporarily closed its galleries and library. Their website offers free online videos and audio tapes. Subscribe to their free “Frick at your Fingertips” weekly email.  
• Museum of American Finance. Until the museum and shop reopen in a new location, their website offers options to stay current including live lunchtime programs via zoom on various topics. Watch their “Out of the Vault” video series that offers a virtual tour of various artifacts found in the Museum Collection and narrated by the museum’s President and CEO. Visit the website’s Exhibit “Pandemics & Epidemics” that discusses the specific events that have occurred over the course of U.S. history.
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Until the museum reopens you can 1) subscribe to E-news updates on a variety of topics, and 2) Guggenheim At Large will provide you with options to interact with the museum’s architecture and art no matter where you are located.
• Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) has not posted a reopen date yet. The museum has created a webpage where you can stay connected with them online. Go to their website and search for “Stay Connected to The Museum at FIT” and you’ll have all sorts of options to choose from.
• Museum of Art & Design (MAD). The museum is temporarily closed. The store at MAD is open online and shipping out orders twice a week. Go to their website’s “Online Learning” tab to view the many available options for staying in touch with the museum.

There does appear to be a growing importance on the virtual museum during these trying times that is being displayed in a variety of creative ways. This is not to say that the virtual museum can ever replace the real museum experience because there are certain aspects of the latter that can’t be substituted. At this point in time, I think that real and virtual museums can complement each other and provide us with a complete view of culture and art.

Kathy Von Hurst