65 Best Sights in USA

One of the largest ongoing adaptive reuse projects in America, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden’s 83-acre campus—with 3 museums, 26 buildings, 9 gardens, 10 acres of wetlands, and a 2-acre farm—is an ideal place to enjoy nature, history, and the arts. Its on-site attractions are managed and, if applicable, ticketed independently of each other (although some are a part of an encompassing Discovery Pass). Events, performances, and cultural celebrations occur regularly throughout campus.

The Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art is Staten Island's oldest contemporary art gallery, exhibiting vibrant, dynamic displays of local and international artwork, all housed in Snug Harbor’s landmarked Greek Revival building. Next door, the Noble Maritime Collection maintains historic collections specific to Staten Island's maritime past. Enjoy the Staten Island Children's Museum with kids, or visit the Staten Island Museum, with exhibits on art, history, and science—including a partial life-size replica of a mastodon. Among the unique botanical gardens is the Ming Dynasty--inspired New York Chinese Scholar's Garden, one of the first classical outdoor scholar’s gardens in North America, fabricated in Suzhou and constructed on-site.

The Art and Culture Center, which is southeast of Young Circle, has a great reputation for presenting ubercool contemporary art exhibitions and providing the community with educational programming for adults and children. Check online for the latest exhibition schedule.

The largest puppetry organization in the country houses a museum where you can see more than 350 puppets from around the world. The elaborate performances include original works and classics adapted for stage. Kids also love the create-a-puppet workshops. The Jim Henson Museum at the Center for Puppetry Arts houses most of the famed puppeteer's collection and includes rooms that re-create his early days, like his office and workshop.

The Kate, as the Center is generally known, is an intimate, 250-seat theater in the Old Saybrook Town Hall building on the historic town green. The Kate presents a full calendar of concerts, dance, drama, opera, comedy, films (including some classic Hepburn films), and children's theater. (Some performances are broadcast on PBS TV in the national series, "The Kate.") In addition to the performances and presentations, a small museum displays memorabilia and reminiscences about Katharine Hepburn's life and career. She was a resident of Old Saybrook from 1912 (age five) until her death in 2003.

In the heart of an upscale, contemporary planned community in Ivins, not far from Tuacahn Center for the Arts and Snow Canyon State Park, this beautifully situated arts colony contains several of southern Utah's top galleries, including Gallery 873, known for jewelry and ceramics; Kayenta Desert Arboretum & Desert Rose Labyrinth and Sculpture Gardens, which visitors can freely stroll through; Zia Pottery Studio, a co-op operated by talented local potters; and several others. Set against a red rock landscape, it's an enchanting neighborhood to stroll through, especially during the Art in Kayenta outdoor festival in mid-October. Also check to see what's on at the Center for the Arts at Kayenta—which presents lectures, movies, theater, and concerts—or grab a bite at the excellent Xetava Café or the expansion Xetava Bar & Kitchen, which opened in 2023.

Internationally renowned, this cultural destination attracts more than 6.5 million visitors annually to its massive, white-travertine-clad complex of buildings, including the homes of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, the Juilliard School, the Film Center, a branch of the New York Public Library specializing in the performing arts, and the Damrosch Park outdoor performance space. All of this makes Lincoln Center one of the nation's most concentrated destinations for the performing arts. The16-acre campus, containing 30 venues in all, was designed by prolific New York architect Wallace Harrison and was built over the course of several years from 1962 to 1969. When David Geffen Hall reopened in fall 2022 after a two-year $550 million renovation, the acoustically superior venue—home to the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States—evoked and honored the vibrant Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood that had been razed to make way for the complex with a multimedia piece by the composer Etienne Charles called “San Juan Hill.” The opening included a commitment to making programming more accessible to all audiences: performances from within the Wu Tsai Theater are simulcast on the lobby’s Hauser Digital Wall for anyone to experience, and rotating visual artworks are also shown on the digital wall as well as on the facade on 65th Street at Broadway. You can also get a glimpse of artists working and rehearsing in the new Sidewalk Studio facing Broadway.

The Metropolitan Opera House, notable for its arched entrance, features immense chandeliers and Marc Chagall paintings, both of which can be seen from outside. Even the fountain in the central plaza puts on a show, with performances that include spouts of water 40 feet high. From mid-May to mid-August, Lincoln Center's "Summer for the City" presents hundreds of mostly free events. 

Guided tours (weekdays 2 pm and 3:45 pm) are 75 minutes and include backstage access to Geffen and Tully halls where visitors can enjoy a unique look behind the scenes at rehearsals, technical work, backstage areas, and theaters. Book tickets online or at Geffen Hall Box Offices.

More than 300 artists contributed to this Denver variation on Santa Fe's psychedelic, immersive art experience in an even bigger space, here called Convergence Station. Four floors are packed with funky art installations, tunnels, platforms, and interactive pieces, with music and other sound accompaniments. The overall effect is a bit of a fever dream, with clever and humorous takes on everyday objects interspersed with video and storytelling through dioramas. Entry is by timed ticket only, but once you enter, you can stay as long as you'd like. All ages will want to spend a few hours here, but kids especially become transfixed by the sensory overload. It's open Sunday through Thursday from 10 am to 10 pm and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. Adults-only nights and live music events are peppered throughout each month.

A showpiece for the city, and a showcase for Hispanic culture in Albuquerque's historic Barelas neighborhood, this beautifully designed space contains a vibrant art museum, multiple performance venues, a restaurant, a fresco-lined Torreón (tower) depicting the span of Hispanic (and pre-Hispanic) history, a 10,000-volume genealogical research center and library, and an education center. Its acoustically superb Roy E. Disney Center for Performing Arts and smaller Albuquerque Journal Theatre host ballet and flamenco performances, a bilingual film series, traditional Spanish and New Mexican music, the famed world music festival ¡Globalquerque!, Opera Southwest, and more. Exhibits at its museum include works by local artists as well as internationally known names and often feature traditional and contemporary craftwork. A vintage WPA-era school contains the library and La Fonda del Bosque restaurant, which features Latin fusion fare indoors and out on the patio.

Occupying the refurbished 19th-century redbrick factory of the eponymous machine manufacturer, the Pioneer Works is a nonprofit cultural center comprising a soaring three-level space dedicated to nurturing independent artists, scientists, musicians, and their creative avant-garde communities. In fact, director Darren Aronofsky and David Byrne of the Talking Heads are on the advisory board. The performance stages and giant exhibition space designed by Red Hook artist Dustin Yellin regularly showcase changing exhibitions and performance art with lively opening parties, films, book fairs, and music concerts. On the grounds outside is an artfully landscaped yard with a bar. 

This arts facility houses the Louisiana State University (LSU) Museum of Art, the LSU Museum Store, the Manship Theatre, LSU School of Art Glassell Gallery, two sculpture gardens, and a rooftop terrace with great views of the Mississippi River. On-site restaurants include Tsunami Sushi, Capital City Grill, PJ's Coffee, and Stroubes Seafood and Steaks.

The events at this 18,000 square foot nexus of international contemporary art include lectures, concerts, author readings, films, performance art, and gallery shows. The facility also hosts a biennial exhibition, SITElines, staged every even-numbered year. Exhibitions are often provocative, and the immense, open space provides an ideal setting for the many larger-than-life installations. The on-site museum store, Curated, offers a tasteful selection of unique, artist-made items.

At the end of a long, winding driveway, this center has a permanent collection of more than 1,000 19th- and 20th-century American artworks and presents temporary exhibitions. The original building, a Georgian mansion set on 100 acres, contains 10 galleries with works by more than 600 artists, many from Vermont. The center also hosts concerts, performances, and film screenings. In summer and fall, the views from the café at lunchtime are magnificent.

Torpedoes were manufactured here by the U.S. Navy during World War II, but now the building houses eight galleries, as well as the studios and workshops of about 165 artists and artisans. You can observe printmakers, jewelers, sculptors, painters, potters, textile artists, and glass makers as they create original work in their studios (and buy their artworks). The Torpedo Factory also houses the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, which displays artifacts such as plates, cups, pipes, and coins from an early tavern, as well as Civil War soldiers' equipment.

This multicultural arts center hosts art exhibits, musical performances, lectures, workshops, and children's programs. Film screenings are occasionally held at the in-house movie theater. A café is open for breakfast, lunch, and snacks from Tuesday to Saturday.

Dedicated to the preservation and continuation of Alaska Native art, this nonprofit organization occupies what was Ft. Seward's hospital. You can watch artisans doing everything from carving totem poles to creating delicate silver jewelry.

A popular site for photo shoots, weddings, and events, this landmark built in 1929 is known for its gardens, gorgeous Colonial Spanish architecture, and artist studios, where you can buy directly from the artists. The main Artisan Shop continues the guild’s mission to help the community, with profits going to the children’s hospital at Stanford. Docent tours are available, but it's also easy to tour around the 3.5 acres on your own. The on-site Café Wisteria is a picturesque choice for a leisurely lunch.

Built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939, this art deco facility is now a nonprofit art school hosting rotating exhibitions and art classes throughout the year. The Armory Art Center became an institution for art instruction when the Norton Museum Gallery and School of Art dropped the latter part of its name in 1986 and discontinued art-instruction classes.

This group of museums, divided into two campuses a block apart, includes the Maitland Art Center, the Maitland Historical Museum, the Waterhouse Residence Museum, and the quirky Telephone Museum. Hidden down a tree-lined side street, the Maitland Art Center is a collection of 23 buildings in the Maya Revival style—with Mesoamerican motifs—that contain an art gallery and artists’ studios. The restored Waterhouse museum reflects the life of a middle-class Victorian family during the early days of the City of Maitland. Recognized by Florida as a historic site and on the National Register of Historic Places, the center was founded as an art colony in 1937 by American artist and architect André Smith (1880–1959). It continues his tradition of art instruction and houses a major collection of his works.

Ever since the renovation of the former Naval Training Center, Liberty Station has championed local artists by transforming the space into a hub for culture and arts. This thriving ARTS DISTRICT showcases murals, sculptures, and other mediums by local artists whose pieces are commissioned for approximately one year. To get a closer look, a Public Art Scavenger Hunt invites visitors to tour the public art by scanning a QR code at any work of art. On the first Friday of every month, guests are invited to meet working artists, discover art installations, and explore the ARTS DISTRICT. Some of the most notable pieces include Victor Ving’s mural Greetings from the U.S. Naval Training Station, an interpretation of a 1940s military postcard; Jonathan Allen’s wooden boat USS Brave that honors the navy heritage; and Mary Buckman’s terra cotta sculpture Sisterhood, representing the bond between Kumeyaay (California's indigenous people) and western women.

A nonprofit visual-arts center, Artspace hosts open studios, where artists are happy to talk to you about their work. Much of the art by resident artists is for sale during or after the exhibitions.

The place bustles with visitors during First Fridays, when galleries and museums throughout the city host public receptions to show off new work.

With exhibits that change every two months, the Atlantic Center for the Arts has works of internationally known artists. Mediums include sculpture, mixed materials, video, drawings, prints, and paintings. Intensive three-week residencies are periodically run by visual-, literary-, and performing-master artists.

Think of this immersive art park as the grounds of a family-friendly music festival that never ends. Local bands and DJs take the stage while visitors dance as they please before moseying over to food trucks, several lounge areas, a playground, and rotating works of art that have seen the likes of Art Basel and Burning Man. During the day you'll find pop-up shops and food vendors, and in the evening BaseCamp becomes a relaxed hangout with a full liquor bar that specializes in tequila flights.

Named after a stop on the Air Line trolley that once shuttled between Downtown and the Santa Monica Pier, Bergamot Station is now a depot for intriguing art---the largest of its kind on the West Coast. The industrial facades house more than 30 art galleries, shops, a café, a theater, and a museum. The galleries cover many kinds of media: photography, jewelry, and paintings from somber to lurid. Leashed, tame dogs are welcome and admission is free.

At this popular and diverse arts center, you can enjoy several restaurants and bars and pay a visit to Blue Star Contemporary, the longest running contemporary art venue in San Antonio. The complex also houses individual galleries and art houses. You can bike or run along the river, too. Admission to the complex is free, but individual venues may charge a fee.

An entertainment complex with two theaters, an art museum, and a conference center, the center presents operas, musicals, plays, dance performances, and symphony and chamber-music concerts. Performers conduct free workshops for children; check the website for dates. The museum, which focuses on 20th-century art, occasionally presents blockbuster exhibits that make a side trip here worthwhile.

This gravity-defying mass of concrete and glass, built in 1963, is the only building in North America designed by the French architect Le Corbusier. It hosts Harvard's Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, exhibition spaces, and the Harvard Film Archive, and is dedicated to artist-centered programming. The open floor plan provides students with five stories of flexible workspace, and the large, outward-facing windows ensure that the creative process is always visible and public. The center regularly holds free lectures, workshops, and receptions with artists.

At the top of the ramp, the Sert Gallery plays host to changing exhibits of contemporary works and has a café. The Main Gallery on the ground floor often showcases work by students and faculty. The Carpenter Center Bookshop, a collaboration with Berlin-based Motto Books, is one of the only local places to carry small-press contemporary art books, magazines, and journals, with an emphasis on international publications and limited-edition projects.

Civic-minded artists grow their practice at this artist-run nonprofit with a mission to provide space and resources for artistic development. The program, housed inside the historic Fountainhead building, also hosts an array of exhibitions that are open by appointment.

The center's Halseth Gallery houses a permanent collection of nearly 500 mostly American paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs, including works by Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses, and Rufino Tamayo. The center also draws some of the best traveling art exhibitions from around the country. Concerts and other programs are presented throughout the year as well.

The cultural center has exhibits on regional artists and Ancestral Pueblo culture, as well as events and fairs. Summer evening programs may include Native American dances and storytelling.