Monterey Museum of Art

Founded in 1959, the Monterey Museum of Art (mma) collects, exhibits and engages visitors with the diversity of California Art in order to improve the cultural, creative and civic life of Monterey county. Serving more than 23,000 visitors annually, mma is accredited by the american alliance of museums and organizes 3 seasons of exhibitions annually featuring historic, modern and contemporary California artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Mma continues to build and diversify its permanent collection of more than 8000 works to more equitably represent California's artist population and their varied practices. In addition the Museum commissions local artists, engages guests curators and publishes exhibition catalogues. Thanks to individual and grant funding the Museum provides free admission and arts education and engagement programs to more than12,000 children, families and adults at the Museum and in locations across the county. Key programs include mma's school visits program (integrating state and national learning standards to support classroom learning); free family fun and first fridays, offering informal arts learning to families and young adults; two major participatory arts festivals (mma block party and mma's winter festival, iluminado) that attract thousands of first-time visitors to the Museum and promote many local artists and arts non-profits. Throughout the year mma offers docent tours, artist talks and workshops, as well as hosting dozens of cultural and social events.

Coinciding with exhibitions are mma's public programs for all ages-from children to seniors. Key programs include mma's school visit program for k-12 students (integrating state and national learning standards to support classroom learning), free family fun days (held six times per year), scholarly lectures, first fridays, an artist-in-residence program, artist-led workshops and talks, after school Art programs, and elegant cultural events. Mma also engages and supports the local artist community through its many initiatives. Thanks to community support, the Museum continues to offer several of its education programs free of charge-providing equitable access to students and families.