The Frist Center is committed to education — helping people of all ages and backgrounds become more familiar with, knowledgeable of and appreciative of art. The Education Department’s dedicated staff organizes a wide variety of activities, both at the Frist Center and off-site.

Unlike any traditional museum you’ve ever visited, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts has become a magnet for Nashville’s rapidly expanding visual arts scene. With an exhibitions schedule that has new art flowing through the magnificent Art Deco building every 6 to 8 weeks, no matter how often you visit, there is always something new and exciting to see in the spacious galleries.

The Frist Center was conceived as a family-friendly place and one of the most popular locations in the center is the innovative Martin ArtQuest Gallery. It’s a colorful space alive with the sounds of learning through making art! ArtQuest activities abound for people of all ages. With 30 interactive stations, and the assistance of knowledgeable staff and volunteers, ArtQuest teaches through activity. Make a print, paint your own original watercolor, create your own colorful sculpture! It’s all there in ArtQuest, and it’s free with gallery admission for adults and always free for students 18 and under.

The Frist Center owes its existence to the hundreds of members of the Nashville community who voiced the desire to have a world-class visual arts center in Middle Tennessee. The Frist Center’s commitment to community is one of the founding tenets of the institution, and the institution’s reach into the community is both broad and deep. Through active and assertive education and outreach activities, the Middle Tennessee area benefits from the Frist Center.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is a nonprofit art-exhibition center, with approximately 24,000 square feet of gallery space, dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, state and regional artists, as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions.

The Frist Center opened in April 2001, and since that time has hosted a spectacular array of art from the region, the country, and around the world.