The Mission of the National Museum of Wildlife Art is to collect, display, interpret, and preserve the highest quality North American wildlife art, supplemented by wildlife art found throughout the world. The Museum enriches and inspires appreciation and knowledge of humanity’s relationship with nature.

The Vision: As the world's premier museum of wildlife art, the National Museum of Wildlife Art aspires to be recognized as a significant resource for anyone interested in fine art and wildlife, with the capacity to work with organizations and individuals worldwide.

The Museum’s permanent collection of over 5,000 cataloged items includes paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by over 100 distinguished artists ranging from early American Tribes through contemporary masters. The Museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions are augmented with innovative educational and scholarly programs emphasizing art appreciation, art history, natural science, creative writing, and American history.

The Museum has become an important educational center and meeting place for the Jackson Hole region. In 1994, the National Museum of Wildlife Art received the Wyoming Humanities Award for exemplary efforts in fostering the humanities in Wyoming. More than 76,000 people visit every year, and over 10,000 children visit the Museum each year, often as part of their school curricula.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art is pleased to offer several unique spaces which may be rented for private functions. Whether it is a business conference in the Fritz Conference Room, private dinner in the Member's Lounge, wedding reception in Johnston Hall, or a special presentation in Cook Auditorium, the use of this beautiful facility is a terrific addition to your Jackson Hole itinerary.

Something like this could happen to your group: Your guests arrive at the National Museum of Wildlife Art and are treated to a private tour of the galleries. Following the tour, the group roams onto the terrace for drinks and one of the most spectacular shows in the West - a Wyoming sunset illuminating the National Elk Refuge, Sleeping Indian, and the Gros Ventre mountain range. Finally, an elegant dinner is served in the open, two-story Museum lobby which is dominated by a dramatic bronze cougar.

In 1984, 10 founding trustees chose Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with its abundant wildlife, beautiful mountain setting, and high tourism, as a unique and appropriate setting for an art museum focused on images of wildlife. The original museum opened as Wildlife of the American West Art Museum on May 16, 1987 on Jackson’s Town Square.

By 1992, the NMWA had outgrown its three-gallery, 5,000 square-foot storefront. A capital campaign was launched to raise $10 million for a new facility and $2 million for an operating endowment. In September 1994, the NMWA opened its new facility, a 51,000 square-foot state-of-the-art building that allowed for expanded exhibition space, museum programs, and educational programming.

Representing the culmination of a lifetime of study and collection of wildlife art by Joffa and Bill Kerr who, over a 30-year period, developed a collection of wildlife art unsurpassed in the United States, the Museum is comprised of 14 exhibition galleries, an interactive gallery for children, a conference room, two full-sized classrooms, a 200-seat auditorium, the Rising Sage Café, Members’ Lounge, Library & Archives, and administrative space.