Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM)

About

PAAM is the anchor of the Provincetown Art Colony, hosting exhibitions, cultural programs, and artist-led classes year-round.

www.paam.org/visit

Story

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) is a nationally recognized, year-round cultural institution that fuses the creative energy of America’s oldest active art colony with the natural beauty of outer Cape Cod that has inspired artists for generations.

PAAM was established in 1914 by a group of artists and townspeople to build a permanent collection of works by artists of outer Cape Cod, and to exhibit art that would allow for unification within the community. As 2014 marks PAAM’s Centennial year, the programming and exhibition schedule highlights significant artists, artwork, and events that have contributed to PAAM becoming the vital cultural institution it is today.

Integral to the community comprising the Provincetown Art Colony, PAAM embodies the qualities that make Provincetown an enduring American center for the arts, and serves as Cape Cod’s most widely-attended art museum.

As interest in the region’s contribution to American art history continues to grow, PAAM presents an ever-changing lineup of exhibitions, lectures, workshops and cultural events that seek to promote and cultivate appreciation for all branches of the fine arts for which Provincetown is known.

Mission

The objects and purposes of this association shall be to promote and cultivate the practice and appreciation of all branches of the fine arts, to assemble and maintain in the town of Provincetown and environs a collection of works of art of merit, to hold exhibitions, and by forums, concerts and similar activities to promote education of the public in the arts and social intercourse between artists and laymen. To these ends it shall operate strictly within its charter as a nonprofit, educational, artistic and cultural organization.

- Constitution and By-laws Provincetown Art Association and Museum, 1921