The Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh is pictured on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026.
Kaitlin McKeown
kmckeown@newsobserver.com
The Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh is selling its downtown building.
The museum, which displays the work of modern local artists, has operated out of its 409 W. Martin St. location for about 15 years, according to its website.
While the museum has been temporarily closed since 2025, it is not announcing a permanent closure.
Financial troubles
The museum, known as CAM Raleigh, has struggled financially in recent years.
In 2025, it announced a temporary closure of its exhibits and programming while it navigated “the realities of a rapidly changing world, where the cost of operating a physical space has increasingly outpaced traditional support,“ its website stated at the time.
Those realities included increased competition for traditional funding sources like “government agencies, foundations, and both corporate and individual donors.”
According to nonprofit tax records on ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer, the museum hasn’t been profitable since 2017 when it reported roughly $750,000 in revenue and $200,000 in expenses. Expenses ballooned in the following years, while revenues declined. In 2024, the nonprofit had an operating deficit of more than $300,000 and in 2025, an operating deficit of $200,000.
The museum still had about $3 million in assets — which could include things like cars, buildings or even art — as of 2025, compared with just $1.25 million in liabilities.
And the city of Raleigh has given the museum more than $1.7 million in grants since 2011, according to city spokesperson Julia Milstead.
But the decision to sell the space comes back to cost, the nonprofit said.
“The cost of operating a physical space has outpaced the support available to sustain it, a reality facing small-to-midsized museums across the country,” the nonprofit said via news release Monday.
The Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh is pictured on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. Kaitlin McKeown kmckeown@newsobserver.com What comes next
“A year ago, we promised Raleigh we would reimagine CAM’s future, and this is that promise taking shape,” board Chair Charman Driver said in the release.
“Selling our building isn’t a step back, it’s how we step forward,” Driver said. “It frees us to invest in artists, ideas, and experiences instead of a mortgage, and to design CAM’s next chapter with real freedom. That might mean a new kind of space, a smaller footprint, or a bold model that hasn’t been tried before.”
The museum doesn’t operate like a gallery or artist co-op with a membership roster of artists. Those models often have a group of artists paying fees so that a gallery or co-op can show their art continually.
Instead, the museum has rotating exhibits and programming with various artists.
“Our function is to bring the community bold contemporary art, curating exhibitions and programming that expose Raleigh to significant work happening in the field, rather than serving as a direct resource for studio space or artist representation,” wrote Kate Ferguson-Boes, vice chair of the CAM Raleigh Board of Directors, in a Monday email to The News & Observer.
“That said, supporting NC artists specifically has been part of how we operate,” Ferguson-Boes wrote. “We’ve exhibited local and regional artists and partnered with local foundations to bring NC artists into CAM, and that kind of engagement with the local arts community is exactly the lens we’re thinking through as we design what’s next for CAM. “
The museum does not have an exact plan but said on its website that many options are on the table.
The building is just under 21,000 square feet and sits on just over half an acre. The property’s assessed value for tax purposes is around $11 million.
The nonprofit bought the building in 1997 for $460,000, according Ferguson-Boes. The museum was previously housed in a building near Moore Square, according to WUNC.
This story was originally published August 3, 2026 at 4:45 PM.
Related Stories from Raleigh News & Observer