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Historical Museum, DIA Offer Free Admission For Military Personnel

DETROIT (WWJ) - The Detroit Historical Museum is one of more than 1,300 museums across America to offer free admission to all active duty military personnel and their families, now through Labor Day 2011, as part of the Blue Star Museum program.

In its second year, the Blue Star museum program is available to active duty military and their immediate family members (military ID holder and five immediate family members), which includes active duty Reserve and active duty National Guard.

According to Kathy Roth-Douquet, Blue Star Families Chairman, over 300,000 military family members visited partner museums in the summer of 2010.

"Last year the success of the inaugural year of the Blue Star Museums program showed that partnerships between the nation's museum and military communities are a natural," Kathy Roth-Douquet, Blue Star Families Chairman, said in a statement.

This year, more than 1,324 (and counting) museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa are taking part in the initiative, including more than 500 new museums this year.

This year's Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers and 70 children's museums.

In addition to the Detroit Historical Museum, several other cultural cornerstones in Metro Detroit are participating partners with Blue Star Museums. Military personnel can also gain free admittance to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Cranbrook Art Museum (Saarinen House), Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Flint Institute of Arts, Grosse Pointe Art Center, Longway Planetarium, Museum of Cultural and Natural History, Pine Grove Historical Museum, Plymouth Historical Museum, Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm, Walter P. Chrysler Museum and Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways.

For a complete list of participating museums and more information about the program, visit www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.

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