The Tampa Museum of Art (TMA) opened in 1979, though its origins date further back to 1964, when a public/private partnership was formed between the City of Tampa and a number of local community arts organizations, resulting in the formation of the Tampa Museum Foundation.  The original museum was housed on Tampa’s riverfront behind the convention center, but in 2010 moved a short distance upriver to its current location.

TMA’s permanent collection includes strong holdings of paintings, photographs, sculpture and works on paper (by mostly American artists), as well as the largest collection of Greek and Roman antiquities in the Southeast region.  The Museum features around ten exhibitions each year dealing with a variety of subjects, from the work of local contemporary artists to surveys of particular media and time periods in art history.  The Education department also features a wide variety of art classes for all ages, dealing with all media from drawing and painting to sculpture, photography, fashion and mixed media.  A number of events are sponsored by and hosted at the Museum, most notably Art After Dark, a monthly (every third Friday of the month, from 8 to 11 pm) celebration of local art, music and entertainment in a nightclub environment.