Asheville Art Museum Association

Established by artists and incorporated in 1948, Asheville Art Museum (the Museum) is committed to being a vital force in the community and individual development and to providing life-long opportunities for education and enrichment through the visual arts. The Museum has established its expertise in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of American art beginning in the 20th century and making innovative and outstanding exhibition experiences available to residents and visitors to WNC. The Museum preserves important aspects of our national and regional heritage through strategic collecting and conscientious stewardship of great works of art.

The Museum's Collection and special exhibitions are central to its educational programs and are used daily throughout the year by audiences of all ages from preschoolers to older adults. Without the Museum's programs, many of the school districts across WNC would have little or no art classes/curricula due to budget constraints. The Museum takes a leadership role in making its Collection and exhibitions as accessible as possible, both physically and intellectually. These important resources engage urban and rural residents including many retirees, educators, and artists who find original works of art have significance to their daily lives.

In FY22/23, the Museum served 85,653 participants including 11,627 children through educational programs and presented 16 exhibitions drawing from its own Collection and borrowed works. The Museum curates exhibitions and programs focusing on themes of contemporary interest and invites internationally acclaimed artists, scholars, and educators to contribute their skills. The Museum provides vital and otherwise unavailable cultural and educational services to adults and children of all ages including school and adult tours, teacher training, classes and workshops for adults and children, films, book club, artist talks, as well as volunteer and entertainment experiences. Arts-based educational programming is an important focus, and every year the Museum provides visual arts programming to audiences of all ages through a diverse range of Museum programming and activities, including outreach educational programs, group tours for K-12 groups, adults, and families, family days, after-school programs, and more. Returning arts programming to the schools, coupled with integrating the arts into the exploration of academic disciplines such as math, social studies, and visual literacy has been shown to improve critical thinking, performance, lifelong learning, and success. Strong and long-standing Museum partners include institutions throughout the region serving pre-kindergarten students through older adults. Museum programs offer access to the visual arts to at-risk, low-income youth from across WNC.