Mexico City museums to gradually reopen in the new normal

Mexico City’s mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that starting this week, Mexico City museums, movie theaters, and pools, will resume their activities at 30% capacity. Moreover, Mexico’s Culture Ministry said that 18 museums of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) network, as well as the 12 museums of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) located in the capital of the country, will “gradually” reopen during the following days.

Culture Ministry spokesman Antonio Martínez added that for now, they are “evaluating” which could reopen starting on August 11 since “some museums currently in maintenance or are setting up” because “the pandemic changed all the exhibitions and calendars.”

Mexico City museums will gradually reopen starting on August 19

The Modern Art Museum, the Rufino Tamayo Museum, and the Siqueiros Public Art Hall, which are part of the INBAL network, will be the first to reopen.

In a brief message, Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto Guerrero said “We are waiting for you with open arms at the museums of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature and the National Institute of Anthropology and History starting gradually on August 19. Let’s recover public spaces with care.”

The Culture Ministry did not explain which will be the calendar for the reopening of other INBAL venues nor which will be the protocols followed by the INBAL museums that will reopen next week.

“Mexico’s Culture Ministry celebrates the announcement done by Mexico City’s Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to resume cultural life with the reopening of museums in the capital, which will endorse the exercise of cultural rights in Mexico City and other states of the country,” said the agency in a statement.

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The reopening will take place according to the measures issued by the Health Ministry and according to the guidelines issued by Mexico’s Culture and Public Function ministries.

According to Martínez, they began making the adaptations and purchases of supplies to follow the protocols since Mexico implemented its four-color coded system for the pandemic.

Likewise, they said they will continue with the virtual activities that are now part of the museum program and part of the Contigo en la Distancia platform.

Meanwhile, Cultura UNAM said that it has not currently considered reopening its museums. Juan Ayala, technical secretary of Planning and Programming of the UNAM’s Cultural Dissemination Coordination, said that the UNAM has an agreement to resume activities when the four-color coded system is in yellow.

For its part, the Soumaya Museum told EL UNIVERSAL that both of its venues at Plaza Carso and Plaza Loreto will reopen starting on August 10, while the Guillermo Tovar de Teresa House will be open for visits only by appointment.

The Frida Kahlo and the Anahuacalli museums said they do not have the protocols to resume activities; however, the Frida Kahlo Museum will be open starting on August 11 with a “one on one” visits program that was proposed by artists Mario González Torres.

The Palace of Fine Arts will reopen on September 2 so the National Museum of Architecture, its restaurant, and its murals will be open for visits, as informed Alejandra Frausto, head of Mexico’s Culture Ministry . Moreover, the exhibitions halls will be open starting on September 8 for the exhibition "The Paris of Modigliani and his contemporaries," as well as the lobby where five musicians from the National Symphonic Orchestra will offer recitals related to the Italian artist

The San Carlos Museum, the National Art Museum, the Diego Rivera Mural Museum, and Oaxaca’s Institute of Graphic Arts will also resume activities on September 2.

Frausto said INAH museums will gradually reopen starting on September 7.

Modigliani’s exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts, comprised of 164 works by 41 painters from France, Mexico, Switzerland, and Singapur, will be open starting on September 8.

The National Audio Library will reopen on September 12, the Hellenic Cultural Center on September 18, and the Image Center on September 23; the Alameda Art Laboratory, the ExTeresa Arte Actual, La Tallera, the Ciudad Juàrez Art Museum, and the Carrillo Gil Art Museum will open on September 17.

The Casa Estudio Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, the National Print Museum, the Popular Cultures National Museum, and the Mexican Plastic Hall will reopen on September 24.

Meanwhile, theater venues such as the Centro Cultural del Bosque and the Hèctor Mendoza Theater will reopen on October 1.

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