OMAHA- Construction will begin soon on a pavilion that will add 42,000 square feet to the Joslyn Art Museum, dramatically altering the museum’s profile and creating space for an important collection of modern art, museum officials and the pavilion’s designer said Tuesday.

“It will be really great for the city for decades and decades to come,” said Jack Becker, Joslyn's executive director and CEO.

The pavilion will be named for Omaha philanthropists Rhonda and Howard Hawks of the Hawks Foundation. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday on the museum grounds.

Becker declined to reveal the cost of the project, but a public application for a Nebraska COVID-19 relief grant listed it at $100 million. The project so far has been financed by specified private funds, he said.

The Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavilion is scheduled to open in 2024, though Becker said no date has been set. The museum, at 22nd and Dodge Streets, will close from spring 2022 until the pavilion is completed. Becker said that’s common for museum projects as a safety measure for staff, visitors and valuable art.

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