If you’re reading this, you either already know – or are about to find out – about the creative, vibrant, and innovative heart of the Western New York region.

To outsiders, Buffalo may be best known for wings, snow, and football, but locals know the real gems lie in our art, architecture, and, yes, the complicated relationship we have with our football team. You won’t be able to visit our city without seeing beautiful homes, murals, historic 19th and 20th century buildings, a high concentration of Olmsted parks, and infinite expressions of Buffalo Bills fandom. 

If this is your first time in Buffalo you won’t want to miss some of our major cultural institutions: the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and the Burchfield Penney Art Center for visual arts, the Martin House and Graycliff Estate if you’re looking for architecture. 

If you have the time while you’re in town, consider a day trip to Niagara Falls. On your way, you can swing through North Tonawanda to check out Project 308 Gallery, then head up to Agatha Falls and the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. The Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University and Art Park’s outdoor installations and gallery await you just outside Niagara Falls. In Lockport, visit the Kenan Center where a former home is now a gallery for local and regional fine art.

Or maybe you want to head south: East Aurora and Springville are charming villages with lots to do and see! Visit Meibohm Fine Arts in East Aurora and the Springville Center for the Arts to see how the arts complement these more rural communities.

There are plenty of opportunities to take art home with you before you leave town, too: from Pineapple Company or Western New York Book Arts Center, where artist made goods are available for purchase, or Fitz Books and Waffles, where you can see exhibitions and browse (or buy) an incredible collection of art books, fiction, and critical theory. At The Crucible Art Collective, you could even get a tattoo! 

If you’re a young artist, art lover, or art curious-type looking for the places that artist communities have long gathered in our city, you should check out Hallwalls Center for Contemporary Art and CEPA, pioneer artist-run spaces that opened in the 1970s and continue to serve up regular exhibitions after almost 50 years. The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art carries on their legacy right where it all began, in the historic Essex Street Arts Center.

There are always new artists in residence at the C. Stuart and Jane H. Hunt Gallery and artists’ studios to check out at Buffalo Arts Studio; while you’re at the Tri-main Center, pop down to Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center.

If you’re just visiting Buffalo, we hope you can make it to at least two sites on this map, and if you’re lucky enough to call Buffalo home then there’s no better time to stop by all of these great places. And be sure to sign up for their mailing lists to stay in touch! 

Advice for visitors:

  • Always check websites or social media before visiting to make sure you don’t catch a gallery between exhibitions.

  • If you’re excited to see a gallery but can’t make it during open hours, it never hurts to call or email to see if you can set up an appointment!

  • Don’t be shy! Talk to the folks working at any of these galleries to learn more about the art scene in Buffalo.


But Wait!

Buffalo is also home to A LOT of public art, from the waterfront to downtown, East Buffalo to Niagara Falls. There is so much to see it would fill another map! Thankfully the Buffalo AKG Art Museum has us covered. Check out their virtual, interactive public art map.