Minnesota Marine Art Museum

Great Art Inspired by Water

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum is a nonprofit art museum that engages visitors in meaningful visual art experiences through education and exhibitions that explore the ongoing and historic human relationship with water. Located in Winona, Minnesota, the purpose-built museum is located on the banks of the Mississippi River and boasts six galleries, an educational and events space, and a destination retail shop on its seven acre riverside campus. It is through this surprising diversity that MMAM is not only describing what marine art is, but pushing the boundaries of what marine art can be.

Mission

To create meaningful art experiences that explore our relationship with water.  

Vision

To spark wonder and create a more compassionate and connected world for all.

Values

Center our work in Communities and Collaboration.  

Steward Sustainability, Equity and Hospitality.

Operate with Honesty, Transparency and Trust.

Be Bold and Brave.

Always Enterprising, Always Outstanding.

An Abbreviated History

Before there ever was a Minnesota Marine Art Museum, there was a Maritime Heritage Society, a group of community members with plans of preserving and sharing stories about life on the river. Their passion and commitment set in motion the creation of a museum to showcase art inspired by water. MMAM opened in 2006 with the vision of creating a nationally recognized center for arts and culture in Southeast Minnesota. The initial collections consisted of traditional marine paintings and regional folk art. After expanding the quality and diversity of its collections, evolving the exhibition program, adding an annual roster of educational programs and temporary exhibitions, and enlarging its facility in 2009, 2013, and 2014, today’s MMAM is a dynamic and surprising experience for tens of thousands of visitors a year.

Artistic Programs

Over the next three-years, MMAM is poised to take a fresh and expansive look at (1) what great art inspired by water is and who the museum serves, (2) increase the networks and collaborators, both statewide and national, it works alongside, (3) ways to integrate its mission across the entire visitor experience, specifically building a more symbiotic relationship between its arts programming and its exhibitions, and (4) the ways its artistic programs impact the communities it operates from, both social and natural. Primarily, MMAM aspires to expand its impact from being a primarily visual arts “presenting” institution, to an audience-focused, community informed, and impact oriented organization responding to the needs of its increasingly diverse constituents and communities it serves.

Anti-discrimination

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum (Museum) values all current and potential visitors to and participants in the Museum’s programming. It is the policy of the Museum to not discriminate on the basis of disability, gender, age, race, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation in admission to the Museum, access to programs, or employment. The Museum gives equitable access to everyone along the continuum of human ability and experience. Accessibility encompasses the broader meanings of compliance and refers to how the Museum makes space for the characteristics that each person brings.