Holland Museum > Holland Museum > Holland Museum opens after 4-month shutdown

Holland Museum opens after 4-month shutdown

July 16, 2020

By Carolyn Muyskens, Reporter  |  Holland Sentinel
Posted July 15, 2020
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HOLLAND — The Holland Museum reopened to the public on Monday after four months of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visitors can view the “Heinz in Holland” exhibit at the museum until Sept. 12, which tells the story of the Heinz pickle factory, still operating in Holland after more than a century, and the factory’s impact on the city.

With the reopening, the museum has adjusted its hours to accommodate new cleaning protocols. The museum is open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with special hours 10-11:30 a.m. on Monday mornings to accommodate those who cannot wear masks due a medical condition.

The second Monday of each month admission is free from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., sponsored by The Meijer Foundation.

COVID-19 spurs more virtual programming

Bringing the museum’s collection online and creating digital programming was already a focus for the museum, but the COVID-19 pandemic has driven the museum to expand virtual offerings even more.

“It’s a way to connect with people if they can’t get to us, and I think that’s the way museums have to go,” said Executive Director Ricki Levine. “You can’t just wait for people to come into our brick-and-mortar. And that’s the direction we’ve been going for a lot of things in terms of our programs, in terms of our outreach and working with other organizations in the community, but the pandemic has kind of put a little fire under us to say, ‘What else can we do?’”

The museum is making more of its walking tours available online, including a newly-added tour of the Pilgrim Home Cemetery. With a smartphone as a guide instead of a docent, visitors and residents can walk the tour themselves and learn about the cemetery and stories of people buried there.

Levine said the museum is working on creating virtual tours of its historic houses, too, as those remain closed.

“The two historic homes are closed because there’s just no way to keep them sanitized for allowing people in there in a safe space,” Levine said. ”(A virtual tour) allows people who are not close by, or who might have a disability that means they can’t get out, to be able to still explore what we’ve got going.”
The loss of four months’ worth of admissions and gift shop revenue, especially the loss of the Tulip Time — which Levine said is the museum’s biggest time of the year for admissions and gift shop sales — was not easy on the organization.
The museum received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, which helped to meet payroll and paid for some utilities expenses during the revenue dry-up. Levine said donors have also stepped up their generosity, but the museum is still seeking more donations from the community.
“Arts and cultural organizations have taken second place next to health and human services organizations in the nonprofit world, which makes perfect sense,” Levine said. You want to make sure people are safe, they’re healthy, they have food and they have a place to live, and that should be the priority. But if you want your arts and cultural organizations to be here post-pandemic, you’ve got to think about how to support them.”
The museum continues to work towards its strategic plan goals of representing the diversity of Holland’s past and present.

“We really want to tell the story of everybody who lives in this community,” Levine said.

The museum is collecting stories of people’s experiences of living through the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be submitted online and by mail.

— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.

LEARN MORE:  Holland Museum COVID-19 Updates