The Frist Center for the Visual Arts participated in Art Museum Day by offering free admission today.
The Association of Art Museum Directors sponsored Art Museum Day on May 18, which is also International Museum Day, in hopes of making art more accessible to the public.
The theme for International Museum Day—“Museums in a Changing World: New Challenges, New Inspirations”—reflects the changing role of museums in our society, according to Maggie Carrigan, communications coordinator at the Frist.
“I think that museums in this day and age are changing really quickly with the advent of social media,” Carrigan said, explaining that the museum is trying to create both an “on-site way for the community to engage and an online way for the community to engage.”
According to a news release from the museum, the International Museum Day theme invites guests “to ponder the role of museums in our culture of new media and social responsibility.”
Carrigan said the museum wanted to “create a conversation” and encouraged visitors to share their museum experience on social media using the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.
“Our main goal is to help people understand their world in new ways through art,” she said. “We’re always looking for new ways to do that.”
Current exhibits at the Frist include “Fairy Tales, Monsters and the Genetic Imagination” and “Connecting Cultures.” The Martin ArtQuest Gallery is a permanent Frist exhibit that allows guests to experience art hands-on through a variety of creation and reflection stations including blocks, abstract drawing, printmaking, stop motion video and painting.
Carrigan said she would encourage college students to visit the Frist, even if they aren’t naturally drawn to art.
“I think regardless of whether or not you have a deep understanding of art, you can appreciate it by looking at it, spending some time with it,” she said. “It’s an expression of humanity.”
Sometimes people think they don’t know enough about art, Carrigan said, adding that you don’t have to be educated to appreciate it.
“We want to be accessible to anybody, from people who have a Ph.D. in art to somebody who has never even doodled in their life,” she said. “I think there’s resonance for everybody in it.”
Carrigan said the museum saw an increase in visitor numbers in conjunction with the event.
“We’re hoping to just get people here,” she said, “get people interested and get them discussing what they like about art.”
The museum will also have free admission Saturday, May 19 for active duty military and veterans and family members as part of Armed Forces Day.
The building that houses the Frist was initially constructed in 1933-34 and was the location for the main post office in Nashville. It was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
When a new central post office was created near the airport in 1986, the facility was no longer needed. Following years of indecision about how to use the space, a partnership between Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. and the Metropolitan Nashville government paid for the structure to be turned into the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in 2001.
To learn about how to become an active participant at the Frist, visit the volunteer page http://fristcenter.org/about/volunteer-program or the “Get Involved” section of the museum’s website http://fristcenter.org/join-support/get-involved.