Renewal at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
New Facilities, New Experience Achieved Through Major Renovation
By Charles Donelan | August 12, 2021
Every museum tells a story; great museums tell many of them.
On Sunday, August 15, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art begins a new chapter, perhaps the most significant such turning point since its inception in 1941. After nearly seven years of construction, and at an expense of more than $50 million, the entire building at the corner of State and Anapamu streets has been seismically retrofitted; its complex security, storage, and climate-control systems overhauled; and its galleries reimagined to better serve the tastes and interests of a new century.
Without losing the delicate balance between preservation and innovation, the project offers visitors a fresh experience not only of the museum’s extraordinarily significant collections but also of the ways in which they represent the aspirations of Santa Barbara, a city long identified as exceptional. The new Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) feels destined to center an enlightened community through the pursuit of thoughtful and enduring visions of an ideal life.
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