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Artists discuss how Native art evolved and why many don’t have the same regard and access to mainstream galleries and museums as non-Indigenous peers.
- The Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, Arizona, has been renamed the Sigler Western Museum.
- A local couple, Carey and Jack Sigler, donated a record-breaking $20 million to the museum.
- The donation will help fund a new 27,000-square-foot art museum and pavilion, set for completion in late 2027.
For over 50 years, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum has been sharing the diverse stories, experiences and culture of the West with locals and visitors from all over the world.
Now, thanks to a generous donation from a local Wickenburg couple, the museum is getting a facelift and a new name.
Carey and Jack Sigler have donated a record-breaking $20 million to the museum, prompting its name change to Sigler Western Museum.
“The Museum is the crown jewel for the residents of Wickenburg and the area and for visitors from around the world,” said Jack Sigler in a news release. “It helps the local people here feel connected. Being involved with the Museum has felt like an extension of our family. The American West is something unique to the United States. I always thought that was our heritage and the lifestyle is great to keep.”
“We must keep the Western heritage. It is a big part of me,” Carey Sigler added. “The Museum is the foundation of Wickenburg.”
The couple grew up as family friends on neighboring ranches in New Mexico before getting married and moving to Arizona after Jack finished his service in the Army. Their deep love of western ranch life brought them to Wickenburg, which they’ve called home for the last 20 years with Jack serving as a long-time trustee for the newly renamed museum.
What is the Sigler Western Museum in Arizona?
Located in the historic district of Wickenburg, the mission of the 55-year-old Sigler Western Museum is to tell the diverse stories of the West through art.
“We’ve probably served about a million visitors and during that time we’ve shared those stories, and we’d like to think most of them are positive stories that reflect the best of American values, but we also don’t shy away from some of those harder stories that are part of Western history as well,” said Daniel M. Finely, the Sigler Western Museum’s executive director.
Over the last 20 years, the Museum has made a name for itself by putting a spotlight on women artists in the Western genre with the annual “Cowgirl Up! Art from the Other Half of the West” art exhibit. This year, the event showcased more than 175 pieces of art and generated an impressive $900,000 in revenue.
“Western women artists over the decades have really been relegated to sort of a second-class status in the Western art world,” said. Finely. “The men of course have gotten lots of recognition and our museum 20 years ago took on that challenge.”
And their work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Earlier in 2025, the Museum was recognized by True West Magazine who ranked them second place in the Top Art Museums of the West while they snagged the number one spot in the Best Western Museum Reader’s Choice category.
Big changes for the Sigler Western Museum after $20 million donation
Thanks to the Sigler’s whopping $20 million donation and an additional $9.25 million from other donors, there are big changes coming for the former Desert Caballeros Western Museum. First up, the name change.
Additionally, the Museum will soon break ground on a new art museum and pavilion located across the street from the existing location. This new $30 million facility will be over 27,000 square feet and include gallery spaces, an indoor pavilion and an outdoor courtyard.
The new additions will add to the museum’s 25,600-square-foot main building and the existing 4,674-square-foot Cultural Crossroads Learning Center.
“Right now, we have three buildings. One is principally our main building that has housed Western history exhibitions and Western art exhibitions over the years. Well, we’ve outgrown it,” said Finely. “So, the new building will be an art museum, the existing building will become a Western history museum but all under the new name of the Sigler Western Museum.”
This new space will also allow for the Museum to expand their student and adult educational experiences and provide a facility for conferences, celebrations and more.
The new additions to the Sigler Western Museum were set to be completed in late 2027.
How to visit the Sigler Western Museum
When: 10 a.m.-5p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
Where: 21 North Frontier Street, Wickenburg. The Cultural Crossroads Learning Center is located at 10 N. Tegner Street, Wickenburg.
Admission: $16 for adults, $13 for seniors and veterans, free for active military and one guest and children aged 17 and under.
Details: westernmuseum.org.
Meredith G. White covers entertainment, art and culture for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She writes the latest news about video games, television and best things to do in metro Phoenix.
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