Milwaukee Museums Temporarily Closing

Some of Milwaukee’s major cultural institutions are closing their doors in the face of rising COVID-19 cases.

The Harley-Davidson Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum and Discovery World all announced this week they are closing to the public, for the time being.

All three institutions said a review of the city’s Moving Milwaukee Forward Safely public health order 4.2 influenced their decision to close. In late October, the city’s new health order limited public gatherings to 25% or less of a property’s total occupancy, or a maximum of 10 people indoors at a gathering, excluding employees.

The city uses a set of gating criteria to track the local response to COVID-19 and the safety of moving forward in its phased reopening.

The current gating criteria reflect that the city is in a bad way as cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all been rising recently. Two major indicators, testing and care, have been given the worst grade for gating criteria.

The Milwaukee Art Museum said it will remain closed to the public until at least January 2nd. Harley-Davidson’s museum will be closed until at least January 3rd. And Discovery World and Milwaukee Public Museum both said they would remain closed until 2021, but gave no indication of when they might reopen.

All the museums had implemented operations that allowed patrons to visit while still social-distancing. But as Bryan Wunar, president and CEO of Discovery World, put it “the current situation has forced us to put those plans on hold.”

Harley-Davidson said it would continue to offer some virtual ways to engage with the museum through their website and social media channels.