Bellevue Arts Museum Shuts Down

The struggling Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) has closed to the public. Its last day was Sept. 4.

“Unfortunately, the financial model in the new building has never been sustainable and it has relied too heavily on ‘one-time’ big donors,” says Kate Casprowiak Scher, who was appointed permanent executive director early this year. “We are caught in a cycle of financial instability that prevents us from reaching our potential.”

Scher was the museum’s third executive director since March 2021, when Benedict Heywood resigned after controversy arose over his alleged disrespectful treatment of BIPOC artists. His predecessor, E. Michael Whittington, resigned 18 months later because of personal health reasons.

In February, the museum said it was “faced with dire circumstances,” and appealed to the community for support via a “SAVE BAM” campaign that, as of April, had raised almost $350,000 from more than 300 donors. Still, it wasn’t enough.

“BAM, like most American museums, has been affected by revenue losses amid drops in attendance, fundraising, and retail sales since the end of the pandemic,” according to a release on the museum’s website.

The museum has technically filed for receivership, meaning the museum’s assets will go toward repaying debt. The museum said it would keep a small transitional staff to “support a reorganization, run private events and manage (Bellevue) Arts Fair 2025.”

The museum was founded in 1975, and grew out of the arts fair, which was first held in 1947.