The American Alliance of Museums has accredited the Asheville Art Museum, a community-based nonprofit visual art organization in Western North Carolina (WNC). The museum is located at 2 South Pack Square in Pack Place, in the heart of downtown Asheville.

The Asheville Art Museum hosts exhibitions and public events based on its permanent collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Special exhibitions at the Museum highlight regional and national artists, as well as pieces from Studio Craft, Black Mountain College, and Cherokee artists, all of which are important to Western North Carolina’s cultural legacy. There are also educational programmes for both youngsters and adults.

The Museum began building a permanent collection in 1950. The collection quickly outgrown its location, and the Museum relocated to the 15th level of the Northwest Bank, which is now the BB&T building. After being forced to relocate in 1970, the Museum purchased land in Asheville’s Montford Area Historic District. The first full-time Director was hired, and the shows’ focus shifted to the region. Programming and attendance grew, but the building’s 40-year-old age caused issues.The Museum Board accepted an invitation to be one of the three cultural agencies in the Asheville Civic Center when it was announced in 1972. The Museum opened a 9,000-square-foot (840-square-meter) structure in the Civic Center in 1976. The American Alliance of Museums accredited the Asheville Art Museum in 1984, making it one of the few museums of its size to do so.