But with free admission, visitors are encouraged to keep coming back for this unfolding story. The giddiness has already hit director and chief executive officer Evan Maurer. It's professionally and personally very exciting. . . . And when we see it filled with people, our heart gets big. . . . Every single gallery and hallway has been redone.
Nothing is where it was before.
With 8,000 museums in the United States, the rebirth of the MIA stands out from the pack. It speaks well of the Twin Cities community that the MIA was able to launch this level of expansion in this day and age. You've got an outstanding museum, good staff, good culture, a generous community and commitment. At one point in the early 1990s a few staff were laid off because tax revenue from the Hennepin County park board fell short of expectations. Also in 1988, the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts had reorganized to turn the institute and the adjacent Minneapolis College of Art and Design into separate entities.