Cape Museum of Fine Arts

CONTACT:

Rte. 6A, PO Box 2034
Dennis, MA 02638-5034
508-385-4477 x17
www.cmfa.org

Elizabeth Ives Hunter, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Cape Cod and the Islands have served as home and recreational haven for prominent American artists since the 19th century. Their works have found national and international markets. In 1980 two Cape residents interested in art, Harry Holl and Roy Freed, realized that this broad dispersion of local artistic production involved a loss for the Cape of indigenous cultural resources and heritage. In January 1981 they convened some interested folks who decided to establish a permanent local collection of this art on and for the Cape and Islands. Thus was born the “Scargo Lake Museum,” which evolved into the Cape Museum of Fine Arts. Today the CMFA is in a state-of-the-art facility with seven galleries, a sculpture garden, offices, museum shop, and auditorium, favorably situated adjacent to the Cape Playhouse for the Arts, the Cape Cinema and the Center Stage Cafe. CMFA curates over 1,200 artifacts; it has 1,700 active members, over 25,000 visitors annually, and has just opened a new Education Center with 1,800 square feet of space for children and adult classes, meetings and events. It deserves the grateful support of everyone interested in art on, and of, the Cape and Islands.

(2003: CULTURE: Arts: Visual, Literary and Crafts)