Galleries at the North Dakota Museum of Art will be closed August 21 - September 21, 2015 to tackle deferred maintenance. The skylight will be replaced as will the original, 1907 ceramic roof tiles. Both the Café and the Museum Shop will remain open.
The Museum has struggled with protecting valuable art under a leaking roof for over two decades. State Senator Ray Holmberg of Grand Forks helped secure money for the Museum's roof repair, $190,000 in the 2013 Biennium and $760,000 in the recent legislative session. Holmberg chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. Long a friend of the Museum and a retired High School Counselor, he nurtured the development of the Museum's Rural Arts Initiative, which allows the Museum staff to take exhibitions and programs into communities throughout North Dakota. State funding from the recent legislative session awarded $430,000 for Rural Arts in the next biennium.
Any left over funds will be used for other deferred maintenance such as replacing the flooring in the building entrance and main floor carpeting, as well as redirecting rain seepage from the outside into the lower level Museum Cafe.
Construction begins August 19, 2015
