Lakeland’s Polk Museum of Art announces massive expansion that will open in 2024

Nestled halfway between Orlando and Tampa, Lakeland has always been a magnet for culture.

Fueled by money from families associated with Anheuser-Busch, Publix, and Barnett Bank, the precursor to Bank of America’s eventual introduction to Florida, Lakeland served as a noncoastal retreat for some of Florida’s wealthiest families long before Disney brought attention to the region. While nearby Polk County communities focused heavily on tourism with spots like Cypress Gardens and Bok Tower Gardens, Lakeland instead concentrated on growing offerings that its citizens and visitors could enjoy. Today it’s home to three regionally significant universities with a downtown that’s among the finest in a state better known for its uninspiring strip malls.

Between the college and downtown sits the Polk Museum of Art. Its imposing brick façade dominates the small surface parking lot it shares with the Lakeland Public Library. In 2017, following the fiftieth anniversary of its founding, the Polk Museum of Art joined forces with Florida Southern. Now known as the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, the regional art museum has seen increasing use thanks, in part, to the partnership. Housing art from Florida Southern’s collection has also contributed to the need for a larger space.

After years of planning, the museum announced a massive expansion that is slated to open in just two years. Adding more than 10,000 square feet to the 38,000 square foot museum, the expansion will include new gallery, educational, and laboratory spaces in a design that allows for more of the museum’s permanent collection to be displayed. Also included in the update is a modernizing of the façade and existing public and private spaces. In total, the project will more than triple the Museum’s current major exhibition spaces.

“Since the affiliation between the Museum and Florida Southern in 2017, the Museum has aspired to become a top-tier academic and community museum for learners of all ages,” said Dr. H. Alexander Rich, executive director and chief curator of the museum. “Now with this exciting expansion, our whole community will benefit. The new spaces will showcase art from across time and cultures, and the Museum can continue to grow as an innovative site for learning for its entire art-loving community, including our students.”

The museum’s expansion news comes just as Lakeland readies to open its Florida Children’s Museum in the 168-acre award-winning Bonnett Springs Park this summer that bookends downtown with the Frances Langford Promenade.

Massive museum projects are also underway in Tampa, Winter Park, and Orlando. Despite these organizations fighting for many of the same visitors as the Polk Museum of Art, the Lakeland landmark will play a role in Lakeland’s positioning in remaining significant in the region’s cultural offerings.

The Museum’s expansion announcement also focused on the partnership between the Florida Southern College and Museum, with the project expected to increase their presence in the academic fine art community. The massive update should also help the Museum, and downtown Lakeland, become even more competitive in a region beginning to team with impressive cultural institutions. 

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This article appears in Mar 2-8, 2022.