SHEBOYGAN, WI.- The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis., has achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition afforded the nation’s museums. Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, to governments and funders, and to the museum-going public.
AAM accreditation brings national recognition to the Arts Center for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued institutional improvement. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for over 45 years, the Alliance’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation and public accountability.
“Preparing for and successfully completing the accreditation process has taken the focused efforts and hard work of our board and staff members for nearly two years,” said Arts Center Director Sam Gappmayer. “It has made the Arts Center a stronger organization and increased our capacity to serve our communities with excellence in arts programming. Our success in this and other areas would not have been possible without a 52-year-long commitment to excellence on the part of many, many people including the best members and donors in the world! My thanks go out to all who made this accomplishment possible.”
Accreditation is a rigorous but highly rewarding process that examines all aspects of a museum’s operations. To earn accreditation a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, followed by a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. The Alliance’s Accreditation Commission considers the self-study and reviewers’ report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation.
“Accredited museums are a community of institutions that have chosen to hold themselves publicly accountable to excellence,” said Laura L. Lott, Alliance president and CEO. “Accreditation is clearly a significant achievement, of which both the institutions and the communities they serve can be extremely proud.”
Founded in 1967, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is dedicated to making innovative arts experiences available to a broad audience that ranges from artists and academics to families and youth of all ages. Admission is free. Located at 608 New York Ave. in downtown Sheboygan, the Arts Center is open daily except major holidays.
The Arts Center presents original exhibitions of artwork by self-taught and contemporary artists in its eight galleries. It also offers music, film, and dance performances; community arts projects with artists--n residence; and hands-on art making at a drop-in studio. In addition, the Arts Center offers a preschool, tours for school and tour groups, and an array of art classes and summer camps.
The Arts Center’s collection focuses primarily on works by artist-environment builders, self-taught and folk artists, and works created in the Arts/Industry residency program. Since the 1970s, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center has preserved, studied, and exhibited artist-built environments. Today, the Arts Center is the world’s leading center for research and presentation of this work.
In August of 2020, the Arts Center will open the Art Preserve—a 54,000-square-foot satellite facility designed to elevate the experience of its collection to new heights. Visitors and researchers, who were once limited to viewing the Arts Center’s collection of work by artist-environment builders only when exhibited at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center or on loan at other institutions, will have access to view the collection year-round. The Art Preserve is located at 3636 Lower Falls Rd., Sheboygan.
Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, approximately 1,070 are accredited. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is one of 98 museums accredited in Wisconsin. The AAM accreditation program strengthens the museum profession by promoting practices that enable leaders to make informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and remain financially and ethically accountable in order to provide the best possible service to the public.
