About Us

The Newark Museum of Art (NMOA) was founded with the belief, radical among museums in 1909, that art and learning are for everyone. Today, New Jersey’s largest fine art museum is a vibrant center for the arts and community and places special emphasis on public programming that engages local artists and audiences.

As a leading cultural institution for more than a century,  NMOA stewards collections of more than 300,000 artworks and artifacts in science and natural history – the 12th largest museum collection in the nation. Known as the first institution to give sustained support to modernism in America, NMOA continues to pursue new definitions of cultural innovation and is among the 3% of U.S. museums that are nationally accredited.

The Museum’s 3.1 acre campus offers a range of settings to explore, wonder, and create including the National Historic Landmark Ballantine House (1885); the Ward Carriage House (1860); the Old Stone School House (1784); the Dreyfuss Memorial Garden; the Dreyfuss Planetarium (1954),  New Jersey’s the first planetarium.  NMOA partners with our community to preserve and advocate for the arts, history and culture, and to host special events such as the Newark Black Film Festival, the longest-running Black film festival in the United States, and the Newark Arts Festival, a four-day catalyst for the collaborative power of the arts in the city.

NMOA puts the people of Newark, their creativity and strength at the center of its work, responding to the evolving interests of diverse audiences and critically examining its responsibility to equity.