Engage the Toledo community through meaningful feedback
Preserve the museum’s architectural legacy, including beloved spaces like The Cloister, while distinguishing the museum
Create spaces that elevate the visitor’s experience
Tell a richer, more inclusive story of art history
Enhance accessibility for all visitors
Better integrate the TMA campus and activate underutilized spaces
The Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) is embarking on its first comprehensive gallery reinstallation in over 40 years. This transformative project preserves our historic spaces while reimagining the visitor experience, broadending the story our galleries tell, and ensuring the museum continues to be a source of inspiration for generations.
The reinstallation will provide a chronological journey through art history, guiding visitors from antiquity to the present day, tracing the cultural connections between geographies that the current galleries understate. The new presentation will showcase a fuller breadth of human cultural creativity, telling both a more accurate and inclusive history. The redesigned galleries will feature fresh updates to showcase the variety and quality of TMA’s collection, including innovative uses of technology. These enhancements, along with essential facility upgrades such as upgraded heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and restrooms, will significantly elevate the visitor experience.
| Community Feedback | 2024 – 2025 |
| Design Finalization | 2025 |
| Construction and Reinstallation | 2025 – 2027 |
| Grand Reopening | 2027 |
The Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) has selected Michael Maltzan Architecture, Studio Zewde and Once-Future Office as the design partners for a comprehensive reinstallation of the museum’s galleries. This ambitious project, the first holistic reinterpretation of TMA’s presentation since the late Roger Mandle’s directorship in the 1980s, will reimagine both the curatorial narrative and the visitor experience. “To bring this presentation to life, we need brilliant design partners who have demonstrated commitment to including community perspectives. We have found them in Michael Maltzan Architecture, Studio Zewde and Once-Future Office,” said Adam Levine, Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey president, director and CEO at TMA.
“The Toledo Museum of Art’s reinstallation project offers a once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine the museum experience. We're excited to be working with the museum to design innovative, accessible spaces that showcase the museum’s world-class collection and tell an expanded story of creativity, one that resonates with local communities and speaks to global connectivity. By integrating diverse media and technology and prioritizing inclusivity, we aim to create a transformative visitor experience that can serve as a model for cultural institutions worldwide,” said Michael Maltzan, Michael Maltzan Architecture.
TMA is committed to ensuring that the new galleries reflect feedback from its local audience, the Toledo metropolitan area. During the past year, the museum and its design partners have engaged in extensive outreach activities, including surveys and neighborhood conversations with community members, to gather diverse perspectives and insights.
This inclusive approach will help ensure the reinstallation resonates with visitors and deepens our connection with the community’s rich culture. “Our gallery presentation is four decades old, which is to say that our visitor experience is built on a 40-year-old infrastructure,” Levine said. “If our mission is to integrate art into the lives of people, then rehanging our collection is only half of the equation. The reinstallation offers us a chance to go back to the conceptual as well as the physical studs, rethinking the museum experience for the 21st century. We are developing exciting plans on this front that we believe can create different paradigms for engagement.”
“We are extremely humbled and honored to be a part of the selected team working with the Toledo Museum of Art,” said Sara Zewde, Studio Zewde. “The museum’s ambitions to showcase a fuller breadth of human cultural production and embed art into the everyday lives of people have inspired the way we see the potential of the museum’s landscape. We look forward to continuing the process of listening to the local community, the land and the stories the collection has to tell, as we shape a landscape that is responsive to the need for new museum paradigms and, yet, resonant with this place.”
Dungjai Pungauthaikan from Once-Future Office added, “We’re thrilled to be part of a project with such a strong connection and dedication to its community. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to be part of this dream team in creating a groundbreaking chronological experience. Our team brings expertise in crafting autonomous visitor experiences with world-renowned art institutions, while authentically showcasing their distinct stories and qualities. We’re excited to amplify the stories of TMA’s expansive collection through engaging visual and interactive strategies in this reinstallation.”
As stewards of TMA’s historic and architecturally significant campus, we are committed to honoring our legacy and 125-year history in Toledo while reimagining the galleries to reflect our mission and meet the evolving needs of our community.
The chronological timeline will move across the museum from east to west. Art from the earliest part of the TMA collection will continue to be exhibited in the Classic Court and the modern and contemporary collection will end the timeline in the Levis Gallery. Relocating The Cloister in closer proximity to Classic Court will allow the chronological narrative to flow more seamlessly and allow for connections between the ancient and medieval worlds to be explored in new ways. As with the 2021 refresh of the Cloister and the 1990s update before that, The Cloister’s next move will continue to care for and enhance this architectural marvel even more.
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Aerial view of TMA's Campus
A curatorial team group session
Our curators working in a workshop to arrange the collection chronologically
Reviving the loop around the Museum that the building’s architect originally intended
A view from Libbey Court into a skylit Canaday Gallery
Expanded space for contemporary art and a new temporary exhibition space outfitted with restrooms
Toledo Museum of Art, Herrick Lobby Entrance
Outside view of the Monroe Street entrance
The transformation of our galleries is about preserving the elements that make our museum a special treasure, while better reflecting the needs of our surrounding community and updating our buildings and the galleries within for the twenty-first century. The reinstallation project will more effectively utilize the square footage in both the Edward B. Green Building and the SANAA Glass Pavilion, activating spaces that have been underutilized for many years.
We are in the process of moving from schematic design to developed design but you can expect:
Chronological gallery flow guiding visitors through art history
Interactive exhibits for deeper engagement
Enhanced accessibility, including improved navigation and facilities
Preservation of our collection
More inclusive narratives reflecting global and local stories
Ongoing access to the museum throughout the reinstallation process
Throughout the reinstallation project, a series of community engagement initiatives have been conducted to gather valuable input from the Toledo community and beyond. TMA has held a variety of moderated group discussions, ensuring that feedback is gathered from individuals with cultural or demographic backgrounds outside the expertise of TMA staff. TMA also has conducted visitor intercept surveys, phone marketing surveys, and focus groups.
TMA also created a standing Community Council, composed of approximately 30 members nominated by staff and community partners, who meet regularly to provide ongoing input on programs and projects, including those integral to reinstallation. This approach fosters an inclusive, equitable environment where the community’s input plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of our cultural spaces.
The Community Councils serve as integral components of our community engagement efforts. Councils are structured to facilitate feedback and input on visitor experience, programs, and other projects and initiatives within TMA as they arise. Community Councils are made up of a diverse group of community members that meets regularly to give feedback. This is a 2-year appointment.
A moderated discussion involving a small group of individuals brought together to provide feedback on general themes, artwork, programming, layout, and labels for exhibitions as well as TMA programming and other areas in need of community input. Listening sessions are focused on specific subjects and are generally made up of community members with specific cultural or demographic affiliations that are beyond the expertise of the Community Councils.
Community conversations are informal or semi-structured conversations with community members about relevant issues, challenges, or ideas. These conversations aim to build relationships, promote understanding, and encourage honest feedback. These conversations are generally held in offsite locations (such as senior centers, libraries, parks & community centers), meeting community members in their own neighborhoods.
Surveys are research tools used to collect data and opinions from a specific group of people. They typically consist of a series of questions that can be administered in various formats (e.g., online, paper, conversationally) to gather quantitative and qualitative information on topics of interest, helping to inform decisions and understand community needs
| Listening Session | 4 |
| Survey | 6 |
| Community Conversation | 8 |
| Community Council | 5 |
| Informational | 13 |
| In Gallery | 36 |
| Listening Session | 24 |
| Survey | 86 |
| Community Conversation | 61 |
| Community Council | 55 |
| Informational | 281 |
| Total | 507 |
In this episode, we explore ways that art museums have distinct personalities and cultures, along the way learning more about TMA’s reinstallation.
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