BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum announced the official launch of Museum on Wheels, a mobile arts initiative housed in a custom-designed Airstream trailer. Starting in spring 2025, Museum on Wheels will travel across Brooklyn to bring hands-on cultural and creative experiences directly to neighborhoods, expanding access to the arts for all. Developed in close collaboration with more than a dozen local community and arts organizations—including Brownsville Heritage House, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, El Puente, Project EATS, The Laundromat Project, and Black Girls Sew—Museum on Wheels reflects the Brooklyn Museum’s deep commitment to inclusion, accessibility, and community-rooted programming.
Museum on Wheels is the flagship program of the Brooklyn Museum’s newly formed Community Engagement department. The initiative’s interactive learning experiences and creative workshops, led by local teaching artists, take place in and around the ADA-compliant Airstream trailer, which features bright, bold artworks by artist Christopher Myers. Each stop includes activities such as art-making, storytelling, tactile exploration of objects from the Museum’s teaching collection, and games like hopscotch and dominoes. Visitors can also learn about careers in the arts and cultural sector. Museum on Wheels aims to engage intergenerational audiences—especially those with limited mobility or access to traditional museum spaces—in opportunities for learning, wellness, relationship-building, and joy.
“With Museum on Wheels, the Brooklyn Museum reaffirms its role as a cultural anchor and creative collaborator—meeting Brooklynites where they are and building something beautiful together,” says Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum.
As part of the Brooklyn Museum’s 200th anniversary celebrations, Museum on Wheels debuted as a pilot program in fall 2024 with experimental features for the public to explore. It launches formally this spring with stops planned in neighborhoods including Brownsville, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, and Coney Island. Planned activations were shaped by listening sessions with anchor neighborhood partners and tailored to reflect the communities’ specific interests, cultures, and languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian.
Collaborators include Black Girls Sew, Brownsville Community Culinary Center, Brownsville Community Justice Center, C.R.I.B./East New York Family Enrichment Center, Coney Island Beautification Project, Cool Culture’s Parent Power for Cultural Equity Project, El Puente, Free Black Women’s Library, Laundromat Project, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, New York Aquarium, and Project EATS.
Partners have expressed ways that Museum on Wheels has already impacted communities. “It encourages more people of different ages to attend community events, sharing ideas, forming friendships, and bridging culture gaps,” says Liu Tian H., Program Associate, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn. “Museum on Wheels offered a unique way to experience arts and culture outside the traditional museum setting. I appreciated the accessibility,” says Derin Martinez, MPA Program Supervisor, Sunset Park Older Adult Center, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone.
“Through listening tours, the Brooklyn Museum has developed a deeper understanding of the hopes, concerns, and priorities of the communities we serve,” said Laval Bryant-Quigley, Director of Community Engagement and Partnerships, Brooklyn Museum. “This collaborative process has shaped a mobile museum experience that is both reflective of and responsive to local voices. Designed with adaptability in mind, the unit is intentionally flexible to ensure it meets the unique needs of each community it visits.”
Museum on Wheels builds on a long-standing legacy of arts education at the Brooklyn Museum. As one of the oldest museums in the United States, it was among the first to establish a dedicated education center, serving thousands of Brooklynites over generations. With Museum on Wheels, the institution can reach even more residents through direct engagement, increased access, and collaboration.
