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Michael Seiwerath joins arts commission

The Seattle City Council recently appointed Michael Seiwerath to a two-year term on the citizen-advisory Seattle Arts Commission. Seiwerath helped build Seattle’s filmmaking community at Northwest Film Forum before launching a career in housing and community development at Capitol Hill Housing.

Seiwerath is the founding executive director of the Capitol Hill Housing Foundation, a new nonprofit that supports the work of Capitol Hill Housing. He oversees fundraising and outreach and is involved with community efforts to preserve and expand affordable arts space in Seattle.

Before joining Capitol Hill Housing in 2008, Seiwerath spent a dozen years at Northwest Film Forum raising the organization to a position of national prominence through expanded screenings, film productions and a capital campaign to open a new permanent home for the film arts organization in Capitol Hill.

Seiwerath served on the City Council’s Cultural Overlay District Advisory Council. He is a member of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce Arts and Culture Committee, the Capital Campaign Cabinet of Velocity Dance Center and the Cal Anderson Park Alliance Advisory Board. He received the 2005 Stranger Genius Award for Film and the 2008 Seattle Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Filmmaking.

Seiwerath is filling Maureen Wilhelm’s expired term on the commission. Wilhelm, a scenic artist and president of IATSE Local 488, served six years on the commission.

Photo by Chase Jarvis.