Bellevue Arts Museum

In September 1947, Carl Pefley and the Freeman family hosted the first Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Fair, an outdoor art fair held at the Bellevue Square regional shopping center. Following the event’s success, Pefley, the Freemans, and a handful of extraordinary volunteers founded the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Association (PANACA), BAM’s parent organization. They had two goals in mind: to promote the artists of the region, and to establish a cultural and educational center serving Bellevue and the greater Eastside.

PANACA oversaw the annual Arts and Crafts Fair, created the Foundation School of Art and PANACA Gallery, and later founded Bellevue Art Museum to accomplish these goals.

Bellevue Arts Museum is a space where artists and audiences directly participate in the exchange of ideas, illuminating and enriching their joint experience of art, craft, and design.

BAM is one of few museums in the nation with a focus on art, craft, and design and fills a unique niche among Northwest institutions. Community involvement continues to be essential to BAM's mission. In 2019, more than 40,000 visitors experienced exhibitions as varied as Robert Williams: The Father of Exponential Imagination and Ron Ho: A Jeweler’s Tale. BAM is also gaining recognition globally. Five BAM-originated exhibitions have traveled to other museum venues across the U.S. and several of the Museum's self-produced publications are now circulated internationally. Bellevue Arts Museum Fair continues to be a core Museum program celebrating its 74th anniversary in 2020.