Picture the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States rising here on the Central Avenue Corridor in Phoenix, Arizona: the Phoenix Art Museum. Its galleries and facilities occupy 285,000 square feet (26,500 m2), and inside international exhibitions sit alongside a comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works: American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. A community center since 1959, the museum stages festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs year-round.
You'll find family-friendly spaces too, notably The Hub: The James K. Ballinger Interactive Gallery, an interactive gallery for children, and photography exhibitions presented through the museum's partnership with the Center for Creative Photography. Outside, a landscaped Sculpture Garden offers a quiet companion to the indoor galleries, and visitors can enjoy dining and shopping on site. Designated a Phoenix Point of Pride, the museum also has deep local roots: it opened in 1959, and its story reaches back to the Phoenix Women's Club, which after Arizona became the 48th state in 1912 worked to develop fine arts programming and in 1915 purchased Carl Oscar Borg's painting Egyptian Evening for US$125 and presented it to the city.
Notice the museum's façade, the landscaped Sculpture Garden beside it, and the sweep of Central Avenue beyond.