Check Out Milwaukee Museum Week

A broad partnership between many of the city’s leading cultural institutions kicks off January 21st as part of the inaugural Milwaukee Museum Week.

Seventeen museums and historical institutions will offer a wide variety of special offers including free or reduced admission, extended hours and special programming. The week runs from Monday, January 21st through Sunday, January 27th.

Participating institutions range from big groups like Discovery World and Milwaukee Art Museum on the lakefront to smaller and off-the-beaten-path organizations like the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear and Wisconsin Black Historical Society

More than 100 events are promised as part of the week, including a presentation by historian John Gurda and behind-the-scenes tours of the Milwaukee Public Museum. The Milwaukee County Historical Society will debut a new exhibit, “How Dry I Am: Prohibition Milwaukee,” as part of the week. The Harley-Davidson Museum is offering free admission for those 17 and under, as well as curator-led tours. Discovery World is doing a special presentation on saving sea turtles.

Urban Milwaukee writer Carl Baehr, who recently published a book on Milwaukee’s Irish history, will lead a lunch lecture on January 25th at the Milwaukee School of Engineering‘s Grohmann Museum.

The first-time event started as a result of conversations between many of the city’s museum directors. According to a release: “Museum Week is an opportunity to call attention to Milwaukee’s wonderful array of museums, to promote our shared missions as well as our distinctive focuses, and to ignite new interest from the public. The shared hope is to spur awareness and patronage of these community treasures and to ultimately celebrate what this segment of our community means to education, inspiration and quality of life.”

A full list of events can be found at MKEMuseumWeek.org. The week is sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

Participating Institutions

• Betty Brinn Children’s Museum
• Brew City MKE Beer Museum
• Charles Allis Art Museum
• Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear
• Discovery World
• Grohmann Museum at MSOE
• Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University
• Harley-Davidson Museum
• Jewish Museum Milwaukee
• Milwaukee Art Museum
• Milwaukee County Historical Society
• Milwaukee Public Museum
• Mitchell Park Domes
• North Point Lighthouse
• The Pabst Mansion
• Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum
• Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum