The backstory
Since 1998, the celebration has been hosted at various museums with organization from Austin Museum Partnership, a nonprofit organization that promotes collaboration with the museum community.
Catherine Whited, co-chair at Austin Museum Partnership, joined the team in 2020. Whited said the event has gotten bigger than the partnership anticipated.
“We used to primarily focus on museums in the Austin city limits only,” Whited said. “In the past few years we've actually had members join from Georgetown, Marble Falls and Bastrop. We are growing to represent not just Austin, but also more of the Central Texas area.”
Austin Museum Day was initially created to encourage city residents to spend one day a year exploring the museums Austin has to offer, Whited said.
“A lot of our museums can be smaller and there are just so many that people don’t know about and I guarantee for any niche interest someone has, there is a museum in Austin that speaks to that," Whited said. "Even for people who have lived in Austin their whole lives, I guarantee there's a place on the list of Austin Museum Day they haven't visited yet and I really recommend that they go check it out.”
The impact
The list of participating museums continues to grow. In 2020, 15 museums were open for in-person visits, while 13 more provided pre-recorded or live programming via Facebook Live. For 2024, Austin Museum Day will have 35 institutions offering in-person programming.
Additionally, in 2022, over 13,000 people in the Austin area participated in Austin Museum Day, Whited said in an email.
What to expect
Each museum will offer their own activity for the event—some examples include self-guided tours, guided tours, interactive activities and more. In previous years, museums participating on the University of Texas campus have hosted a scavenger hunt where individuals had an opportunity to win prizes, said Whited.
"The Women's Federation building always has a big blowout celebration,” Whited said. “They make hand-churned ice cream so kids can make ice cream for the first time if they've never done that, fresh squeezed lemonade, and they also have a banjo band normally outside on the porch.”
Participating organizations include:
- Art Galleries at Black Studies
- Austin Museum of Popular Culture
- Bastrop County Historical Society Museum & Visitor Center
- Blanton Museum of Art
- Brush Square Museums
- Bullock Texas State History Museum
- Capitol Visitor’s Center
- Chateau Bellevue, Home of the Austin Woman's Club
- Elisabet Ney Museum
- Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center
- Flower Hill Center
- Harry Ransom Center
- Hezikiah Haskell House (Clarksville Community Development Corporation)
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Landmarks
- LBJ Presidential Library
- MathHappens Foundation
- Mexic-Arte Museum
- Millett’s Opera House
- Museo Benini
- Neill-Cochran House Museum
- Pioneer Farms
- Republic of Texas Museum
- Save Austin's Cemeteries
- Science Mill
- Texas Military Forces Museum
- Texas Science & Natural History Museum
- Texas State Capitol
- Texas State Cemetery
- The Contemporary Austin
- The Williamson Museum
- Thinkery
- UMLAUF Sculpture Garden + Museum
- Sept. 22, times vary
- Free (admission)
- www.austinmuseums.org
