BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum marks the official start of its 200th anniversary celebration with exhibitions and programming that honor the institution’s trailblazing history and chart a bold path for the future. Launching with exciting exhibitions, a major educational initiative, refreshed dining, and a full weekend of events, the bicentennial celebration will continue well into 2025.
Supported by Bank of America, the anniversary celebration begins with two special exhibitions: Toward Joy: New Frameworks for American Art, a transformative reinstallation of the American Art galleries that will reorient the ways the Museum exhibits—and audiences rediscover—this acclaimed collection, and The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, a major group exhibition of more than 200 artists reflecting the range of creativity in the borough. In November, the Museum will open Solid Gold, a sweeping exhibition that will explore the majesty of gold through 6,000 years of artwork, fashion, and design. In 2025, the ongoing bicentennial lineup includes Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum at 200. Featuring three chapters that boast both longtime favorites and brand-new gifts, this exhibition explores the collection’s rich history and future evolution.
On October 5 and 6, 2024, the Museum will host a Birthday Bash. This weekend-long celebration will offer activities for all ages, including printmaking classes with Shoestring Press, a poetry marathon, music by the Brooklyn United Marching Band, curator pop-up talks, and much more. A highlight will be the debut of Museum on Wheels, a mobile museum housed in an Airstream trailer, designed to bring arts and cultural programming to audiences of all ages across Brooklyn. Wrapped with a bright and bold design by local artist Christopher Myers, Museum on Wheels will make additional stops this fall in Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, and officially launch in spring 2025.
“Our anniversary program embodies everything we stand for: championing trailblazing art, expanding historical narratives, and bringing our communities together in celebration,” says Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum. “And as we find abundant inspiration in our inspiring past, we are ready to go bigger. Our museum has an important role to play in expanding understanding of people across the street and around the world, resisting the forces that divide us, and building bridges to our shared humanity.”
“The Brooklyn Museum’s bicentennial celebrations are an inspiring testament to the community-building and cultural progress–driving power of the arts in Brooklyn,” said José Tavarez, President, Bank of America New York City. “The Brooklyn Museum continues to positively impact the local community and visitors alike. Bank of America understands the importance of the arts and, through our partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, looks forward to continuing to help foster cultural understanding, build connections and inspire future generations.”
The Museum has also marked the occasion by unveiling a new dining option in the pavilion adjacent to its main entrance. Featuring cuisine by the renowned Brooklyn-based chef André Mack, the new Café features a robust menu with locally sourced ingredients, including sandwiches made with Chickadee Bread, coffee by Parlor Coffee, and a wine program by Mack. Accessible without purchasing a Museum ticket, the Café offers a unique selection of breakfast and lunch options, inviting museumgoers, neighbors, and passersby to enjoy a meal in the space or to easily grab-and-go.
The Café is one of several projects that contribute to this new chapter for the institution. Others include its newly launched brand identity, a forthcoming new website, exclusive merchandise, visitor experience improvements, and critical infrastructure and building updates that will lay the foundation for future renovations.
The Museum’s history can be traced back to 1824, when a group of civic-minded Brooklynites formally incorporated the borough's first public circulating library, the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Association. The goal was to inspire, educate, and build connections among Brooklyn’s growing immigrant populations. That library ultimately evolved into the Brooklyn Museum we know today, which has always stood as a champion for creative innovation, inclusion, diversity, and social good. As the Museum celebrates this enduring commitment, it doubles down on the founders’ vision of a cultural institution that would serve the city and nation.
With over 140,000 objects in its encyclopedic collection, spanning 6,000 years of human history, the Museum continues to broaden the narratives of art, uplift a multitude of voices, and center creative expression within important dialogues of the day. Over the years, it has achieved many pioneering milestones: hosting the first U.S. exhibitions dedicated to African and international modern art in the 1920s, establishing one of the first formal education departments and conservation labs in the 1930s, contributing to the Monuments Men’s efforts during World War II, opening one of the first community galleries in 1968, launching the innovative Center for Feminist Art in 2007, and creating its beloved First Saturdays series, which has set the standard for free, community-centered museum programming for over 25 years. Today, the Museum continues to be a global cultural destination, revealing the profound ways in which art can be a force for growth, healing, and joy.
