Gift Ensures Free Admission at Bronx Museum

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has received a gift which will ensure free admission for the next three years. The $500,000 bequest will establish the Shelley and Donald Rubin Free Admission Program and will also allow the museum to commit to expanding community engagement and educational programming.

The gift was announced tonight by executive director Holly Block at the museum's annual gala, honoring Sarah Sze, the artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale this summer in a Bronx Museum-commissioned pavilion.

Since its launch in March 2012, the free admission program at the Bronx Museum increased annual attendance by 50 percent. The new program will permit the museum to reach out to 30 additional schools and community organizations in the area for museum visits and after-school activities. Additionally the museum will initiate contacts with local businesses, hospitals and settlement houses to engage local adult communities.