DAVENPORT, Iowa — As the Figge Art Museum prepares to welcome a new collection of art from Oklahoma, continued financial support is allowing the museum to waive admission this July.
Entrance to Figge will be admission-free for the month of July 2022 following continued contributions from Jill and Cal Warner, a pair whose sponsorship of the museum was responsible for a free month of admission last year.
“This is our second year of sponsoring free Figge admission in July,” said Jill and Cal Werner. “We were delighted last year with the response and surprised how many people came up to us and said they attended for the first time and enjoyed it.”
The free month coincides with Figge's participation in the Art Bridges Collection Loan Partnership, a museum art lending program allowing them to spread their art across all regions of the United States and expand knowledge, culture, and inspiration.
Art Bridges Collection Loan Partnership is dedicated to broadcasting American art to more communities, especially focusing on filling in gaps in museum collections by spotlighting women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists.
For the partnership, Figge is working with the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska to display works depicting the American West and Indigenous culture, contrasting the differences between the romanticized West and the Indigenous reality and challenging audiences to re-evaluate how they think about the West's history, environment, and inhabitants.
The partnership program is providing over a dozen works from famed American artists like Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt, and Kehinde Wiley alongside the artists in Figge's collection.
“By amplifying a diverse set of artistic voices, the works we are receiving will present a more comprehensive story of American art and act as a catalyst for important conversations surrounding the subject matter depicted,” said Figge Executive Director and CEO Michelle Hargrave. “The coupling of our works with the Joslyn Art Museum’s renowned collection are designed to broaden our understanding of our world and our place in it.”
Those taking advantage of July's free admission will have access to the Partnership displays, as well as Figge's current exhibitions.
