As a small awards program, our smART ventures grant encourages innovation and widens cultural participation, particularly by individuals, organizations, and communities that may not qualify for other funding programs.

Accepting applications year-round, smART ventures is flexible, inclusive, and simple. It provides funding ranging from $500 to $1,000. The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture encourages small active investments that can have big impacts.

Here are the 2019 smART Ventures awardees:

• Alliance Francaise de Seattle, $550 – Festinema Junior 2019 – Seattle is a film education program for youth showcasing French Films for students ages 4-18. All participating classes will receive a portfolio with a lesson plan, created with pre- and post-screening activities.
• Gavin Amos, $925 – A community clean-up and art installation by Henry Luke to revitalize the BIPOC-owned and -operated Rainier Farmer Stand to preserve the heritage of the North Rainier Valley community and mitigate gentrification.
• Maris Antolin, $500 – A Seattle-based Arts & Culture podcast created by Maris Antolin as an accessible digital space that encourages creative sharing and conversation and creates new safe spaces for ideas and movements to flourish. Sharpest Knives Podcast exists to break barriers between people and spaces through conversations with arts and cultural leaders.
• Syd Emmanuel Arrojo, $850 – Butterfly: Una Transformacion is a book release event that will feature the artist as well as four other performing local and national Queer Trans People of Color artists. The event will feature pieces performed from the book as spoken word music and each artist will perform a piece for each chapter in the book. The event will take place at Gay City Arts.
• Associated Recreation Council, $900 – Seattle Parks and Recreation has recruited low-income youth of color to participate in their Teen Summer Musical: Uncle Willy’s Chocolate Factory, and unique five-day-a-weeks, nine-week performing arts program demonstrating the assortment of career opportunities that exist on and off the stage. The performance this year will take place at Benaroya Hall.
• Devin Ball, $950 – Opening at Pottery Northwest in conjunction with Pride Month, Queer Clay will bring together artists from across the Pacific Northwest to present work addressing themes of home, community, and belonging.
• Belltown Artwalk, $500 – A free event for all ages that includes a gallery showcase, fashion show, live music, DJs and art sales.
• Franchesska Berry, $900 – Keur Fouta – Sabar & Djembe @ Café Ibex is a 2-day event of Sene-Gambian dance classes, music by master drummers, Sabar class, Djembe dance class.
• Brain Injury Alliance of Washington, $850 – The Brain Injury Art Show welcomes artists from across the state of Washington who have experienced Brain Injury. The show is to be displayed at the Seattle Art Museum.
• Gabriela Garza Canales, $700 – REVOLVE is an event that will combine musical performance and social justice education to raise awareness about the issue of immigration and gendered violence.
• Eloisa Cardona, $1,000 – Ang aming mga Salita – Our Words is a two-part presentation during the 2019 Pagdiriwang Festival at Seattle Center that showcases Filipino poets, writers and theater.
• Diana Laurel Caramat, $850 – Sensory Social Sculptures hosts social art small group programming sessions inspired by slime-making. The sessions are ASMR sensory experiments designed for an audience of people on the autism spectrum and those with social anxiety that will culminate in a creating an interactive sculpture.
• Cascadia Magazine, $1,000 – Cascadia Magazine is an online, non-profit publication for Seattle-based writers, artists and photographers.
• Clarinettissimo, $1,000 – From Germany to Mexico is a concert featuring the group Kokopelli in a performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s 1815 masterpiece Quintet in B-flat Major, and beautiful and moving Quinteto en Homenaje a Remedios Varo by modern Mexican composer David Hernandez Ramos that will take place at Good Shepherd Center.
• Common Field’s Washington State Ad-Hoc Team, $800 – Community Share-Back Meeting led by WA Common Field Attendees is a three-hour public meeting to share-back lessons, insights, ideas gleaned by Washington State attendees of Common Field’s 2019 Convening in Philadelphia. The event will take the form of a mini conference with discussions, workshops and community conversation.
• Converge Dance Festival, $600 – Converge Dance Festival is an annual festival which serves as a resource for emerging to mid-career artists, and an opportunity for Seattle audiences to experience original and meaningful contemporary dance works with a focus on innovation, building community, collaboration and creating space for artist to grow their ideas and take risks in their creative work. The festival takes place at Velocity Dance Theater.
• Kathleen Coyle, $800 – Free Watercolor Classes for Seniors is a 6-week watercolor class for seniors at the Lake City Community Center to introduce the creative possibilities of watercolor painting.
• Dabuli, $1,000 – Nepal Festival is an event at Seattle University showcasing Nepalese culture through traditional and folk music and dances in collaboration with local artists from different communities to foster intercultural understanding and appreciation.
• Daltonic Films LLC, $600 – Save the Showbox Documentary Film is a short documentary film about the day in the life of The Showbox, and the cultural impact this landmark has had on the city of Seattle.
• Dance with Dora, LLC, $1,000 – Let’s Be United by the Breeze and Diversity of Belem is a full-length dance performance showcasing the music and acne of Para, Brazil, and its connection to cultures of African and the African Diaspora at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Instituted.
• Dark Violet Productions, $950 – Dark Violet Production Presents Vanguard showcases a diverse mix of burlesque performers, inclusive of a variety of body types and gender presentations, so our audience and our performers will each see other reflected. Visibility and Representation matter, and we aim to provide a safe a creative inclusive space. Performances take place a Columbia City Theater.
• Día de Muertos Committee, $925 – Dia de Muertos is a Mexican celebration to remember our departed and is a celebration for the new generations to explore and understand the meaning of it in depth. This celebration is full of color, sounds and the smell of incense and marigold flowers. This event is free and open to the public and takes place in Seattle Center.
• Experience Education, $950 – A Little Louder: Youth Media Empowerment (ALL) is a 7-week project-based learning program tailored to youth who have limited access to the empowerment of art and media production. The program will culminate in a community event showcasing their 2D and video work.
• Kole Galbraith, $950 – Mixed Resonance is bringing together experimental artists from different age groups, ethnic backgrounds and professional level for a night of exploratory performance at the Neptune Theater. Performances and appearances will be made by Zachary James Watkins, Chloe Alexandra, Ambrosia Bardos, Kole Galbraith, and the STG Youth Ambassadors.
• GHETTO HEAVEN COLLECTIVE, $1,000 – THE WONDALAND BALL is Seattle’s first major ball, to explicitly support the Black and Brown trans and LGBTQ+ community here in Seattle as a space without transphobia and discrimination. The event will take place at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.
• Greater Seattle Choral Consortium, $600 – Seattle Sings 2019 – A Choral Festival of the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium is a 3-day choral music festival inviting 35 BSCC member community choirs at Seattle Baptist Church.
• Iranian American Community Alliance, $850 – Annual Iranian Festival is one that celebrates Iranian culture through different art and cultural performance, guest speakers, book signings, galleries, kids’ activities, and food at Seattle Center.
• Jeanne Heuving, $850 – Collaborative Experimental Poetry and Jazz Performance with literary writer Nathaniel Mackey and jazz player Marty Ehrlich.
• Dexter Kim, $700 – SATRINA AND OSIRIS is a screenwriting and concept film screening for general public to engage in the pre-production phase of the filmmaking process with diverse artists. Attendees will learn about the behind the scenes that occurred for the concept of the film to take place at a library or public space in Seattle.
• Jared King, $650 – All of Creation Art Camp is a time of Exploring, Creation, and Exhibiting works of art created by children from the Northgate neighborhood. The project includes 4 days of instruction and creating works of art, culminated with an Art Exhibit at the Northgate Community Center.
• Elise Koncsek, $600 – Mirror Universe is a set of 12 internally lit polyhedra suspended like planets in space from tree limbs at the Lusio Light Festival. The planets will be made from mirror acrylic inlaid with stained glass-like translucent colored acrylic and containing a series of sculptures which collectively tell a story across the universe.
• LanDforms, $600 – The Garden of Expectations is a new work presents the audience with a surreal and abstract glimpse into another world, presenting a wealth of symbolic and metaphorical readings, including but not limited to life, death, decay, vulnerability, the consumption of living things for human pleasure and the never ending search for approval that will be presented at the Northwest New Works Festival and a child accessible version that will take place in a local park.
• Let The Strings Speak, $1,000 – String instrumentalists, vocalists, spoken word artists, chamber strong ensemble presentations to reflect African American cultural arts with Let The Strings Speak Love, designed as a community outreach initiative.
• Jordan MacIntosh-Hougham, $850 – glitch: art and Technology Speakeasy is a collaborative project bridging the fields of dance and technology, to create performances that fluidly cross between virtual and physical space. The Speakeasy addresses cutting-edge issues of working within art and technology, to create relationship amongst artists actively working on addressing these issues, to highlight the voices of women and LGBTQ+ people working in new media art to take place at Velocity Dance Center.
• Alice Mao, $950 – The Modern Youth Identity is an exhibit open to artists ages 15-21 worldwide with the mission to form a creative space for minority artists to express themselves and their unique perspectives through a medium where they are largely underrepresented.
• Meredith Matthews YMCA, $700 – The Meredith Mathews YMCA celebrating our legendary Friday Night at the Y dances to unify the community. This event will be FREE for all community members.
• Miz Mel’s Cabaret LLC, $1,000 – Just Duet is a show designed as a community show to allow burlesque and cabaret artists the opportunity to share and hone duet acts, which are difficult to book, but bring a different dynamic and theatrical aspect to stage that cannot be achieved with solo performances. We focus on centering stories and performers from systemically non-dominant groups including POC, LGBTQ and others.
• Jennifer Moore, $950 – The Gathering: A Journey Into Sound is a sound bath concert in which community will come together to balance and relax with the power of music. Utilized as a tool for positive growth and development, sound and music can facilitate the integration of the body, mind and spirit into wellness, wholeness, and oneness.
• Native Club Concord, $800 – The Native Club brought in 3 storytellers and beading teach to help preserve traditional arts and heritage amongst youth.
• Non-Breaking Space, $875 – Na Kim Exhibition is an exhibition created by South Korean Graphic Designer Na Kim, as well as a free lecture at the Central Library.
• Paul Nunn, $850 – 16″ Transcription Disc Archiving will support community listening parties of Gloria Chandler Records, a female radio pioneer from the 1950s, as well as provide free public digitization/archiving days to take place at Equinox Studios in Georgetown.
• Heidi Park, $1,000 – Black Sheep, a first-time play written by Korean adoptee Heidi Park, explores her growing up in Minnesota and participating in the Minnesota State Fair sheep competition as well as her search for her mother in Korea and a sense of belonging. The play will perform at 18th and Union.
• Stephanie Pieper, $950 – Lady (A Zine for the Female Entrepreneur) & Zine Launch Party is a quarterly zine that features female identifying entrepreneurs in the Seattle area who are revolutionizing their industries by transforming priorities, values, and practices. The zine recognizes that the women of Seattle are all on unique professional journeys and aims to empower our community by building positive relationships to our bodies, money, and home.
• Play Your Part, $700 – The Originals, a play at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, supports LGBTQ+ students, and has open casting. Tickets free for those who cannot afford.
• Alexander Quetell, $700 – PILOT is a month-long series of movement workshops, creation residences, community dialogues, and performances. PILOT’s mission is to promote healthy environments for dance education, research, and training, and to empower choreographers, dancers, and directors and of the coming generation.
• Rainier Avenue Radio, $800 – Make Music Day 2019 is a worldwide holiday of music. Free performances and activities will take place all over Seattle and be streamed and broadcast.
• Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool, $800 – Fall Festival is a seasonal community celebration organized by the Rainier Valley Cooperative Preschool. Features arts and crafts, games, concessions, cultural performances, and other fun activities for the whole family.
• Reksha Rathnam, $950 – Laasya 2019 is a classical Indian dance competition held at the University of Washington to share the beauty, history, and culture of Indian classical dance within the Greater Seattle communities.
• Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project, $900 – Art for Change is a workshop series to support low-income and homeless people to express themselves, build community and increase their income through art. The project creates a welcoming, safe space for people to gather each week and learn from an instructor and will culminate in a final showcase in Pioneer Square.
• John Redenbaugh, $700 – The Art of Music is a series of 4 musical performances coinciding with 2nd Thursday Art Walks in West Seattle.
• Seattle Children’s Book Festival, $700 – The first ever Seattle Children’s Book Festival held at Greenwood Elementary is a free community event to promote youth literacy by connecting young people with award-winning authors and illustrators and books.
• Seattle Turkish Film Festival, $850 – Screening/music event–Humans of Anatolia – Music and Screening Event–of 5 short films telling the stories of individuals living in the Anatolian regions of Turkey, with musical performances to compliment the cultural significance of the films.
• Anya Shukla, $925 – YOUTH: Teen Arts and Opportunities Fair is an arts fair, by teens, for teens, centered around hip-hop. The fair will connect youth to potential internships and opportunities, allow them to learn more about hip-hop culture through workshops and performances, and showcase the power of the Seattle hip-hop community to take place at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
• Simone Pin Productions, LLC $1,000 – Dollhouse is a southern-gothic inspired burlesque show and includes technical choreography and features diverse artists that draws inspiration from Southern gothic stories, the reclaiming of diverse bodies and skin to celebrate the fixation of the female body.
• Sneaky Deep Collective, LLC, $750 – Completing the Form-InterPlay Performance Series is a five-week series of InterPlay workshops that help build community among participants through improvisational exercises, movement, and storytelling. It will culminate in a community performance to take place at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center.
• Sound Generations – Lake City Seniors, $750 – Lake City Momentia Meet-Ups is a free memory-friendly event for the whole community. Participants come to laugh, explore, create, and connect with others. Each session consists of an hour-long activity such as improv, music, movement, art, and more at Lake City Community Center.
• Spirit of Africa, $1,000 – The Spirit of Africa is a celebration of the music, dance and culture of Africa to take place at Seattle Center.
• The Sustain Music Project, $1,000 – Sustain Music is collaborating with New Beginnings to create a classical music concert entitled The Garden of Joys and Sorrows that raises awareness of domestic violence. It will take place at Taproot Theater.
• Nico Swenson AKA Miss Texas 1988 $1,000 – Church of the Auntie Christ is a theatrical performance as well as Drag show that explores, faith, grief, and identity at Re-Bar.
• Taiwanese Student Organization at the University of Washington, $850 – Night Market at the University of Washington is an annual celebration of Taiwan’s rich culture through delicious food, activities, and entertainment. Proudly presented by the Taiwanese Student Association at the University of Washington.
• Tayo Talabi, $950 – What happens to words unsaid, do they disappear, fade away, or build up inside of you like a volcano waiting to erupt? Sweet Musings: Words Unsaid, created by Omotayo Talabi, is a romantic comedy about two African American writers and the rise and fall of their relationship and the things they wished they would have said to save it.
• Charles E. Thompson, $600 – A Tribute to the History of Rhythm & Blues will feature renowned local vocalist CT Thompson and his band will perform R&B classic hits from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
• Matthew Trease, $800 – A book-release event for Make It True Meets Medusario a bi-lingual (Spanish and English) anthology of poems that brings together writers from the Cascadia bioregion with poets from across Latin America.
• Julieta Vitullo, $850 – Two Big Black Bags tells the story of James, an Argentine veteran of the Malvinas/Falkands War, wakes one morning to a big surprise in his living room: two big black bags containing ten million dollars. Determined to turn his life around, James embarks on an adventure from Seattle to South America. Two Big Black Bags is a workshop performance that will take place at ACT Theater.
• Washington Jalisco Sister State Association, $1,000 – Mexico En El Corazon is a free community event at the Paramount featuring music and dance performances of Mexico.
• Whalehouse Studio Cooperative, $800 – Recording & performance space in South Park provides free recording and performance opportunities to underserved communities with the Whalehouse Equitable Access Concert Series.
• WhatNot Theatrics, $900 – Parlor House: Panic of 1893 is a theatrical production which stories unfold through exploration of famous Seattle brother circa 1893.
• The Williams Project, $850 – Rotating in repertory, The Williams Project will produce Tennessee Williams’ Small Craft Warnings and William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life—otherwise known as The Bar Plays—staged within an immersive, functioning bar environment at Washington Hall.
• Adrienne von Wolffersdorff, $600 – Lady Krishna: The Documentary is a short documentary that tells the story of Natasha, a painter, punk musician, and model, who shows how age does not have to be a barrier to living life to the fullest with a screening at Fred Wildlife Refuge.