The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will reopen Wednesday at 25 percent capacity, as Massachusetts continues through Phase Three of its reopening plan, which allows for arts and entertainment businesses to open with restrictions.
The museum announced its reopening in a Tuesday press release. The museum had initially reopened in September, but has remained closed since Dec. 16.
Reservations opened for MFA members Thursday and to the general public the day after. Tickets are sold in advance online and are timed-entry.
“Museums are places of shared experience, and we’re pleased to once again open our doors so that Bostonians can connect with art and with each other,” Matthew Teitelbaum, the MFA’s Ann and Graham Gund Director, wrote in the press release.
Updated security protocols will include social distancing measures, a face mask mandate, self-cleaning surfaces on handles and railings, hand sanitizer stations and a capacity limit of five people per 1,000 square feet, said MFA Safety Officer and Government Liaison Maggie Scott.
“The largest challenge was trying to plan for visitors when we were not ourselves physically in the building, but also trying to make sure that our safety measures kept both staff and visitors safe and comfortable without ruining the experience,” Scott said. “And I think we’ve done that quite well.”
While many museum employees continue to work from home, on-site staff are required to wear masks and complete daily health checks, Scott said. Additional restrictions include personnel limits in elevators, as well as one-way exits and entrances.
“There are a great deal of employees that work in front-facing positions, who we very much want to keep employed and we want to keep everyone healthy and safe,” Scott said.
She added social distancing protocols have the unexpected benefit of granting visitors more time and space in the galleries.
“We think people can still really enjoy the experience without feeling unsafe,” Scott said. “They’ll be able to find a place of solace and comfort inside.”
Like many cultural institutions, the MFA took a financial hit since the start of the pandemic. Scott said reopening will help the museum reduce losses but not eliminate them entirely.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that the revenue of arts and cultural organizations right now has been severely impacted,” Scott said. “We were very lucky to be able to reopen.”
Although the MFA made the decision to close simultaneously with other museums and cultural institutions in the area in March — “in the interest of public safety,” Scott said — it is among a minority of art museums reopening for in-person viewing.
While Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge continue posting content online, they do not yet have a targeted reopening date and are working to develop a safe reopening plan, according to a representative from the museum.
Scott cited the MFA’s safety track record — no transmissions within the building as well as a downward trend in infection rates in the city after the holiday season — as part of the museum’s decision to resume on-site exhibitions.
“We’ve had no community transmission of COVID-19 among any visitors or any of our staff, despite having a few cases of staff who have gotten it in their personal lives,” Scott said. “So that’s incredibly encouraging, that we can bring in so many people and still operate safely.”
David Goss, a professor of history at Gordon College, who typically uses in-person visits to the MFA in his museum studies courses, wrote in an email he will still be unable to return with students to the museum until colleges relax their restrictions.
“I am glad to hear that the MFA is reopening,” Goss wrote. “I have regularly utilized the museum in my history and museum studies teaching…and intend to do so again, once the pandemic is a thing of the past.”
Tickets were made available through Feb. 28, and one of the museum’s two current exhibitions, “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression,” is already sold out for the month.
Scott said she believes the MFA and other museums are vital for Boston residents to reflect and hopes people will make use of the reopening.
“We can’t come together in a way that would normally create healing,” Scott said. “Being within the museum keeps you in touch with generations of individuals who can help you heal through art and help you feel a little bit more normal in an absolutely abnormal time.”
