The Nevada Museum of Art is currently working on expanding their 15,000 square feet facility by 50,000 square feet, with a new entrance on California Avenue, connecting to the current entrance on Liberty Street with a long hallway.
New spaces which are being built up will be used for research, education, and more gallery spaces. One of the main goals of this expansion is to add more areas for students, educators, and scholars in the community.
They are also aiming to increase the amount of gallery spaces to be able to showcase more art from their collections. The museum has about 4,000 objects in its collection but only a small fraction is currently displayed with traveling exhibitions taking up most of the space.
The museum’s research center called the Center for Art and Environment will get an expanded space of about 10,000 square feet on the second floor.
Expansion plans also include having a new 5,000 square feet library with increased public access to books, research materials and archives.
All of the construction is due to be done by spring 2025 to be able to serve over three million residents in Nevada and its visitors as the Silver State’s only accredited art museum.
Many of the visitors include thousands of students from the Washoe County School District who get organized hands-on tours.
The expansion, which will also include a new classroom, is expected to cost the museum around 60 million dollars.
To fund this project the museum received a 16 million dollar donation from philanthropists Charles and Stacie Mathewson, and the new wing will be called the Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center.
Charles Mathewson, who headed International Game Technology in the 1980s and 90s, committed to the large gift before dying in October 2021, at the age of 93.
The museum has been asking for donations on their website to help this project, and has gotten other big donor contributions.
On its website this is its pitch to encourage more donations: “They’ve become part of our cultural DNA. The events, the exhibitions, the spaces, the memories. From Raphael’s The Woman with the Veil to treasures of ancient Egypt. From The 36th Star: Nevada’s Journey from Territory to State to Tahoe: A Visual History. From the E. L. Cord Museum School to First Thursdays to Hands ON! Second Saturdays. If you and yours have enjoyed any of these, you know what a vibrant asset the Museum has always been to our region.”
Currently, it’s asking visitors to look for additional parking along nearby streets due to the ongoing construction.