Honolulu Academy of Arts - Honolulu, Hawaii - Hawaii's Premier Art Museum

Founded by Anne Rice Cooke in 1927, the Honolulu Academy of Arts today holds a collection of more than 50,000 works of art. It also offers educational classes and stages performances, maintains an extensive library, showcases traveling and permanent displays, and sells art-related items to support its many programs.

The Academy's mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and teach visual arts, and to present exhibitions, films and videos, performing arts, and public programs that are relevant to the ethnically diverse community that makes up Hawaii. In doing so, it has created an encyclopedic museum, state-of-the-art galleries and an Art Center at Linekona, the state's largest private art school.

Cookes' personal art collection provided the starting point. She also donated her family's land on Beretania Street land for the museum, coupled a $25,000 endowment. Steadily growing in both acquisitions and stature, the Academy now ranks among the finest in America. It added a library in 1956, the education wing in 1960, and a gift shop in 1965. The caf, opened in 1969.

In 1977, expansion included the contemporary gallery, administrative offices and a 280-seat theater. An art center for studio classes and expanded educational programming began activities in 1989. Ten years later, a children's interactive gallery was created, along with a lecture hall and office suite, as part of the education wing.

With 45,000 books and periodicals, biographical files and auction catalogs on file, the Academy's library is Hawaii's leading source of art information. Much of the collection has been computerized for easy access to data on everything from Japanese ukiyo-e to the many prints gifted to the Academy by the late author James A. Michener.

Renovations that started in 1998 upgraded the Pavilion Caf, and Academy Shop in a new two-story exhibition structure. It houses works that document the history of art in Hawaii, along with a gallery for changing displays.

Exhibitions dedicated to cross-cultural influences, East Meets West, are found in the Western Wing, including separate galleries for the art of Korea, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Doris Duke Theatre provides film and entertainment offerings, plus lectures and musical performances.

As an important member of the local community, the Academy sponsors a holiday gala that is much anticipated on the Hawaiian social calendar - the Kama'aina Christmas. It is held in the galleries and courtyards, and proceeds go toward Academy projects.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is located at 900 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96814. Its Linekona Art Center is towards Diamond Head, diagonally across from the museum. Opening hours are 10am to 4:30pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 1pm to 5pm on Sundays. All Academy facilities are closed on New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Courtesy parking and wheelchair access is available for disabled persons. General admission costs $10 for adults or $5 for seniors, students and those with military IDs. Academy members have free access, as do children under 12 and Hawaii-based teachers. Free days at the museum are the first Wednesday and third Sunday of each month. There is no charge at any time for entrance to the Academy Shop, the Pavilion Caf, and the Robert Atherton Library.