City: Omaha, NE

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (402) 341-7130

Address: 724 S. 12th St.

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Description: One of the nation’s most well-respected artist-in-residence programs operates out of Omaha’s Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Each year, a select group of talented artists come to Omaha and create work as part of the program; all they’re required to do at the conclusion of their stay is leave one piece of work at Bemis. Though the Bemis is known worldwide for its program, it remains a well-kept secret in its home city, and in-the-know locals love to share this gem of a space with visitors and the uninitiated. More than 20 shows debut each year in the Center’s three main floor galleries, and residents live in 14 furnished studios on the upper floors of the Bemis’ Old Market building. Bemis is celebrating 30 years in 2011 by expanding: it’s adding 5 studios to to the newly renovated third floor.The annual Bemis Auction is easily the best-loved and best-attended art event in the city, and it serves as the Center’s largest annual fundraiser and also a rollicking party. Hundreds of artists donate work to the silent auction, and a select number of big-ticket items sell in a live auction that ends the evening.In 2004, the Bemis Underground opened with the goal of offering exhibition space to the local community. The space has its own dedicated curator and director and a slew of lively exhibitions—also well attended—open in the space each month. Most Bemis events are free and a regularly changing slate of art talks, curator talks, open studio tours, and concerts take place in the space.