Kresge Art Museum officials unveiled plans on Tuesday for an $11- to $12 million expansion that will begin in 2006.

The museum plans to add 32,000 square feet for exhibitions, educational programming and a better visitor atmosphere by 2009, celebrating the museum's 50th anniversary. The expansion will be funded entirely by private donors and foundations.

The unveiling took place at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road.

"We are currently unable to display more than 10 percent of our collection," museum Director Susan Bandes said.

"We lack the space necessary to adequately accommodate our growing number of visitors and programs."

Special features at the museum will include increased gallery space, an increased special exhibition space, an education room and discovery gallery, a museum store and terraces for sculptures.

A facility is needed that fits the quality of the professional staff and the great collection at the museum, she said.

"I hate telling people the museum is between the chapel and the Auditorium," Bandes said. "I want to be able to say, 'You can't miss it.' We don't have things as simple as a coat rack or room for receptions."

The museum currently hosts receptions in the hallway.

In 1999, the Friends of Kresge Art Museum formed the Better Art Museum, Because Art Matters, or BAM committee, to ensure their vision of an expanded art museum becomes a reality.

Staff members at the museum have been dreaming for an expansion for more than a decade, but the project began to take shape in 1999 with the formation of BAM.

Wendy Williams, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, said the renovation and expansion of the museum will be the beginning of an even larger, long-term plan for an art district on campus.

She said proponents of the art district hope to turn the area surrounding the Auditorium, including Giltner Hall, into an area reserved for the arts.

"We need a greater presence for the arts on campus," she said.