This year, six museums and cultural institutions across the country make their debut. From new art museums to a reimagined campus, these projects are set to make waves in 2026.

Memphis Art Museum

Opening in December, Memphis Art Museum’s new cultural campus in Downtown Memphis expands the institution’s existing gallery space by 50 percent, providing 600 percent more art-filled free public space, including a 10,000-square-foot community courtyard at street level and a 50,000-square-foot rooftop sculpture garden. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the new museum will also feature free public spaces and a transparent glass façade, as well as one of the first major U.S. museums made with laminated timber.

Hunter Pavilion at Ravinia Highland Park, Illinois

As North America’s longest-running outdoor music festival and one of the country’s most cherished cultural destinations, Ravinia’s 2026 season opens July 11 in the newly transformed Hunter Pavilion. Two years in the making, the pavilion will feature a deeper stage, enhanced acoustics, state-of-the-art audio and lighting, improved accessibility, and dramatically expanded productions capabilities.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles

Debuting Sept. 22, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is dedicated to illustrated storytelling, featuring works by Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, Frida Kahlo and Maxfield Parrish. Comic art legends like Winsor McCay and Jack Kirby will also be on display, as well as photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Dorothea Lange. The museum, designed by Ma Yansong, will include a new green space and 300,000-square-foot building with galleries, two theaters, a library, restaurant, café, retail store and community spaces.

The New York Historical’s Tang Wing for American Democracy, New York

The Tang Wing for American Democracy makes its grand opening this June at The New York Historical, greatly expanding both the landmark building and schedule of exhibitions, educational initiatives and public programs. The new wing will be dedicated to the history and future of the nation’s founding principles, featuring a new exhibition hall, the Stuart and Jane Weitzman Shoe Museum, facility for conserving The Historical’s collection of paintings and historical objects, and the new home of the American LGBTQ+ Museum (opening in late 2027).

Reimagined Campus at Highmark Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s outdoor music destination welcomes its 50^th season with a revitalized campus, complete with a range of new audience amenities. At the center of the project is a new, 46,000-square-foot plaza. The campus will also boast a new welcome center with the Music Hall of Fame, a Highmark Mann digital jukebox and other interactive elements. The Satell Centennial Wall East will be a massive light-and-sound digital wall animating the plaza with vivid installations, while renovated backstage facilities, a new ticket office, additional restrooms, expanded concessions and a new gift shop are also slated to debut.

LACMA David Geffen Galleries, Los Angeles

This April, LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries open to the public. Designed by Peter Zumthor, the 900-foot-long, horizontal building will be the home of the permanent collection. Non-hierarchical presentations of art from all cultures and eras come together in the single, elevated exhibition level in the new building, complete with floor-to-ceiling glass panels. The building opening culminates a two-decade campus transformation to increase gallery space, and will include 3.5 acres of new outdoor space, artist commissions indoors and out, a theater, three restaurants and cafés, the LACMA store, and W.M. Keck Education Center.