NEW YORK, NY.- On May 18, Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) member museums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico will offer free or reduced admission, special programs, and other initiatives as part of their annual celebration of Art Museum Day.

In 2012, AAMD launched an initiative encouraging visitors of all ages to share their experiences of Art Museum Day through social media. Last year’s event prompted an outpouring of tweets, “check-ins” via FourSquare, Facebook posts, and other personal responses from across North America. This year AAMD is again encouraging visitors to share their experiences on May 18 on social media platforms with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay and through special events on Facebook and Foursquare.

“Whether through exhibitions that connect us to other cultures or public programs that introduce new ideas, museums draw communities together in a shared experience of human creativity and expression.” said Christine Anagnos, Executive Director of AAMD. “This Art Museum Day, AAMD encourages everyone to discover their connection to the arts by visiting their local museum and sharing their experiences in a public forum.”

AAMD’s Art Museum Day coincides with International Museum Day, organized annually around the world by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Participation by AAMD member museums emphasizes the lasting impact art museums have on their communities, highlights the value of the visual arts in society, and provides opportunities for audiences to participate in wide-ranging programs and share their encounters with works of art.

A comprehensive list of participating AAMD member art museums is available in the newsroom of the AAMD website (https://aamd.org/our-members/from-the-field/art-museum-day-2013/). Note that while ICOM’s International Museum Day is formally held each year on May 18, some institutions shift their celebrations to adjacent dates.

Art Museum Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the role of art museums in North America as part of a larger worldwide initiative. ICOM’s International Museum Day (http://icom.museum/imd.html) has been celebrated globally since 1977, to encourage public focus on the museum as “an institution in the service of society and of its development.” Each year a theme is selected for International Museum Day that highlights the social significance of museums. ICOM’s theme for 2013 is “museums (memory + creativity) = social change.”