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A Vision for 2014

From increaseSquare Feet Summit November 2013-6d investments in arts education and cultural space, to celebrating the 40th anniversary of our 1% for Art program, to welcoming Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute into the Office, 2013 was a dramatic year of growth and development and we look forward to an even more exciting 2014.

In our expanded area of youth development we look forward to further implementing the Creative Advantage, our arts education partnership with Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Foundation in 2014. We are also excited to continue our partnership with the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative with our Work Readiness Arts Program. We know that in order to continue to have a thriving city, we need to invest in the future. The future is our youth, who need to have skills that will ensure their success in a 21st century economy; those skills are gained from arts learning both in school and out of school.

We will continue to expand our investments in the community through the return of the Arts Mean Business funding program, and the development of a Cultural Space Toolkit that will give communities the ability to sustain cultural activity in their neighborhoods. 2013 saw a significant increase in our ability to support the arts and culture ecology of Seattle. With more funding capacity and increased technical assistance, we hope to see even better things in 2014.

We will also build on our  efforts to utilize arts and culture to advance placemaking work across the city.  There are a whole host of activities planned for the year related to the waterfront redevelopment, from artist residencies to conferences to storefronts.  We will also build on the success of our Seattle Presents and temporary public art projects to expand our work on downtown activation.

The creative communities of this city make it a unique and desirable place to be. When we are able to harness and leverage the arts and cultural resources we are so fortunate to have, we can create bring vitality and energy from downtown, to South Park, to Northgate.

We deeply appreciate all of the work of the arts and culture community in Seattle.  You are all a constant source of inspiration, and we look forward to working to innovate ways to support and amplify your work.

Here’s to our city of creativity.

Cheers!

Randy