Partnership between Whatcom Museum and Bellingham Public Library Lets Anyone Enjoy Art, Nature, and Northwest History

The Whatcom Museum and Bellingham Public Library (BPL) have teamed up to offer complimentary Museum passes to library card holders.

About free Museum passes

The Museum passes are available for free to library patrons. A pass allows entry for up to four people into all of the Museum’s buildings. That includes Old City Hall, the Lightcatcher building, and the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG). While there, visitors can take advantage of the exhibitions and programming that regular admission offers.

Bethany Hoglund, Head of Youth Services for the Library, says the partnership is important because it removes the roadblocks that prohibit some people from accessing arts and creative spaces. She says it helps further the library’s vision of being a place where everyone can find engaging activities and offerings.

“I love that this partnership with the Museum can be a natural extension of the public library, and vice versa,” Hoglund says. “Both have resources and materials to ignite creativity, challenge perceptions, and to explore.”

Last year, BPL distributed more than 380 Museum passes to people throughout the community. From those passes, the Museum welcomed about 650 visitors. Passes are now offered on all days that the Museum is open, Wednesday through Sunday. The Whatcom Museum and the Bellingham Public Library look forward to another successful year of the program.

“The more agencies within a community work together, the stronger the network of support and services for citizens becomes,” said Hoglund. “Partnerships such as this provide the opportunity for agencies to learn more about each other and learn from each other.”

Get a pass

To get one of these passes, library patrons will need to go online and register from the library’s website. Each family can receive one set of passes every 60 days. The passes are available only for the day selected during registration. There are a limited number of passes available per day. More information can be found on the library’s website: www.bellinghampubliclibrary.org/.

To sign up, go to the link below and select Register Online. From there, select the day you’d like to visit the Museum. After that, fill out the form at the bottom of the page. You’ll recieve a confirmation email. Bring your confirmation—either printed or as an email on your phone—to the museum for entry.

www.bellinghampubliclibrary.org/using-the-library/free-passes-to-whatcom-museum

–Written by Colton Redtfeldt, Marketing Assistant