Free museum tickets from coast to coast

Here’s a great chance to explore a museum you’ve never visited.

For the eighth year, Museum Day Live! will offer a free day at museums and cultural institutions throughout the nation. This year’s event is being held on Saturday, Sept. 29.

The idea is for participating institutions to emulate the free admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based facilities. Last year’s event drew over 350,000 museum-goers to over 1,400 museums.

Among the museums participating is the Springfield Museum of Art, which in January of this year was designated as a Smithsonian-affiliate, making it the only art museum in Ohio with the designation. This is the first year that museum will host Museum Day Live!

“This is an is an opportunity for us to participate with other museums through the region,” the museum’s executive director Ann Fortescue said. “Although we always have a community-free day on Sunday afternoons, this extra Saturday may be more convenient for some folks.”

The Smithsonian designation, Fortescue said, provides her museum access to Smithsonian programs and collections as well as opportunities for professional development. Members of the Springfield museum receive discounts.

Others museums in the region that will be free on Sept. 29 include the Columbus Museum of Art, the Fire Museum of Greater Cincinnati, the Garst Museum and Annie Oakley Center in Greenville, the Kelton House Museum and Garden in Columbus, the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, the Betts House in Cincinnati, the Warren County Historical Center in Lebanon and Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus.

Museum-goers can head to smithsonian.com/museumdaylive to download tickets for Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day Live! Tickets grant free admission for two people per household to participating museums on Saturday, Sept. 29.

Over 1,400 museums are expected to participate this year.

Driesbach named curator at Akron museum

Janice Driesbach, former director and CEO of the Dayton Art Institute, has been named chief curator of the Akron Art Museum.

Driesbach, whose specialty is American art, was curator of art at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and director of the University of Nebraska’s Sheldon Museum of Art before coming to the DAI in 2008. She is credited with establishing important community partnerships, overseeing the development of a strategic plan and rightsizing the DAI during some difficult economic years.

Driesbach will begin her new job on Monday.

“I’m excited about going to the Akron Museum and this position will allow me to work closely with the art and artists,” she says.

The Museum’s director, Mitchell D. Kahan, has announced his retirement and will become director emeritus in January after 26 years of service.

Arts guide now available

“Celebrate the Arts,” a calendar for the 2012-13 arts season published by James Free Jewelers, is now available free of charge at the company’s two stores — 3100 Far Hills Ave. in Dayton and 9555 Main St. in Montgomery.

The glossy, colorful magazine provides a run-down of events for major Dayton and Cincinnati arts organization.

“We were so excited to feature Tom Hanks this year,” says Dave Tellmann, director of marketing for the stores. “We worked with Wright State University and Tom Hanks to get permission to run his picture on the cover and feature him in an article about his involvement with the university.

This is the eighth year for the special publication.

Included organizations are: the Bach Society of Dayton, Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Arts Association, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cityfolk, Contemporary Arts Center, The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Theatre Guild, Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati, Fraze Pavilion, The Human Race Theatre Company, Northern Kentucky University Department of Music, Riverbend Music Center, Sinclair Theatre Department, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of Dayton, Victoria Theatre Association and Wright State University.

If you’d like to have a free copy of the guide mailed to you, visit www. info@jamesfree.com (click on contact us and request a catalog) or call (937) 298-0171 and ask for Dave Tellmann.

Arts Alliance announces two new positions

Two new positions have been announced for the newly formed Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, the organization that officially merged the Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera and Dayton Philharmonic on July 1.

Teri Warwick, who has been Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for United Way of Greater Dayton since 2009, has been named Chief Financial Officer. She also served as CFO for the Dayton Art Institute from 1998 to 2009.

Matt Borger, former Director of Operations for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, has been named Director of Production Operations for the DPAA.

Borger was DPO’s Orchestra Manager from 1992-1994 and was an Associate Faculty of Music member at Wright State University from 1981 to 1988. He has also worked with the Milwaukee Symphony and Brooklyn (New York) Philharmonic.

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