 In its first year, 80,000 visitors came to the new museum, tripling the number who had visited it in any previous year.In 2001, the Art Center received the Iowa Tourism Office and Travel Federation of Iowa's Tourism and the Arts Award.In 1997, the Sioux City Art Center was named "Cultural Attraction of the Year" by the Iowa Division of Tourism, in 1998, it was named "Arts Building Communities/Arts Organization of the Year" by the Iowa Arts Council, and in 2000, the "Omaha World Herald" stated the new museum's opening was one of the ten most significant Art Events of the Decade in the Midwest.