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Significant change to the 2020 Mayor’s Arts Awards

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Freeman leans against the concrete retaining wall next to his piece: a young Black girl spraying a stream of water from a hose.
Melvin Freeman with his public art piece, We Are Water in the Central District,
photo by Jason Huff

Our city is in a very different place than it was when the call for nominations for the 2020 Mayor’s Arts Awards was announced. Between the pandemic and the heightened tension of racial injustices that have plagued our nation, our spirit for the traditional celebration has been defused. In response to these unorthodox events, we believe it is best to pivot this year’s 2020 Mayor’s Arts Awards.   

The Seattle Arts Commission and the Office of Arts & Culture have had many conversations regarding this matter and concluded that the resources allotted for the Mayor’s Arts Awards be reallocated towards lifting up our Black arts community.  

Therefore, we will pilot a new program that will amplify work of the Black arts community to the broader Seattle community. We acknowledge that the Black arts community has been largely marginalized and that the time is now to uplift and celebrate the powerful and illuminating art that has been a constant force in our amazing city. We will launch this new program in the fall.   

Although we are transitioning from the traditional Mayor’s Arts Awards, we acknowledge the many individual artists and organizations who were nominated. We plan to honor all of the nominees in September and we appreciate the community for bringing forth so many wonderful people who continue to make valuable contributions to our vibrant arts scene.   

We also acknowledge that our decision may not be easy for everyone to fully embrace and agree with. However, it is imperative for us to empower and pay tribute to our Black arts community who continue to do outstanding work. We invite you to join us in solidarity as we move forward and embrace this new change. Our vision is to create a valuable and historic program that everyone can benefit from.   

We look forward to sharing details as they are developed and celebrating the voices of our Black arts community with you.  

Sincerely,  

Priya Frank and Dr. Quinton Morris, co-chairs, Seattle Arts Commission 

Inslee issues guidance for museums, bowling and agritourism; updates guidance for outdoor recreation

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Gov. Jay Inslee today announced and updated guidance as part of Washington’s Safe Start phased reopening plan.

“We have worked with stakeholders for weeks and sometimes months to arrive at these guidelines. We continue to balance the need for activities that contribute to physical, mental, and emotional well-being with the steps needed to control the virus. Our ability to reopen depends on every Washingtonian doing their part to ensure fewer, shorter and safer interactions.” said Inslee. 

Museums:

These guidelines would allow museums in Phase 2 counties to operate as long as they meet certain requirements. Museums in Phase 3 counties would be required to lower occupancy.

Read the full guidance here.

Bowling:

These guidelines would allow for bowling league play in Phases 2 and 3, as long as facilities meet certain requirements. 

Read the full guidance here.

Agritourism: 

This guidance would allow for agritourism such as U-pick farms and tree farms to operate in Phase 2 counties. 

Read the full guidance here.

Read the attached memo here. 

Outdoor Recreation:

Updates to the outdoor recreation guidance clarify restrictions to non-spectator motor-sports in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Safe Start plan. These changes go into effect on August 24. 

Read the full updated guidance here.

Find a full list of current reopening guidance here. 

A Community Update from The Creative Advantage

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by Tina LaPadula

A Black women at a podium looks down. A slide is on the screen behind her, featuring people addressing a crowded room.
Toyia Taylor at the 2019 Summer Arts Partner Institute, photo by Jenny Crooks

Arts Education Equity and Access

Seattle Public Schools Schools will likely start the 2020-21 school year with 100% remote learning. As the district explores student learning options for the upcoming year, The Creative Advantage is thinking expansively about ways to be responsive to current changes in alignment with our core goals to build arts education equity and access for students.

Many students, teachers, families and arts partners are concerned that arts partnerships will be minimized or eliminated. Our team has been strategizing about ways that community arts partners could be even more involved in the transformation of arts education possibilities. We’ve been scheming with folx who care about Social and Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Learning, and looking at what other cities are doing. We’re dreaming big and hoping to come up with a menu of options for the district that ensures arts partners can bring their magic and get paid.

  • What if student residencies include prerecorded (asynchronous) lessons and streamed (synchronous) online visits or lectures from teaching artists?
  • What if we intentionally blur the lines between “School Time” and “Out-of-School Time”?
  • What if The Creative Advantage hosts streamed arts content before school, at lunch and after school for different age ranges of youth?
  • What if we collectively develop thematic ideas around activism, voting, empathy for students, teachers and families to engage with?
  • What if we can create a schedule of consistent classes and creative engagements to market to schools and families?

We’re tapping into our creative super powers and putting all options on the virtual white board right now.

Transparency, Engagement and Accountability

In an effort to have greater transparency, engagement and accountability The Creative Advantage is creating an Advisory of teaching artists and education leaders to help guide our work, our policies and our trajectory. We’ll have open general meetings quarterly and Project Based Teams / Paid Advisory Team Consultants to help us dig into things we care about like:

  • Curricular supports for Creative Advantage Online Arts
  • CA racial justice assessment, program evaluation, goal setting and policy reviews
  • Observations, assessment and mentorship of Roster orgs to build aligned best practices, stronger racial equity strategies
  • Storytelling, documentation and amplification of great models and examples from community
  • Efforts to invite, amplify and showcase the artwork, ideas and opinions of students / young artists.
  • Connections to community events, organizing and activism.

Summer Institute Changes

We’ve collaborated with our partners at SAM, and transformed our traditional Summer Institute into a series of community get-togethers focused on knowledge-building and care. The kick off for community arts partners on our Roster, What’s Next? is Monday, August 24th from 10 to noon. This session is FREE but registration is required.

Resources

Here’s a list of resources that were shared in the chat from our June 25th Community Convening – A Time for Change:

Question: What are the efforts around making broadband a public utility?

Other resources:

Artists Up Scholarship for Mentorly now open

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A Native dancer in traditional dress: "Elevate your artistic practice through mentorship."

In 2012, Artists Up (AU) was formed to support artists, especially under-represented artists, in Washington State through convenings and skill-building opportunities. A highlight of AU programming has been the partnership with the Mentorly online platform that connects less experienced artists with accomplished artists for career mentorship, advice, and guidance.

“Online mentoring is a joint service using Mentorly’s platform,” Irene Gómez, Project Manager of the Artist Up program tells me. “Like all AU opportunities, it is artist-informed where all stakeholders benefit. Mentees advance their skills and mentors earn a living wage.” To cover mentor fees for Washington State artists, AU offers a quarterly scholarship opportunity.

The Scholarship Application is NOW OPEN at https://www.artistsup.org/mentorly-scholarships. for Washington state artists. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit early. Scholarships pay for up to four (4) sessions with a choice of mentors listed on the AU web site. For other national/international mentors on the Mentorly site, artists must cover these costs themselves.

The Mentorly platform has proven to be a game-changer for artists. The platform gives artists the ability to connect with professional artists around the state/world for support and guidance and also provides professional connections and access to networks that help artists discover opportunities that may lead to new opportunities. AU is a collaboration between The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture and ArtsWA, serving artists throughout Washington with a focus on artists of color, LGBTQ+ artists, artists with disabilities, artists who are new to the U.S. and Washington, mature artists, and low-income artists.​

Participate in Public Art for Miller Community Center

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The design process is underway for a new interior artwork at the Miller Community Center. Seattle City Light, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the Office of Arts & Culture have commissioned the artwork as part of a larger project to install a power-generating solar microgrid at the Center.    

This art project aims to involve and reflect as many of Miller Community Center’s patrons as possible. Lead artist Julia Harrison invites the public to participate in the design process in these ways:

SURVEY

Visit the project webpage to respond to a short survey: http://www.juliaharrison.net/miller-community-center.html 

MEETINGS

Learn more about plans for the project at either of these online public meetings:

  • Tuesday, August 11, 4:30-5 pm
  • Monday, August 17, 12-12:30 pm

Please RSVP to MillerCenterArt@gmail.com for the Zoom meeting link. 

SHARE

Send your Miller Community Center stories and photos to MillerCenterArt@gmail.com. 

DESIGN

What does the Miller Community Center mean to you? What’s your favorite thing about visiting? Can you capture these feelings in a doodle? This video demonstrates a kid-friendly technique that can be used to create new doodles:


The project webpage (http://www.juliaharrison.net/miller-community-center.html) will continue to offer updates as the project progresses.

Two new artists selected for Bridge Artist-in-Residence

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This fall, as drivers cross and boaters pass underneath the University and Fremont Bridges, comics artists will be observing and documenting the rhythm of the city from the bridge towers. In partnership with Seattle Department of Transportation, the Office of Arts & Culture selected E.T. Russian and Roger Fernandes as the two artists that will have a temporary studio in the towers of University and Fremont Bridges. 

Roger Fernandes, 24 page graphic novel “Nettle Girl” created for the U.W. Native Center for Cancer Control in 2015.
This shows images that are part of a fictionalized story of a Native girl who has a special relationship with the stinging nettle plant

This unique opportunity of providing the space to creatives has been a program since 2016 and has hosted visual artists, poets, musicians, lighting artists, and now comics artists to use the historic bridge locations as inspiration for the creation of new work.  The artist-in-residence will run from September – December 2020.

E.T. Russian, Handle With Grace, 2016
Brush pen, paper

E.T. Russian is a multi-sensory artist based in the Pacific Northwest and has been making zines, comics, video and installation art about disability, queerness, and life since the 1990s. As part of the application and interview, E.T. shared ideas about bridges being a location of transition and access (open and closed) and shared their potential ideas about a multi-sensory project as part of the residency for the public to be able to access experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be accessible.

Roger Fernandes, or Kawasa, is a member of the Lower Elwha Band of the S’Klallam Indians from the Port Angeles, Washington. He is a writer, storyteller and educator, and a skilled comic artist. As part of the application and interview, Roger shared his experiences of the Fremont site location both as the Ship Canal serving as racial line growing up in South Seattle, but also from working at a neighborhood service center adjacent to the bridge for many years. Roger’s traditional style and important message of this site will be shared as part of his residency. 

This residency project is funded by SDOT’s 1% for Art Funds and administered by the Office of Arts & Culture.

Friends of Waterfront Seattle and Seattle’s Office of The Waterfront & Civic Projects Announces Artist in Residency Program Selection and Summer Launch of $100,000 Call for Artists

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Friends of Waterfront Seattle (Friends) and the City of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects (OWCP) have selected their Future Forward: Artist-In-Residency: Takiyah Ward. Born and raised in Seattle, Ward is artistically known as T-DUB Customs.

Photo of Takiyah Ward by M.T. Perkins

Launched as a rapid response plan to provide immediate virtual opportunities for local artists, creatives, and makers, the artist residency supports the long-term health of the future waterfront park and will develop virtual art opportunities to activate the waterfront with temporary art installations.

Working with partners, Ward will lead a process that incorporates elements of the Seattle Waterfront Art Plan as inspiration to develop a program to award $100,000 in funding to local artists. This funding was made available by Friends and OWCP projects in support of the Seattle Together initiative, a partnership among the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Arts & Culture, Office of Economic Development, Seattle Public Library, and the Mayor’s Innovation and Performance Team coming together to build a city-wide COVID-19 community response plan.

BLM Mural, photo by Kyle Kotajarvi.

Takiyah Ward said, “I’m excited about the opportunity to bring a variety of art to the waterfront that speaks to the essence of the city, and the most vibrant parts of Seattle’s culture. To highlight the beauty of our shared story and the truth of our perseverance.” Most recently, Ward organized Vivid Matter Collective’s Black Lives Matter mural on Pine Street in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

This Artist-in-Residence pilot is created to be scalable over time and continue throughout the life of the park to allow artist-led projects to be a cornerstone of Friends’ waterfront park programming and ensure participation of a range of artists, especially those representing communities of color.

With Arts Consultant Vivian Phillips serving as facilitator of the Future Forward: Artist-In-Residency, the selection panel was comprised of a diverse group of working artists, arts administrators, and entrepreneurs, including Friends Board Member and Phila Engaged Giving Founder/Principal Stephanie Ellis-Smith, Seattle Art Museum Associate Director for Community Programs and Equity Team Founding Chair and Seattle Arts Commission Co-Chair Priya Frank, artist, educator, and Eighth Generation Founder Louie Gong, Seattle Center Managing Artistic Director of Cultural Programs and Hidmo/Cypher Community Volunteer Heidi Jackson, and visual artist and Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery owner Jake Prendez.

Friends of Waterfront Seattle Board Member, Stephanie Ellis-Smith said, “The selection of Takiyah Ward for the artist-in-residence program is significant in achieving our goal of creating a ‘Waterfront for All.’ Her voice and creativity illustrate our commitment to incorporating BIPOC artists and creatives at all levels and establishing their influence to make the waterfront an inclusive and welcoming place.”

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Friends and the City recognize the importance of participating in economic recovery for the arts community while leading strategies supporting the long-term health of Seattle’s future Waterfront Park. The residency program will embrace a process for employing a creative waterfront arts program that is artist-driven and audience-minded, inclusive and welcoming of a diversity of thought and approaches, and responsive and adaptable to changing public gathering norms. The program brings to life the significance that the arts play in our daily lives as well as in our ability to be “in community.”

For details, visit friendsofwaterfrontseattle.org/events/artist-program.

Friends of Waterfront Seattle (“Friends”) is the nonprofit partner to the City of Seattle responsible for helping to fund, build, steward, and program the park – today and into the future. In addition to raising $110M by 2024 to fund park construction, Friends will manage the programming and operations of the future Waterfront Park through a joint-delivery partnership with Seattle Parks & Recreation. Friends is responsible for funding and carrying out park programming for the future park. Park construction has begun following the Viaduct’s removal and the first piece of the park — Pier 62 — is planned to open later in 2020.

The Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects is pleased to support this project that aligns with the City’s Seattle Together program, a series of initiatives responding to communities impacted during these unusual and challenging times. Future Forward: Artist In Residency will provide opportunities quickly to artists and arts groups for activation of the waterfront for the benefit of everyone. Seattle Together is a partnership of city departments that includes the city’s Office of Arts & Culture, which in turn collaborates with the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects to bring arts and culture to the waterfront.

New Artwork Celebrates the Central District’s Rich Culture and History

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Artist Melvin Freeman, AKA Fly Blind Guy, recently completed the installation of his new artwork, We Are Water, in Seattle’s Central District. The Central District was a predominately African American neighborhood since the 1970s as a result of red-lining and other forms of housing segregation. Since the 1990s the neighborhood has seen widespread displacement and gentrification that has reduced the neighborhood’s Black population from 70% down to 20%. The Central District is still a place that is a centralizing beacon for the black community. Art, music, food, and history are all things that keep the Central Area a vibrant neighborhood for Black community and culture. The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) partnered to engage residents who have roots in the neighborhood to see how an art project can attempt to look at the entire fabric of this community.

We Are Water (detail) and Melvin Freeman. 2020, mixed media installation.
Photo credit: Jason Huff

ARTS and SPU worked with the community engagement team of Jill Freidberg (Shelf Life Community Stories), Rachel Kessler (Yesler Terrace Artist in Residence), Elisheba Johnson (artist, curator) and Inye Wokoma (Central Area photographer, journalist, and filmmaker), on a series of community engagement activities that asked people who have roots and/or relationships to the Central District, what they want to see in an artwork and how clean drinking water affects their lives.

We Are Water (detail). 2020, mixed media installation. Photo credit: Jason Huff

Freeman was selected as a result of the community engagement to create a permanent artwork installation that honors the history and current experience of the African American community in the Central District through the idea that water connects the community to history, place and freedom. Located along a retaining wall on 23rd Ave S and S Massachusetts (adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum) We Are Water is a large-scale mixed media mural that features bold porcelain enamel letters that spell out CENTRAL DISTRICT. Within each letter are photographs of past and present Central District residents and businesses collected by Freeman from the community through engagement events, social media calls for images, and through a partnership with The Black Heritage Society of Washington, who allowed access to their historical archives. Freeman states, “It was important for me to create a public work that my beloved Central District community could identify and interact with. This one piece of art tells an infinite amount of our stories. This piece will be a history lesson for future generations to come. “

We Are Water (detail). 2020, mixed media installation. Photo credit: Jason Huff

We Are Water also features a girl with a hose spraying water that flows through letters. The painted water mural portion was created by Seattle artist Perri Rhoden who collaborated with Freeman in the creation of the artwork.  

We Are Water was commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle Department of Transportation 1% for Art funds, and administered by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

Temporary Outdoor Art Exhibition FLOW 2020: temporary and site-specific artworks

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The Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) has commissioned local emerging artists to develop new temporary art installations for four locations in north Seattle. The project features four site locations in Wallingford, Fremont and Ballard that make use of temporary construction walls and fences as part of the Ship Canal Water Quality Project.

Beginning this summer, artwork by a variety of artists will begin to appear.  Grab your bike or walking shoes and visit all four locations to see some artwork that inspires. The artworks can be viewed from sidewalks and streets near the Ship Canal, and especially from the Burke-Gilman trail.

 Chaac by Angie Hinojos Yusuf and Carlos Jimenez

Ballard – 24th Ave NW & Shilshole Ave NW Angie Hinojos Yusuf and Carlos Jimenez (on view)
Hinojos & Jimenez Art
Angie Hinojos Yusuf & Carlos Jimenez
Chaac

Chaac is the Maya god of rain. This piece emulates the great carved stone masks that can be found on the pyramids in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The masks were made of stone carved into intricate shapes which were assembled together to form the powerful visage of the god. Chaac had both human and animal characteristics, showing the interdependence of all living things and their relationship to life-giving water. It illustrates the natural cycle of the flow of water, as it originates in the clouds, where Chaac strikes his jade axe and causes thunder and rain, to where it falls on the land, is crucial. Water infrastructure will safeguard our environment for future generations.

Five white panels on a wooden wall show traditional Killer Whales. In the center, the artists pose with a panel that reads "Protect the Sacred, justice for Missing Murdered Indigenous Women".
A composite of the MMIW mural, photos by Crystal Christopherson

Wallingford – N 35th St & Interlake Ave N (July 2020)
Kalee Nelson and Crystal Christopherson
MMIW

Elevating awareness of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is the key goal of this temporary installation that includes a large scale mural featuring traditional formline design of Killer Whales.  Kalee Nelson is an Alaskan Native from the Tsimshian Tribe and Crystal Christopherson is Alaskan native from the Tlingit tribe. 

East Ballard – NW 45th St. & 11th Ave NW Katie Miller (August 2020)
Katie Miller
Crossing

Crossing is inspired by Seattle’s maritime industry, the nearby ship canal, and our relationship to water. Crossing alludes to a journey moving through or along water and serves as a metaphor for our individual experiences, personal connections to, and reflections on water.

Fremont – NW 36th St. & Leary Way NW Minh Carrico (August 2020)
Minh Carrico
TATTARRATTAT

Honoring the waterway connecting Lake Union and the Puget Sound, the phrase “TATTARRATTAT” is spelled out using the International Code of Signals for water vessels moving in either direction of the canal. The repetition of the palindrome serves as a visual interpretation of the “knock, knock” emanating from a construction site for months to come. 

These temporary works will be on view for six-months and then be changed to feature new artwork by artists including Barry Johnson, Hugo Moro, Shawn Parks , Whitney Lynn and Janelle Abbott

FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal is an annual program that will use the construction fences along the project as a backdrop to allow artists to showcase their unique voice and provide a changing gallery of experiences for those who walk, bike, drive along the Burke-Gilman Trail and throughout the area.

Artists were selected by a panel of artists, community members, and city staff. The project is commissioned with SPU 1% for Art funds.

CHOP art preservation supported by the City

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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. 

by artist Stephanie Morales

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
Keep Smiling Seattle by Morgan Zion

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.  

Graphic of George Floyd

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.