Eco-conscious Museums Partner with BetterWall.com to Offer Street Banners as Art for the Home

Through partnerships with over 20 major art museums, BetterWall.com sells authentic museum street banners as contemporary art for the home. A portion of the proceeds from each sale goes back to support the museums, and damaged banners are recycled keeping over 10 tons of vinyl out of landfills annually.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) August 28, 2006 -- Eco-conscious museums partner with BetterWall.com to offer street banners as art for the home.

In cities across the country, major art museums have found an innovative way to make a commitment to the environment while advancing their mission to bring great art to the public. In addition to displaying art treasures in their galleries, many top museums are doing their part to act as stewards for the environment through a program that reduces waste and brings people closer to great art.

This group of twenty-one forward-thinking, environmentally-conscious museums includes The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum, and more. All take part in the Recycle & Reuse Program™ for Museums offered by Denver-based BetterWall.com. As part of this program, the museums’ street banners are included in a recycling consortium with other museums around the world. After the museums’ exhibition banners are taken down, they are cleaned, restored, and offered for sale to the public as limited edition wall hangings through www.betterwall.com. In cases where the banners are damaged, they are recycled for the raw materials. Over 12 tons of vinyl have already been saved from landfills through this consortium.

“Museums play an important role in their communities”, says Nicolas Weiser, one of BetterWall's founders. “By participating in our program, they have yet another way to ensure that they make a positive difference to their members, visitors, and communities.”

Museums with a concern for green practices are delighted to work with BetterWall. According to Tim Hallman, associate director of marketing and communications at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, “The main thing is a healthy environmental concern. It’s great for the environment.” The Asian Art Museum currently has banners available for sale at www.betterwall.com including banners from the exhibition, “Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile” which sell for $415. As a Santa Rosa, CA customer said, “I loved seeing the Geisha banner when I drove through San Francisco, and love it more in my home! The condition of the banner is like new.”

Lyn DelliQuadri of The Art Institute of Chicago agrees with Hallman, “We love participating in this innovative, environmentally-conscious program, and [it] is a good solution for us as it extends the enjoyment of our beautiful banners.” Art Institute banners currently available at www.betterwall.com include banners from the exhibition, “Girodet: Romantic Rebel” which retail for $635, and banners from “Seurat and the Making of La Grande Jatte”, priced at $585.

A portion of the proceeds from each banner sold goes back to the institution. So, in addition to supporting their communities through recycling, museums in the program generate much-needed financial support for their institutions. The banners themselves are dramatic and beautiful, featuring works of art from all eras and all parts of the world. The inventory is constantly changing as exhibitions close and the banners are taken down. With banners from so many major art museums available at www.betterwall.com, customers love finding just the right banner, and hanging something unique on their walls that once hung on the streets of the city.

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