William H. Gates Foundation Makes $1 Million Gift to Bellevue Art Museum

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Bellevue Art Museum announced today a $1 million gift from The William H. Gates Foundation, providing a significant leadership gift to Bellevue Art Museum's year-old campaign to build a new facility in downtown Bellevue. The Museum's goal is to raise $20 million by the year 2000. The William H. Gates Foundation contribution boosts the total raised to date to $11,185,274.

"We are very pleased to have The Gates Family Foundation as a partner in this important creative and educational endeavor by taking a leadership role in the capital campaign," stated Diane Douglas, museum director.

"We are proud to be part of the Bellevue Art Museum's BAM 200 project. The new museum will be a wonderful educational resource for Northwest-area families," said William H. Gates, Foundation director.

The William H. Gates Foundation joins the City of Bellevue, which has made a $3 million arts allocation, Jon and Mary Shirley, whose $2 million gift secured the new museum site and the Kreielsheimer Foundation gift of $1 million, in providing major leadership gifts the BAM 2000 Capital Campaign.

Bellevue Art Museum 2000 Capital Campaign is raising funds to build an architecturally distinctive new museum in the heart of downtown Bellevue. The 36,000 square-foot building is being designed by Steven Holl Architects and will be located along Bellevue Way at NE Sixth. Groundbreaking is to take place in September of 1999 with opening to the public in December 2000. BAM 2000 is both a new Museum and a new museum experience – one that realizes BAM's mission to bring people together to See, Explore and Make Art. This historic campaign, the largest ever mounted on the Eastside, represents the Museum's vision to be a regional arts facility for the 21st century.

Images and related information can be found on the Bellevue Art Museum web site.