| This dissertation reconstructs and investigates the origins of the Perez Art Museum Miami. In 2013, the museum re-opened in a new, county-funded building to great acclaim and international attention, but the museum's origins in the 1970s have been largely forgotten. A result of the 1972 "Decade of Progress" bond vote by county taxpayers that allocated funds to build a new art museum, the museum opened as the Center for the Fine Arts in 1983 as a non-collecting institution dedicated to displaying traveling exhibitions. The new institution represented the combined efforts of local government, business, and art to construct not only a place in which to view art but also as part of an overall plan to create a great metropolitan area.;The history of the founding of the institution begins with other efforts to create art museums in Miami from the 1950s to the lavish inaugural exhibition in 1984. In the conclusion, the history's long-term consequences are investigated. In tracing the history, consideration is paid to the museum's relationship to the public, its architecture and location, and governance and funding. These factors reveal Miami's civic power structure and the motivations of the civic elite in founding the museum.;The historiography is framed by discourses that concern the social role of art, the relationship of various publics to art museums, the use of art museums in urban regeneration efforts, and the ethical responsibilities of museums. |
