Excitement is growing as construction of the Catalina Island Museum’s new facility—the Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building—continues at a fast pace.
Located near the heart of Avalon, the new 18,000 square foot building represents a significant improvement over the museum’s current facility located on the ground floor of the Avalon Casino.
“I can’t tell you how excited we are about the exhibition spaces in our new building,” said Dr. Michael De Marsche, executive director of the museum, while surveying the new building’s construction site.
“Not only will there be more than four times the exhibition space of our current building, but we’re installing the best security and climate control systems available. This will allow us to exhibit so much more of Catalina Island’s history and bring to Avalon the very best exhibitions traveling around America,” De Marsche said.
According to De Marsche, the largest gallery in the museum will be dedicated to the history of the Island.
“We’ve worked hard on the design of The William Wrigley Jr. Gallery of Catalina Island History. We know that history lies at the heart of what we do. We’ll be able to exhibit so much more than currently, but we’re also engaged with new technologies. We’re so fortunate to have in our collection historical film footage, which is quite rare and some of which dates back to the 1930s. The public can expect to see video screens throughout the exhibition hall, which lends so much more excitement to the story of the Island,” De Marsche said.
When De Marsche became executive director of the museum over five years ago, he introduced special traveling exhibitions to the museum.
Temporary exhibitions dedicated to George Harrison and the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Spencer Davis have garnered international headlines for the museum.
“All of our special exhibitions have been unqualified successes,” De Marsche said.
“We wanted to have exhibitions that were not always directly related to Catalina Island.
When we did this, our admissions skyrocketed, and members tell us that they come back to the museum because special exhibitions represent something new and exciting. The museum’s Board of Trustees is keenly aware of our success in this area, and the JHM Foundation Special Exhibitions Gallery is far larger than our current special exhibitions gallery.
This has already allowed us to schedule exhibitions that will place the Catalina Island Museum among the best and most recognized museums in Southern California.”
The Catalina Island Museum has scheduled a full slate of events celebrating the opening of the Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building later this year.
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The Catalina Island Museum is Avalon’s sole institution devoted to art, culture and history.
The museum, its digital theater and store are currently located on the ground floor of Avalon’s historic Casino and are open 7 days a week, from 10 am to 5 pm.
For more information or to join the Catalina Islander Museum, call 310-510-2414 or go to the Museum website at <CatalinaMuseum.org>.
