The doors were open, the sun was out, and balloons and decorations hung about as children and adults ate cake and strolled the halls of the University's Museum of Art yesterday in celebration of its 50th birthday.
The event was a birthday party "to get the community of Ann Arbor here to enjoy the museum. We're trying to get the community here and through the galleries," said event co-chair Allison Robinson.
"A lot of people don't know about the museum and this is a nice way to introduce the museum to them or to a child," Robinson said.
The birthday party, which was open to the public, provided a day full of activity for visitors of all ages. There were free talks about the galleries and behind-the-scenes tours of the museum for students and adults.
For children, there were balloon animals, art activities and story-tellers. The event culminated with a ceremonial cake-cutting by Ann Arbor mayor Ingrid Sheldon, University interim President Homer Neal and museum Director William Hennessey.
Among the University students in attendance were first-year student Scott Allison and junior Marc Schauber. "We were drawn here by the free cake," Allison and Schauber said. "But we were pleasantly surprised by the Venetian exhibit, the music and the coloring books," they said.
The party was designed to bring in "a broad community audience," Hennessey said, and to promote the relationship between the University and the city of Ann Arbor.
"When you can have these events to celebrate the commonalities between these two institutions, it demonstrates the greatness of this community," Sheldon said.
"The Museum of Art is one of the most important means by which the University reaches out beyond its own academic community to engage the larger community," Neal said. "It is a welcoming oasis that brings together town and gown throughout the year and for such special occasions as this birthday party - a truly golden celebration for one of the community's great treasures."
Yesterday's event kicked off a year designated to celebrate the first 50 years of the museum and promote the museum for the future. Upcoming is a "whole year of stuff to send as strong as a message as we can that this museum is for the campus and the public," Hennessey said. "This is an intellectual facility that students and faculty use for research and teaching. At the same time we want the public to say that this is a lively and exciting even though they are not students and researchers."
This eventful year of celebration begins with two special exhibits: "Venice, Traditions Transformed," which will invite scholars from around the world to discuss Venice and Venetian art, and "The Possibilities and Limits of Collaboration," a collaboration between two highly respected artists, Komar and Melamid, and an elephant, Renee.
Also, the Friends of the Museum, the museum's membership organization, is currently raising money for an acquisition for the museum's permanent collection.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Denise Gribbon and her 5-year-old son, John, wait for Koko the Clown to make a balloon sculpture in front of the Museum of Art. The museum celebrated its 50th birthday yesterday.