WKU News

The Kentucky Museum has released their 2019-20 Annual Report. Notably, the Museum has seen a 45% increase in visitors over the first calendar year of Free Admission, thanks to a grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Highlights from the past year include:

• Seven new exhibits, five of which were produced in partnership with WKU faculty. This includes hosting the National Basketry Organization's conference and Basketry Now: 10th Anniversary exhibition in Fall 2019.
• Provision of Close Study Sessions for WKU students and museum members, which enable hands-on engagement with collections that supplement course topics.
• Collaborations with faculty and students to produce Facing the Freshmen Year: Essential Conversations exhibit, a session on networking at museums for business students, and arts programs such as Fun Shops for WKU and Gatton Academy students.
• Continued opportunites for students to work and intern at the Museum, including: 
• an interview with WKU student Madison Whittle on her work designing and installing the timeline for Gazing Deeply: The Art and Science of Mammoth Cave;
• highlights of Class of 2020 graduate Olivia Bowers' Honors Capstone Experience/Thesis project on the Senate Desk; and
• reflections from students working at the Museum.
• 266 new acquisitions for the collection, including artworks by Leslie Nichols and Ivan Wilson, as well as the football uniform for #65 worn by the Panepinto brothers during the 1937-39 seasons.
• Updates on the Museum's ongoing Preservation Environment Improvement Project, Adopt-an-Artifact campaign, Virtual Connections project to provide increased online resources, and various publications featuring their collections.

The Museum continues to push forward on its new strategic efforts and grow external sources of funding—such as Friends memberships and private sponsorships—which are the only source of support for the Museum’s exhibitions, programs, collections care, and events.

For more on their success, download a copy of the Annual Report here.

Want to support their work? Become a Friend for just $5 per year at https://www.wku.edu/kentuckymuseum/membership.php

Please note the Kentucky Museum is currently closed to the public due to COVID-19.

About Kentucky Museum

The Kentucky Museum celebrates all aspects of South-Central Kentucky’s art, history, and culture. “Kentuckians need to know Kentucky” was the museum’s earliest conceptual framework, which took shape in the eyes of WKU’s founding president Henry Hardin Cherry. Today, we are a steadfast educational campus partner helping to inspire innovation, elevate community, and transform the lives of our students and the community.