Cahoon Museum of American Art

Founded in 1984, the museum has grown from its beginnings as a showcase for the founder’s collection of American art. The museum today is inspired by the legacy of folk artists Martha and Ralph Cahoon and exhibits a wide range of mediums, traditions, and artistic perspectives throughout the year. The museum’s reputation for engaging, unexpected, and high quality exhibits created a strong following on Cape Cod and the within the region. In 2023, the museum had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase the neighboring property, which included a historic house, several outbuildings, and a large garden area. Needing more space for collection storage, exhibits, offices, and events, the purchase was a no-brainer. But, how to develop the property to meet the museum’s needs? Museum Insights was tasked with helping the museum create a plan for phased development of the new property.

Museum Insights wrote a Master Plan defined the museum’s key constituents and the facilities and activities and experiences needed to serve them effectively. Key elements of the plan included a space program showing the needed types and sizes of spaces for various museum functions and concept diagrams proposing how the historic house on the new property might be effectively connected to the existing museum buildings. A preliminary capital and operating budget for the expanded museum, along with an existing fundraising feasibility study, provided the groundwork for next steps to bring the project to life. Since the plan was completed, the museum has moved forward with selecting an architect and beginning a capital campaign to support the development of the new property.