The Vero Beach Museum of Art is the fulfillment of the combined efforts of two community-based arts groups: the Vero Beach Art Club, a nonprofit organization established in 1936; and the Alliance for the Arts, a separate nonprofit established in 1978 solely to create a regional Museum for the appreciation and teaching of the arts and humanities. The partnership raised $2.5 million from local private sources. The Vero Beach Museum of Art opened its doors to the public debt-free on January 31, 1986.

The Museum is the principal visual arts facility in a region of more than 800,000 residents and millions of tourists. The Museum's neoclassical structure commands a premiere position in the 54 acre Riverside Park, along the scenic Indian River and serves more than 75,000 residents and visitors annually through exhibitions, collections, gallery tours, studio and classroom art and humanities education for youth and adults, cinema, community events, lectures, seminars, concerts, dramatic performances, special youth events and cultural celebrations. It is applauded as the cultural and recreational heart of the community.

The arts facility now features three art galleries, the Wahlstrom Sculpture Garden, the Alice and Jim Beckwith Sculpture Park, an education wing with five studio classrooms, an art library, seminar room, a metal studio and foundry, the 250-seat Leonhardt Auditorium, Museum Store, café, and ideal spaces for art installations, performances, and public programs.

In 1997 the Museum's Board of Trustees launched an expansion campaign to raise $2,750,000. This fund-raising endeavor actually surpassed its anticipated goal, raising nearly $6 million, and provided the capital funds needed to expand the scope and dimension of the Museum's exhibitions, programs, facility, and endowment. An expanded facility totaling 54,444 square feet opened to the public in January 2000. 

At its May 2002 meeting, the Vero Beach Museum of Art Board of Trustees voted to change the institution's name from the Center for the Arts to the Vero Beach Museum of Art, effective July 1, 2002. The name change and expanded new facility were the catalyst to develop new opportunities for funding, attract quality exhibitions from other museums, art collectors, and artists, and encourage planned gifts and donations of important art. The Museum's continuing growth is an expression of the community's interests, tastes and appetite for broad-based cultural offerings. Truly a "center" of high quality arts education for the region, the Museum expects continued growth and professional development as demands from an expanding audience are met. The care and growth of the permanent collection and expanded exhibition program has become a major focus of the new administration which took office in 2004.