Winner (#1)

Akron Art Museum

When the museum first opened its doors on February 1, 1922 as the Akron Art Institute, it was located in two borrowed rooms in the basement of the public library. The institute had severely limited financial resources but ambitious founders. They hoped that in addition to offering art instruction and exhibitions, the institute would eventually possess a permanent home and a collection of historical and modern international art.

Over the next quarter century, the museum has continued to enrich the lives of those in Northeast Ohio and beyond through modern art. Its nationally recognized collection was documented through the publication of collection catalogues. Three acquisitions endowments were created to ensure the collection's future growth. A greatly enlarged general endowment provided increased, more stable funding, allowing the staff to undertake ambitious programs and exhibitions with national and even international impact. In 2007, its eighty-fifth year, the museum more than tripled in size with the opening of the new John S. and James L. Knight Building, which adjoins the 1899 building. Spanning three centuries, like the museum's collection, together they symbolize the museum's dual role as preserver of the past and herald of the future.