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Dear Friends, Colleagues, Neighbors,

You can imagine how difficult it was to come to a decision about closing the three art museums in our city, the Cincinnati Art Museum, Contemporary Arts Center and Taft Museum of Art for three weeks, effective March 13, until April 3, 2020. All institutions will close at the end of day this evening according to each institution’s opening hours. This decision ultimately came down to our belief that we have a duty to you, our visitors, staff, fellow community members and friends, to think first about your health and the health of the city we live in. For some people, the coronavirus is not a serious health threat, but for others, it most definitely is. Our concern is for the good health of all of us. 

As institutions built on the belief that art has the power to change hearts and open minds, closing our doors during this time is painful, but we know it is the right thing to do to keep all of us safe in the face of the COVID 19 coronavirus pandemic. We want to do all we can to ensure that our community stays safe and healthy and to reduce opportunities for close physical proximity.

For the last several weeks, we have been taking preventative measures against the virus, including cancelling travel, instituting an enhanced cleaning protocol for all museum spaces, and providing sanitation stations throughout our facilities. At the same time, we have been preparing for the possibility that these measures, though they meet—and in many cases exceed protocols developed by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease control—could never be an iron-clad guarantee against transmission.

While our doors may be closed, we won’t let that keep us from our mission to inspire, challenge and delight you. We are also committed to ensuring that the people who make our work possible, our staff, are paid during this period of closure. Please check our website and social media channels for daily up-dates and additional digital offerings to bring the arts, artists of today and the creative process to you at home or wherever you may be.

Specific cancellations for each museum can be found on our respective websites, cincinnatiartmuseum.org, contemporaryartscenter.org and taftmuseum.org.

We urge all of you to take this health threat seriously and to play your part in keeping yourself, your loved ones and our many different communities as healthy and safe as possible.

Cameron Kitchin

Louis and Louise Dieterle Nippert Director

Cincinnati Art Museum

Raphaela Platow

The Alice & Harris Weston Director

Contemporary Arts Center

Deborah Emont Scott

Louise Taft Semple President/CEO

Taft Museum of Art