North Dakota Museum of Art

The North Dakota Museum of Art is the official art museum of the State of North Dakota. It is a private not-for-profit institution managed by its own Board of Trustees. The North Dakota Museum of Art Foundation manages the Museums endowment. The Museum was founded in the mid-1970s as the University of North Dakota Art Galleries, a temporary exhibition space primarily for the benefit of university students. In 1981 the North Dakota State Legislature designated the University Galleries as North Dakotas official art museum. With its expanded mission came a new name: the North Dakota Museum of Art. The first task was to find an appropriate and permanent home. A building fund, established in the late 1970s from private sources, had grown to $1 million. The staff and the Friends of the North Dakota Museum of Art, a non-profit organization established in 1985, raised an additional $400,000. The University of North Dakota agreed to give the Museum a 1907 gymnasium if the Friends ra...