Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

About

The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art museum in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, just southwest of downtown. Across Vineland Place is the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which the Walker runs, home to Spoonbridge and Cherry, the giant spoon and cherry fountain that has become a symbol of the city.

Inside, the galleries show rotating exhibitions by living and recent artists, and a ticket covers every gallery and exhibition. The Walker also screens films in the Walker Cinema and the Bentson Mediatheque and stages dance, theater and music in the McGuire Theater. The free Bloomberg Connects digital guide has audio for select exhibitions. A visit to the galleries takes a couple of hours, and the garden is worth its own walk.

In 2026 the galleries are open Wednesday and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday until 9 p.m., and closed Monday and Tuesday. Thursday nights are free. On the second Sunday of each month, the galleries open to the public at 11 a.m., after Sensory Friendly Sunday. Adult admission is $18, seniors pay $16 and students $12, and children 18 and under get in free. The Sculpture Garden is free and open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight. The Walker closes on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Paid underground parking is on site, with the ramp entrance on Vineland Place, and metered parking lines the nearby streets. Metro Transit routes 4 and 25 and the E Line stop within a few minutes' walk. The café is open during gallery hours. Loring Park and the Basilica of St. Mary are a short walk east, and the Chain of Lakes is a quick drive to the southwest.

Accessibility

The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden are wheelchair accessible. The Walker says all entrances and public areas are accessible, and manual and electric wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility aids can be used throughout the museum and the garden.

The Vineland Place Parking Ramp connects directly to the building and has 13 accessible spaces on level P1, 11 of them with a loading area. The ramp entrance is 8 feet 2 inches high, so taller vans should use the surface lot beside the Sculpture Garden. Vineland Place meters give four hours to vehicles with disability plates or certificates. Metro Mobility should drop off at 725 Vineland Place, where a transfer zone is west of the main entrance. Both entrances have automatic doors.

Manual wheelchairs are free at the Visitor Services desk in the Main Lobby, first come, first served, with a 250-pound capacity. The lobby elevator reaches Galleries 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7. Galleries 2 and 5 are reached by platform lifts from floors 3 and 6; each platform is 31 by 48 inches with a 750-pound limit. Benches are in every gallery, and portable stools can be borrowed. The Cinema, the Bentson Mediatheque and the McGuire Theater each have two wheelchair spaces; reserve them at access@walkerart.org or (612) 375-7564.

Two all-gender, single-user accessible restrooms are between the parking garage and the Main Lobby, near the café, and multistall restrooms with accessible stalls are on other levels. All have manual doors.

In the Sculpture Garden, a paved sidewalk circles the perimeter and paved paths cross the center to Spoonbridge and Cherry, though some sculptures sit on gravel. A paved path with switchbacks climbs the Wurtele Upper Garden hillside.

The lobby desk has a hearing loop, assistive listening devices serve all three theaters, and caption readers cover most Cinema screenings with two weeks' notice. ASL, braille, large print and verbal description can be requested two weeks ahead. Free verbal description and touch tours need three weeks' notice. Sensory Friendly Sunday runs 8 to 11 a.m. on the second Sunday of each month, and sensory packs are at the lobby desk. A care partner gets in free, and service animals are welcome.

Checked by Accessible America, September 2026. Report a change

More accessible places in Minnesota

• Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis)
• Mall of America & Twin Cities Parks (Minneapolis)
• Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul)
• Minnesota Zoo (Apple Valley)
• Mall of America (Bloomington)
• Voyageurs National Park (International Falls)

Photo credits

• The Walker Art Center's metal-clad tower beside a glass wing with WALKER in large letters.: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)
• The Walker Art Center entrance and dark brick galleries seen across a green lawn.: Daniel X. O'Neil, CC BY 2.0 (source)
• The Walker Art Center's textured metal tower and long glass lobby under a blue sky.: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0 (source)