News

Summer is still in full swing which means you still have time to visit the 1,500 Blue Star Museums located all across this great nation of ours.  Yep ... 1,500 ... Bravo to the arts community for supporting Military Families!

We love to hear from our members about the programs they use and love.  Right now, we're in the middle of Season Two of Blue Star Museums.  We got this wonderful email from a member in Northern Virginia about their visit to the Heritage Farm Museum in Sterling, Virginia....

I scanned the crowd gathered at the steps of the San Diego Museum of Art and thought what an eclectic bunch. I saw our wonderful military families and our supportive friends in the Arts community and the San Diego Mayor’s office. We were all there at Balboa Park for the launch of the 2011 Blue Star Museums program.

Blue Star Museums is back!  NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and Blue Star Families Chairman Kathy Roth-Douquet announced the second annual launch of Blue Star Museums, a partnership with more than 1,300 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2011.

Blue Star Families co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Kathy Roth-Douquet, is testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee this afternoon.  Her testimony on the challenges facing military families follows.
Thank you, Senator Webb, Senator Graham, and members of the subcommittee for inviting us here to speak to you today.

While the Blue Star Museums program ended on Labor Day, we'd like to say thank you to everyone who participated. The program was incredibly popular judging from the number of military families who took advantage of free museum admission this summer.  Check back in late October for an announcement about the future of Blue Star Museums in 2011...!

Enter our contest and send us artwork about your visit to a Blue Star Museum or artwork that is inspired by the Blue Star Museum program – winners receive a $500, $250 or $100 savings bond!

While visiting Austin last weekend with my husband, we stumbled upon the Austin Museum of Art. When we wanted to pay for our admission, the host there saw my husband’s U.S. Army hat, and asked if he was active military. The host offered us free admission as part of the Blue Star Museums Program.

Blue Star Families members on Facebook told us all the BEST reasons to visit a Blue Star Museum over the long weekend* and I let them know about a few fun things in their area:

Last weekend, we spent a wonderful day exploring Colonial Williamsburg. The tickets for this attraction are NOT cheap, but thanks to the NEA and Blue Star Families, we got in FREE! It was very simple, we told the very nice lady that we were there to get the Blue Star Families tickets, showed our ID cards, she asked a couple of questions and voila, two tickets, for the entire weekend.