On my recent trip to Phoenix, I had the chance to visit two amazing museums - the Musical Instrument Museum and the Heard Museum. They are both very special places and definitely worth the time if you are visiting the area.
Musical Instrument Museum
I would love to get trapped overnight in the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) and just rock out! MIM's mission is to collect, preserve, and make high-quality musical
instruments, images, and music from every country in the world accessible to the public. Highlights include
an Experience Gallery where visitors can play unique instruments from all over the globe and the Artist Gallery that showcases musical instruments that were played by legends such as Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, Carlos Santana and John Lennon - in fact, MIM has the piano that Lennon used to compose Imagine. In the Geographical Galleries you can take a musical journey around the world.
Heard Museum
Founded in 1929, the Heard Museum is an extraordinary tribute to the history, culture, and lives of America's Indigenous peoples - especially the American Indian cultures
of the Southwest. The Heard's 12 exhibition galleries display an amazing array of baskets, pottery, and jewelry. Remembering Our Indian School Days: The Boarding School Experience is a powerful exhibition that tells the little known story of how Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes by the federal government and sent to boarding schools hundreds of miles away. The Heard's gift shop boasts a beautiful selection of jewelry, art, books and more.
