The Madison Museum of Contemporary Arts, 227 State St. (tel. 608/257-0518; www.mmoca.org), has had a bit of a gypsy existence, moving from one building to the next over the last 100-plus years of its existence. All that changed in April 2006, however, when the doors opened to the new Cesar Pelli-designed Overture Center for the Arts, which displays the museum's impressive permanent collection of modern and contemporary art, as well as a new lecture hall, an expanded museum store, and the beautiful green rooftop cafe and garden. Also new in the capital in is Robert Redford's Sundance Cinema Center (tel. 800/373-6376), a multi-theater facility dedicated to screening new independent and foreign films, the passion behind the actor and filmmaker's Sundance Film Festival held each year in Utah.
In Baraboo, fans of the big top should check out the Circus World Museum (tel. 866/693-1500; www.wisconsinhistory.org/circusworld), 50 acres that once housed the winter quarters of Ringling Brothers themselves. Today, the spot is dedicated to the history of the American circus. During the summer, there are live performances of all kinds, and year-round you can view circus artifacts like the million-piece Howard Brothers Miniature Circus, antique circus wagons, steam calliopes, posters, and woodcarvings.
