Seattle’s art scene just got a major investment.

The Conru Art Foundation has launched a $50 million initiative focused on supporting artists and expanding public access to the arts. Central to that plan: ArtLove Salon, a new 16,000-square-foot exhibition and event space opening this week across the street from the Seattle Art Museum.

The new downtown venue, housed in the historic Poll Building, is designed as a community space — offering free gallery exhibitions, zero-commission sales for artists, and free rentals for nonprofit art organizations. Corporate event rentals will help fund further arts programming.

“Our core conviction is that great art bridges divides, inspires joy, and can even offer healing,” says Andrew Conru, founder of the Conru Art Foundation. “ArtLove Salon is intended to bring all of that to life with financial support for artists, curated exhibitions that spark emotion and insight, and as a setting for meetings for everyone in our community.”

Andrew Conru, founder of Conru Art Foundation.

Photo courtesy of Conru Foundation

The Salon officially opens to the public on July 24, following a launch last weekend tied to this year’s Seattle Art Fair. Admission is free.

The ArtLove Salon is just one part of Conru’s larger arts push. The foundation also purchased Pioneer Square’s Occidental Fine Arts Building, now under renovation as the future home of Seattle Atelier. Eight artists are set to move in this September as part of the Seattle Prize — a fully-funded, year-long residency that includes salaries, health insurance, studio space, and supplies. The selected artists, whose work now appears at ArtLove Salon, will focus on creating art centered on beauty, truth, and human connection.

Future plans include converting the old Lusty Lady building into a new downtown art museum by 2030. “A few months ago, we acquired the ‘Lusty Lady’ building and plan to transform it into a beautiful new art venue,” Conru wrote on the foundation’s website. “As it will take a few years to take shape, we put the original marquee sign in storage and will put up a mural.”

Other projects include expanding local arts publication PublicDisplay.ART and launching a $1 million World Cup Art competition in 2026, timed to coincide with FIFA World Cup matches hosted in Seattle.

“The ArtLove Salon embodies a Conru Art Foundation commitment to activating space as a service to Seattle, and simply to trying new things toward building up Seattle’s ecosystem for art,” says Conru. “Our hope is the Salon becomes a gathering place for all of us to connect and be inspired by art — and that this is only the beginning.”

Andrew Conru, who founded online dating giant Friend Finder Networks, now focuses his energy and resources on philanthropy through the Conru Foundation and Conru Art Foundation. Raised on a small Indiana farm and trained as an engineer at Stanford, Conru describes himself as an entrepreneur, amateur artist, and philanthropist working to reinvest his wealth into public projects.

As an artist myself, it’s easy to forget your work has value. Years ago, I took writing classes at Hugo House while raising kids. I wasn’t publishing anything or working outside the home. Most days, I’d leave class and go home to get screamed at and spit up on. It was hard to justify the cost and time of a class, let alone picture a path where the work itself mattered.

What the Conru Art Foundation is building is the kind of infrastructure every creative person hopes for — a place to make art, and a reminder that creating is worthwhile. It’s also an investment that keeps Seattle leading in its support of the arts.

For more, visit conruartfoundation.org or artlovesalon.org.