Created by April Jingco and Abbygail Eleccion
This holiday season is the perfect time to show your gratitude for the people in your life by gifting them an arts experience or a one-of-a-kind piece from local makers.
Through The Arts Are Open campaign, King County’s artists, collectives, and arts organizations have come together to amplify their upcoming events and projects. We have compiled this special The Arts Are Open Holiday Gift Guide with gift ideas ranging from event tickets to artists’ works. Make your holiday shopping meaningful by gifting unique experiences and exciting gifts, all while supporting our arts sector.
Click to view:
Upcoming Events ● Season Passes and Memberships ● Local Artists ● Art Galleries
The Gift of Experience: Upcoming Events
Spectrum Dance Theater: Donald Byrd’s Harlem Nutcracker
Spectrum Dance Theater is bringing Donald Byrd’s The Harlem Nutcracker to The Children’s Theatre’s stage for Workshop III, taking place December 9-12.
Auburn Symphony Orchestra’s Holiday Spectacular
Celebrate the holidays with Auburn Symphony Orchestra! The Holiday Spectacular will bring holiday cheer and musical delight for the whole family, featuring favorites including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mannheim Steamroller, A Christmas Carol, Sleigh Ride, and more.
The Gift of Experience: Season Passes and Memberships
Northwest Film Forum Membership
For all the film lovers in your life, a membership to Northwest Film Forum is a great gift option. Membership gives one access to discounted tickets, workshops and venue rentals, deals at local businesses, and invitations to free, members-only events.
SIFF Membership
Similarly, a membership to SIFF is a perfect way to show your appreciation for movie fanatics in your life. Membership includes perks like:
- Discounts on screenings at SIFF Cinema venues year-round, Seattle International Film Festival tickets and passes, classes and camps, and more.
- Popcorn! Members receive 5 complimentary medium popcorns per year.
- Invites to member-only free screenings, the annual Seattle International Film Festival Member Preview Night, and free and discounted screenings from partner organizations.
- Early access on Seattle International Film Festival passes.
Scarecrow Films Gifts & Membership
Scarecrow Film is a staple for anyone who prefers an at-home movie experience. Having served the film community for over 30 years, Scarecrow currently owns the largest independent video and physical media library in the country with over 137,000 titles.
You can gift a Scarecrow membership, which comes in various tiers, all with building benefits such as:
- 2 for 1 daily deals
- Discounts on rentals
- Early access to blow-out sales
- Invitations to member events
- Screening Room discounts
You can also purchase individual titles from their large online store.
Meany Center for the Performing Arts: 2021-22 Season Single Tickets
Meany Center for the Performing Arts invites you to partake in their 2021-22 season featuring virtuoso pianists and chamber ensembles to innovative dance companies and genre-crossing musicians. Both season passes and single tickets are now available for purchase.
Early Music Seattle 2021-22 Season Passes
Early Music Seattle is the area’s largest presenter of early music, including the International Series and Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and related educational programs serving 2,400 students in Seattle Public Schools annually and more than 100 amateur musicians. Enjoy their 2021-22 Season including five performances.
Ticket Options:
- Complete Series (All 5 Concerts)
- Choose Your Own Series (Pick 3 Concerts)
Shop Works from Local Artists
Urban Craft Uprising
Urban Craft Uprising is hosting two upcoming gift fairs that feature crafters and artisans from the Pacific Northwest and beyond:
Urban Craft Uprising
Saturday, Dec 4 (10am – 6pm) & Sunday, Dec 5 (10am – 5pm)
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall
South Lake Union Winter Market
Wednesday, Dec 8 & Thursday, Dec 9 (10am – 5pm)
Van Vorst Plaza (426 Terry Ave. N, Seattle)
Northwest Art Alliance’s Virtual Holiday Market
Northwest Art Alliance‘s Virtual Holiday Market highlights 65 talented artists and craftspeople. You can browse their online shop through Dec 5.
Pratt’s Online Holiday Art Sale
Pratt Fine Arts Center‘s Online Holiday Art Sale features works from over 75 Pacific Northwest artists. Shop for gifts ranging from ornaments and ceramics to paintings and home goods. The sale runs through Dec 12.
United Indians Art Market
Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center presents the United Indians Art Market, taking place on Dec 18 and 19. Support small, Native businesses and find gifts ranging from clothing, jewelry, woodworking, drums, and art prints. Affordable, unique, and fun!
Still Essential: Free Art to Celebrate Water and Light Stewards, Grocery Workers, and More
The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Amplifier have partnered to launch the Still Essential campaign, which aims to respect the dignity of laborers and honor those who continue to keep Seattle running smoothly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — the garbage collectors, utility workers, small business owners, artists, delivery drivers, grocery workers, and teachers we call neighbors.
Still Essential is inspired by the portraits of essential workers captured during the pandemic by Seattle photographers and reimagined by Tacoma-based artist Paige Pettibon.
Starting on Tuesday, Dec 7, this work will be distributed around town in the form of 6,000 wheat-pasted posters, as well as unique art giveaways and projections on Capitol Hill, at Columbia City Art Gallery, at Cafe Racer, at Columbia City Theater, at the Museum of Museums, and the Climate Pledge Arena. These posters also make a great gift for those in need of meaningful art. You can download and share the free artwork created through this collaboration.
Melissa Misoda Glass
Melissa Misoda is a glass artist and educator based in West Seattle. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and her MFA from Alfred University in New York. She has shown her work in galleries and museums across the nation, and has been published in several publications. You can purchase a variety of her glasswork on her online shop or find her at upcoming holiday markets.
Vivid Matter Collective
Vivid Matter Collective brings together over 16 local artists who spread truth through art. The collective includes AfroSPK, OneSevenNine, Ari Glass, A.O. Hamer, Kimisha Turner, Perri Rhoden, Perry Paints, T-DUB Customs, ArtbreakerBT, Barry Johnson, Sneke One, Moses Sun, Future Crystals, Cody Kalani + Kevin Drake, Joey Nix, and Japhy Whitte.
Their online shop includes a variety of works from prints to attire.
Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery’s “All Art $100 & Under” Art Show
Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery is hosting their “All Art $100 & Under” Art Show where you can buy pieces from local artists, all for $100 or less. You can visit their gallery now through Dec 24 to view the available works.
Fine Art Dana
Dana Teruya Len is a Seattle-based artist that creates art by collaging multiple layers of her own prints and cutout shapes. You can purchase her designs on a variety of goods from notebooks to mugs. Her art is available on Society6 and Etsy.
Martyr Sauce Sweatshirts
Founded in 2012 by artist and curator Tariqa Waters, Martyr Sauce is a Black-owned, artist-led art gallery and cultural institution. They just released three new hoodies and sweatshirts that make a great gift for the holidays.
La Sala’s Latino/a/x Artists’ Network
La Sala creates and catalyzes opportunities for Latino/a/x artists and arts organizations including providing access to professional education, art spaces, institutional connections, expanded audiences, and commissioned creative opportunities. You can view their Latino/a/x Artists’ Network to browse through the works of Pacific Northwest Latinx artists.
The UNgentrified Brand
The UNgentrified Brand is a Seattle-based Black-owned apparel business with the goal to put culture back into the community through apparel and novelty items. You can browse through a selection of items including the brand’s “UNgentrified” design on mugs, sweatshirts, and beanies.
Shop at an Art Gallery
Vermillion Art Gallery & Bar
Vermillion hosts a rotating selection of local artists and musicians to showcase their works. Currently, you can purchase handpainted ornaments by Priyanka Parmanand.
Harris Harvey Gallery
Harris Harvey Gallery is a leading Seattle fine art gallery where new and experienced collectors go to find paintings, prints, photography, and sculpture of the highest quality. Harris Harvey Gallery specializes in contemporary art by local, regional, and West Coast artists, many from the Seattle area.
Currently on view: Visiting the Familiar by Emily Wood (Dec 2 – Jan 15)
Visiting the Familiar is an exhibition of new paintings by Tacoma native Emily Wood. Wood finds solace in re-visiting places most known to her, seeking some sense of normalcy during the past year and a half. The hills of the Palouse, shores of the Oregon coast, and snowy foothills of the North Cascades provide rich subject matter for the artist, which she finds both warmly familiar and continuously inspiring. The rich color palette of her favored locales and the inviting form and line that they possess constantly provide new concepts for interpretation.
Lynn Hanson Gallery
Currently on view: Echoes of the Past by Dian Sourelis and Marilyn Charlat Dix (Nov 4 – Dec 18)
The gallery is located at 312 S Washington St. in Seattle and is open 11am – 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
SHIFT Gallery
SHIFT Gallery is hosting, Fabulous, a group exhibition featuring the talent and wide-ranging interests of SHIFT Gallery’s member artists. 20% of all sales from this show will be donated to a charity selected by the artists. On view through Dec 18.
Vetri Glass
Located one block south of Pike Place Market, Vetri showcases the work of extraordinary works in glass, ceramics, jewelry, and other media. Visit their gallery to shop for handmade objects by emerging makers and established artists from the Northwest and beyond.
There are many more artists, organizations, and art collectives that you can directly support this holiday season. You can see more gift opportunities through browsing the hashtag #TheArtsAreOpen. Happy shopping!
