{"id":143331,"date":"2026-02-24T00:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143331\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T00:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:28:14","slug":"new-york-state-museum-begins-150m-modernisation-project-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/143331\/","title":{"rendered":"New York State Museum begins $150m modernisation project – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albany\u2019s New York State Museum (NYSM) is beginning the first phase of a multi-year modernisation project. This will include new exhibitions, the formation of a \u201cvisioning task force\u201d and infrastructure upgrades funded by $150m in state funding. The plans were announced<\/a> in January by the state\u2019s governor, Kathy Hochul, and the commissioner of education, Betty A. Rosa.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Hochul called the museum\u2019s transformation the beginning of a \u201cnew era\u201d. Rosa said it was a commitment to preserving history \u201cwhile inspiring the next generation of learners and leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n

A task force comprised of state partners, museum professionals, educators and business leaders is being formed to chart the road ahead. The first step is to set the vision for the institution and its systems, then get to the detailed work of designing exhibitions, Jennifer Saunders<\/a>, NYSM\u2019s new director, tells The Art Newspaper. \u201cThe task force will be imagining visitor experience, the primary stories in the museum and how we will engage with our visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans are already underway to double the number of major exhibitions from two to at least four annually and to create a more interactive experience for the more than 500,000 visitors to the institution each year, Saunders adds. \u201cIt\u2019s time. Every exhibition has a lifespan. The way we approach certain subjects has changed\u2014new understandings, new discoveries that we want to be reflected in the exhibitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first of these new exhibitions, Barbie\u2122: A Cultural Icon<\/a>, opened in December and runs through April. The exhibition celebrates Barbie as a reflection of cultural evolution, featuring designer interviews and more than 300 artefacts from the brand\u2019s 64-year history.<\/p>\n

Debuting later this year, the exhibition Revolutionary New York will focus on the 250th\u00a0anniversary of the US\u2014with a gunboat discovered at the World Trade Center site in New York City as its centrepiece. The show\u2019s narrative stretches throughout history to the present-day, documenting ongoing revolutions spanning movements related to women\u2019s rights, labour movements, LGBTQ+ and civil rights in which the state of New York has led the way. Two more exhibitions\u2014The History of Vice in New York and a one commemorating the 25th\u00a0anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks\u2014are scheduled for autumn.<\/p>\n

\u201cExhibition methods have changed,\u201d Saunders says. \u201cWhen this museum opened, the state of the art was large-scale theatrical vignettes, projected images and sound.\u201d She adds that visitors today \u201cexpect a higher degree of technical interaction, a deeper dive into content with an interface; to touch, experience\u201d.<\/p>\n

A new dedicated area for children, caf\u00e9 and gift shop reopenings are included in the first phase. \u201cWhen we surveyed our visitors, they were at the top of the list of things they wanted,\u201d Saunders says.<\/p>\n

NYSM is the oldest and largest state museum in the US. Its broad range of collections spans science, history, archaeology and anthropology\u2014with more than 20 million artefacts, from a billion years ago to today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Albany\u2019s New York State Museum (NYSM) is beginning the first phase of a multi-year modernisation project. This will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3139,9,11,10,49,51,51917,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-143331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-museums-heritage","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-new-york-state","13":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","14":"tag-new-york-state-museum","15":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}