RAM Exterior, Jon Bolton

By CGN STAFF

Racine Art Museum is making a series of changes aimed at making its two Racine campuses more accessible to visitors, including free admission for Racine County residents, expanded hours, new programming, and a refreshed visual identity.

Beginning August 26, when RAM Downtown reopens following roof installation and other facility improvements, Racine County residents will receive free general admission with valid proof of residency. The program, supported by the Osborne & Scekic Family Foundation, builds on the free admission already offered to all visitors at RAM Wustum. Special ticketed exhibitions and events are not included.

RAM Downtown will also expand its schedule. In addition to Wednesday–Saturday hours from 10am–4pm, the museum will stay open until 8pm on Thursdays and add Sunday hours from noon–4pm.

The changes come as RAM broadens programming across its two campuses. This fall the museum will debut In/Between, a new multi-arts biennial taking place September 18–27 throughout Racine County. The mostly free festival will bring together visual art, performance, and participatory projects at cultural sites and public spaces. RAM is also expanding its longstanding studio art program.

Visitors will notice another change when they return: a new institutional identity developed with Midwest-based Phire Group. The refreshed branding distinguishes the museum’s two locations—RAM Downtown, its contemporary waterfront museum, and RAM Wustum, its historic farmhouse setting with studios, galleries, and gardens—while presenting them as parts of a connected institution. A new tagline, “Make it yours.”, accompanies the refresh.

For Chicago-area art audiences, RAM has long been a worthwhile trip north along Lake Michigan. The museum grew out of the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, which opened in 1941, and RAM Downtown opened in 2003. Today the museum holds the largest contemporary craft collection in North America, with particular strengths in ceramics, fibers, glass, metals, jewelry, and wood. Its approach to craft has also had a playful side: RAM gained plenty of attention over the years for its International PEEPS Art Exhibition, which invited artists to turn the familiar marshmallow candy into surprisingly inventive works of art.

The latest changes build on that history while making it easier for more visitors to experience the museum.

And don't forget to grab a Racine Kringle while you're there!

Learn more about exhibitions, programs, hours, and admission at ramart.org.