Anonymous Donor Gives DMA $9 Million to Stay Free and Digitize Collection

by Paula Newton November 5, 2013

dma3The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) today announced an anonymous gift of $9 million over three years to ensure free general admission to the DMA and enable the Museum to publish its entire collection online.

The donation will provide $4 million in unrestricted general operating support to continue its free general admission. The remaining $5 million will complete the digitization of the Museum’s permanent collection, including the creation of educational content. The gift includes resources to measure the educational impact of the project.

At the beginning of 2013, the DMA returned to a policy of free general admission in tandem with a new platform of visitor participation called DMA Friends (where visitors earn points in exchange for being tracked). DMA Friends is gaining popularity as a model for museums across the country; in September, the Museum received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to study the research potential of this model with three partner institutions: Denver Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

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3 comments

joel Sampson November 5, 2013 - 23:53

Great news!

To Anonymous: Thanks, this is the way art should be supported. Private money, not government money. Besides government at all levels is flat broke!

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Treavioli (Treavor Wagoner) November 6, 2013 - 01:05

Thanks, Anon!

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Damon Smith November 6, 2013 - 10:07

I mean, it is free if you don’t park in the garage or pay the high fee for traveling exhibitions that take up quite a lot of the exhibition space. I preferred paying $10 or whatever for the DMA & NAsher together with no hidden costs.

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