Rockford Art Museum

The mission of Rockford Art Museum is to foster creativity and build community through visual arts.

Like many art museums around the country founded about the same time, Rockford Art Museum began in the late 19th century with a different name, but with the same purpose that exists today. No matter its moniker—Rockford Sketch Club (1887), Rockford Arts and Crafts Society, Rockford Art Association (1913), Art Guild, Art League, Art Club, Burpee Art Gallery (1936), Burpee Art Museum, and Rockford Art Museum (1986) among them—its goals have always been to attract memberships in order to acquire and sustain a permanent collection within a permanent gallery space of its own, for the educational and cultural expansion of its community. This group of men and women has always had the mission of making life in Rockford better.

Rockford Art Museum boasts a diverse yet concise collection, acclaimed modern galleries, museum store, office, studios and classrooms; since 2004 the museum has been a Partner in Excellence of the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Now comprised of more than 2,000 works of art, the RAM Permanent Collection consists of modern and contemporary American art from the 19th and 20th centuries through today, from American Impressionist paintings to Chicago Imagist works to outsider art in new and mixed media; sculpture; photography; and contemporary glass. Regional art with an emphasis on Illinois artists remains a steadfast focus

A nonprofit, public art museum, RAM is supported by memberships, individual and corporate contributions, and partially supported by a Partners in Excellence grant award from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. Proceeds from Women's Art Board, Greenwich Village Art Fair, the Rockford Art Museum Store and fundraisers throughout the year provide additional financial support.