participant-type

: Museum

Be inspired, share history, and create art through Vesterheim’s world-class collection, immersive Folk Art School, and engaging exhibits and programs, including 12 historic buildings. Vesterheim

Exhibits at Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, explore the diversity of American immigration through the lens of the Norwegian-American experience and showcase the best in historic and contemporary Norwegian folk arts. This national treasure features a world-class collection of 33,000 artifacts and a Heritage Park of 12 historic buildings, as well as a Folk Art School in scenic Decorah, Iowa.

But you don’t have to be Norwegian-American to enjoy all the beauty and wonder Vesterheim has to offer. Be inspired, share history, and create art while visiting the exhibits, taking a class at the Folk Art School, and shopping the Museum Store!

Decorah,
IA
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
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Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Photo Credit: Iwan Baan

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts offers an inspiring array of visual, performing arts, and educational experiences. The Museum is committed to creating an inclusive cultural space for the community to engage with diverse artistic perspectives through the AMFA Foundation’s 14,000 object permanent collection, compelling temporary exhibitions, lively theatre, and enriching courses.

The mission of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is to create an inclusive cultural space that inspires and builds community through the visual and performing arts. Serving the state of Arkansas and beyond, AMFA provides enriching experiences in the arts for all. Let your creativity flourish through instruction in diverse media, find inspiration through innovative programming, and experience art in new ways at Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts is home to the Windgate Art School, offering studio instruction in drawing, painting, ceramics, glass, metals, woodworking, and more. Instruction is available for students of all ages and skill levels, with daytime and evening classes offered quarterly, as well as short-term and specialty workshops.

Little Rock,
AR
Arts/Cultural Organization Craft School Gallery Museum
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RAM at night. Jon Bolton

Racine Art Museum (RAM) is a nationally recognized institution that presents exhibitions and programming curated around contemporary art, craft, and design.

Located in Racine, Wisconsin, a historic community on the shores of Lake Michigan, it occupies two facilities—the Racine Art Museum, an expansive modern gallery with award-winning architecture on the downtown waterfront, and the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts (Wustum), an exhibition space and studio art center housed in a historic farmhouse surrounded by lawns and gardens.

RAM is known for having the largest contemporary craft collection in North America, with more than 14,000 works by renowned artists in ceramics, fiber, glass, metal, polymer, wood, and more. Our thoughtful exhibitions invite visitors to engage with artistic innovation, the physicality of materials, and the intersection of the craft and contemporary art movements.

We welcome approximately 50,000 guests from 40 states and 15 countries annually—making RAM a cultural and economic anchor for the region. Each year, as many as 15,000 people take part in our educational programs. Others benefit from wide-reaching K–12 experiences, community collaborations, and creative engagement opportunities for people with memory loss.

Racine,
WI
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
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Philadelphia Museum of Art, East Entrance. Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art—in partnership with the city, the region, and art museums around the globe—seeks to preserve, enhance, interpret, and extend the reach of its great collections in particular, and the visual arts in general, to an increasing and increasingly diverse audience as a source of delight, illumination, and lifelong learning.

We are committed to being the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Learn about who we are, what we value, and how we connect people to the arts.

Philadelphia,
PA
Museum
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Wharton Esherick Studio, Malvern, PA. Wharton Esherick Museum

The Wharton Esherick Museum is the home and studio of famed American artist Wharton Esherick, located atop Valley Forge Mountain in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Set on 12 wooded acres, the Museum campus is comprised of multiple buildings including Wharton Esherick’s Studio, which is now the centerpiece of the Museum. Esherick’s highly individual, hand-built Studio was constructed over a 40-year period beginning in 1926, incorporating Arts and Crafts, Expressionist, and organic designs. Two years later Esherick began his 1928 Expressionist garage, now our Visitor Center. In 1973, just one year after its official opening as a museum, the Studio was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1993, the Museum was designated a National Historic Landmark for Architecture.

 

Malvern,
PA
Museum
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The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo by Houston First Corporation.

As one of the leading craft-collecting institutions in the United States, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) is dedicated to the research and interpretation of contemporary craft. Dating from 1940 to the present and international in scope, the collection represents all media including ceramics, fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, metalwork, sculptural and turned wood and alternative materials. Important collections include the Helen Williams Drutt Collection of jewelry, the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection of ceramics, the Leatrice and Melvin Eagle Collection of craft, and the Carol Straus Collection of fiber art.

Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is the oldest museum in Texas, and one of the largest cultural institutions in the United States, with over 270,000 square feet of space dedicated to the display of art. Nearly one million visitors engage annually with the Museum’s permanent collection of more than 70,000 objects. The encyclopedic collections of the MFAH cover world cultures dating from antiquity to the present.

Houston,
TX
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
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Historic St. George's after the Benjamin Franklin Bridge was built - a mere 14 feet away. HSG Museum & Archives

Explore the historical significance of Methodism in the oldest continuously used Methodist church building in America, purchased in 1769.

Philadelphia,
PA
Museum
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Facade of museum featuring roses in the foreground. Couresty of Chuck Barry

The de Saisset Museum provides ambitious and groundbreaking exhibition and educational programing to our diverse publics on and off campus that are timely and multifaceted in nature. We foreground projects that highlight the varied realities lived by our diverse community of practitioners and support Santa Clara University’s goal of educating the whole person through interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships. Our work is experimental; we function as a test-site for new ideas, methodologies, and practices and aspire to be in a constant state of evolution. We are governed by a code of ethics that foreground diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is reflected in all that we do.

Santa Clara,
CA
Museum University or College
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The Columbia Gorge Museum. Lonnie Gates

The Columbia Gorge Museum was established in 1995 to house historically significant objects from the Columbia River Gorge area of Washington and Oregon. Its amazing collections contain quilts, lace pillows, lace, wedding dresses, and handmade household materials, as well as the “world’s” largest rosary collection, historical lumber industry objects, indigenous people’s cultural objects (all media); Japanese cultural objects, and a collection of art and rare objects once belonging to a Russian Baron, originator of the Lightbearers philosophical and spiritual organization. The collection is housed in an award-winning building on 18 acres on the banks of the Columbia River.  The Museum is recognized for its exhibitions and programs, especially those that support emerging artists; highlight historical contributions; and connect communities throughout the region.

Stevenson,
WA
Museum
Fiber
Figge Art Museum. Image Courtesy of the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is dedicated to bringing art and people together.

Located on the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport, Iowa, the Figge is the premier art exhibition and education facility between Chicago and Des Moines. Its landmark glass building, designed by British architect David Chipperfield, features a public art installation by world-renowned artist Leo Villareal called Evanescent Field that illuminates the Figge’s exterior with dynamic patterns of light.

The Figge is home to one of the Midwest’s finest art collections and presents world-class exhibitions, art classes, lectures, and special events that attract visitors of all ages. The collection features European, American, Spanish Viceregal art, Haitian art, and modern and contemporary works. The Figge is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Davenport,
IA
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
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Armando Veve, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. "Millions of Cats" (process image), 2025. Carlos Avendaño

The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art museum that works at the intersection of artistic innovation and creative collaboration. For nearly five decades, we have created and presented groundbreaking works of art through our Artist-in-Residence Program, which provides artists the opportunity to experiment with new materials, taking their work in fresh and unexpected directions.

Founded in 1977, FWM presents ambitious exhibitions that unite process with finished works. What began as an invitation for artists to experiment with fabric and screenprinting has evolved into a dynamic platform for creative exploration across sculpture, installation, video, photography, ceramics, and architecture. FWM’s collection preserves not only artworks and editions but also material samples, prototypes, and documentation, capturing the full arc of artistic production.

With free admission and hands-on learning, we inspire the public with the spirit of discovery, advancing art’s role as a catalyst for creativity and social connection.

Philadelphia,
PA
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
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Art Complex Museum. Lori LeDoux

The Art Complex Museum is located in the historic town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, 33 miles south of Boston. It houses the impressive art collection of the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser family.

The collection includes over 8,000 art objects, including American and European prints, rare books, American paintings, Shaker furniture, Asian art, and additional treasures.

The museum offers a year-round schedule of exhibitions, featuring thematic shows from the permanent collection and shows by contemporary artists. Additional programming includes lectures, concerts, education programs, demonstrations and Japanese tea ceremonies, fulfilling the founders’ vision that their family’s many interests be shared with the community.

This unique venue offers visitors an inviting place for viewing and learning about art in an intimate and comfortable setting.

Duxbury,
MA
Museum
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National Museum of Women in the Arts, exterior, 13th Street side, 2023; Photo by John Mannarino

Located in the heart of Washington, DC, the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.

With its collections, exhibitions, programs, and online content, the museum seeks to inspire dynamic exchanges about art and ideas. NMWA advocates for better representation of women artists and serves as a vital center for thought leadership, community engagement, and social change. The museum addresses the gender imbalance in the presentation of art by bringing to light important women artists of the past while promoting great women artists working today.

Washington,
DC
Museum
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Image of the Lindsay Pettus Gallery at the NASC. Native American Studies Center at USC Lancaster

Established in August of 2012, this comprehensive center for the study of South Carolina’s Native American peoples, their histories, and their cultures offers visitors the opportunity to view the single largest collection of Catawba Indian pottery in existence; study primary and secondary texts on Native Americans in the Southeast; participate in educational classes and programs; and observe archaeology, language, and folklore and oral history labs.

We develop curriculum and public programs that educate the public about Native American art and culture, with an emphasis on the Catawba and other Native communities in South Carolina. Students at USC Lancaster and visitors to our Center can learn about art, American Indian literature and culture, Native American archaeology, folklore, anthropology, and oral traditions.

Our Mission

The mission of USC Lancaster’s Native American Studies is to promote the documentation, preservation, appreciation, and study of Native American cultures and heritages. This mission is aided by courses and curricula, research projects, archival resources, exhibits, publications, and other public and educational programs and  materials developed by USCL faculty and staff. The Center works to dispel any stereotypes or existing misconceptions regarding Native Americans, their cultures, life ways, and languages.

Lancaster,
SC
Museum University or College
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Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, photographed across the water of the Atlantic Ocean Gulf in Mississippi. Photo © A. Zahner Company.

The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (OOMA) in Biloxi, Mississippi, celebrates the innovative spirit of George E. Ohr, the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” and the cultural richness of the Gulf Coast. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the museum’s striking campus of pods and pavilions offers a unique setting for exhibitions of contemporary and historical art. OOMA’s permanent collection highlights Ohr’s groundbreaking ceramics, while rotating exhibitions showcase diverse regional, national, and international artists. Through exhibitions, programs, and educational initiatives, the museum fosters creativity, dialogue, and a deeper appreciation for the arts and culture of the South.

Biloxi,
MS
Museum
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