It is happening! The new San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Higuera Street is not an upgrade—it is a transformation.
Our new home will feature a 4,000-square-foot flagship gallery, a creekside art terrace and a gorgeous grand hall flooded with natural light.
We will open this incredible space next summer with inaugural exhibitions by artists from around the world and around the corner: artists whose work commands your attention.
We project over 100,000 visitors in year one. That is more than double our current attendance, and we are certain it will keep growing.
SLOMA’s new model keeps the beloved building at 1010 Broad as our Education Center, bustling with curious students of all ages and cultural partnerships we’ve never had the space to explore before.
Here’s the thing I love about an art museum: It gives back so much more than it receives.”
San Luis Obispo is a community that takes culture seriously. And SLOMA is the place where you can walk right into that culture on your own terms—any day, for free, for as long as you want. No ticket, no dress code, no reason needed. Just come in.
That’s been our promise for almost 60 years, and we are now standing in the most significant chapter of our entire history.
So let me tell you what I keep picturing:
- A first grader hopping off a school bus and stopping cold in front of a painting bigger than she is.
- Summer camps for kids and painting classes for adults filling up immediately with eager artists.
- A Friday night downtown where the museum is lit up and packed, and the whole block feels more alive because of it.
Soon we get to say yes to all of it! Yes to the school groups. Yes to the exhibitions our community deserves to see. Yes to being the kind of gathering place a great downtown is built around.
Here’s the thing I love about an art museum: It gives back so much more than it receives.
It welcomes your kids and teaches them to really look at the world. It brings visitors from up and down the coast who come for the art and stay downtown for dinner, the wine, and the shopping. It connects you to the world around you and more deeply to yourself.
I feel ridiculously lucky to be doing this, in SLO County, right now. Our board, our members and donors, our partners, and our very patient neighbors have poured so much heart into this dream and it’s actually happening.
Steel and concrete are great, but what gets me is picturing what they’ll hold: light-filled galleries, busy halls, and a front door that stays open to everyone.
We’ve got more to do as we work to complete our ambitious expansion campaign goal: approximately $6 million left to fund the project goal of $21 million and of course our big noisy, dusty work site in the center of downtown SLO.
If you want to learn more about how you might invest in seeing the project completed, give me a call! We’ll be rolling out more ways to get involved in supporting the project this fall.
For now, join me in strolling by 782 Higuera and marvel over how truly gorgeous our future home is already. It has the most amazing light!