The Museum of Arts and Design (“MAD”) collects, displays and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the Museum celebrates the creative process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance contemporary life. 
 
In September 2008, MAD opened the doors to its new home at 2 Columbus Circle to the public. Since then, it has welcomed more than 680,000 visitors, nearly tripled its membership - to more than 4,300 households - and doubled its admissions and retail revenue.
 
The warm response and enthusiastic comments MAD has received on the visitor experience at 2 Columbus Circle is testament to the public’s appetite for the programs and services we provide. MAD offers visitors a unique museum-going experience in an alternative learning environment. At 2 Columbus Circle, the Museum can take advantage of 54,000 freestanding square feet to accommodate the sharply increased demand for its exhibitions and educational and public programs. 

Each of MAD’s outreach efforts provides a forum for discussion about craft and decorative arts and their relationship to other art forms, and a way for visitors to become active participants in contemporary art. Our exhibitions highlight objects that define social, political, and stylistic directions and innovations in materials and process, and include studies of materials and processes and current trends in arts and design; exhibitions featuring the work of a single artist; and exhibitions with a historical focus. A new MAD projects gallery — designed to accommodate short-term, short-lead changing exhibitions — examines developing trends in our field. 

With an increasingly international and multicultural focus, MAD’s education department provides intensive training, enrichment and exposure to the arts via lectures, symposia, workshops, interactive activities and collections interpretation either on-site, in our classrooms, our Open Studios for working artists, our 145-seat theater and online via madmuseum.org. Few museums in the United States — and no others in New York City — offer this breadth of resources to the public.