Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science
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| Established | April 8, 1984 |
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| Dissolved | January 5, 2010 |
| Location | Fresno, California |
| Director | Dana Thorpe |
| Website | fresnomet.org |
The Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science was a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate and American Alliance of Museums accredited museum located in downtown Fresno, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. The Museum was established in 1984 and was one of the largest museums between San Francisco and Los Angeles. “The Met” was housed in the historic 1922 Fresno Bee Building.
In August 2005, the museum began an extensive interior renovation; the first of its kind since the Museum's opening. The museum reopened on November 13, 2008 and closed on January 5, 2010, after defaulting on its renovation loans.
In 1978, a group of Fresno civic leaders began to explore the possibility of creating a regional museum for the San Joaquin Valley. From 1981-1985, these members of the community raised more than $5.5 million to open the Met in the historic downtown site of the Fresno Bee building. The Museum opened its doors to the community on April 8, 1984.
Since that time, the Museum has attracted more than 2 million people with its programs in art and science with diverse exhibitions including A T. rex Named Sue, Masterworks from the Albertina, Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime, Variations on a Theme: American Prints from Pop Art to Minimalism and Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body.
In 1995, the Museum became the first organization outside the Bay Area to win Northern California's "Award for Excellence" in non-profit management from Chevron and The Management Center of San Francisco. In 1995, the Met received a Central California Excellence in Business Award in the non-profit category as presented by The Fresno Bee, and American Alliance of Museums accreditation status in July 2007. The Museum was named the Best Museum each year since 1999 by the readers of The Fresno Bee.
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