Visit today!

Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center (SBMLC) opened its doors to the public on February 4 and is free to visit. Visit our website for information on planning your visit.

Learn why Samuel Bak chose to donate over 500 works of art to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and hear about the vision for the Museum and Learning Center. 

Current Exhibition

In the Beginning: The Artist Samuel Bak

The inaugural exhibition offers a chronological and thematic selection of Bak's paintings and drawings from 1946 through 2022. The artist selected these works from the over five hundred pieces he has gifted to the University to showcase the arc of his artistic career over eight decades.

Upcoming Programs & Events

Meet a Bak (Lunch and Learn Series)

On the second Wednesday of every month, join the Museum's Curator, Alexandra Cardon, in a discussion around an unseen painting of Samuel Bak that is part of our permanent collection.

Wednesdays from 12 P.M. to 1 P.M. BYO lunch and drinks. Maximum capacity is 15 and RSVP is required.

Curator Talk

These 30-minute presentations will address a theme in the current exhibition. Talks will be presented by Museum Curator Alexandra Cardon or a guest lecturer. Audience members will learn how Samuel Bak and his contemporaries wrestle with the representation of conflict, survival, trauma, as well as hope, reconstruction, and reconciliation.

Join us for the first SBMLC Curator Talk on April 27 for Pawns at War: Symbols in the Art of Samuel Bak presented by Roxana Corral, Assistant Gallery Manager.

Program is from 5:15 P.M. to 5:45 P.M. Maximum capacity is 50 and RSVP is required. Arrive early to tour In the Beginning: The Artist Samuel Bak before the presentation.

Public Tours & Activities

Bak Talk

This 10-minute talk will introduce visitors to key moments in Samuel Bak's life and career and situate them within their historical context. Maximum capacity is 10.  No RSVP is required. 

Saturdays at 1:00 P.M.

Sundays at 3:00 P.M.

Audio Tours

The Museum offers a 15-stop audio tour of the current exhibition in English and Spanish.

Please bring your headphones and a smart device to scan the QR code at each stop.

Scheduled Tours

Join a regularly scheduled tour of the current exhibition. Tours will be limited to 10 individuals at a time and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Treasure Hunt

Find the objects in Samuel Bak's paintings. We offer two text-based hunts to challenge young readers, as well as a picture version.

For more details, ask our Museum staff at the Reception Desk.

Student/Artist Drawing Hours

Come be inspired by Samuel Bak's artworks. Artists of all skill levels are invited to draw in front of Samuel Bak's paintings. You may bring your own supplies, however we kindly ask that you only use pencils in the Galleries. Fridays from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M.

Welcome Letter from the Executive Director

Welcome to the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center (SBMLC). I hope this monthly e-newsletter will offer you insight into upcoming Museum exhibitions, programs, and events.

I am so very grateful for the immeasurable support from the University and community of this new endeavor for UNO and addition to Omaha’s arts and culture landscape. The Museum and Learning Center is a place that anyone can visit and explore  - a space where we hope that individual visitors or collective groups will learn about Samuel Bak’s work. Sam’s art provokes questions about humanity, hope, and what is happening in our own neighborhoods, city, state, nation and world today.

SBMLC will serve as a landscape for tours, programmatic experiences, educational opportunities, and expanded scholarship that will benefit the University constituency and community at large. Visitors will learn, ask hard questions and dialogue – whether the conversation is spurred by art, history, culture or individual experiences – it will have a place in the Museum and Learning Center.

Please take a moment to explore our upcoming programs and events, stop by for a visit and tour. See you in the gallery!

~ Hillary Nather-Detisch, CFRE

Meeting Reservation Requests

Interested in reserving the SBMLC Classroom for your next meeting? 

Read our Reservation Agreement to see if your group is eligible.

Complete the Reservation Request Form to get the conversation started.

Additional information can be found on the Museum's Meeting and Event Spaces website page.

Private Guided Tour Requests

Would you like a Private Guided Tour for your group? Complete the Guided Tour Request Form.