In addition to an international artist-in-residence program, Bemis Center hosts temporary exhibitions and commissions and public programs which are free and open to the public.
[1] Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts was founded by artists Jun Kaneko, Tony Hepburn, Lorne Falke and Ree Schonlau in 1981.
[2] In 1984, Ree Schonlau established a consortium consisting of the City of Omaha, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, private and corporate foundations and the Mercer family, who owned the vacant 170,000-square-foot (16,000 m2) Bemis Bag Building.
The structure had originally been built as a branch of the Nave & McCord Mercantile Company.
[3] Today, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is located in the old McCord-Brady & Co. building on 12th and Leavenworth.