We’re pleased to announce the launch of the Artist Space Assistance Program (ASAP), a pilot program designed to provide relocation and placement services for artists and arts organizations seeking affordable studio, live/work, exhibition, performance and/or rehearsal space. Nonprofit arts service organization Shunpike was selected to develop and manage the program, a project of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs with support from 4Culture.

Learn more about ASAP at a First Thursday reception, 6 to 9 p.m., Dec. 1 at LeDouxville, 604 Second Ave., in Pioneer Square. Mix and mingle with Shunpike staff; our director Vincent Kitch, director; and City Councilmember Nick Licata at the opening of LeDouxville, a new Seattle project by artist Jesse LeDoux. 

With a focus on the Pioneer Square and Chinatown-International District neighborhoods, Shunpike will assess artist needs and space opportunities, offer direct services to artists and arts groups and recommend a model for expanding the program to other Seattle neighborhoods. Shunpike envisions involving more than 30 artists and arts groups and a dozen property owners and real estate professionals and offering more in-depth, free placement services to about 10 artists and/or arts groups. The program will run until March 1.

Interested artists and arts groups must complete a short survey and application and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will be given to artists with ties to Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District, especially those displaced by the closure of the 619 Western Building.

Go here for a link to the survey and/or to register for a free artist space workshop, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7 at City Hall.

ASAP grew out of community concerns related to the recent loss of artist studio space in Pioneer Square, a historic cultural district. In October, the 619 Western Building, home to about 100 artist studios, was boarded up for shoring work to survive construction of the Highway 99 tunnel below.