Museums Offers Free Admission to
Military Families through Blue Star Museums

 Summer Hours Announced

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…Admission to Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History will be free for all active duty military personnel and their families from Friday, May 27, through Sunday, September 4, 2011, as part of the Blue Star Museums Program. In addition, military families and all museum visitors can take advantage of extended summer hours, when Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History will be open on Mondays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., July 11-August 29. Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Members always visit free. Regular parking rates apply. Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History offer 50% off admission for active military personnel year-round for up to four people per military ID. Admission to fee-based Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History programs, such as Culture Club (June 16, Culture Club is free with cash bar; July 21, Culture Club is $10 for the program and two drink tickets ) and pre-registered events are not included.

            Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History are two of the more than 1,200 museums participating in the Blue Star Museums program, a project of the National Endowment for the Arts, which brings quality arts programs to the military and their families. The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention Common Access Card (CAC), A DD Form 1173 ID Card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID Card, which includes active duty military personnel—and up to five of their immediate family members—in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, and Reserve.

 What’s on view

            In addition to the Scaife and Bruce galleries displaying the permanent art collections, visitors to Carnegie Museum of Art during the Blue Star Museums program may enjoy an exceptional array of special exhibitions:

• Andrey Avinoff: In Pursuit of Beauty
• Ragnar Kjartansson: Song
• The Pittsburgh Biennial
• Hand Made: Contemporary Craft in Ceramic, Glass, and Wood
• Past Meets Present: Decorative Arts and Design at Carnegie Museum of Art

            At Carnegie Museum of Natural History, visitors are treated to such favorites as Dinosaurs in Their Time, Hillman Hall of Gems and Minerals, Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt, and Population Impact as well as these limited-time exhibitions:

• Explore Evolution
• Winging It: An experimental gallery about birds
• Lord of the Crane Flies
• Gigapixel Imaging for Science

Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History were founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. Two of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, they are nationally and internationally recognized for their collections. For more information, call 412.622.3131 or visit www.carnegiemuseums.org.

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