Museums Reopen to a Brand-New View

Korean-born American Video Artist Nam June Paik's 'Electronic Super Highway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995' (49-channel closed circuit video installation, neon, steel and electronic components) will be on display when the museum re-opens on Saturday after an extensive renovation. Nam June Paik/Smithsonian American Art Museum/Handout.

Jacqueline Trescott's article, "Museums Reopen to a Brand-New View," on today's reopening of the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum mentions in passing that "The museums are hoping to tap the area's thriving nightlife by staying open till 7:30. (Other Smithsonian museums typically close at 5:30.)"

This gets towards the point that I make that DC's tourism agenda should include having the Smithsonian Museums be open later at night, even if it means paying the extra costs through tourism tax revenues that mostly are supporting the convention center.

Index Keywords: cultural-heritage-tourism