NMSU Art Museum finally allowed to open back up on campus

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- The New Mexico State University Art Museum is opening back up for the first time in more than five months, a major relief for fans of creativity and expression all across the Borderland.

As the museum prepared to reopen, it took guidance from expert and state guidelines.

“We started looking at what the American Alliance of Museums were doing as well as the governor and the state starting back in early May," said NMSU art director Marisa Sage.

Galleries that once allowed 20 or more people will now let in just 5 or less.

“Every time we have a group of visitors, it is just 10 people every half hour which is actually a very low number for our capacity rates and we sanitize after every single group comes in," said Sage.

The museum also found a solution for showing their interactive art pieces as well.

“Everything is non-touch," Sage said. "You can’t touch anything. You look with your eyes and not with your hands. Anything that was touch we evolved it into an online platform.”

Also, NMSU students themselves will also be able to finally return for their own art classes at the brand new facility, which only opened this February and has an HVAC air filtration system that fully filters the air every three minutes.

The museum will reportedly be able to take in 80 people per day for now and looks forward to the opportunity to eventually allow in more art lovers as New Mexico continues to try and fight back against Covid-19.

Also, museum staff are asking that those planning to visit reserve time slots online well ahead of their planned visit however reservations can also be secured by those who swing by the facilities front desk.