CSULB’s Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum Reopens
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum (the Museum) reopens its expanded and renovated site with several new spaces and new exhibitions on February 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Museum’s soft launch welcomes guests to visit during limited hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays from noon–5:00 p.m.; Fridays via appointment only from noon–5:00 p.m.; or Second Saturdays: 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. The Museum is closed on Sunday and Monday.
Starting on opening day and continuing every second Saturday, the Museum will offer Public Art Park tours at noon; visitors interested in participating in a tour of our sculpture and other works on campus meet on Patron’s Plaza at 11:50 a.m.
Expanded to 11,000 square feet, our new redesigned complex introduces new attractions and features, including several new galleries and public spaces. Newly transformed, the Museum can better serve visitors with more accessible upgraded facilities, inclusive policies, and multi-use spaces that make the only free museum in Long Beach welcoming for everyone. After the completion of sustainable design, construction and renovations by Pfeiffer Partners Architects and Clark Construction Group, the American Association of Museums accredited organization is now housed in a LEED Silver certified building.
In announcing the Museum opening, Museum Director Paul Baker Prindle said, “After two years of working to expand and transform our museum, we are overjoyed to welcome communities to experience our arts complex, new exhibitions and more. Reopening on schedule on February 12 represents the collective efforts of Museum staff, campus design and construction services, volunteers, and a whole network of support. We are very excited to advance our focus on visual abstraction, material innovation and arts integration and offer improved access to our collection as an educational resource that is owned by all Californians.”
Opening exhibitions include Linda Besemer: StrokeRollFoldSheetSlabGlitch in the Main Gallery; Rita Letendre: Eternal Space in the Mini Gallery; Hung Viet Nguyen: Sacred Path in the Community Gallery; Mark Bradford: Lithographs in the David Campagna Prints and Drawings Room; and Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld: In-Between the Silence in the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Gallery.
Visitors can soon experience free programs in several new galleries, an Education Laboratory for all ages, native and water-wise plant gardens, a refreshed Patron's Plaza, and a broadened public art park landscape. The Museum hosts exhibitions and projects that serve students, campus communities and the public, working to build accessible educational opportunities around art and art making. Unprecedented collection access, a new museum store with CSULB alumni-crafted functional art, and flexible spaces for research and learning opportunities offer something for everyone to enjoy.
The soft launch of the Museum kicks off the CSULB Arts Festival 2022: Together. This series of arts and culture events is collectively presented by the College of the Arts and produced by the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum; the Carpenter Performing Arts Center; the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music; the School of Art, and the departments of Dance, Design, Theatre Arts, and Film and Electronic Arts. Stay tuned for a full calendar of interdisciplinary events run throughout the spring semester. A full list of featured festival programs will be live online on February 18, 2022. The calendar is offered in an accessible and printable PDF format and hosted on the webpages of COTA at cota.csulb.edu and at the Museum at csulb.edu/museum, and other participating organizations
