Starting January 7, the Dallas Museum of Art will make its ticketed exhibitions free to the public on the first Sunday of each month. The DMA's regular, permanent collection remains free as well.
That means visitors could save $40 if they see all three, current, ticketed shows, "Abraham Angel," "Afro-Atlantic Histories" and "He Said/She Said: Contemporary Women Artists Interject."
"This is really about making sure that when we are open, when we are staffed, we can bring the most people possible into the DMA," said Aschelle Morgan, the museum's director of external affairs.
The DMA also announced Monday it will present a major exhibition, "The Impressionist Revolution from Monet to Matisse," from Feb. 11 to Nov. 3. Drawn from the museum's own holdings with works by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and others, the show marks the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris.
The new program, called Free First Sundays: Access for All, comes only two months after the DMA laid off 20 employees, announced a hiring freeze and cut its regular Tuesday hours. All of this was done in an effort to "realign the budget," the museum announced at the time, to make it reflect "the new realities in a post-pandemic world."
What's underwriting this new initiative is three years of funding from the Art Bridges Foundation. It's a philanthropic effort by Alice Walton, heir to the Wal-Mart fortune and founder of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art the Bentonville, Ark. According to its website, the Art Bridges Foundation is dedicated to providing "financial and strategic support" to museums to increase access to American art.
"This is actually a $40 million, nationwide push," Morgan said, "that we are really fortunate to be a part of. We are one of 64 museums that they are partnering with to make sure that cost is not a prohibitor to folks experiencing art."
Other participating institutions include the Amon Carter Museum, the Whitney Museum in New York and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
At the DMA, the three current, ticketed exhibitions represent only the "first installment" in Free First Sundays. "Abraham Angel" closes Jan. 28, "Afro-Atlantic Histories" closes Feb. 11 and "He Said/She Said" closes July 21.
Although the artworks in "The Impressionist Revolution" are mostly not by American artists, it will also be free on the first Sunday of the month because the new program is aimed at all ticketed shows through the end of 2026.
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