About Us

MISSION The mission of the Boca Raton Museum of Art is to enhance the appreciation and understanding of the visual arts by enriching the lives of visitors to and residents of our diverse community through the acquisition and maintenance of a permanent collection from antiquity to the present reflecting the art of world cultures, and the presentation of high quality and varied exhibitions with related educational programs and special events. The Museum further contributes to this learning process by providing hands-on instruction at its Studio School, which offers fine art, craft and interdisciplinary classes, workshops and summer camp for children.

HISTORY
Deeply rooted in the history of its city, the Boca Raton Museum of Art exemplifies the cultural impact and "ripple effect" of the arts in small towns across America. In Boca Raton, the Museum's roots reach back to the late 1940s, when a group of socially active women came together to form the town's first organization, a civic club, with the goal to build a small library. Two library board members, philanthropist Hildegarde Schine and socialite Roberta MacSpadden had been appointed to organize the Open House. They met in the 1920s Town Hall, where an estimated 1,000 people flooded the Library Open House, which included an exhibition of paintings, borrowed from friends and loaned by galleries from Palm Beach to Miami. There and then, the Library Association decided they should form an organization to further this interest in the fine arts. In 1950, The Art Guild of Boca Raton was born.

In 1961, construction of the first Art Guild building commenced, and in the fall of 1962, the Art Guild dedicated the building on Palmetto Park Road that the Museum occupied until January 2001, and that now houses its school of art. Growth and expansion have been steady ever since those first years. Within seven years, the building required an expansion, and three studio classrooms were added. In 1973, the Art Guild officially became a not-for-profit corporation, and twelve years later - in 1985 - changed its name to the Boca Raton Museum of Art. In 1978, the Museum hired its first full-time Director, and began a serious program of collections acquisition and changing exhibitions. By the late 1980s, the Board of Trustees began to address the need for future expansion to accommodate the growth of the Museum's collections.

In late 1997, the Museum made a commitment to build a new facility in downtown Boca Raton's Mizner Park. As the lead initiative in the Centre for the Arts project, the Museum shares a 5.7-acre site with an outdoor amphitheater and what will eventually be a state-of-the-art concert hall. On January 24, 2001, the new Museum at Mizner Park was officially opened to the public. Just over three years had passed since the launch of Campaign 2000, and more than $13 million had been raised for the new Museum - allowing it to open debt-free. The Museum's new 44,000 square foot facility enables it to increase exhibition, education and collection galleries; to add public meeting and program areas; and to enhance fourfold the Museum's programming capabilities. It is a permanent architectural symbol of the City's pride in its past, commitment to the present, and faith in the future. In June 2001, the Museum began expansion of its Art School on Palmetto Park Road, which now includes eight classrooms, a faculty/student exhibition gallery, a faculty/student lounge area, an art supply store, and a variety of support facilities.

The Boca Raton Museum of Art continues to look toward the future with renewed enthusiasm. The move to Mizner Park was a natural evolution for the Museum, and an enhancement to this area, which through the years has become a significant tourist destination. The Museum continues to attract people of all ages with its permanent and traveling exhibitions, educational gallery, and expanded sculpture garden. Lectures, film & video series, tours, special events, and children and family programming encourage the visitor to linger. A Grand Hallway and large catering kitchen makes the Boca Raton Museum of Art the ideal place for meetings and social gatherings.