Tonight, the Erie Art Museum will host a gala event for more than 500 people, unveiling its long-awaited $9 million expansion project. The bash will be followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning, and free admission to the public all weekend to the new facility. Check out the schedule here.
Gallery space in the new facility has tripled, allowing for the museum's entire collection of more than 7,000 artworks to be shown instead of much of it hiding in storage.
Museum officials believe the 30,000 visitors they draw each year could soar to 50,000 in the expansion's first year and beyond. That's even with a spike to their general admission charge, up from $4 in 2009, to $7 beginning next week.
According to the Erie Times-News, John Vanco, the museum's director since 1968, is eager to show off the contemporary new digs, a project that has city officials and community leaders billing it as a tourism hook, a magnet to attract new business, and a destination that should become the cultural centerpiece of Erie's downtown.
Read the full news article here. There's even a video with John Vanco showing us around the gallery.
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