Green light to reopen
Carnegie, Westmoreland museums, other institutions get ready for visitors
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh reopens its four museums on June 29. Visitors will be admitted every half hour with timed tickets.
The consortium runs The Andy Warhol Museum and the Carnegie Science Center, both on the North Side, plus the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Oakland.
Each of the four museums will operate at 25 percent capacity “so we can manage the flow of people in the buildings at any given time,” said Steven Knapp, president and CEO of the nonprofit. He added that all visitors must wear masks.
“We’re hoping that even if we have to shift back into the yellow stage, we can make the case that we are operating safely,” Mr. Knapp said.
“We have been developing policies to ensure the safety of employees and visitors,” he said, adding that museum employees will undergo daily temperature checks.
Each museum will have clearly marked foot traffic patterns, enhanced cleaning and plexiglass shields at visitor services desks.
On the weekend of June 26-28, the four museums will be open only to those who have memberships.
“When the four museums closed on March 14, we had to furlough employees because we had no revenue coming in,” Mr. Knapp said, adding that for every month it was closed, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh lost $1.4 million in revenue. When the museums reopen to the public June 29, they will have been closed for 15 weeks. Some of the 630 employees who were furloughed are being recalled while galleries are being disinfected and stocked with hand sanitizer.
During the closure, Mr. Knapp and 29 cultural leaders in Allegheny, Fayette and Westmoreland counties discussed how to handle safety issues concerning buildings, visitors, employees and volunteers, communication and inclusion.
“There is a very large uncertainty about how many people are going to come back and return to institutions like ours while the pandemic continues and there is not yet a vaccine for COVID-19,” Mr. Knapp said.
The Carnegie Science Center will host a summer camp for children, but summer
camps at the art and natural history museums in Oakland are canceled. For information on each museum, visit www.warhol.org, www.cmoa.org, www.cmnh.org and www.carnegiesciencecenter.org.
Other cultural organizations also announced plans to reopen this summer.
Fallingwater reopens to the public on Saturday with guided and self-guided tours of the home’s exterior. However, there will be no tours of the house that architect Frank Lloyd Wright balanced over a waterfall. Located in Mill Run, Fayette County, Fallingwater is surrounded by 5,000 acres that include hiking trails. Fallingwater’s gift shop will be open and its cafe will offer grab and go meals. Information: fallingwater.org.
The Frick Pittsburgh in Point Breeze reopens its 5½acre grounds to visitors on July 7. On Aug. 15, The Frick will reopen select spaces in its museum buildings where galleries can accommodate the physical distancing still necessary during the green phase. Neither its cafe nor its gift shop will be open to visitors. Information: TheFrickPittsburgh.org.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Oakland opens to the public Saturday. The café will be open for take-out (no dinein). The Shop at Phipps is closed, but orders for on-site pickup can be placed at the newly expanded Shop at Phipps Online.
Polymath Park, a collection of homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his student, Peter Berndtson, reopens its lodgings and Tree Tops Restaurant on Friday. Tours of the homes will begin on June 19. Polymath Park is in Acme, Westmoreland County. Information: www.franklloydwrightovernight.net.
The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Ligonier reopens Tuesday. Information: www.samaart.org.
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg reopens on Aug. 5. Information: thewestmoreland.org.