A pedestrian walks in front of the Portland Museum of Art on Tuesday. The museum will open to the public again Wednesday. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
After being closed for three months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Portland Museum of Art is scheduled to reopen Wednesday and will offer free admission for nearly three weeks.
The museum will require visitors to get timed-entry tickets, wear masks and keep 6 feet from others. Admission to the reopened museum will be free through July 6, according to the museum website.
The opening comes a week before another of the state’s major art museums, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, is scheduled to welcome visitors again, on June 25. Some other museums, including the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport and Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, have already reopened. Other art museums, including the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, hope to open in July.
Officials at Portland Museum of Art declined to talk Tuesday about the reopening or answer emailed questions about specific procedures visitors will have to follow. Graeme Kennedy, the museum’s director of communications, responded to the list of questions with an email that read in part, “we are not looking to comment about it at this time.”
The museum’s website outlines procedures and safety precautions put in place for the reopening. All visitors will be required to reserve tickets that allow them entrance to the museum at a specific time of the day. Tickets can be reserved or bought online, via smartphones or by calling the museum.
The tickets are for one-hour time slots – 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for example – but it is not clear on the website whether people can only stay for one hour. The website says people are required to arrive at the museum “within 30 minutes” of the start of an assigned time slot.
The website does not say how many visitors will be allowed in the museum at a time, though the state limit on public gatherings is 50 people.
The museum is requiring all visitors 5 years and older to wear a mask or face covering and to stay at least 6 feet from other groups. Visitors are asked not to bring large bags to the museum as the coat check will be closed.
Museum staff will be disinfecting and cleaning high-traffic areas, including restrooms, stairwells and elevators, according to the website.
There will be special members-only hours, from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, and hours for seniors on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon. The museum will be open Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Once the period of free admission ends after July 6, regular admission is $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students. The museum will continue to be free on Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m. and free to anyone 21 and under all the time, according to the museum website.
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