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ARTS Welcomes Rick Reyes as Racial Equity Coordinator

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Rick is a Seattle-based, Tacoma-born, researcher, organizer, creative, and the new Racial Equity Coordinator with the Office of Arts & Culture. Trained in writing, critical race theory, and public policy at Seattle University, Rick’s previous research, art, and work explore epistemologies to better understand assumptions on race, class, and gender that produce real-life impacts on people of color and those at the center of structural oppression. As a researcher, his work includes discussions on disaster politics and the privatization of education, the power of narrative, and the intersections between science and social construction.

Rick’s work experience includes community outreach, communications, and program development at and in partnership with organizations such as the Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle University, the Office of Arts & Culture, Napster, and Seattle Theatre Group.

An avid musician and writer, Rick finds community in performing with, recording alongside of, and going to performances with fellow musicians, writers, and creatives.

Square Feet 2019: Staying Power

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On April 28-29, ARTS hosted the fourth installment of the Square Feet event. This roughly annual mini-conference explores different issues related to cultural space. This year the keynote speaker was Gus Newport, who spoke (at the Wing Luke Museum) about his work as a community organizer, a developer of affordable housing, and a cultural space creater in neighborhoods and cities across the country. His talk was streamed live and is archived here.

Karen Toering, Uche Okezie, and Gus Newport (L-R). Photo by Sunita Martini

The conference (at King Street Station) also included breakout sessions, a panel discussion, and the graduation of the 2018 Build Art Space Equitably (B.A.S.E.) Cohort. The sessions ended with the return of the Large Foam Check Challenge, an inclusive budgeting exercise that offered participants the opportunity to direct over $10,000 of ARTS spending towards a project of their devising. Last year, the funding was aimed towards the creation of a Tiny Cultural Space. That project is underway in partnership with Sawhorse Revolution and Estelita’s Library. This year the idea the group generated was about honoring and recording the oral histories of Indigenous people who are living in Seattle unhoused. The project, in partnership with urban Indian organizations, would directly pay participants for their stories.

Large Foam Check Challenge winners 2019. Photo by Sunita Martini

Structure for Stability (The PDA Report)

Following nearly two years of work and a significant Racial Equity Toolkit process, ARTS also presented its newest publication. Structure for Stability: Recommendations for Developing Affordable Community-Based Cultural Space provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing cultural spaces and artists’ spaces in Seattle and offers recommendations for the creation of a new, independent, mission-driven entity, to be capitalized through the Office of Arts & Culture’s bonding capacity, that will lease, develop, and hold real estate in partnership with community for use by artists and cultural organizations. The report is available here.

ARTS at King Street Station is open

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Open hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.;
 First Thursdays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
ARTS at King Street Station
303 S. Jackson Street, Top Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

On Saturday, March 23 ARTS at King Street Station officially opened its doors to the public. Mayor Durkan cut the Ribbon, Ken Workman the great, great, great, great-grandson of Chief Seattle welcomed everyone, and the Lummi Black Hawk Dancers opened the gallery. More than 2,700 visitors came to the opening and enjoyed the new space and more importantly had a chance to see yәhaw̓, a year-long Indigenous community-based project.

yәhaw̓ features the work of 200+ Indigenous creatives at over 20 sites across Seattle and beyond. The exhibition is accompanied by a mentorship training cohort, satellite shows, residencies, vendor opportunities and partner programs. Curated by Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Seminole), Asia Tail (Cherokee), and Satpreet Kahlon, yәhaw̓ celebrates the depth and diversity of Indigenous art made in the Pacific Northwest.

If you didn’t get a chance to join us at the opening, please stop in anytime during our open hours.

For more information about the exhibition visit yehawshow.com,

For information about how to propose your event or exhibition to happen at ARTS at King Street Station, the application portal is open!APPLY buttonFor more information about King Street Station visit here.

What’s next for ARTS at King Street Station? Propose your event or exhibition now

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New King Street Station Advisors group will review applications for and advise City on creating and maintaining a radically inclusive space for arts and culture

Now open, the King Street Station Portal provides a place for community to propose their ideas, events, performances, and exhibitions or art installations for the new arts and cultural hub. ARTS at King Street Station invests in exhibitions or events that promote arts and cultural participation, celebrate diversity, build community connections, and enhance the visibility of artists of color. The portal offers artists and communities the freedom to imagine, create and realize their programs hosted at ARTS at King Street Station. Guidelines and the ARTS at King Street Station information packet are available.

The new ARTS at King Street Station space responds directly to feedback from community focus groups with an emphasis on people of color. It is a dedicated cultural space that provides more than 7,500 square feet of cultural space and access to presentation and creative spaces, ARTS staff and resources, space for city convening’s, and professional development, meeting space and other services.

Individuals, artists, curators, organizations and groups are encouraged to propose projects that foster community, encourage participation, and reach diverse audiences. All projects must take place at ARTS at King Street Station (303 S. Jackson St.), have a significant arts and culture component, and be free and open to the public. ARTS may provide funding for events/performances and exhibitions for direct project expenses, including artist fees. Interested parties should submit applications at least two months before prospective events and six months before exhibition projects envisioned for the ARTS at King Street Station space. Projects will be selected by a panel of King Street Station Advisors; proposals may be paired with other projects. 

King Street Station Advisors:

King Street Station Advisors is a newly formed group of community leaders and arts/culture enthusiasts who will work with ARTS staff to ensure that the programming at ARTS at King Street Station centers racial equity, represents and welcomes diverse communities, and showcases many creative disciplines. Advisors are provided with a small stipend and serve a two-year term.

Inaugural King Street Station Advisors: Tom Bardwell, Cecilia DeLeon, Akilah Franklin, Bryan Garcia, Emnet Graham, Duncan Gibbs, Laurence Hicks, KERRI, Jasmine Jackson, Frances S. Lee, Lhorna Murray, Catherine Nueva España, Shin Yu Pai, Keanna Rose Pickett, Chukundi Salisbury Sr., Ixtli (Ixtlixochitl) White Hawk, Laurie Wilson, and Sunny Ysa.

ARTS at King Street Station is located at 303 S. Jackson St., top floor, Seattle, WA 98104. Open Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm; First Thursdays, 10 am – 8 pm. Admission is free.

What Does Access and Equity Look Like in Seattle’s Creative Economy?

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Close up of two children's hands drawing with pastels

Photo by Fedora el Morro

According to the report written by the Office of Economic Development, there were 67,350 creative jobs in greater Seattle by the end of 2017. Between 2012 and 2017, we added 4,373 more creative jobs than would be expected if Seattle had followed national trends.

Unfortunately, we also know from the data that women and people of color are underrepresented in certain creative occupations and that within these occupations, wage disparities exist along job title, race, and gender.

In 2019, the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) and Office of Economic Development are collaborating on an intentional, qualitative and quantitative creative workforce study with a race and social justice lens. ARTS is interested in identifying barriers at the entry, middle, and established tiers of creative economy work, and designing recommendations for how to increase access for those who historically have been left out.

Button: Take the Survey

Please spend 10-15 minutes filling out this online survey and share with your communities.

While the survey is completely anonymous, you will have a chance upon completing the survey to enter your email address to be considered for a raffle drawing for prizes. Five individuals will be selected to receive either a $25 pre-loaded VISA gift card or a professional development lunch with ARTS Director Randy Engstrom.

About the researchers

You can reach the UW Evans research team comprised of Aline Moch Islas, Casey Moser, Shomya Tripathy, and Louie Tan Vital at creativeeconomyseattle@gmail.com. This effort is being coordinated by Mytoan Nguyen-Akbar, PhD, Impact and Assessment Manager and Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow at ARTS with on-going research partnerships between ARTS and the University of Washington Evans School of Policy and Governance. UW Faculty member Joaquin Herranz, Jr., PhD, is advising this team.

The Creative Advantage Strives for Educational Justice

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First grade students sit in a circle, holding their hands up

Photo by KUOW/Marcie Sillman

Equitable access to arts learning is essential for all students. The Creative Advantage, a citywide initiative to establish equitable access to arts education for every student Seattle Public Schools, works to systemically address inequities in access to art education and provide a comprehensive, high-quality arts education for all students, across the city, especially those who have been historically underserved.

Comprehensive arts education cultivates:

  • 21st Century skills for students
  • Communication
  • Creative and critical thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Growth mindset

Through arts learning, young people experience the transformative power of creativity and gain a deepened belief in their own capacity to learn, take risks, persist, and achieve. The Creative Advantage is more than just a strategy for arts equity. Rather, it is step towards true educational justice.

Through a collective partnership between Seattle Public Schools, Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, The Seattle Foundation, Seattle Art Museum, Arts Corps, ArtsEd Washington, and up to 100 community-based arts organizations, The Creative Advantage has enhanced arts access through increased certified arts staff, culturally responsive teaching practices, arts partnerships, professional development opportunities for the community, and connected students with career opportunities in creative industries.

Since 2013, the number of elementary schools with regular visual art and music classes has more than doubled and thousands of students are receiving arts instruction from Seattle’s diverse corps of professional teaching artists and cultural organizations on The Creative Advantage Partner Roster.

Check out this recent media highlight from KUOW, featuring The Creative Advantage in action at Concord International Elementary School: How the arts can be Seattle schools’ stealth weapons in the fight for racial equity.

ARTS is moving to King Street Station!

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ARTS is busily preparing for the move at the beginning of January 2019 to our new location at King Street Station.

ARTS at King Street Station will officially open to the public on March 23, 2019 with the indigenous-centered inaugural exhibition yəhaw̓. An indigenous-centered showcase in recognition of the Coast Salish peoples who first inhabited the land on which the City of Seattle was built, yəhaw̓ will run until August 3, 2019.

ARTS at King Street Station’s public hours will be Tuesday-Saturday 10 A.M. – 6 P.M. with extended hours until 8:00 P.M. on the first Thursday of each month. Shaped by community feedback through a City-wide public outreach process, ARTS’ goal is for King Street Station to be a community and cultural space for the Seattle community to access exhibition and creative opportunities, ARTS staff and resources, professional development, meeting space, and other services.

Seattle’s newest Tiny Cultural Space is an expansion of Estelita’s Library

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The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with Sawhorse Revolution selected Estelita’s Library to be the first ever recipient of a Tiny Cultural Space design and construction project. ARTS and Sawhorse Revolution invited local cultural and community organizations to submit proposals for a new (tiny) cultural structure. Estelita’s Library, a social justice community library and bookstore, brings books, art, culture and community together to heal, uplift and serve communities of color, Queer and LGBT folks, and other oppressed communities of Seattle. The project will be designed and built by Sawhorse Revolution’s all-womxn design/build program for youth.

Estelita’s Library is currently located at 2533 16th Ave South. They are a membership driven organization that has over 250 members. They have a catalog of over 1,500 books, ranging from out-of-print books written by Black authors in the 1800s, to books that provide depth and critical analysis on the topics of race, slavery, indigenous/native languages, sexual identity and gender, politics, history, and law. The new Tiny Cultural Space created by this City program will be an extension of their current library, serving as a dynamic, multi-use space that builds culture, community, and knowledge, focused on the most historically marginalized. A feature of the extension is space to publicly display their collection of Black Panther Party Newspapers, one of the largest collections in the country that speaks to the history of justice and resistance of the Black Panther Party.

“Estelita’s is a space where culture thrives and lives,” says Edwin Lindo, Curator of Estelita’s Library. “We believe that our community’s power resides in our ability to build community and knowledge in a collective way. We are thankful and thrilled for the opportunity to expand this vision and for the community to have a space they can call as their own. To be able to have a dedicated space to exhibit the Black Panther Party Newspapers will foster a connection to our community’s past of resilience and beauty. We welcome the community to our current and future space.”

The board of Estelita’s Library will work closely with Sawhorse Revolution’s all-womxn design/build team. Design mentors from Olson Kundig Architects and LMN Architects will facilitate the youth designing the structure. Then, youth will build the space under the tutelage of professional carpenters. The space will be located on an unused city-owned property suitable for this type of project. Estelita’s Library will have a free five-year lease on the property, after which ownership may be transferred to the organization. After a final design is approved construction will begin in Spring 2019, with a grand opening planned for Summer 2019 depending on construction.

The Tiny Cultural Space construction project was developed through a community process at the Square Feet Seattle 2017 event. This is the first year that this Tiny Cultural Space construction project is being piloted. 

Sawhorse Revolution is a Seattle-based non-profit serving high-school students primarily from Central and South Seattle. Their mission is to foster confident, community-oriented youth through the power of carpentry and craft. They teach teens carpentry and architecture through inspiring community projects.

Images courtesy of Edwin Lindo, Curator of Estelita’s Library.

Mayor Durkan Announces Seattle Will Invest in 91 New Affordable Homes and art space on City-Owned Property in Uptown Adjacent to Seattle Center

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Investment Will Support 91 New Permanent Homes for Our Neighbors Experiencing Homelessness, A Community Art Space, and A Community Workforce Agreement Pilot 

Seattle (November 20, 2018) – Mayor Jenny A. Durkan was joined today by Uptown community members, housing advocates, labor leaders, and arts and cultural district representatives as she announced the City of Seattle will invest approximately $6.9 million to build 91 new affordable homes for people experiencing long-term homelessness at a City-owned site adjacent to Seattle Center.  

The building will be developed by Plymouth Housing following the permanent supportive housing model and providing 91 affordable apartments for men and women experiencing long-term homelessness. All residents will have a housing case manager to help provide tailored on-site services that may include nursing and medical care, connections to behavioral health treatment, hospice care, veterans counseling, and money management.   

In 2018, the City of Seattle has invested approximately $90 million in affordable housing. By 2021, the City expects to have more than 2,500 new affordable homes.  

“As we address our region’s homelessness crisis, we must build more affordable housing as quickly as we can and help our neighbors experiencing homelessness access the services they need and move into safer places. Seattle will continue to invest in affordable housing to ensure those experiencing homelessness have permanent, safe, stable places to live. We will also continue working with our partners in the region and state to ensure we have a truly regional response to this regional challenge,” said Mayor Durkan. “At this moment, the Seattle Center is transforming. The City is creating an arts and cultural space that compliments Uptown and the Seattle Center as an economic, arts, and cultural engine for decades to come.”  

The building will pilot a Community Workforce Agreement, which help provide true economic opportunity into underserved communities by working with labor unions, local governments can establish hiring standards to bring people from low-income areas, people of color, and women – populations that are historically underrepresented in the building trades – into the construction industry, providing access to apprenticeships, high-wage jobs, and benefits.   

The building will also include a ground floor arts and cultural space. Path with Art will manage the ground floor area of the building as an arts space available to residents and Path with Art students, as well as a community arts resource for other community-based arts organizations. Path with Art uses creative engagement to bring dignity, awareness, and healing to the complexities of the issues surrounding homelessness and recovery from trauma. The City’s Office of Housing and the Office of Arts and Culture worked with the Uptown Arts and Culture Coalition and the Uptown Community Alliance to engage community members and stakeholders on creating a building that would both maximize affordable housing outcomes and create opportunities for arts and cultural uses. This project is the first time the City has made a joint housing and arts investment as part of the same funding award.  

“Plymouth Housing’s mission is to provide the most vulnerable people in our community with permanent homes and the support they need to attain stability in their lives. We’re grateful to the Seattle Office of Housing for this opportunity to provide permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness,” said Paul Lambros, Executive Director of Plymouth Housing. “This site will provide two highly needed public benefits: housing and arts access. We look forward to working with our partners, Path With Art, as well as the Uptown Alliance and the Uptown Arts & Culture Coalition to construct a welcoming building that contributes to this vibrant neighborhood.”  

“When we build affordable housing with active ground floor space, we enhance the opportunity and wellbeing of both residents and neighborhoods,” according to Steve Walker, the Director of the Seattle Office of Housing. “The Office of Housing collaborated with our partners at the City Office of Arts and Culture and in the Uptown neighborhood to achieve arts and cultural goals prioritized by the community at a site where we are making a housing investment.”   

”The Uptown Arts and Culture Coalition was delighted to be a part of the evolution of this project aligned with and advancing the Uptown neighborhood arts and cultural priorities,” said Cyrus Despres, Director of Planning and Business Intelligence at KEXP and the President of the Uptown Arts and Cultural District. “We are growing an Uptown creative space for existing arts organizations and helping our neighbors in need at the same time.”  

The Office of Housing also worked in close partnership with the Labor Equity Team at the Department of Finance and Administrative Services and the Seattle Building Trades to pilot a Community Workforce Agreement at the site.  

“This pilot sustains Seattle’s track record of ensuring strong labor equity outcomes through labor agreements,” said Monty Anderson, Executive Secretary of the Seattle Building Trades. “The Community Workforce Agreement is the main tool to implement the City’s Priority Hire Ordinance, aimed at prioritizing local workers living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and supporting women and people of color to take part in apprenticeships and become part of the trained construction workforce.” 

 

ARTS partner Creative Equity Fund’s Inaugural Grant infuse $200,000 into 14 organizations

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Building racial justice through arts and culture

 

Seattle Foundation and its partners are fueling the power of arts and culture to dismantle racism through the new Creative Equity Fund, which is announcing a total of $200,000 in grants to 14 King County organizations.

The grants will provide either project-based or general operating support to nonprofits with a wide array of approaches to addressing structural racism through their programming. This includes nonprofits working in the areas of housing and homelessness, criminal justice, arts education, reproductive health, public policy and food security. All are using arts and culture strategies to create empathy, transcend divisions, inspire innovations and engage the community in collective change.

“This grant program is designed to harness the power of arts and culture to not only influence systems and policy change but also to fund organizations using creative solutions to counter the impacts of structural racism in their communities. The 14 organizations these grants support are igniting civil discourse, inspiring action and helping create a more just world for people of color in King County,” said Jonathan Cunningham, Program Officer at Seattle Foundation.

A cross sector group of community members, all people of color from the Greater Seattle region with arts and culture experience, co-designed the Creative Equity Fund and all of its facets with the support of funders. 

The 2018 Creative Equity Fund grantees are:

21 Progress

Arts Corps

Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas

Chief Seattle Club

Creative Justice

Hip Hop is Green

Indigenous Showcase

International Capoeira Angola Foundation (ICAF Seattle)

Northwest African American Museum

Northwest Tap Connection

Surge Reproductive Justice

Studio Lazo

Totem Star

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation

A few organizations’ plans for the grants include:

  • Totem Star will help fund its music recording program, which empowers youth of color through music production and performance that in turn teaches life skills, leadership and civic engagement. The program provides critical arts access and entrepreneurship to youth from under-served communities.
  • Hip Hop is Green, which connects hip hop to the environment, will use its grant to increase connections for youth and families of color to healthy food, fitness, gardening and nature. The group produces cultural and educational events and programming that increases health and wellness in communities with less access to healthy food.
  • Surge Reproductive Justice will use the funds to support their open-mic nights, which lift up the experiences of black and brown women who are addressing the systemic barriers communities of color often face related to reproductive health care. Through this storytelling, Surge will strengthen its policy change initiatives aimed to improve reproductive health within communities of color.

The grantees were selected from 75 applicants, and were decided by an intergenerational panel of community members of color with professional experience in the arts and culture field. In an effort to lessen the power imbalances that often exist in philanthropy, funders did not have a vote.

The Creative Equity Fund is administered by Seattle Foundation and was developed initially through a collaboration with ArtsFund and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, with support from Macklemore. Additional leadership and financial support comes from The Boeing Company, Microsoft and the Nesholm Family Foundation.