It is seen by many residents of Bellevue as playing a role in the transformation of the downtown from series of suburban strip malls to a sophisticated city with a variety of cultural attractions.

[4][6] After a successful $3 million fundraising campaign[4] and extensive interior remodeling, the museum re-opened on June 18, 2005, with a revised mission focused on art, craft and design and with an emphasis on Northwest artists.

[8] Since the onset of the pandemic, the museum has had several funding crises due to its rising debt, small number of contributors, and reliance on revenue from traveling events that were unable to open in 2020 and 2021.

Exhibitions have included works from architect Louis Kahn (2016),[11] cartoonist Simon Hanselmann (2019),[7] contemporary wood sculptor Humaria Abid (2017), and Tariqa Waters (2020, 2021).

[12] Since 2010, the Bellevue Arts Museum has held the BAM Biennial, a survey of artwork in a specific medium such as glass, fiber, wood, or ceramic.