BMoA Construction Plans Announced 

Planned improvements will transform the visitor experience 

Bakersfield, CA – January 31, 2025: Bakersfield Museum of Art announced last night facility improvements to its interior and exterior spaces.    

“For over 65 years, BMoA has inspired and educated our community through the visual arts,” said BMoA Executive Director Amy Smith. “This important project,” she continued, “will help us deliver a more engaging and memorable visitor experience, help us better preserve and share our permanent collection of California art, and help us serve even more students in our art education spaces.”  

“The community upside on these projects is tremendous,” said BMoA Board of Directors president Laura Cattani. “We’re taking another step toward achieving our mission to enhance the quality of life through art appreciation and educational opportunities in the visual arts for Bakersfield and Kern County.” 

Working with Cater Design Group and local landscape designer and gallerist David Gordon, the renovations will begin at BMoA’s front entrance. “The redesigned greenspace will be a garden of native plants and flowers, providing a welcoming entry that reflects and respects the geography of the region, and references the California-focused artwork within the museum,” said Cater. He continued, “The change also creates opportunities for environmental education that complement the museum’s art education work.” Additional changes include siting sculptures from the museum’s Permanent Collection to the front entrance and updating water features.  

Later this spring, updates will be made to one of the museum’s gallery spaces. The updated gallery, renovated to enable more dynamic exhibition layouts, will exclusively host work from BMoA’s Permanent Collection. “Our mission involves collecting 20th and 21st century California art and sharing it with our community,” said Cater, who also serves as Vice Chair of BMoA’s board of directors. “The changes we’re making to this gallery will allow us to display that artwork in new ways.”  

The museum will also update its curatorial space, including exhibition preparation spaces and vault storage. The updates will provide BMoA’s curatorial team with the space they need to best preserve our Permanent Collection, and plan and prepare our exhibitions.   

This fall, improvements will be made to the museum’s classroom spaces. “We deliver art education to hundreds of children at the museum annually,” said BMoA education and family programs coordinator Maria Ornelas. “Our planned upgrades will create more visibility and capacity within our classroom spaces.”   

Each construction phase will result in temporary closures of select spaces at BMoA. Closures will be announced through email and social media. These improvements are made possible by generous contributions from the Leonard A. Bidart Family, the Lazzerini Family Foundation, The Cormier Family Foundation, Three Way Chevrolet, and the Bolt of Hope Grant funded by Bolthouse Properties.   

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ABOUT THE BOLT OF HOPE GRANT 

The Bolt of Hope program, which is funded by Bolthouse Properties and managed by Bolthouse Properties’ employees, identifies and provides grants to various local organizations who are currently working to improve the lives and futures of families in difficult and underserved parts of Bakersfield. 

ABOUT BOLT OF HOPE 

Bolt of Hope is a team comprised of Bolthouse Properties’ employees whose vision is to grow God’s kingdom in Bakersfield through love and compassion, by being open-minded to the needs in our community, and by watering the seeds planted by local organizations that have a passion for being the light in the world. 

ABOUT BMoA 

The Bakersfield Museum of Art’s mission is to inspire and engage diverse audiences by providing a broad spectrum of creative visual arts experiences through the exhibition and preservation of fine art, educational programs, community outreach and special events. BMoA is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM with free admission and extended hours until 8 PM every first Friday of the month. BMoA is closed most major holidays. Visit bmoa.org or call (66) 323-7219 for more information. Follow the museum on Facebook and Instagram @thebmoa and on X / Twitter and YouTube @bmoa.