Free Admission for All Participants
SALT LAKE CITY — Along with more than 1,400 other participating venues nationwide, Utah museums will open their doors free of charge on Saturday, September 29, 2012, for the eighth annual Museum Day Live! This annual event, hosted by Smithsonian magazine, encourages learning and the spread of culture nationwide. Extended hours, tours, demonstrations and special events are on offer at many Utah venues.
For one day only, participating museums will grant free access to visitors who download a Museum Day Live! ticket at Smithsonian.com. Many free museums also participate. Last year’s event drew more than 350,000 museum-goers, and this year’s Museum Day Live! is expected to attract close to 400,000 participants across the country.
“Utah’s museums are caretakers of the state’s natural and cultural heritage,” noted Margaret Hunt, Director of Utah Arts & Museums. “There are more than 150 certified museums in Utah with collections that run the gamut from ancient fossils to avant-garde artwork. More than four million people visit Utah’s museums each year. On September 29, we encourage everyone in the state to visit a museum and enjoy Utah’s wealth of cultural treasures.”
The Museum Day Live! ticket is available to download at Smithsonian.com/museumday. Visitors who present the Museum Day Live! ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues for one day only. One ticket is permitted per household, per e-mail address. For more information about Museum Day Live! 2012 and a list of participating museums, please visit Smithsonian.com/museumday.
Participating Utah museums include:
• Benson Grist Mill, Stansbury Park
• Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, Cedar City
• Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo
• Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Art (Justin Howland and the Heathen Highlander Bagpipe Corps will be playing at the museum midday)
• Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, Salt Lake City
• Eccles Community Art Center, Ogden
• Fort Douglas Museum, Fort Douglas
• Kearns Museum, Kearns
• Little Hollywood Movie Museum, Kanab
• Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Relic Home and Blacksmith Shop, Mt. Pleasant
• Murray City Museum, Murray (this location is celebrating Museum Day Live! one day early, on Friday, September 28, 2012, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City
• Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan
• Ogden Union Station Museums, Ogden
• Prehistoric Museum, Price
• St. George Art Museum, St. George
• Taylorsville Bennion Heritage Center, Taylorsville
• Western Heritage Museum, Vernal
• Woodbury Art Museum, Orem
