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Mayor Harrell Announces Proposed Efforts to Beautify City: Address Surge in Graffiti  

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Includes Many Hands Art Initiative which will create a more beautiful Seattle  

Mayor Harrell detailed elements of his One Seattle Graffiti Plan to beautify Seattle and address a surge in graffiti through new strategies and proposed budget investments. Mayor Harrell’s plan includes six major pillars one of which is the Many Hands Art Initiative, through the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) Spatial Justice through Street Art RFP.  

Volunteer award recipient Denise Chase (partially cut off far left), WSDOT Northwest Region Maintenance Communications Lead James Poling, SPU GM & CEO Andrew Lee, Parks Superintendent AP Diaz, Mayor Harrell, ARTS Interim Director royal alley-barnes (speaker), MO Director Graffiti Programs & Initiatives Paul Jackson, MO Executive General Manager Adiam Emery, MO Performance Liaison Liz VanBemmel

Under the direction of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), the Many Hands Art Initiative will engage with artists, businesses, volunteers, and others to activate spaces with art, mitigating and preventing graffiti. ARTS is currently seeking partners to install new public art, providing opportunities for creative workers. Spatial Justice through Street Art is a part of the Hope Corps program, a one-time request for proposals (RFP) that seeks to encourage youth voices in communities to explore and create street art. This opportunity supports organizations or programs that reinvigorate and expand the definition of “arts and culture,” foster community among street artists, and create equitable, collaborative spaces to nurture emerging voices in One Seattle. 

The Hope Corps Many Hands Art Initiative RFP, creates transformative, equitable, sustainable, collaborative community spaces to elevate street art and nurture new voices. Approaching this increased graffiti activity through a spatial justice lens means creating opportunities for these new voices – as street artists –to work with community and create new visuals – murals throughout the city upon agreed on sites. 

royal alley-barnes, Interim Director Office of Arts & Culture

More information about Mayor Harrell’s proposal and six pillars is available here. 

The Creative Advantage Summer Institute Success

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by Tina LaPadula, Arts Education Project Manager, photos by Ground Zero

Attendees check in at the registration desk.

On August 18, more than 125 community arts educators and teachers flooded into the Seattle Art Museum to attend The Creative Advantage Summer Institute.

Seattle JazzEd youth performers blared big band standards to greet the attendees, and a full day of arts learning began.

Three youth with horn instruments sit in front of music stands, playing.
Seattle JazzED
Red Eagle Soaring reps with a drum on stage.
Red Eagle Soaring
Sah wears a light blue traditional Vietnamese dress and stands with her hands clasped at the mic.
Youth Poet Laureate, Sah Pham

Russell Brooks and Nicole Suyama from Red Eagle Soaring Native Youth Theatre opened the main program in the Plestcheef Auditorium, reminding all guests of our responsibility to the land we’re on, the native people of this area, and the 2015 passage of Senate Bill 5433 requiring the Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State or other tribally-developed curriculum be taught in all schools. 

Youth Poet Laureate Sah Pham recited a powerful piece created just for the occasion, encouraging all the educators to remember what’s at stake in our classrooms. An excerpt:

I am grateful for you
Teachers, educators, shipmakers
lifeguarding without limitation
drifting us onto better days
boats big enough to carry our dreams to shore
It is because of this port language,
That I arrive at this pier
Where the same hands before me held nothing
The boatful of stars I hold are burning

So that when I look up
I see that I have everything

Thank you, Cảm ơn
for this artful education.
without you
I could not have held up this sky
Long enough to paint it blue.

Acting Director of the Office of Arts & Culture royal alley-barnes and Seattle Public Schools Executive Director of Partnerships and Engagement James Bush, lauded the accomplishments and progress of The Creative Advantage in it’s 10 year history, and reaffirmed their institutional commitments to this important city-wide arts education partnership.

Attendees look at posted sign up sheets for workshops like Theatre for Personal Collective Empowerment, Layers of Heritage, Dance for ALL, Teaching for Artistic Behavior
A man holding a banjo in a workshop.
Masked dancers in a studio, feet wide, hands clasped in front of their faces.
A trio of youth musicians with clarinet, guitar, and upright bass.
Audio and video recording set up with student journalists in front of mics.
Two workshop instructors pose with arms around each other, the taller one is masked.
Movement workshop with attendees raising their arms high, palms up, necks craned back.

Other highlights of the day included: a panel and interactive workshops in theatre, dance visual art and music with representatives from representatives of Red Eagle Soaring, The Rhapsody Project, Spectrum Dance and Seattle Art Museum; a picnic lunch on the steps while student performers The Rhapsody Songsters crooned folk and blues tunes; an Everybody Dance salsa lesson with Spectrum’s Stephanie Guiland with live accompaniment from Big World Breaks’ Aaron Walker Loud. Documentation of the day and arts advocacy interviews with Ground Zero student journalists.

Speakers pose on stage.
Guest Speakers
Two of the planners pose, standing warmly together.
Tina LaPadula and Gail Sehlhorst

The Creative Advantage Implementation Team is beyond grateful to kick off the school year in the company of all the arts leaders who collaborated and attended, making the day a rousing success. Here’s what participants had to say:

“Every part of the Institute was centered on JOY and inclusion which also invigorated me to take that to my students this year.”

“It was overall just amazing to be in a room with other arts educators and art education champions. I feel so energized and excited after the institute!”

“The movement workshop reminded me how important it is to bring the physical into a day of learning. The music workshop gave me a wonderful framework for exploring my own identity as well some tools for helping my students explore theirs.”

“I came wondering about the state of arts learning in SPS and hoping to connect with local teaching artists. So, I was really glad to hear the info in the speaking program and for the networking opportunities. The workshops were delightful…I came out feeling refreshed and inspired.”

The 2019-2022 Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith is being honored by US Water Alliance receiving the US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist 2022

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Announced on September 13th at the One Water Summit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the US Water Alliance awarded Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith the US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist, 2022. Awarded on an annual basis, the US Water Prize celebrates outstanding achievements in the advancement of sustainable, integrated, and inclusive solutions to our nation’s water challenges. It is the preeminent national recognition program for exemplary efforts to secure a One Water future for all.  

Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith; Photo by Marcus R. Donner

The US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist honors an artist or culture bearer that has used artistic interventions or creative practices to center water issues, management, infrastructure, or communicate the value of water in their work. The winner of the Water Prize for Outstanding Artist will also be awarded $5,000 to support continuing their work. 

“We are honored to have our Civic Poet recognized by the US Water Alliance. Jourdan Imani Keith’s work is inspirational, uplifting and deeply centered on our communities and our shared responsibility to care for our earth and for one another. As we think about the challenges facing our environment, too often we respond with pessimism and a defeatist attitude, but Jourdan’s poetry is powerful in its ability to instead empower by meaningfully connecting us to water, waste and the broader social and environmental issues that are part of our daily lives.” 

Mayor Harrell

“It is an honor to receive the US Water Prize Outstanding Artist Award. As Black Indigenous Women of Color in Seattle, we share the urban wilderness of the Salish Sea with the endangered Killer Whales. Our bodies face the same cumulative risks of environmental toxins and the harms of objectification, yet we both survive and are reviewed by the cumulative benefits of matrilineal wisdom, tradition and community. Our brilliance and wellness is entwined with the need for healthy and protected social and natural ecosystems.”  

Jourdan Imani Keith

Keith created a multi-media/event project Women & Whales First, Poetry in Climate Change as the City of Seattle’s 2019-21 Civic Poet, examining how poetry can be used as a tool to illuminate environmental and social issues. The project centered on the experience of Black Indigenous Women* of Color and explore, through art, the impact of our choices on the environment we all share. Part of that body of work included the poem Essential which was composed during the COVID pandemic. Essential was commissioned to celebrate Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) Community Centered, One Water, Zero Waste, vision and Strategic Business Plan.  *Keith’s use of the word women embraces all women and people who self-identify with the experiences of women. This includes but is not limited to Trans Women, cis-women, Femmes, Two-Spirit, Gender Diverse and non-conforming people. 

Weaving together Seattle’s 2020 pandemic experiences through the lens of City water and waste services, Jourdan’s poem Essential uses images of water as a unifier and connector to Black Lives Matters demonstrations of the present and to the power we have to shape our future.  Each stanza brings forth and reveals a deeper part of SPU’s often invisible inner workings and the utility’s purpose in our lives allowing the listener and reader to see SPU’s work in an essential light. It inspires social and environmental action and reflection. Essential also becomes a reminder and ode to our pandemic experiences establishing the power of uninterrupted, essential service delivery and the heroism of essential service workers during that blur of time when little else was normal.  

Jourdan Imani Keith, City of Seattle’s 2019-2022 Civic Poet, is a black, LGBTQ+, teaching artist, naturalist, and poet, focusing on creative and environmental work with a racial equity and social justice lens. Keith founded and directed a 10-year non-profit youth program, Urban Wilderness Project (UWP) to ensure youth of color have access to and are engaged in the environment and related issues. Racial equity and sustainability of the natural world are through-lines of all their work. 

Keith’s work at the City of Seattle is supported by the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). ARTS manages the Civic Poet Program, a two-year commission that celebrates Seattle’s rich literary community while investing in the future of literary arts through community engagement.  

Seattle Office of Arts & Culture selects inspiring projects for Hope Corps funding

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30 artists and organizations will bring their proposals to life 

Graphic listing Hope Corps 2022 Awardees. The 30 names are listed in the blog post.

In the wake of the global pandemic and resulting economic crisis, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) created Hope Corps, an economic recovery program connecting under- and unemployed workers in the creative industries with career opportunities that benefit the public. ARTS will award 30 artists and organizations a total of $1.3 million dollars through its Hope Corps program. 

“The need is great and the demand for supporting the arts sector is clear. We received 300 applications from artists and arts organizations who focused on integrating the arts into social cohesion, economic renewal and healing needs for the underserved in our communities. The award funds are just three percent of the $38 million in total project proposal requests.” 

royal alley-barnes, Interim Director, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

Hope Corps is a work program created to provide economic and social opportunities for Seattle’s extensive creative workforce. Inspired in part by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, it employs artists and cultural and creative workers whose ability to work has been disrupted due to COVID-19.  

“Awardees presented proposals that are outstanding and inspiring in their scope, creativity and potential impact on our city. We believe that these projects will inspire and serve as examples to public and private funders in the region regarding what can be achieved if you work with the community to move us all forward.”

Mayor Bruce Harrell

The 30 Hope Corps proposals were selected based on the ability to generate career opportunities for the local creative workforce and successfully address one or more of the six Hope Corps focus areas: public health, mental health and healing, food security, storytelling, social connection and belonging, and arts education. Panelists also evaluated how projects proposed to engage creative workers, audiences, and the community from Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian and diaspora, immigrant, refugee, and other unserved and underserved communities. Additional key elements of the selection process gauged proposals’ ability to complete their projects and artistry exhibited through work samples.  

“I am so pleased and grateful to have been selected for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s (ARTS) Hope Corps program. With the City’s generous support, I look forward to creating work that Seattle residents, workers and visitors will hopefully enjoy and gain a great deal from in the future.”

Helen K. Thomas 

Awardees will work with ARTS staff to refine their projects’ scope of work. These Hope Corps projects will begin in 2022 and continue through 2023. A full list of awardees can be found below.

Hope Corps Awardees 2022

  • Anna Banana Freeze  
  • Bennyroyce Royon 
  • Casa Surya Healings   
  • Christina Dietz  
  • danceDaigre  
  • David Toledo 
  • Experience Learning Community dba MoPOP   
  • Futsum Tsegai 
  • Grace Athena Flott 
  • Helen K. Thomas  
  • Ian Shearer  
  • J.R. Rhodes 
  • Jean-Paul Builes  
  • Jeffrey Lee Cheatham II  
  • Julian Peña 
  • Miya Sukune 
  • Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery  
  • Phillippia Goldsmith / PhillySoCreative 
  • Resilient In Sustaining Empowerment (RISE)   
  • Shelf Life Community Story Project   
  • Shin Yu Pai 
  • Sound Theatre Company 
  • Stewart Wong  
  • Sway and Swoon DJ Collective 
  • The Shattered Glass Project   
  • Timothy White Eagle / TWE ARTS 
  • Totem Star 
  • Urban Artworks   
  • Wa Na Wari   
  • Yes, Ma! Market

Here’s What Awardees Are Saying

“It’s sinking in. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I learned so much through the application process. So appreciate the mindfulness of it. Looking forward to our partnership.”

J.R. Rhodes

“WOW. I am so flooded with emotion — thank you from the bottom of my heart for this award! I am completely overwhelmed. You have no idea what this support means to me right now. Words cannot express how grateful I am to be able to continue this work. I can’t wait to get into the details of the project with you all and please accept my heartfelt appreciation. This opportunity is life-changing. Thank you to each of you and all the members of the jury.”

Grace A. Flott

This program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Importance of Artistic Storytelling

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by Dr. James R. Gore

The missing narratives of African American history including the Great Migration in the canons of American History are being unveiled, especially, by African American scholars who have researched and published about the African American experience for over a Century.  

However, Jacob Lawrence and August Wilson are two American artistic dignitaries who brilliantly captured the essence of the Great Migration in some of their most essential works. Lawrence and Wilson whose works are nationally acclaimed, both embraced the African American aesthetic/worldview. Jacob Lawrence’s 1940 – 41, Migration Series, and August Wilson’s Pittsburg Cycle’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”, and “Piano Lesson” depict the African American perspective of the Great Migration. 

JACOB LAWRENCE (American, 1917–2000)
During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern
Negroes During World War I there was a great migration north by
southern African Americans
1940-1941
Casein tempera on hardboard
Image: 12 × 18″ (30.5 × 45.7 cm)
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

The American Great Migration refers to the movement of six million African Americans leaving the Southern states to the Northern and Western states from the early 20th Century to the mid-1970s. They moved to urban areas including Seattle because of industrial jobs which was a transformation from the agricultural South. However, our educational institutions have mostly chosen to leave this story of American history out of the history books. Therefore, artists such as Jacob Lawrence and August Wilson used their platforms to implement “Soft Power,” the influence art may have in society to tell the stories of the African American experience. 

Education is the responsibility of each state, and the politically sensitive content of the curriculum can create social debate. Author Toni Morrison stated:

“The best art is political, and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.”

Toni Morrison

In addition, August Wilson said: 

“All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics.”

August Wilson

These quotes reflect the importance of African American artists and their artistic method of teaching American stories.  

The lack of authentic and creditable cultural history in our educational institution is alarming. Research revealed: “There seems to be a relationship between how an individual perceives himself/herself and social or institutional perceptional influence,” (Gore, 2000, p.26). Many artists have provided an Autoethnography of their cultural experience, and their art has educated and provided insights into our own culture(s), as well as educating others about our culture(s). 

A Recap of The AMP’s Ribbon of Light Dedication

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On June 30, The AMP (Aids Memorial Pathway) celebrated the installation of the final piece of the project — Horatio Hung-Yan Law’s Ribbon of Light at Cal Anderson Park. This piece marks the final artwork installation of The AMP, which started in 2015.

Photo by Jo Cosme

The dedication event featured remarks and participation from Horatio Hung-Yan Law, Gay City, The AMP Steering Committee, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS).

Take a peek at some photo highlights from the event below, courtesy of Jo Cosme.

You can experience the entirety of The AMP and all of the artwork — Christopher Paul Jordan’s andimgonnamisseverybody, Civilization’s We’re Already Here, Storme Webber’s In This Way We
Loved One Another, Novaby’s The Names Tree, and Horatio Hung-Yan Law’s Ribbon of Light — at The AMP in Capitol Hill on the north edge of Cal Anderson Park.

Seattle Celebrates 50 years of African-American Culture at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute

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Legacy through community. With special guests: MC Isiah Anderson Jr., MC StevYaddy, Teen Summer Musical and more.

Saturday, September 10, 2022; 1 – 5 p.m. 
104 17th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 

Celebrations and performances include 2022 Teen Summer Musical, Black Stax, Arami Walker, Marco Farroni, and Anzanga/Zambuko Marimba Ensembles 

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) announces the 50th Anniversary Celebration for the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) will be held on September 10 from 1-5 p.m. Please join us as we celebrate the community members and artists that have sustained LHPAI over the past 50 years. Mayor Bruce Harrell will welcome the community. 

“Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute must always serve as an accessible hub for artistic excellence, cultural engagement, and civic life here in Seattle. From my youth through to today, I’ve seen many engaging and thought-provoking performances, shows, and events, elevating messages and themes that remain with me now. Its location within Seattle’s historic African-American community — the Central District — reinforces the salience of the artistic contributions of the city’s African-American communities past, present, and future.” 

Mayor Harrell

Organized in collaboration with LANGSTON and the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas, the program will feature, highlight and honor key members of the LHPAI community who have contributed to its longevity and who are instrumental in shaping its future.  

“Each year Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute recommits and rejuvenates its civic and cultural connections through the robustness of programs community engagement. For 50 to come LHPAI will be a steward of African-American arts in Seattle, and a beacon for arts engagement citywide.” 

royal alley-barnes, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Interim Director

The celebration will be hosted by Isiah Anderson, Jr., Teen Summer Musical Director, and Steve Sneed, Former Director of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. Remarks will be provided by Mayor Bruce Harrell, Seattle Parks Deputy Superintendent Christopher Williams, and ARTS Acting Director and former Executive Director of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, royal alley-barnes. 

Vivian Phillips, ARTE NOIR Founder, will introduce community Artists Honorees Tee Dennard and Kibibi Monie. The program will also feature performances by the 2022 Teen Summer Musical, managed by Acts On Stage in partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, Black Stax, Arami Walker, Marco Farroni, Anzanga/Zambuko Marimba Ensembles, and the Northwest African American Museum’s African American Cultural Ensemble, DJ TOPSPIN aka BLENDIANA JONES, Josephine Howell, LiaPlusSum, and DJ Yaddy. 

Black Stax
Arami Walker
Marco Farroni
NAAM’s African American Cultural Ensemble

Built in 1915 and named after the renowned African-American cultural luminary, Langston Hughes, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) is a historic landmark in the historic Central Area of Seattle. Designed by B. Marcus Priteca, and formerly the orthodox Jewish Synagogue of Chevra Bikur Cholim, the building became a community center and part of the City of Seattle’s facilities in 1972. It underwent extensive renovations in 2011 to preserve its architectural character and update the facilities.  

For 50 years, and throughout multiple iterations and re-imaginings, LHPAI has played a central role in the artistic, cultural, and social life of Seattle’s Central District. LHPAI has always been an engaged neighbor and cultural partner welcoming Central District community members and organizations as well as those operating throughout the city of Seattle.  

Special thanks to our promotional partners Black Heritage Society of Washington State and the Central Area Neighborhood Council.

Download the press kit for LHPAI50.

The Creative Advantage Summer Institute Returns Live & In-Person

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By Tina LaPadula, Arts Education Project Manager

The Creative Advantage Summer Institute returns in-person to the Seattle Art Museum on Thursday, August 18, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. This day of professional learning is the creative kick-off to the 2022-23 school year, and a time for teachers, teaching artists, community arts partners, arts administrators, and education leaders to reconvene, get inspired, and explore new collaborations.

The event features members of The Creative Advantage Community Arts Partner Roster and includes panels, workshops, networking, student performances, lunch, and clock hours. The event is FREE, but registration is required.

The Creative Advantage is a leader in working with partners to imbed artists in Seattle Public Schools programs. Artists working with arts educators create diverse arts opportunities to keep meaningful art experiences available to our young people. Together we build One Seattle through the arts!

royal alley-barnes, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Interim Director
Register Now

Program Highlights

  • Workshops from all featured organizations highlighting four different artistic disciplines:
    • Theatre for Personal + Collective Empowerment with Red Eagle Soaring (RES) is a workshop that will focus on the personal and collective empowerment of our Red Eagle Soaring performing arts-related activities, the importance of bringing storytelling to the forefront of our holistic and educational growth mindset, and keeping that part of us vibrant throughout our lives. This workshop will be led by RES Program Manager Nicole Suyama (Inupiaq) and RES youth Olivia Vann & Sophia Vann (Cherokee) + Isaac Benally-Brooks (So. Cheyenne/Dine’/Nakota).
    • The Rhapsody Project’s interactive Layers of Heritage workshop will provide participants with activities and tools that help people of all backgrounds explore the layers of their identity and root themselves more fully in their status as a culture bearer. By sharing and discussing different elements that compose a person’s heritage — whether it be one’s ethnicity, the land or community that we are raised in, or the traditions we are drawn to absorb — participants will celebrate or express themselves in musical and written formats.
    • Dance For All is a workshop that provides a vibrant exchange with Spectrum Dance Theater artists and instructors. Open to movers of all ages and skill levels, Dance For All participants will explore dance as a medium for self-expression and social connection. Centering on the work of Spectrum Dance Theater and Donald Byrd, students will engage in a physical exploration of dance as an art form and as a social civic tool.
    • Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) with Seattle Art Museum is an art teaching philosophy in which students learn to think like artists. The TAB philosophy states that the child is the artist and the classroom is the artist’s studio. During this session, educators will discuss how to inspire and guide youth in connecting with artworks in the galleries and developing their craft. This workshop will be co-facilitated by Yaoyao Liu and teaching artist, Alicia Betty.
Seattle JazzED
The Rhapsody Project

A special thank you to Masao Yamada and the incredible young artists from Ground Zero (GZ) Radio, who will be on-site collaborating with The Creative Advantage on media coverage for the entire event.

Meet the Facilitators

Russell Brooks (So. Cheyenne) is the Executive Director of Red Eagle Soaring in Seattle. Russell grew up in Montana and is a former radio disc jockey, and is also a filmmaker and co-founder/board member of the Olympia Film Collective. Russell also works with band promotion and booking, and arts & cultural space preservation. Russell is passionate about continuing to create opportunities for Native artists and actors in the performing arts, as well as for Native storytellers to unleash their creativity across mediums, blending opportunities to tell their stories and finding the necessary support to bring their vision to the greater public, as well as collaborating with artists in the greater community. 

Nicole Suyama (Inupiaq) is the RES Program Manager and an Alum of RES, having been with the organization since age 11. Nicole is a musician, actor, director, teaching artist, and also the reigning World Karaoke Tour North American Champion. 

Joe Seamons is a musician and teacher who co-founded The Rhapsody Project with Ben Hunter in 2013. Through exploring his local heritage of Pacific Northwest folk music and lore, and the troubled history of prejudice therein, Joe’s work as a songster and teacher fused with his commitment to agitate for social justice. A descendant of the Aurora Colony in Oregon, Joe continues to explore the ways in which his personal heritage connects him to the legacy of that region. In shedding light on the songs and stories that have been preserved, as well as those that have been forgotten or suppressed, Joe works with his partners in the Rhapsody Project to harness the power of roots music to create empathy and equity. When he’s not performing with Ben Hunter, Joe plays with his Portland-based band Timberbound. 

Stephanie Guiland, originally from NYC, danced for Donald Byrd/The Group, Complexions on Broadway in Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple as the Dance Captain and Swing, and for Disney’s The Lion King. Her performance background also includes music videos and commercial dance work touring the U.S. and Europe. She served as Mr. Byrd’s Rehearsal Director for his company, his assistant on numerous projects for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and assisted with equity workshops for The Color Purple on Broadway and White Noise. Working with youth, she’s instructed for Dance Theater of Harlem’s Dancing Through Barriers program, Disney’s Lion King Cub School, WRArts, and in Arts in Education. Prior to relocating to Washington in 2020, she was a summer faculty member for the Joffrey Jazz and Contemporary program for five years and worked for the Bounce Summer Intensive in NYC. She was an Adjunct Dance Professor at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY for nine years and is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer with numerous certifications. Her passion project aside from her main one — raising a beautiful child — is her fitness company, Kick My Assets. She joined The School of Spectrum Dance Theater as its School Director in 2021.

Yaoyao Liu is the Manager of School & Educator Programs at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). She joined SAM in 2018 as the Museum Educator for the Seattle Asian Art Museum, creating resources and programs for students, educators, and families. Yaoyao earned her BA in English with a minor in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan and her MA in International Studies from the University of Washington. Outside of SAM, she serves as Volunteer Manager for the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, fostering youth involvement with filmmaking and community building.

Alicia Betty is a local artist who has been affiliated with the Seattle Art Museum since 2008, teaching both students pre-K-12 and educators in the classroom, in workshops, and at special events. Born and raised in Seattle, they hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from the University of Washington. Their current Xerox collage-based prints reflect their involvement in the punk and queer community over the past 20 years. In addition to being an artist and craftsman, they are a 35mm film projectionist and are committed to preserving physical media as they work at Scarecrow Video Archives.

Aaron Walker-Loud is an artist, band director, composer, producer, and educator. He is the founder and director of Big World Breaks (B.W.B.), a production company built for performance, studio and education, that has shared stages with Janelle Monae, Kool DJ Red Alert, Digable Planets, DJ Qbert, Macklemore, Reggie Watts, Saul Williams, and many more. B.W.B. has also produced live show backing for various artists such as Grammy-nominated vocalists Wayna and Rocky Dawuni, Sy Smith, Zo!, Dynamq, Choklate, Kimberly Nichole, Massive Monkees, and Xperience. Aaron is a proud alumni of the CD Music Factory: Washington Middle School Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Mr. Robert Knatt, and Garfield High School Jazz Ensemble / Drumline, under the direction of Mr. Clarence Acox. Walker-Loud began working with youth and families in 1999, eventually becoming the Education Director for Seattle JazzED (2010-2016), a teaching artist for Arts Corps (2008-present), as well as the drumline director for Washington Middle School (2008-2016) and O’Dea High School (2012-2018). Most recently, Walker-Loud became a member of The Creative Advantage roster, co-founded 50 Next: Seattle Hip-Hop Worldwide in 2012, founded the award-winning intergenerational BWB Drumline in 2015, and co-curated The Legacy of Seattle Hip-Hop exhibit at MOHAI (with over 31,000 attendees and 20 co-produced events), which won the 2016 American Association of State and Local History Leadership in History Award, “the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.”

“Pantheon Anew” by artist Saira Barbaric on View at ARTS at King Street Station this Summer

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July 28 – September 23, 2022

This summer, ARTS at King Street Station hosts Pantheon Anew, the premier gallery exhibition from multidisciplinary artist Saira Barbaric. The exhibition traverses Barbaric’s exploration of pop culture and spiritual ideology, highlighting the stories we tell to comprehend reality and seek joy.  

Skull Guard 2: Goat, Acrylic, foil, watercolor, paper, 2021

About the Exhibition

Pantheon Anew is a collection of more than 30 collages plus video art and installation inspired by the past and present of Black diasporic spirituality. African people who were bought and sold in the 16th to 19th century Americas were regularly separated from their families and anyone from their region. Over the centuries, this artist’s ancestors took what they were allowed to build new systems of belief that helped to create protection, community and new understanding.  

Honoring these legacies of gathering and crafting for worship and necessity, Barbaric’s collages incorporate magazines, comics, and books from 1963 to the present — some long-loved and some new to the artist — alongside watercolor and acrylic painting. The artist showcases fantasy beings they created and heroes of modern media, sharing the internal pantheon that holds them up. Each piece juxtaposes youth and adult imagery to evoke how we each collect and build a sense of self through time and practice. Barbaric also invites a group of contemporary Black artists to contribute to a video gallery speculating on how that accumulation of self can affect the ebb and flow of spiritual connection. 

“Saira’s artwork allows the viewer to experience their journey and path to the creative soul that lives within us all. Saira’s creative and engaging mix of mediums, source material and personal spiritual influences creates an exhibition that engages us all.” 

royal alley-barnes, Interim Director for Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

Exhibition Opening

Join us for the opening on Thursday, July 28. Saira will be present from 1 – 5 p.m. 

  • Thursday, July 28 – September 23, 2022, 1 to 5 p.m.
  • ARTS at King Street Station (303 S. Jackson St., Top Floor, Seattle, WA)
  • FREE

About Saira Barbaric  

Courtesy of the Artist

Saira Barbaric (they, he, she, ze) is a nonbinary Black disabled hedonist fascinated by birth, death and rebirth. They are a maker of erotica, performance art, collages and events. Barbaric grounds their work in mediums and venues considered both high and low art with the aim at weakening the barrier between the two. After an undergraduate degree in costuming for theater, Barbaric came west to work in film and nightlife while continually dreaming of crafts. Be it fiber, paper, the body or fauna, Barbaric is driven by how materials interact. Barbaric is the co-founder of Scumtrust Productions, a nonbinary porn project that crafts films and spaces exalting sensual magic. Scumtrust films have been selected to screen in dozens of cities across North America and Europe including HUMP, 2017, the Porn Film Festival Berlin, 2021 and The Seattle Erotic Art Festival, 2022.  

ARTS at King Street Station is FREE and open Wednesday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m, and until 8 p.m. on First Thursdays.

These exhibitions are organized and presented by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture in partnership with program lead Jenny Ku and the ARTS at King Street Station Advisors. Support for the installation is provided by Benjamin Gale-Schreck and Blake Haygood.

The Cultural Aesthetics of Visual Art By Dr. James R. Gore 

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Culture has an influence on how art is perceived. Since perception is a cognitive function, the question is how does cultural experience affect the viewing of artwork? A 2019 article in the journal, Frontiers In Psychology…Cognitive Science stated: “Culture aesthetics requires an empirical inquiry into the kinds and varieties of experiences associated with the artistic activities as they are understood in diverse cultures.” (Yang, Silveira, Formuli, et al, 2019). 

Visual art by African American artists whose artwork reflect the African American experience, have had an especially significant role in America. One factor of importance of art by African American artists, as it provides a perspective or worldview that is self-interpreted based on experience. In the book Harlem Renaissance, Art of Black America by the Studio Museum of Harlem, a quote by Alain Locke, (1925, p.11) stated: “If after absorbing the new content of American life and experiences, and after assimilating new patterns of art…then the Negro may well become what some predicted, the artist of American life.” 

Historically, African American visual artists have had key periods which define their art, such as: the Harlem Renaissance, spanning the 1920’s and 1930’s and the Black Arts Movement (BAM) also referred to as the Black Aesthetic Movement, beginning in the mid-1960’s thru the early 1970’s. Regarding the Black Arts Movement, the New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (2016) stated: 

Artists involved in the Black Arts Movement were adamant in their aim to reveal the particularities, struggles, strengths, and celebrations of African Americans through the creation of poetry, novels, visual art, and theater. Embedded in these works was a palpable emphasis on Black economic and cultural autonomy that was akin to the teaching of the Black Power Movement and Black Liberation Struggle. 

Visual Artists from the Harlem Renaissance such as: Jacob Lawrence, James Van Der Zee, William H. Johnson, Palmer Hayden, Aaron Douglas, Meta Warrick Fuller and Carl Van Vechten were visual storytellers of the African American aesthetic during the Harlem Renaissance. The Black Arts Movement brought the increased use of Public Art which artist Jeff Donaldson’s famous Wall of Respect is said to have inspired the Outdoor Mural movement. Artist Betye Saar utilized medium such as printmaking and Faith Ringgold’s mixed-media artwork is still being celebrated today.  

African American visual art is becoming increasingly relevant institutionally and to art collectors. The artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat has sold at auction for over One Hundred Million Dollars and Kerry James Marshall and most recently an Earnie Barnes painting have been sold at auction for multi-millions. The works of Marshall is especially notable because his work has become valuable while he is still living. 

It is important for America’s cultural pluralism to be successfully self-defining, that visual artists of all cultures illustrate their experiences and tell their stories. In addition, objective perception of cultural aesthetics of other cultures is important to diversity and inclusion in our society. Objective perception does not mean without feelings of emotions, it simply refers to an open-minded approach to artwork you are experiencing.