The Bring Art to Life Campaign is ushering in an exciting new era for the museum, which includes a major expansion of the building first envisioned fifteen years ago. Open as of June 11 2006, the expansion includes 115,000 square feet and adds forty percent new gallery space to the museum, helping to position the Institute as a leader for the twenty-first century and ensuring it will continue to challenge and inspire for years to come.

Designed by celebrated American architect Michael Graves, the addition itself is a work of art. Graves has carefully designed the addition to create spacious new galleries and other new spaces, and to serve as an aesthetic bridge, respectfully combining the neoclassical elegance of the original 1915 McKim, Mead, and White building with the stark minimalism of Kenzo Tange's 1974 addition. The expansion supports growth within all of the museum's collection areas. Further, it allows the museum to exhibit major art collections that have been promised to the Institute, and will attract future gifts that will be forever accessible to the Twin Cities community.

Along with the new exhibition spaces, other spaces have been added to promote the study of art, including a state-of-the-art research library. New Photography and Prints & Drawings study centers for the first time allow access for collectors and students to study masterworks in these collections. A large lecture hall enables the museum to involve more teachers and reach more students through the Institute's award-winning education programs and innovative teaching methods.

Although nearly every area of the museum is undergoing change, the Institute remains committed to its free admission policy, which allows broad community accessibility to the museum's collection of 100,000 art objects spanning 5,000 years of human artistic achievement.