The Honolulu Academy of Arts and The Contemporary Museum will merge operations, boards and fundraising efforts effective July 1, both museums announced today.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts and The Contemporary Museum will keep their individual names at least through June 30, when a combined board will consider how to best brand the combined operations, the museums said in a statement.

Beginning Tuesday, members at one museum will be able to visit the other at no additional cost, said Lesa Griffith, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Memberships at the The Contemporary Museum, which are lower than at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, will be honored at the same rates through May 2012, Griffith said. Then they will rise to coincide with membership rates at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, she said.

Visitors who pay the day rate at either museum also will be able to get into the other museum at no additional cost, Griffith said.

No staff members will be immediately laid off as a result of the merger, Griffith said, but some redundant positions may be identified later in the year.

There will be no immediate cost saving related to the merger, she said, but fundraising efforts will be better focused.

"This is a long-term effort," Griffith said. "This is setting ourselves up for the future."

Ten members of the Contemporary Museum will join the 34-member board of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Griffith said.