Tampa Museum of Art

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning The new Tampa Museum of Art is set to open in late 2006. The vision for the new museum calls for a lively, engaging environment with a variety of learning opportunities for visitors of all ages-a visitor-centered museum. To achieve this goal, the museum plans to devote its 25th anniversary year, 2005-2006, to launching experimental exhibitions of its contemporary collection and learning about its audiences. Lessons learned from this year of discovery will directly affect the installation, interpretation, and educational programming for the new museum. With this grant, the Tampa Museum of Art will mount a series of three exhibitions, from January through December 2005, designed to provide a variety of opportunities for visitors to engage in issues and ideas raised by the museum's contemporary collection. Each exhibition will run for three months, allowing time for staff, consultants, and researchers to collect data that will enrich future program planning and evaluation efforts and will help all staff (not just curators and educators) answer the question, What is a visitor-centered museum?