The Springfield Art Museum celebrates 75 years as a city-owned and operated community cultural resource at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27.

The public is invited to attend a Mayoral Proclamation Event where City of Springfield Mayor Ken McClure will deliver a proclamation honoring the museum’s artistic, educational, and economic contributions to Springfield and the region’s cultural landscape.

Museum director Nick Nelson will also provide a 2021-2022 exhibition schedule announcement and a master plan update. The museum’s galleries will remain open until 8 p.m. for the public to enjoy. The museum currently has four special exhibitions on view: The Inferno of Dante: Etchings by Michael Mazur; Rose O’Neill and the Kewpie Comics; Jacques Callot: Varie Figure (Various Figures); and Shape, Form, and Color; in addition to three permanent collection exhibitions: Creating an American Identity, Selections from the museum's Asian art collection in the Hartman Gallery, and selections from the ceramics collection in the Musgrave Gallery.

The museum was founded in 1928 by Deborah Weisel and the Art Study Club, a group of art lovers and civic-minded women. In 1946, they deeded the museum to the City of Springfield. The Art Study Club reincorporated as the Southwest Missouri Museum Associates, the Museum’s longest-serving support group. Today, the Springfield Art Museum is the only American Alliance of Museums-accredited museum in all of southern Missouri, routinely serving over 60,000 patrons a year.

The Mayoral Proclamation Event falls on the eve of Springfield Art Museum Day. Created on Oct. 28, 1994, by Mayor N.L. “Mac” McCartney, Springfield Art Museum Day celebrated the opening of the Jeannette L. Musgrave Wing of the museum, in furtherance of the community’s pursuit of the arts “be they pastels or technicolor.”

The Mayoral Proclamation Event is free and open to the public. ASL interpretation will be available. Face masks and social distancing are requested, regardless of vaccination status.

The Springfield Art Museum is at 1111 E. Brookside Drive. Admission is always free and donations are gratefully accepted.

For more information, visit www.sgfmuseum.org.