Arizona's Heard Museum completes major expansion

PHOENIX -- The Heard Museum, one of Arizona's top draws on the motorcoach circuit, completed a comprehensive enhancement project in February.

The museum poured $18 million into an expansion program that has doubled the size of the facility, allowing it to significantly boost its offerings.

Included are 50,000 square feet of new exhibit, performance and visitor services space.

The initiative included the renovation of 18,000 square feet of existing space.

The effort is the most extensive expansion to date for the museum, which was founded in 1929 by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard to showcase their collection of Native American artifacts and fine art. The Heard's collections now encompass more than 32,000 art pieces and native objects.

The museum, internationally recognized for its exhibits, special events and innovative programming, emphasizes the cultures of the Southwest but also features fine art from other native cultures of North America and around the world.

The expansion project was intended to meet the need for additional space and visitor amenities resulting from growing collections and steady increases in visitation since the 1980s. The Heard attracts more than 250,000 visitors annually, a healthy percentage of whom are motorcoach travelers.

The expanded facility is expected to further boost group tour business, according a spokeswoman for the Heard. The museum attracts groups from a variety of local motorcoach operators and companies such as Tauck and Maupintour, and many other tour firms are adding the expanded Heard as a stop on Arizona itineraries, she said.

Among the enhancements visitors will find are three additional galleries, an artist studio, an auditorium, an Education Pavilion, an expanded library, a museum shop and bookstore and a cafe. A new Introductory Gallery provides an overview of the museum and the relationship of native people to their lands.

Two other new spaces are the Crossroads Gallery, featuring contemporary works by native artists, and the Lovena Ohl Exhibit Gallery, which presents changing exhibitions. The Heard now has 10 galleries.

The artists' studio is an area where visitors can view artists in residence as they work. Music and dance performances by Native American artists, lectures and special events are staged in the Heard's new auditorium, which seats 400 people. The Education Pavilion features specialized tours, workshops and lectures.

The project also doubled the size of the Heard Library and Archives facility, and the museum shop and bookstore were relocated to a larger venue. Additionally, the expansion included the construction of a new entry courtyard, which features a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating.

The spaces housing the Heard's original auditorium, museum shop and bookstore will be renovated this summer as meeting and exhibit space. The following is a roundup of new exhibits on display as part of the opening of the expanded facility: