”I thank the Iowa Arts Council and state legislators that support funding and providing grants to art, history and cultural institutions in Iowa,” said Eric Anderson, the museum’s director.

The money is from the Iowa Arts and Culture Resilience Grant Program. That is a new program, and the Blanden Memorial Art Museum is apparently among the first institutions to benefit from it.

While the money will go toward expanding art education programming, details continue to be worked on.

”We’re still just in talking phases,” Anderson said.

Art education programs have been conducted in a classroom in the basement of the museum at 920 Third Ave. S. Getting those classes into a space that is more accessible to the public has been a goal of museum leaders for years.

In 2019, a plan was introduced that envisioned building an addition onto the west side of the museum that would house a new larger classroom. Anderson said that concept is on ”the back burner” due to issues with historic preservation and the difficulties of getting a large addition into a small space.