The American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum have reopened their doors to the public with implemented health safety guidelines.

The guidelines include encouraging visitors to wear masks and suspending group tours. The American Jazz Museum’s Blue Room and the NLBM’s Grandstand Theater remain closed. Touchscreen displays or other elements that require touching are also closed.

Both museums are open for two sessions Tuesday through Saturday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and one session Sunday: noon to 4 p.m. During the break, staff sanitize the building.

To ensure the building stays within the city’s business capacity regulation, the museums are asking visitors to go on their websites to reserve a free Museum Passport for a specific session – date and time. When they arrive at the museum with their passport, at the time and date specific, individuals will then be allowed to purchase a ticket and tour the museum.

Walkups for the museums, including museum members and those wishing to just visit the gift store, are strongly discouraged and will only be accommodated on a space available basis.

The maximum capacity for the museums’ shared space is 150 people at a time. Raymond Boswell, a curator at the NLBM, said the museum’s first weekend after reopening saw roughly 100 people for each session, with a total of about 200 visitors total each day. Boswell said he saw great cooperation from visitors so far, despite the changes.

For those not yet ready to visit, the American Jazz Museum will continue to create virtual programs on their website and social media like interactive jazz storytelling performances. The museums are also asking visitors – and supporters – to become members or make donations on their websites:

NLBM: nlbm.com/donations/ or American Jazz Museum: https://35459.blackbaudhosting.com/35459/General-Operations