North Carolina Museum of Art Winston-Salem: past, present, future

The North Carolina Museum of Art Winston-Salem, formerly known as SECCA, has gone through many changes during the nearly 70 years of its existence. Back in 1956, a group of Winston-Salem professionals and artists decided their city would be a great place for Southeastern artists to show their work. It led to the Gallery of Fine Art on Trade Street, later moved to Old Salem in the 60s and eventually became the Winston-Salem Gallery of Contemporary Art.

A decade later, upon his passing, James G. Hanes left his mansion and property to the gallery with the goal of showing contemporary art in a home-like setting. Then, in the late 70s, with lots of public and corporate money floating around in support of the arts, people came together to build a contemporary gallery next to this historic house: the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.  

NCMA Winston-Salem Executive Director Bill Carpenter says it’s something that could only happen in an industrial town like Winston-Salem.
 
"This is really a kind of a bold, audacious move, right, because you're taking a southern city and giving it this super contemporary, modernist space to show contemporary art," he says. "And they went all in in sort of really celebrating the art of the region." 
 
Next came the Southeast Seven Awards — highlighting artists from across the seven southeastern states — that became a nationwide phenomenon supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Suddenly SECCA was a major voice in the conversation of what contemporary art is and where it was going.
 
"And you'll see artists like Yoko Ono and Gordon Parks, Annie Leibovitz — you know, artists of big renown — here for their openings or for their group shows," says Carpenter. "And in addition to that, people were buying art from this place." 
 
But SECCA’s heyday was short-lived. As the economy took a turn in the 80s and 90s, corporations left the Piedmont, and the place found itself underfunded, under-supported and in need of repair and renovation. Carpenter says those trends also coincided with a culture war moment against contemporary art.
 
"And the board at the time really thought it was unsustainable, and so they worked a deal for SECCA to become part of the state," he says. "That's when it joined in 2007. It became part of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and placed under the NCMA." 
 
That’s the North Carolina Museum of Art, headquartered in Raleigh. Carpenter says by the time he came on board five years ago the conversation shifted to one museum, two campuses. North Carolina Museum of Art Winston-Salem was born, bringing the resources and talent of the flagship museum to the Piedmont.
 
"We will be able to display the contemporary and modern pieces from the permanent collection here in Winston, in addition to our cutting-edge curated exhibitions of contemporary art," says Carpenter. "So, folks in Winston will have an opportunity to visit and see the people's collection without having to drive to Raleigh."

Carpenter says when showing curated exhibitions and traveling shows — those not pulling from the permanent collection — there will be admission charges at the museum to cover travel costs and artists' fees.

Thanks to a $15 million appropriation from the state along with some additional fundraising, the museum will undergo some major renovations: a new, fully accessible entrance to the main gallery, an elevator, a studio for visiting artists, a suite for long-term artists in residence, as well as new space for educational programming and more.
 
"The gallery is going to be re-sided with some new metal siding," he says. "It's a 60-year siding. It'll have a nice contemporary look. There'll be a performance pavilion out front with a little bit of amphitheater space. So, we'll be regrading that space so that we'll be able to do more outdoor programming. The galleries themselves will essentially be —we'll take the walls down, which sounds funny, but — we'll be building mobile walls, so that way we'll be able to make the spaces as flexible as possible." 
 
Carpenter says they are currently in the design phase working with architects including the locally run Stitch Design Shop. He says the renovation work may begin in early 2026 with a completion timeline currently of between 18-20 months.

There are currently three ongoing exhibits: Mitchell’s Domestic Imaginaries, Nassar’s There, and Brooks’ Tell Me if the Lovers Are Losers which will remain on display through the end of December.