The interior of the National Museum of Women in the Arts is currently full of exposed drywall, electrical cords, and stacks of other building materials. The museum has been closed since August 2021, and pieces from its collection of more than 6,000 artworks across six centuries are on loan in special exhibitions around the globe or being stored at a facility elsewhere in the D.C. region.

But that will all change when the downtown D.C. museum reopens, which is happening Oct. 21, the museum’s leaders announced Wednesday.

The $67.5 million renovation is part of a larger mission to combat the gender and racial inequities that plague the art world from museum galleries to art auctions, says Susan Goldberg, president of the museum’s board.

“This museum was the first major museum solely devoted to championing women artists,” Goldberg said at a preview event Wednesday. “And while a lot has changed in the art world, the lack of equity for women artists has remained a significant problem. I think most people in the country couldn’t name five women artists if they were asked to do so. So we hope that this will really help change that.”

The renovation is the museum’s largest construction project since NMWA’s late founders Wilhelmina and Wallace Holladay purchased the building in 1983. The 87,500-square-foot building, completed in 1908 as a Masonic temple, will mostly look the same from the outside, due to D.C. Historic Preservation Office requirements. (Though, parts of the roof and historic moulding that surround the building will be restored.)

Things will be quite different on the inside. Redesigned by a women-led architecture firm, the museum has expanded its gallery spaces by 20%, added a “learning commons” complete with education studios and a modernized research library, increased the size of its gift shop, and upgraded its 182-seat performance hall. The building will be more walkable, accessible, and energy efficient, NMWA leaders say.

The museum will open with new exhibitions including “The Sky’s the Limit,” focused on large-scale sculptures by 12 women. A new metal framing system being installed as part of the renovation will allow the museum to hang heavier pieces from the ceiling. Previously unseen works by Eva Gonzalès, Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella, and more contemporary artists like Hung Liu will greet patrons as they peruse the expanded galleries and more private nooks throughout the museum. A self-portrait by Frida Kahlo, the only work by the famed artist in D.C., will also be on display.

The new galleries will be organized according to nine thematic groupings related to color, medium, and social or historic relevance. The inaugural exhibits will include short films profiling innovative women artists.

The museum’s iconic Great Hall and Mezzanine — a popular space for events and, of course, Instagram selfies — will be bigger and more functional, since the builders have removed some of its obstructive columns.

Architect Sandra Vicchio says she designed the spaces with the intention of making it “intuitive, welcoming, and gracious.” The goal was to focus on both renewing and preserving the space, she adds. Though perhaps a less sexy part of the renovation, the project modernized the “building envelope” (the area between the building’s interior and exterior) to make the building more energy efficient and ensure the art will not be damaged, says Vicchio.

“We have lots of ideas, always more ideas than we have time,” NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling says. “But now, thanks to this renovation, there’s so much more that will be possible.”