The Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation and Parks and Recreation are working with artists and community members from the CHOP to store, document and preserve artworks that captured the hope, imagination and inspiration for a more racially equitable society. The immediate goal was to get the artwork out of the right of way so businesses can resume their operations and people can move through the area. 

The City is supporting artists and CHOP community leaders by assisting in the safe removal of the artwork, providing safe temporary storage, and working in partnership with CHOP artists and stakeholders to document the preserved artwork and assist the artists in making the work publicly accessible where possible. 

“The CHOP is not just a physical location, it is a movement that is vibrant, passionate, and here to stay. We’re working with the city to preserve and catalog the artwork created in the CHOP and in the area. Our goal, much like the movement is to keep and continue creating and displaying art together. The CHOP Art Council is committed to the best interest of the artists and the movement that these works represent.” If you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter please feel free to contact us at insidechop@gmail.com.

CHOP Art Council

Artworks include numerous plywood panels originally used as traffic control barricades. Protesters used these surfaces as canvases for protest art centering a Black Lives Matter message.  

The City has also been striving not to remove artwork which could potentially be permitted under SDOT’s painted street mural program, including the Black Lives Matter street mural on Pine St. SDOT remains committed to the long-term preservation of this piece.  

In addition, Seattle Parks and Recreation will be working with a range of stakeholders to memorialize aspects of the community protests at Cal Anderson park, such as a garden, art and/ or speaker’s corner.