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reigniting the FIRE
Creating a metal arts center in the heart of Memphis
About
Over the past forty years,
the Metal Museum has established itself as a leader in the celebration, recognition, and promotion of the field of fine metalwork.
The Metal Museum is a center for metal arts— a place that promotes artists and their work through award-winning exhibitions and a dynamic permanent collection, contributes to teaching the next generation of artists in the Metals Studios, and advances the education of the public through innovative community engagement activities and active arts education.
Building upon this success and looking to the future, the Metal Museum has launched a capital and endowment campaign to create a new vibrant arts center in the heart of Memphis that will significantly build the Museum’s capacity to serve its audiences and its mission.
The relocation to Overton Park not only provides the Museum with the physical space to expand programming. It also enables the Museum to grow and diversify the educational experiences offered to Memphis and the metalsmithing community.
Expanding Metal Museum programming to Overton Park —
to the center of the city and near other cultural assets—gives greater visibility to the Museum and provides opportunities to serve the Museum’s diverse local and national audiences more effectively. In this new location, the Metal Museum also becomes a vibrant participant in Overton Park, strengthening and expanding the cultural amenities in one of the city’s most historic and beloved parks. Through programming and operational partnerships with other Overton Park organizations, the Museum extends its reach to park users and all Memphians. And, through thoughtful renovations, the Metal Museum reignites an empty building to serve as a place where visitors from all walks of life and parts of the city can gather, connect, and create.
The relocation to Overton Park not only provides the Museum with the physical space to expand programming. It also enables the Museum to grow and diversify the educational experiences offered to Memphis and the metalsmithing community.
In this new location, the Metal Museum also becomes a vibrant participant in Overton Park, strengthening and expanding the cultural amenities in one of the city’s most historic and beloved parks. Through programming and operational partnerships with other Overton Park organizations, the Museum extends its reach to park users and all Memphians. And, through thoughtful renovations, the Metal Museum reignites an empty building to serve as a place where visitors from all walks of life and parts of the city can gather, connect, and create.
Expansion
CREATING
art and immersive experiences
Alongside the renovations to the existing mid-century building, the Metal Museum in Overton Park features a new, custom-designed Metals Studios to house the Museum’s blacksmith shop, foundry, and digital design lab.. Three times larger than the Museum’s current studios, the new space provides a consolidated, efficient space under one roof for learning, creation, and collaboration across the Museum’s various studio programs. Interconnecting making and learning, the design of the new building blends active art creation with a dynamic visitor experience.
Ground Floor Lobby
Visitors are welcomed into an accessible and open ground floor entrance
Ground Floor Entrance
Visitors are welcomed into an accessible and open ground floor entrance
Second Floor Terrace
Connecting the two towers, the second floor terrace provides a space for Museum and rental events with stunning views of Overton Park
Metals Studios
Demonstration Area
A climate-controlled area provides visitors with a safe space to watch blacksmithing and casting demonstrations.
CULTIVATING
creativity and inspiration
With six-times the dedicated space for education—including classrooms for exploration, studios for creative design, and welcoming gathering spaces throughout the building—the Metal Museum in Overton Park dramatically transforms education programs available for youth and adult learners, as well as artists of all skill levels. The spaces build upon existing gallery, studio, and community programs that expose audiences to the diverse field of metalsmithing and serve as conduits to more advanced artistic and vocational opportunities. The new centralized location increases the public’s accessibility to these programs, particularly for youth in surrounding neighborhoods.
CELEBRATING
the field of metalwork
The Metal Museum in Overton Park is a state-of-the-art facility for the collection, preservation, and celebration of metal art in all forms, attracting more artists, collectors, researchers, and fine art and craft patrons to Memphis while reigniting interest in the Museum among local audiences. Spacious galleries welcome triple the number of annual visitors to celebrate the field of fine metalwork, while increased collections storage positions the Museum to strategically build its collection and gain greater visibility as the global leader in the preservation and promotion of fine metalwork.
This expansion promises the manifestation of relationships between various aspects of the Museum—exhibiting, making, educating— as an interconnected experience for visitors and artists alike.
–CARISSA HUSSONG
Executive Director of the Metal Museum
This dynamic expansion requires a $35 million investment. $25 million will transform the existing building and create a new building for the Metals Studios, while $10 million will create an endowment to maintain the capital investment and ensure continued programmatic leadership within the field. As a result of this campaign, the Metal Museum will be elevated into an internationally recognized, world-class center for the metal arts that inspires creativity among all audiences through art and education.
Be the Spark
To learn more about being part of the Metal Museum's future, please contact:
CARISSA HUSSONG
Executive Director
carissa@metalmuseum.org
MADISON MILLER
Development Manager
madison@metalmuseum.org
CAMPAIGN LEADERSHIP
Richard Aycock, Chair
Shannon A. Brown
Phil Coop
Theodore Davis
Laura Eason
Douglas W. Ferris
Gary Shorb
Bryan K. Smith
Stacy Smith
Andy Taylor
Nicole Treadwell
Monica Wharton
Contact
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