Gov. Reynolds signs the Iowa Museum Week proclamation on June 5th
The first proclamation Kim Reynolds signed after becoming governor focused on Iowa Museum Week, which opens today. Institutions statewide are holding special events over the next seven days to showcase their many resources.
Sean Ulmer, executive director of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, says Iowa’s second-largest city is holding Cedar Rapids Museum Week to celebrate.
Ulmer says, “We are partnering with the Iowa Masonic Library Museum, The History Center, the National Czech and Slovak Museum, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Brucemore — which is a historic property, the Grant Wood Studio, the African-American Museum of Iowa and the Veterans Memorial Building.”
Each facility in Cedar Rapids — and statewide — is featuring its own variety of special events and bonuses to boost admission.
“Brucemore is offering buy-one-get-one admission on their tours, some people are suspending admission on certain days and certain nights,” Ulmer says. “They’re offering tours, there are trivia nights. The Iowa Masonic Library Museum has a new exhibition opening that celebrates the 300th anniversary of free masonry.”
Ulmer says this will be a fun-filled opportunity for family and friends to explore all the arts and cultural amenities the region has to offer.
“We regularly receive visitors, especially in the summertime, from Des Moines, from Chicago, from Minneapolis, from St. Louis,” Ulmer says. “In the summertime, when the weather is pleasant, people do travel to see various cultural institutions and we are blessed to have so many in the state of Iowa.”
Statewide, there are some 400 museums, which include: arboretums, archives, art centers, art museums, aquariums, botanical gardens, children’s museums, cultural centers, ethnic museums, historic cemeteries, history museums, historic sites, historical societies, historic theaters, living history sites, military museums, nature centers, natural history museums, planetariums, presidential libraries, science centers, sports museums, university museums and zoos.