Contemporary Art Museum St Louis

Exhibition programs: the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (cam), a non-collecting institution, is internationally recognized for exhibitions of the most provocative, insightful, and relevant Contemporary Art being made today. In fy24, cam celebrated its 20th anniversary and presented exhibitions of prescient and seminal work by emerging and established artists, working with varied media including painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation, and video. Cam presented the first Museum exhibition of work by dominic chambers, a new mural and video work by justin favela, and a large-scale sound installation and exhibition by hajra waheed in the fall/winter season, and a major exhibition of artist paul chan in the spring/summer which included a new mural and new video work. Alongside its exhibitions, cam produces scholarly exhibition catalogs: an illustrated, full color book including texts and interpretive essays. Cam published catalogs for dominic chambers and hajra waheed and co-published a catalog along with the mint Museum on upcoming fy25 exhibiting artist shinichi sawada. The Museum partnered with bengelina hospitality group to open ao&co at cam, a new cafe space giving cam visitors and neighbors alike the opportunity to enjoy coffee breaks, lunch meetings, and see some Art too. In fy24, cam served 27,060 visitors in person and 241,134 visitors online.

Education programs: cam remains dedicated to fostering creativity and increasing access to the arts for the young people of St. Louis through free arts education initiatives. These include pre-professional training in new Art in the neighborhood (at 29 years, cam's longest running education program); an opportunity to organize an exhibition from start to finish in teen Museum studies; advanced studio Art training with an emphasis on collaboration for middle schoolers in the leap middle school initiative; and in-school and off-site community engagement activities under the artreach program. Cam is proud of the meaningful ways its programs make a difference to St. Louis youth, and each season presents the work of young artists in the education galleries. In fy24, works were shown by students participating in new Art in the neighborhood, leap middle school initiative, and the artreach partnership. Teen Museum studies presented an exhibition by the local artist ruth reese, whose ceramic sculptures are inspired by greco-roman mythology and explore ideas of metamorphosis and growth as an integral part of life. In fy24, the Museum served 4,255 youth from the greater St. Louis area.

Public programs: in conjunction with its exhibitions, cam delivers Art education to people of all ages by presenting a diverse line-up of public programs that include artist and curator lectures, art-inspired dinners; film screenings; and unique workshops for families with young children. Cam's public programs were held onsite throughout fy24 and included artist talks, panel discussions, music and dance performances, and hands-on Art instruction for elementary students, teens, and seniors. In fy24, cam hosted 158 programs and tours, of which 99% were free.