MUSEUM MISSION STATEMENT: "We, as inhabitants of the Northern Great Plains, struggle to ensure that the arts are nourished, and that they flourish, because we know that a vital cultural life is deeply essential to isolated people. We have concluded that to study the arts is to educate our minds, for through the arts we learn to make difficult decisions based upon abstract and ambiguous information. This is the ultimate goal of education. Furthermore, we have come to value the arts because they make our hearts wise—the highest of human goals. Therefore, in the most difficult of times, and in an environment that might be perceived as alien to the visual arts, we propose to build a world-class museum for the people of the Northern Plains.

"The North Dakota Museum of Art, by legislative act, serves as the official art museum of the State of North Dakota. The Museum's purpose is to foster and nurture the aesthetic life and artistic expression of the people living on the Northern Plains. The Museum will provide experiences that please, enlighten and educate the child, the student and the broad, general public. Specifically, the Museum will research, collect, conserve and exhibit works of art. It will also develop programs in such related arts as performance, media arts and music.