The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum of Cal State Long Beach plans to re-open in February 2022! The museum is currently undergoing an exciting expansion and renovation which will include many new spaces. The new interior spaces will include new exhibition galleries, an educational laboratory, a reading archives room, visitor lobby and event center, retail space, and works on paper study room. On the exterior there will be a new outdoor gathering space, a glass mirrored entrance, two new gardens, and all new spaces offer improved opportunities for visitors to engage with art. The new space will have a new interior floor plan and a footprint of roughly 11,000 square feet. Private and public events to be announced will celebrate the new Museum and its potential to positively impact visitors in early 2022.
Museum Director Paul Baker Prindle emphasizes, “Expanded, professional-grade galleries will host several different exhibitions at a time and allow the Museum to deepen its leadership in the exploration of abstraction. A community gallery and feature gallery offer greater capacity to support the developing careers of regional artists including self-taught, emerging, and recently graduated artists. Improved research and learning spaces will improve the Museum’s ability to focus on advancing multidisciplinary research and arts integrated learning strategies.”
The plan of the renovated museum is to benefit the local community of all ages with cutting edge facilities. New spaces were designed to sustainably and intentionally support accessibility and inclusion for the community, and took safety and public health into consideration. This is the only Contemporary Art Museum that has free admission in Long Beach with the community in mind. The museum will have quiet hours so those suffering with autism can feel as welcome as possible. Quiet hours are when the lights are dimmed, headphones are handed out , and those who are color blind will be supplied with special glasses so they can see color. The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum consider themselves a community and built opportunities for participation and collaboration around art and art making.
Cal State Long Beach President Jane Close Conoley praised the new Museum as the “crown jewel of [CSULB] campus” in her recent Grunion Gazette column. She emphasized: “This new facility presents fresh opportunities for the Long Beach community. [With] free admission, as well as evening and weekend hours, families, workers, students and others can experience exceptional art.” She continued, “Making the [Museum] more accessible to the community adds to our mission to promote ‘the public good.’ Increased availability also represents our commitment to develop the next generation of artists and appreciators of the arts.”
