Happy New Year, 2018 is finally here—and the new Museum's Grand Opening is less than four months away! In construction news, I'm happy to report that the large-scale work of designing and constructing the building has shifted to focus on all the details that will turn that building into the Nordic Museum: installing the exhibitions, migrating the staff, and moving and unpacking the permanent collection.

The new Museum is already seeing some great press, too! Last week, Artnet News listed the Nordic Museum as one of the Biggest, Baddest, Boldest Museum Openings in 2018; this week, we've been mentioned as one of 15 noteworthy museums opening in 2018 by Architectural Digest and as a place to go by The New York Times. If you haven't seen the lists yet, we highly recommend you take a look! 

Though our construction project is largely complete and we have much to celebrate, we still have some funds to raise for the building project. If you know anyone interested in supporting this noteworthy and important project, now is the time! Plaques purchased before January 31 will be in place in time for the Grand Opening in May.

December is here, and as I reflect on what has happened over the past year, I'm amazed by all the progress we've made on the new Museum project.

Now that the Museum's Webster School location is closed to the public, we've officially entered our transition period. For the past several weeks, we've been hard at work collaborating with our exhibition designers to develop the new core exhibition's media features, preparing for the move, and planning for the new Museum's Grand Opening—among many other exciting things!

This holiday season, as you consider your year-end giving, please know that the Museum would welcome gifts to the campaign at any level. Our Museum has been built and sustained by its community. Now that we're in the home stretch of the project, your contribution is critical to help us meet our fundraising goal and ensure the new Museum's successful future.

It's been a busy six months here at the Museum! Following this past weekend's Yulefest celebration, we officially closed our doors to the public to make our official move to our new home at 2655 NW Market Street. The new Museum will open next May, and we're hard at work planning a host of great events and programs to mark the occasion! Be sure to save the date: Our Grand Opening celebration will be held May 5–6, 2018.

October has been a landmark month of progress on the new Nordic Museum! The streetscape work is in progress, and zinc siding on the Museum's exterior is almost complete.

We'd like to take some time in this newsletter to highlight the ways in which the new Museum is Nordic. It's more than just design; we've also made a concerted effort to make sure the Museum's interior and exterior feature Nordic products. The white siding on the exterior of the Museum is Cembonit, manufactured in Denmark; the insulation is by Roxul and the pumps come from Grundfos, both Danish companies; the two elevators come from KONE, a Finnish company; and the interior of the building features light fixtures by Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulson.

The building is also the product of the community. We're lucky to have a number of local suppliers and organizations helping us with the construction and move process. Read on to find out more about our important community supporters, and learn about ways you can contribute to the mission.

As we've transitioned into fall, work on the new Museum has progressed substantially. The exterior windows and zinc siding are nearing completion, and the sidewalk and streetscape work is now . We have added a number of brand-new drone videos of the work to our YouTube channel, which I urge you to watch!

In terms of the Capital Campaign, I'm pleased to report that we will be ordering the first round of plaques early in the new year! Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has supported the Museum with a plaque so far, and if you haven't, don't worry—there's still plenty of time to make a donation.

In other Campaign news, I'd like to express our appreciation for the generous estate gift left to us by the late Chris Siddons. She and her husband, Will, were longtime Museum supporters and volunteers. You can find out more about Chris, and our plaque program, in this post's Campaign Update section.