From the Director, July 2020
Updated Jul 20, 2022
Reopening your DIA
Dear Friends,
This Friday, July 10, we will reopen the DIA for our members and tri-county residents and on July 15 to the general public. We wanted to do it this way to signal how grateful we are to Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties for their recent millage renewal on March 10. Our re-opening team has done an extraordinary job putting together a plan with NSF International. We will have the necessary protocols in place with the highest standards so our workplace and galleries will be as safe as they can be.
Last week, our team took a learning trip to the Toledo Museum of Art, which just re-opened, so we could have first-hand knowledge of their protocols and museum experience. It was, as you can imagine, like traveling into the future to see what we will experience later this week. The newly appointed director, Adam Levine, and some members of the TMA team welcomed the DIA staff. They walked us through the museum visit, sharing with us their thinking and decision making at every single step of the plan. It was impressive and also reassuring to our team to find that we are taking a very similar approach for our reopening work. The staff and visitors in Toledo have responded very positively and I am confident that all of you and our staff will feel the same about the DIA’s museum experience after July 10.
I know that each of us learned something new from our visit to the TMA. For me, it was noting that all TMA staff had, next to their regular ID badge, a new one on which the core safety protocols (wearing masks, social distancing, etc.) were inscribed. I thought this was an excellent idea that reinforces the fact that the most important work for the safety of everyone is our individual responsibility and commitment to comply with the established protocols. It is up to each of us to keep the museum safe and it is of paramount importance that we have our temperature scanned at the museum’s entrance, we wear the face masks at all times, keep social distancing, wash our hands, follow the gallery paths, and use the designated entrances and exits as indicated. I know that all of you will focus on this and that we will be successful. Adapting to a new way of experiencing our amazing galleries will take effort, flexibility and help from everyone. I know we can do this together and I am in advance grateful for all your patience and consideration.
As you visit our galleries and reacquaint yourself with your old friends, please remember that most of our contemporary galleries are closed. We are doing the necessary construction work in that space to accommodate our upcoming exhibition Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City 1950 -2020, which will be open on November 15. In the meantime, we will be installing highlights of recent acquisitions of Contemporary Art in our temporary exhibition galleries and plan to open this space in January 2021.
We are coordinating our reopening with our neighbor institutions in the cultural district in an extraordinary collaborative effort and we are excited to welcome you back. Again, thanks for your patience, flexibility and help to make us successful in keeping everyone safe while enjoying your DIA. To reserve your free timed entrance ticket and learn more about our new protocols, please visit dia.org/reopening. We look forward to seeing you soon; in the meantime, please stay well.
Salvador Salort-Pons portrait, updated Jan 2020
Reopening your DIA
Dear Friends,
This Friday, July 10, we will reopen the DIA for our members and tri-county residents and on July 15 to the general public. We wanted to do it this way to signal how grateful we are to Macomb, Wayne and Oakland counties for their recent millage renewal on March 10. Our re-opening team has done an extraordinary job putting together a plan with NSF International. We will have the necessary protocols in place with the highest standards so our workplace and galleries will be as safe as they can be.
Last week, our team took a learning trip to the Toledo Museum of Art, which just re-opened, so we could have first-hand knowledge of their protocols and museum experience. It was, as you can imagine, like traveling into the future to see what we will experience later this week. The newly appointed director, Adam Levine, and some members of the TMA team welcomed the DIA staff. They walked us through the museum visit, sharing with us their thinking and decision making at every single step of the plan. It was impressive and also reassuring to our team to find that we are taking a very similar approach for our reopening work. The staff and visitors in Toledo have responded very positively and I am confident that all of you and our staff will feel the same about the DIA’s museum experience after July 10.
I know that each of us learned something new from our visit to the TMA. For me, it was noting that all TMA staff had, next to their regular ID badge, a new one on which the core safety protocols (wearing masks, social distancing, etc.) were inscribed. I thought this was an excellent idea that reinforces the fact that the most important work for the safety of everyone is our individual responsibility and commitment to comply with the established protocols. It is up to each of us to keep the museum safe and it is of paramount importance that we have our temperature scanned at the museum’s entrance, we wear the face masks at all times, keep social distancing, wash our hands, follow the gallery paths, and use the designated entrances and exits as indicated. I know that all of you will focus on this and that we will be successful. Adapting to a new way of experiencing our amazing galleries will take effort, flexibility and help from everyone. I know we can do this together and I am in advance grateful for all your patience and consideration.
As you visit our galleries and reacquaint yourself with your old friends, please remember that most of our contemporary galleries are closed. We are doing the necessary construction work in that space to accommodate our upcoming exhibition Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City 1950 -2020, which will be open on November 15. In the meantime, we will be installing highlights of recent acquisitions of Contemporary Art in our temporary exhibition galleries and plan to open this space in January 2021.
We are coordinating our reopening with our neighbor institutions in the cultural district in an extraordinary collaborative effort and we are excited to welcome you back. Again, thanks for your patience, flexibility and help to make us successful in keeping everyone safe while enjoying your DIA. To reserve your free timed entrance ticket and learn more about our new protocols, please visit dia.org/reopening. We look forward to seeing you soon; in the meantime, please stay well.
