SAN DIEGO -- The National Endowment for the Arts teamed up with Blue Star Families to launch Blue Star Museums, a partnership offering free admission at more than 600 museums across America to active-duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2010.

San Diego's Mayor Jerry Sanders, NEA chairman Rocco Landesman and Blue Star Families chairman Kathy Roth-Douquet announced The Blue Star Museums program May 24 at the Museum of the Arts in Balboa Park. Other leaders present were chairman of the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture Colette Carson Royston and representatives of active-duty military personnel and participating museums.

“America’s museums are proud to join the rest of the country in thanking our military personnel and their families for their service and sacrifice,” said Landesman. “I cannot imagine a better way to do that than welcoming them in to explore and enjoy the extraordinary cultural heritage our museums present. The works of art on view this summer will certainly inspire and challenge viewers – and sometimes they will just be a great deal of fun.”

Six of the 14 museums available for California military members to visit are located in San Diego and several others in Oceanside, La Jolla, Escondido and Encinitas.

“There is no better place to make this announcement,” said Sanders at the event’s opening. “And what better place to kick it off than San Diego, which has so many wonderful military families and so many world-class museums.”

This program is just one more way communities across the country are supporting military members and their families as a whole.

“There have always been wonderful examples of partnerships between museums and military installations, but the scale of this gift from the museum community to military families is thrilling,” said Roth-Douquet, who is also a Marine wife. “Military families work hard for this country, and it is gratifying for us to be recognized for that. We anticipate that thousands of military families will participate in the program and visit museums this summer – many of them for the first time. Blue Star Families will work hard to help our military families make the most of these opportunities.”

This program is amazing. With the economy causing local schools to make cuts, the arts programs are the first to go. It’s important for children to still be learning about the arts, said Beverly Conant, the wife of Maj. Gen. Thomas Conant, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing commanding general.

Those interested in visiting a museum this summer can find a complete list of participating museums on the NEA Web site, www.arts.gov.

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