The Museum of Musical Instruments is one of the attractions of Phoenix that has succeeded in capturing the history of music. The MIM has been able to give the opportunity to demonstrate to new generations of kids the importance of music and the chance to spark an interest in the craft.
The MIM has been running for almost 12 years now ever since its grand opening in April of 2010. It is the largest musical instrument museum of its type holding over 15,000 instruments from over 200 countries and territories around the world. The former CEO of Target, Bob Ulrich, is the founder of the MIM. Ulrich was inspired to develop the museum to display the instruments everyday people play around the world.
There are galleries to visit inside to appeal to interests. The geographic gallery takes visitors around the world to show the instruments developed by hundreds of countries. The artist gallery shows instruments and relics of musical icons, like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Elvis Presley. The experience gallery lets people play and try out instruments. The mechanical music gallery has instruments that can play themselves like barrel organs and automatons.
The Collier STEM gallery teaches visitors about how music relates to science, technology, engineering, and math, like how humans experience sound or how some instruments work. There is also the conservation lab where people can see through a window workers repair and document old instruments so that people in the future can enjoy them in the museum.