The first public art museum founded in the West, the Crocker Art Museum was established in 1885 and remains the leading art institution for the California Capital Region and Central Valley. The Museum, which is housed in one of the finest examples of Victorian Italianate architecture in the United States, offers a diverse spectrum of special exhibitions, events and programs to augment its collections of California, European and Asian artworks, and International Ceramics.

The mission of the Museum is to promote an awareness of and enthusiasm for human experience through art. The Museum fulfills its mission by offering a variety of education programs for Youth & Family, Schools & Teachers and the Public.

The Crocker Art Museum :

• Attracts 150,000 visitors each year and has a member base of 9,000 individuals, families and businesses
• Boasts one of the state’s premier collections of California art, world-renowned master drawings, and significant holdings of Asian art and international ceramics
• Hosts 15 changing exhibitions annually, highlighting a variety of media, time periods and cultures
• Operates on a $5 million annual budget – the majority of which comes as gifts from members and community leaders
• Is planning a 125,000-square-foot expansion scheduled to open in October 2010 that will triple its size, improve visitor amenities, quadruple changing exhibition space and allow more of the permanent collection to be on view

The Crocker Art Museum is the only museum in the Sacramento region accredited by the American Association of Museums, a recognition given to only 750 of the nation’s 16,000 museums. AAM accreditation certifies that a museum operates according to standards set forth by the museum profession, manages its collections responsibly and provides quality service to the public.