FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2016
WASHINGTON, DC – The American Alliance of Museums and Destination DC today unveiled a comprehensive list of visitor discounts, programs and promotions planned for Museum Week DC (May 23-29). The week includes unique programming and exhibits at dozens of museums, gardens and historic homes of the nation’s capital.
Special offers for Museum Week DC include two-for-one admission at The Phillips Collection, a 15 percent discount on tickets purchased online for the Newseum, and $1 off tours of the Tudor Place Historic House & Garden. Full listings for Museum Week DC are available at washington.org/museumweekdc, and you can follow the activities on Twitter at #MuseumWeekDC.
“Museum Week DC is a unique opportunity for tourists, conventioneers and residents of the Washington, DC metro area to get special access to museum programs and institutions,” said Laura L. Lott, president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). “We encourage visitors to use these discounts and visit the dozens of treasured museums throughout the region.”
Museum Week DC also is the occasion for the creation of two original public art works installed on the grounds of President Lincoln’s Cottage. “We Stand Together” by Michael Platt and Carol Beane and “Rotate. Shift. Repeat” by Wesley Clark and Courtney Clark were inspired by a crowdsourced Twitter campaign in which museum staff and visitors shared their stories about how museums influenced and inspired their lives.
Other programs on the schedule include an outdoor jazz concert in a sculpture garden, sound art from a marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria, a cooking demonstration at a botanical garden and access to entire collections dedicated to the First Amendment or the previously untold history of espionage. “The nation’s capital is full of lively, interactive and historic museums and cultural attractions that cater to a multitude of interests,” Lott said.
The week-long celebration is timed to match the gathering of more than 6,000 professionals from the museum field, who will convene at the American Alliance of Museums’ (AAM) 2016 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, set for May 26-29 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.
“We are increasingly seeing a trend that meetings want to impact the local community and it’s something we encourage and support,” said Elliott Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC. “AAM’s annual meeting is expected to bring an economic impact of $6.2 million to the city, which ultimately benefits local residents. It has also provided an opportunity for our cultural community to celebrate this week with events that appeal to business and leisure travelers as well as locals.”
Read more about AAM’s annual meeting at annualmeeting.aam-us.org, and you can follow the event on Twitter at #AAM2016.
About the American Alliance of Museums
The American Alliance of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. Representing more than 30,000 individual museum professionals and volunteers, institutions and corporate partners serving the museum field, the Alliance is the only organization representing the entire scope of the broad museum community. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.
About Destination DC
Destination DC, the lead destination marketing organization for the nation’s capital, is a private, non-profit membership organization of more than 850 businesses committed to marketing the area as a premier global convention, tourism and special events destination with a special emphasis on the arts, cultural and historic communities. www.washington.org.
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Press Contacts:
Joseph Klem
Phone: 202-218-7670
Email: jklem@aam-us.org
Danielle Davis, Director of Communications, Destination DC
Phone: 202-789-7046
Email: danielle.davis@destinationdc.com
