Musical Instrument Museum — Phoenix, Arizona

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the world's largest museums dedicated entirely to musical instruments, housing over 8,000 instruments from more than 200 countries and territories. Opened in April 2010, the museum was founded by Robert Ulrich, former CEO of Target Corporation, and designed to present music as a universal human activity. Each gallery is organised geographically, allowing visitors to hear and see instruments from every continent through headphone-equipped listening stations.

The museum's collection ranges from ancient instruments and ethnographic pieces to those belonging to famous musicians. The Artist Gallery includes instruments and artefacts from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Taylor Swift, and dozens of others. The Experience Gallery allows visitors to play instruments from around the world. The scale and ambition of the museum — covering Appalachian banjos alongside Indonesian gamelans, African talking drums, and Andean panpipes — makes it unique among music museums.

MIM is located in north Phoenix and draws over 200,000 visitors annually. Its approach — treating all musical traditions as equally worthy of presentation and study — distinguishes it from genre-specific museums. The building includes the MIM Music Theater, a 300-seat performance venue that hosts concerts throughout the year.