Relic Room to offer free summer admission to military personnel and families
May 10, 2021
The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum will join museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer.
The 2021 program will begin at the Relic Room on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 15, and end on Sept. 4, the Saturday before Labor Day. Find the list of participating museums at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Blue Star Museums is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and participating museums nationwide.
The Relic Room will be offering the free admission to military personnel and up to five family members every normal day of operation this summer. It will not be open on Memorial Day or Labor Day, however.
“It has long been a practice of our museum to offer free admission to uniformed personnel on certain days,” said Allen Roberson, the director of the Relic Room. “We’re always excited to work with Blue Star to expand that benefit to include all military personnel and their families in the summer.”
“Like the resilience that military families demonstrate time and again, the Relic Room is an example of resiliency in the arts sector over the past year,” said Ann Eilers, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “We are grateful to the Relic Room for their leadership in strengthening community through their participation in the Blue Star Museums program this summer.”
Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses, and more, in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current list of participating museums will continue to develop over the summer, as organizations are welcome to register to be a Blue Star Museum throughout the summer.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the launch of the Blue Star Museums 2021 program! Thank you for participating in this impactful and highly anticipated program,” said Kathy Roth Douquet, CEO Blue Star Families. “Because of museums such as yours and their counterparts in the arts community, military families have the opportunity to create special memories and experience the arts again!”
The free-admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States military — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force, as well as members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps – and up to five family members.
Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.
Follow Blue Star Museums on Twitter: @NEAarts and @BlueStarFamily, #bluestarmuseums.
About the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum
Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is an accredited museum focusing on South Carolina’s distinguished martial tradition through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the War on Terror, and other American conflicts. It serves as the state’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military heritage from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. It is located at 301 Gervais St. in Columbia, sharing the Columbia Mills building with the State Museum. For more information, go to https://crr.sc.gov/.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more.
About Blue Star Families
Blue Star Families is the nation’s largest grass-roots military family support organization, with a mission to support military families to improve military readiness. Its distinctive approach builds stronger communities around military families through knowledge and programs that address the unique needs of those who serve. Blue Star Families’ nationally recognized surveys and analysis give military families an important voice that informs policymakers and its military family programs. It uses the power of its collective resources and cross-sector collaborations to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of members of military families to strengthen the troops, their families, and our nation as a whole. For more information, visit bluestarfam.org.
