Trout Museum of Art

Trout Museum of Art is an American art museum located in downtown Appleton, Wisconsin.

History

The Trout Museum of Art was founded in 1960. The first location was established at 130 North Morrison Street, Appleton in 1972. The building currently housing the Trout was originally built in 1922 to house a furniture company, but it was donated to the museum in 2002. In 2010, the Trout family gifted the museum their art collection and established a 1-million-dollar trust to maintain it, at which time the museum was renamed to the Trout Museum of Art. Also in 2010, the building's front atrium addition was donated and built by the Boldt Company. In 2022, the museum began searching for a new location, originally planning on building a new building on the Ellen Kort Peace Park. However, because of local outcry and an unfavorable environmental site inspection, the museum abandoned these plans. In 2024, the museum announced plans to build a new location in conjunction with Lawrence University, which is planned to be completed in the fall of 2025.

Exhibits

The museum hosts an annual exhibit designed to showcase art from around Wisconsin, called the "TMA Contemporary". In addition, the museum hosts between 12-18 other exhibits per year, both from its private collection, and works on loan.