The Frost Art Museum sparks curiosity and dialogue through art. As a Smithsonian affiliate museum and one of the largest academic art museums in South Florida, we provide the community with free access to world-class art that spans cultures and time periods.
The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum's mission is to spark curiosity and learning while developing local & global connections through art as a leading international university museum.
Housed on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus of Florida International University, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum (formerly The Art Museum at FIU) opened in 1977. Initially a small gallery of less than 3,000 square feet, the museum grew to achieve local, national and international recognition as one of South Florida’s key cultural institutions. The Frost Art Museum’s extraordinary programmatic growth during the 1980s and 1990s qualified the museum for designation as a Major Cultural Institution by both the State of Florida and Miami-Dade County. Grants from both sources, complimented by endowments, membership and private and corporate giving, provide stable funding for annual programs. In 1999, the Museum received accreditation from the American Associations of Museums (AAM) and in 2001 became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
Following the groundbreaking for its new facilities in 2003, the Art Museum at FIU was officially renamed the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum. The museum gained a respected reputation for its innovative exhibitions, outstanding lecture series and educational outreach programs for South Florida’s diverse audiences. Through generous support from private donations as well as state and local government agencies, the Frost Art Museum–FIU is able to offer free admission to all exhibitions and public events.
After opening its doors in 2008, the museum now resides in a beautiful 46,000 square-foot building designed by Yann Weymouth of Hellmuth Obata + Kassabaum (HOK) and situated in the heart of FIU’s Avenue of the Arts.
The museun's permanent collection includes over 6,000 objects with a strong representation of American printmaking from the 1960s and 1970s, photography, pre-Columbian objects dating from 200-500 AD, and a growing number of works by contemporary artists, especially from Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The Frost Art Museum serves as a core component of Florida International University (FIU), the fourth largest university in the nation and the largest public university in South Florida. With more than 58,000 students and over 260,000 alumni, FIU is committed to learning, research, entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity.
In its role as the university’s main on-campus center for the exhibition of the visual arts, the museum provides students the opportunity to study their discipline and enhance their collegiate experience in an immersive museum setting. Students can join the Museum Insiders Program for exclusive access to the Frost and other FIU museums at no cost.
Tori Arpad-Cotta
Elizabeth Béjar, PhD
Katherine Caskey
David Chang
Nicki Fraser, PhD
Marilyn Greene
Michele Grillone
Mark Herrera
Deborah Korge
Elizabeth Rader, PhD
Gerardo "Jerry" Rodriguez
Karen Vassell
Douglas Wartzok, PhD
We acknowledge that the territory now known as "South Florida" has been the traditional homeland of Native nations, including the Calusa, the Tequesta, and today the Miccosukee and the Seminole. We invite viewers of all our events in paying our respects to the traditional custodians of this land and their Elders, both past and present.
