Time to get your learn on.
Y'all know Austin has killer venues, rave-reviewed restaurants, a banging bar scene, and a literal party island out on Town Lake, but you'd be forgiven for not taking notice of our softer-spoken side of our city. Home to an impressive collection of art, history, and culture, our museum scene deserves more of your time than just as a means to cure your boredom on a rainy day.
Have a desire to see all of what our museum scene has to offer, but your budget is holding you back? There are plenty of chances to visit for free if you plan your trip right!
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West Campus
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photo via facebook
2400 Trinity St
Reopened this fall after major renovations, The Texas Science & Natural History Museum showcases the natural history of our state, from the formation of Earth to current day. You can expect to see everything from Dinosaurs and meteorites to a diverse wildlife gallery. Keep an eye out for the new exhibitions that are planned, including a discovery center which will feature fossils and a hands-on educational learning space.
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Photo credit: Roger Ho
200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Capping off the future Capitol Mall (when is this city ever not under construction?) , Blanton is busily making moves to grow alongside the city. Adding rotations of new exhibitions alongside their permanent collection, there's always a reason to come back to Blanton. Even if it's just to soak up the colored lights inside Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin.
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photo credit: Visual Arts Center
2300 Trinity St
As the flock of co-eds migrates their way back to town, the
Visual Arts Center reopens their doors for students and locals alike
to explore their five distinct gallery spaces. Founded in 2010 as an extension of the College of Fine Arts, VAC provides an exhibition space for artists to showcase their work alongside their artist-in-residence program. Free and open to the public, it's a great extension of your time on campus.
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photo credit: LBJ Presidential Library Facebook
2313 Red River St.
Think less librarians shushing you, and more being stunned silent by the sight of the life-size LBJ animatronic. Honoring the story and legacy of President Lyndon B Johnson, the Presidential Library inside the towering brutalist structure that watches you sit in traffic on 35 provides a detailed look into his time in office. With a replica of the oval office, Lady Bird's office, his presidential limo, and an exhibit on that infamous day in Dallas, the LBJ Presidential Library is unlike any library you're used to.
* bonus, if you have Lyndon anywhere in your name, you get in for free
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photo credit: Harry Ransom Center
300 West 21st Street
Home to an overwhelmingly impressive of written works, photography, film, and art in another ominous brutalist building on the UT campus. With millions of books, manuscripts, an archive of Robert De Niro scripts, iconic portraits, and other amazing works, prepare to say " wait what?!" at every display.
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photo credit: Bullock Texas State History Museum Facebook
1800 Congress Ave.
It's hard to miss this mighty museum with their massive lone star standing proudly over the future Capitol Mall. Telling the great story of the state of Texas from it's primordial origins, to the explosion of growth from the oil boom, buckle in to come out with a fuller understanding of why so much pride flows across Texas.
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East Austin
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photo credit: George Washington Carver Museum Facebook
1165 Angelina Street
Telling the stories of the Black community divided from the rest of Austin by I-35 and celebrating the global Black experience, George Washington Carver weaves together the larger scale narrative with stories from our local community. Acting as a living museum, with a thriving community engagement alongside monumental exhibits like their Juneteenth Memorial Monument, their growing campus is ever evolving to meet their neighbors' needs. Free to all, there is a priceless experience awaiting past their doors.
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Downtown
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photo credit: Mexic-Arte Museum
419 Congress Ave
A thriving remnant of the downtown warehouse days, the Mexic-Arte Museum lifts up the art and culture of Mexico to share with Texas. Hosting over 5,000 pieces of Mexican, Latinx, and Latin American art, innovative exhibitions, live cultural performances, and a can't-be-missed Dias De Los Muertos celebration, there's always a new reason to pop into this museum.
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photo credit: Bruce K.
412 East 6th St
A museum, on Dirty 6th? Don't question it, and embrace that the city that brands itself as "weird" has a physical space honoring the word we love to use as a parameter for our civic culture. Exploring the evidence for cryptids like Bigfoot, mysteries around the world, and a general paradise for your conspiracy-loving friend, this museum/wax museum/ gift shop is pure campy fun. Sure, there are no ties to any university program (yet) but if you want to celebrate the curiosity of the human imagination, you can do so with ease at the Museum of the Weird.
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photo credit: The Contemporary Austin Facebook
700 Congress Ave
The Jones Center off Congress is bursting with modern art for you to soak up. Offering several floors of gallery space, and an outdoor patio that frames the ever-evolving skyline, are there only works of art inside the Jones Center, or is it a work of art itself?
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Zilker
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photo credit: UMLAUF Facebook
605 Azie Morton Rd
The UMLAUF Sculpture Garden & Museum can be easy to overlook when you're joining the massive looking to get that good parking spot to go to Barton, but you need to just make the move and head over to find serenity in this sculpture garden. Wander the grounds, and find your way through the meandering paths that bring you through the collection of sculptures by Charles Umlauf.
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photo credit: Yelp
2389 Stratford Drive
Curious what that arched gateway by the MoPac parking gravel lot goes to? It goes up to our nature and science center! A fixture of education since the sixties, this hands-on experience brings all their visitors closer connections to nature. Waiting to confirm if adults are allowed to play in the dino pit. Stay tuned.
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Other Museums Worth Checking Out:
3809 W 35th
4801 La Crosse Ave
10621 Pioneer Farms Drive
1009 E 11th St
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Enjoy your museum visit!
