LONGMONT, Colo. – The Longmont Museum is getting ready for the grand unveiling of its new addition on Sunday, June 14, 2015. The project’s core is the 250-seat Stewart Auditorium, a state-of-the-art facility designed to provide outstanding performance space for small musical ensembles, films, lectures, and dance. The new building marks the culmination of a successful $4.5 million capital campaign begun in 2012, the first capital campaign in the Museum’s history.

To celebrate the opening, the Longmont Museum will host special events leading up to the public opening day on Sunday, June 14, including private benefactor receptions on June 12 and 13. 

“With over 300 donors to this project, Longmont has stepped up in a big way to successfully complete the capital campaign and construct the Stewart Auditorium.  That said, we couldn’t have done it without the generosity of the Stewart family, who made the largest local gift in our community’s history,” stated Longmont Museum Director Wes Jessup. The Stewart family, including Lila Stewart, her late husband Bill, and their daughter Linda, were members of the Longmont business community for nearly four decades.

“Bill and I always wanted to leave something that would benefit the community for years to come,” said Lila Stewart. “The auditorium will be a vital new space in Longmont where kids and all members of the community can gather and enjoy cultural events.” Both Bill and Lila Stewart were inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame. The Stewart family also was instrumental in the founding and on-going support of the Tiny Tim Center for exceptional children, now known as TLC.

The expansion doubles the Museum’s public space. In addition to the Stewart Auditorium, the new development adds the Kaiser Permanente Education Center, a combination of new and renovated education and meeting spaces with flexible configurations allowing for three classrooms or one large meeting space seating 115. The most dramatic space in the expanded facility is the Swan Atrium, with a two story high glass wall, elegant pine finishes, beautiful views of the St. Vrain Valley, and stone elements throughout. The Atrium will be used both as a gathering space prior to events in the auditorium and as a standalone rental space for receptions and corporate events.

Designed by OZ Architecture, the same firm that designed the Museum’s distinctive 2002 building, the new space complements and expands upon the themes and material palette used in the original building while highlighting the region’s natural landscape and culture. Bassett & Associates of Centennial led the construction team. The expansion increases the total space at the Museum to 35,000 square feet, 11,000 square feet more than the Museum’s 24,000 square foot existing building.

The new facility will feature a dynamic and wide range of events, including a summer film series tying into the Museum’s exhibition Robots Rising, a TEDx Salon event, and a week-long theater camp and performances by the Missoula Children’s Theatre. Future programming includes collaborations with Arts Longmont, the Boulder Bach Festival, and the Longmont Symphony beginning in the fall of 2015.

ABOUT THE LONGMONT MUSEUM

The Longmont Museum is a center for art and culture in northern Colorado. The Museum’s permanent exhibitions highlight the history of Longmont and the northern Colorado Front Range, and its special exhibitions range from major artists such as Ansel Adams, John J. Audubon, and Edward Weston, to hands-on family oriented exhibitions of transportation, construction, and technology.

Hours: Monday – Saturday 9 am – 5 pm, Sunday 1-5 pm.

Public Contact: (303) 651-8374, museum@longmontcolorado.gov

Media Contact: Erik Mason, (303) 651-8969, erik.mason@longmontcolorado.gov