Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

What Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum does

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is a university art museum operated as part of Washington University in St. Louis and administered within the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. The institution traces its art holdings to 1881, was renamed for donor Mildred Lane Kemper when its dedicated facility opened in 1981, and currently occupies a building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki that opened in 2006 and was expanded by Kieran Timberlake in 2019. Admission is free to all visitors; the museum maintains a permanent collection of more than 8,000 artworks spanning modern and global contemporary painting, photography, prints, sculpture, and ancient objects, and presents rotating exhibitions including "Reframing the 19th Century" and "Artists in Exile: European Surrealists in the US during and after World War II."

Core offerings include the searchable online collection database, a Bloomberg Connects-powered free digital guide, the Art on Campus public art program, and a Study Room for academic research. Educational products are segmented by audience: PreK-12 class tours aligned with Missouri Learning Standards, curriculum-based tours for WashU faculty and students, custom-designed visits for St. Louis-area colleges and universities, and student programs including the Kemper Teaching Fellows, Arthur Greenberg Curatorial Fellowship, and Student Educator Program. Guided tours are delivered in ASL, English, Mandarin, and Spanish.

As a nonprofit university museum, the Kemper generates revenue through a tiered membership program (from $35 Associate to $500+ Sustainer), space rentals of the Lobby and Saligman Family Atrium for private events, the Kemper Corporate Circle for corporate sponsorship, planned giving and bequests, and donated artworks. Funding is supplemented by Washington University allocations and grants from entities including the Trio Foundation of Saint Louis and the Ken and Nancy Kranzberg Fund. The museum serves over 30,000 visitors and over 10,000 PreK-12 and university students and educators annually, primarily across the St. Louis metro area and Midwest United States, with reciprocal membership access extending through NARM and ROAM to over 1,000 art museums nationwide.

Name

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Legal name

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Website

https://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1881

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is a free-admission university art museum at Washington University in St. Louis, stewarding 8,000+ artworks and serving over 30,000 annual visitors through exhibitions, education programs, and digital engagement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Memberships: Annual memberships at various levels ($35-$500+) providing benefits including discounts, reciprocal museum admissions, and parking validations.
2. Space Rental: Event rentals of museum spaces including Lobby and Saligman Family Atrium for cocktail receptions and seated dinners, with separate rates for Washington University departments.
3. Planned Giving: Bequests and planned gifts ensure long-term museum operations and mission continuity.
4. Art Donations: Accepts donated artworks to expand collection holdings.
5. Corporate Sponsorship: Kemper Corporate Circle membership supporting exhibitions, programs, and PreK-12 arts education.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is a university art museum that preserves, exhibits, and interprets a permanent collection of over 8,000 artworks spanning modern to global contemporary art, ancient objects, photography, prints, and sculpture. It delivers free admission to the public, curriculum-based tours and learning programs for PreK-12 through university audiences, and operates as a teaching museum within Washington University in St. Louis. Supplementary offerings include a tiered membership program, museum space rentals for private events, a Bloomberg Connects digital guide, and a public Art on Campus program.

Product overview

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum operates as a university art museum offering a portfolio of interconnected products and services centered around its collection of over 8,000 artworks. The core offerings include the Digital Guide via Bloomberg Connects for visitor engagement, a searchable online Collection database, and various Education Programs (PreK-12, University, Student Programs) that provide curriculum-based tours and learning resources. Additional services include Space Rental for events, a Membership Program with tiered benefits, the Study Room for academic research, Guided Tours in multiple languages, and the Art on Campus public art program. The museum functions as both a traditional art museum and a teaching institution within Washington University in St. Louis.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Digital Guide (Bloomberg Connects)

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves over 30,000 visitors each year
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Contemporary Art Museum St. LouisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint partnership through the AMPLIFY program, inviting middle and high school students to explore art and social justice through interactive tours and art-making at multiple St. Louis art institutions.
• Saint Louis Art MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint partnership through the AMPLIFY program for art and social justice education programming.
• Midwest Art Conservation CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates on conservation of artworks with financial support from Washington University, IMLS, and NEH awards.
• Saint Louis Art Museum ConservationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConservation partnership for preservation management of the over 8,000 objects in the permanent collection.
• Washington University Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & EquitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Curatorial Research Internship providing opportunities to research the museum's collection focusing on race, ethnicity, and the WashU & Slavery Project.
• Fumihiko MakicoreOthersAward-winning architect who designed the museum building in 2006.
• Kieran TimberlakecoreOthersArchitecture firm that expanded the museum building in 2019.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Princeton University Art Museum: Teaching museum embedded in an Ivy League research university with a teaching gallery program, study room access, and curriculum-integrated class visits—all features that closely parallel Kemper's academic engagement model.
• Davis Museum at Wellesley College: Academic museum at a liberal arts institution with teaching gallery exhibitions, study room access, and curriculum-aligned class visits—a comparable teaching-museum model focused on academic engagement.
• Harvard Art Museums: University art museums serving elite research institutions with free admission, multi-thousand-object collections, and strong PreK-12/college educational programming. Closest direct peer in scale and mission.
• Yale University Art Gallery: One of the oldest and most prominent university art museums in the US. Directly comparable as a free-admission teaching museum within a major research university, with collection depth, academic programming, and conservation practices that mirror Kemper's model.
• Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago): University art museum at another top-tier US research institution. Comparable in size, academic integration, free-admission model, and emphasis on object-based learning across disciplines.
• Grey Art Museum (NYU): University art museum at NYU focused on modern and contemporary art. Comparable as a teaching museum with free programming, research fellowships, and emphasis on interdisciplinary academic use of the collection.
• Nasher Museum of Art (Duke University): University art museum with significant modern/contemporary collection, free admission, and strong educational programming for university and PreK-12 audiences. Comparable peer for teaching-museum operating model.
• University of Michigan Museum of Art: Large university art museum with free admission, comprehensive educational programming (PreK-12 and university), and reciprocal membership network participation. Strong direct peer for scale and operational model.

Regional players

• Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis: Neighboring contemporary art institution and AMPLIFY joint-program partner. Directly comparable as a St. Louis-based contemporary art museum with similar educational and social-justice programming targeting PreK-12 audiences.
• Saint Louis Art Museum: Largest art museum in St. Louis and AMPLIFY partner. Comparable because it serves the same regional audience with overlapping educational programming, conservation services, and corporate membership offerings, though at much larger scale and as a free municipal museum.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kemper-art-museum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum