Provo is home to Brigham Young University, one of the largest private universities in the United States, and the BYU Museum of Art is among the most significant university art museums in the American West - holding a collection of more than 17,000 works with particular strength in 19th-century European painting and Mormon and Utah art history. The campus arts programs supply a continuous stream of working artists to the Utah County creative community, and the downtown Provo arts district along Center Street has developed a growing cluster of galleries and studios that draw from both the university audience and the broader community. Provo's proximity to Springville, the "Art City of Utah," makes the two communities complementary destinations for a day of serious gallery-going in Utah County.
Museum BYU Campus · Provo
One of the largest and most significant art museums in the American West, with a collection of over 17,000 works spanning world art history - including a celebrated collection of Carl Bloch paintings, Rembrandt etchings, and a strong survey of 19th-century European art, all free and open to the public.
Cultural Center Downtown Provo · Provo
Provo's primary arts venue, presenting visual art exhibitions alongside performing arts programming in a purpose-built community arts center - the creative and civic hub of Utah County's arts ecosystem.
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Brigham Young University's Museum of Art is the anchor of Provo's institutional art world, holding a permanent collection of more than 17,000 works that spans Western and world art history with particular depth in American painting, sculpture, and prints. The museum's exhibitions program regularly brings major traveling shows to Provo that would be at home in much larger markets, and admission is free, making it one of the most accessible art museum experiences in the state. The BYU Arts Partnership connects the university's creative community to K-12 education and the broader Provo community in ways that extend the institution's reach well beyond the campus. The Utah Valley arts scene also includes the Spring City arts colony to the south, a small historic town that has attracted artists seeking affordable space and authentic architecture, and the city of Springville to the north, whose Springville Museum of Art holds the finest collection of Utah art anywhere. For art travelers in central Utah, the concentration of arts programming within the Utah Valley corridor rewards extended exploration.