Between 2006 and 2017, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum (MMAM) welcomed nearly 20,000 visitors a year. During that time we expanded our six-acre campus by building three more galleries to share our world-class art collection. Visitors made their way to Winona, Minnesota to see what we were all about. We thought we were moving in the right direction, until we paused to ask our own community what they valued about MMAM and what they thought we could be doing better.

We discovered that roughly 2/3 of visitors were coming from outside our community. While we were, and still are, proud of the fact that our efforts contribute to Winona’s economic vitality, we wanted to address the barriers that our own community saw.

Musicians play at an in-person Seasonal Saturday event in 2019.

Our staff wholeheartedly believes that MMAM belongs to everyone in Winona. Sometimes I think we don’t say that enough. We are a non-profit arts organization funded by admissions, membership, donations, and grants, and we are governed by a board of volunteer directors. We truly want people to come as they are, and to come often. This is your art museum!

Our neighbors, our friends, and our families acknowledged that MMAM could be an intimidating place to visit. So we began to put our heads together, with our community, to co-create a new way to experience MMAM. Out of this conversation Seasonal Saturdays were born! Our goals were to simply reduce intimidation and increase comfortable access to the fine arts. What does that mean? We wanted to make sure the arts were more available to everyone, and reduce as many obstacles that kept people from engaging with ‘great art inspired by water.’ Because, we believe that art is for everyone!

With financial support from the Minnesota State Arts Board, WNB Financial, Winona Foundation, Winona Community Foundation, BNSF, Coca Cola of Winona, and Doug Troke of Farmers Insurance, along with countless partners, artists, musicians from our community, we crafted Seasonal Saturdays.

In Spring of 2021, we put Seasonal Saturdays in a box!

Seasonal Saturdays are fun-filled, exciting, inviting days with admission fees reduced to $1, free transportation, a themed art activity for all ages and abilities, artist-led programming, live music in the galleries, games for all, and lively, fun tours related to the museum’s collections and the changing theme of each event.

The results were staggering. Participation grew nearly 25% in just two years. In 2019, almost 70% of our visitors to Seasonal Saturdays were either first time visitors, or it “had been a while.” And most importantly, our efforts to bring people together around the arts, in a vibrant and creative atmosphere, strengthened the social fabric of our community. Thanks to hundreds of surveys, countless conversations, and many numbers crunched, it was evident that everyone, without exception, absolutely loved the Seasonal Saturday experience.

*Heather Casper is the Curator of Education at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum.*

Through the pandemic, we pivoted to offer take-home art kits, interactive online editions, and event boxes for groups so they could host a mini-Seasonal Saturday party in their own spaces when we couldn’t safely gather in person. Participation increased, membership grew, and we markedly could say our community was less intimated to visit. Finally, a museum for everyone!

With renewed support from 100% of our loyal funders again this year, plus the additional support from The Arts Midwest GIG Fund, and many excited partners onboard, we are thrilled to be bringing back Seasonal Saturdays — in person — for 2022.

Our first event, themed “Community Threads” will be Saturday, March 19.

If you’d like to be a part of Seasonal Saturdays — as an attendee, a donor, a volunteer, or a community partner — please send me an email at hcasper@mmam.org. I’d love to talk with you.

We can’t wait to see you at a Seasonal Saturday program this year.