Below is a selection of events that our office has funded for the month through our smART ventures grant program.  SmART ventures is a Seattle-based, flexible awards program that encourages innovative ideas, creates community impact, and provides new access for individuals and groups not served by our other programs. SmARTventures seeks to widen arts and cultural participation, particularly of diverse or underserved communities. We hope to see you at one of these great events!

Chasing Shadows, Chasing Light

Howard Snyder presents a collection of landscape photographs centering on the Pacific Northwest. The work displayed will be exclusively landscape photographs using state-of-the-art digital photographic and printing equipment as well as showcasing the latest in digital photographic post-production. All of the pieces will feature the Pacific Northwest and some national parks through the eyes of a Mexican artist. The show is open to the public and free of charge. The March 10 opening reception will feature premier work of international choreographer Diana Garcia-Snyder with improvisation and choreography specifically created for the event.

Dates: March 2^nd through 31^st

Time: 2 to 7 p.m. daily

Location: Seattle Creative Arts Center

Free

The Cradle Will Rock

Swimming Ophelia Ensemble presents The Cradle Will Rock, a musical by Marc Bliztein. In Steeltown, USA, the heroic Larry Foreman attempts to unionize the town’s workers and create a better city for all who suffer through the depression, but must battle the greedy and brilliant Mr. Mister, who owns all of Steeltown, including its most prominent townspeople. The play explores the true price of selling out one’s beliefs and the importance of fighting for unity in a community.

Swimming Ophelia Ensemble is a group of current and recently graduated UW Drama theatre performers, designers, and producers dedicated to creating socially relevant, not-boring theatre that is accessible to the entire community.

Dates: March 14^th through 16th

Time: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 and Friday, March 15 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 16

Location: Ethnic Cultural Theatre

Purchase Tickets

A Nest in Luna

Anna Conner integrates movement, graphic content, visual design, original music, and theater in her newest work, A Nest in Luna, premiering at this month’s Boost Dance Festival. A Nest in Luna is a sample of an ongoing evening-length work involving multi-media performance. The Boost Dance Festival’s mission is to create opportunities for Seattle contemporary dance artists. A Nest in Luna is one of many works being featured at the festival. For more information, please visit: http://www.boostdancefestival.com/

Dates: March 22^nd through 24^th

Time: 8 p.m.

Location: Balagan Theatre

Purchase Tickets

 Poetry + Motion

Poetry+Motion celebrates Women’s History Month by presenting a performance based on the theme ‘Woman’s Work’. The women’s movement of the 1970s was led predominantly by European-American women who fought to remove those barriers that kept them from working outside the home. That was a stark contrast to African American women who were always expected to work outside the home in order to support their family’s basic needs. Poetry+Motion: Woman’s Work will give African American poets and dancers (featuring jazz vocalist, Elnah Jordan) the opportunity to give voice and movement to that experience.

Dates: March 24^th

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Downstairs at Town Hall

Purchase Tickets Here

The city is hosting Onyx Fine Arts Collective’s exhibition A Wider View at Seattle City Hall, March 6 to April 30. A Wider View highlights artworks from mostly local emerging and established artists of African descent who work in a medley of media and gain inspiration from a variety of cultures and backgrounds.

An opening reception will be held 4 to 6 p.m., Thursday, April 4.

The exhibition includes 61 artworks by 21 artists, including: Adrienne Alford, Wanda Benvenutti, Lisa Brown, Lisa Myers Bulmash, Valencia Carroll, Jim Coley, Valerie Collymore, Al Doggett, Esther Ervin, Cynthia Fowler, Jolyn Gardner, Robert L. Horton, George Jennings, Chaz Lindsey, Hannah Mitchell, Doreen Mitchum, Ashby Reed, Gene Rivers, Lyle Rushing, Jay Taylor, Earnest Thomas, Carol Williams, and Carletta Carrington Wilson.

For the past eight years, Onyx Fine Arts Collective has worked to bring wider attention to works of artists of African descent living in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The collective has also been active in local and regional arts activities, including Art in the Park in Seattle and exhibitions in Portland, Ore.

Image: A Dancer’s Feet, George Jennings, 2011, 12 X 24”, acrylic on board

Our weekly round-up of arts and culture news in the Greater Seattle area.

Spring Arts Preview 2013: Books

Seattle Magazine, Brangien Davis

Some of the country’s best writers are reading in Seattle this season.

The invisible work of lighting design

Crosscut, Alice Kaderlan

Randall G. Chiarelli has been Pacific Northwest Ballet’s technical director and lighting designer since 1979 (except for a one-year stint with San Francisco Ballet). He has created the lighting designs for much of PNB’s repertory, including Kent Stowell’s “Swan Lake,” “Firebird,” “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” “Carmina Burana,” “Cinderella” and “Carmen,” and re-created the designs for PNB’s Balanchine repertory. A Seattle native, Chiarelli received painting and sculpture degrees from the University of Washington.

$100M Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences closes on schedule

Puget Sound Business Journal, Patti Payne

A $100 million dollar Seattle-based philanthropic foundation has closed its doors. The Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences is now history, having fulfilled its plan and accomplished its original mission to give away its entire principal in 10 years

STG’s Nights at the Neptune: A People’s Theatre Joint

Seattle Theatre Group, Request for Proposals

Seattle Theatre Group (STG), the non-profit arts organization which programs and manages three historic Seattle theatres (Paramount, Moore and Neptune), will make The Neptune Theatre in Seattle’s University District available free of charge to artists and community organizations who would like to create and perform a public arts event. This program is called STG’s Nights at the Neptune: A People’s Theatre Joint. Eight projects will be selected in the spring and then presented during the summer of 2013. All events will be offered at no charge to the public.

Arts and Our Civic Fabric with Kathy Hsieh

KING FM with Marta Zekan

Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs cultural partnerships & funding manager Kathy Hsieh talks about the Race and Social Justice Initiative, smART ventures and more.

Royal Alley-Barnes and the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute

KING FM with Marta Zekan

Langston Institute executive director Royal Alley-Barnes talks about programs and events at the Langston Institute for the next several months, including the 10th anniversary of the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival.

If not exactly sunny, the skies stayed reasonable clear for the dedication of Horatio Law’s work South Park Vortex last Saturday, March 2.  South Park Vortex is a free-standing sculpture consisting of 550 laminated, blue, glass disks, supported by a stainless-steel frame. Each sandblasted disk features a unique snowflake pattern designed by South Park residents through a series of workshops sponsored by the Seattle Public Library’s South Park Branch. Speakers at the event include artist Horatio Law, Randy Engstrom (our office), Jen Nye (South Park Arts) and Beatriz Pascual-Wallace, a.k.a Miss Bea (South Park Branch Library). Congrats to Horatio on a wonderful addition to the South Park community!

The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and  4Culture are pleased to announce a new, site-specific public artwork by Carolyn Law in Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood. The monumental sculpture By Water On Land sits at the intersection of Fairview Avenue North and Fairview Avenue East near the newly developed Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop.

By Water On Land draws its physical form and artistic concept from the urban tension and emotional undercurrents of the Eastlake area. The site has a strong urban expression dominated by the elements that comprise our city streets such as utility poles and trolley lines, forming what the artist calls “a visually condensed and energetic infrastructure.” But this is also a place at the water’s edge, which brings to it a sublime quality of shifting light, oyster skies and misty breezes.

Elements of this artwork were repurposed from a sculpture created by Law in the 1990s for the Route 70 trolley. That artwork was de-installed due to the recent construction impacts in that area. 4Culture asked Law to propose a reconfiguration of the salvaged parts into a new artwork and to find a place for it along the trolley route. With the help of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), Law was able to reuse seven mast-like components that were originally installed atop light poles on Fairview, just south of the Cheshiahud trail site. Referencing the previous artwork, the kinetic nature of the piece is maintained in the new artwork and incorporates two recycled utility poles as supports for the sculptural assembly.

By Water On Land is supported by SDOT 1% for Art funds and King County/4Culture Department of Transportation % for Art funds.

IMAGES: By Water On Land, © 2013 Carolyn Law, Photo courtesy of the artist

It was such a pleasure to have the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at City Hall last week. Here are a couple photos from that event.

Assistant Conductor Stilian Kirov lead the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in masterworks from the 19th and 20th centuries at a free lunchtime concert on Thursday, Feb. 21. The Symphony performed Bartók’s Rumanian Folk Dances for orchestra, the first movement from Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor (featuring Amelia Sie, violin), Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Brahms’ Hungarian Dances No. 5 in G Minor and No. 6 in D Minor. All photos by Jenny Crooks.

– Calandra Childers, Communications Manager

Our weekly round-up of arts and culture news in the Greater Seattle area.

PONCHO closing its doors, becoming a fund within Seattle Foundation

Puget Sound Business Journal, Valerie Bauman

ArtsFund has long used the model of direct funding of the arts, supporting groups ranging from the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Symphony Orchestra to small theater groups like the Northwest Puppet Center. It also used a different fundraising strategy from PONCHO, relying more on corporate sponsorships than private donations.

Seattle’s Pike-Pine Corridor Gets New Arts Space

KUOW, Marcie Sillman

The 12th Avenue Arts project will transform a Seattle Police Department parking lot into one of Capitol Hill’s newest multi-use buildings. In addition to retail and apartments, the building will include two theaters and office space for three small theater companies

Louis Hobson chosen as Balagan artistic head

The Seattle Times, Misha Berson

Balagan Theatre, a troupe specializing in chamber versions of popular musicals, has appointed actor-director Louis Hobson as its new artistic director. He will also star in the first show of Balagan’s 2013-14 season: a chamber production of the Broadway megahit, “Les Miserables.”

Seattle’s Stramp: a swirling confection could finally link the Market and the waterfront

Crosscut, Mark Hinshaw

It’s still at least three years before the viaduct is bashed to bits — something I am eagerly looking forward to. Big Boring Bertha is having her teeth realigned in Japan but is scheduled to make an appearance sometime this summer. I hope someone is planning a gala “barge-in” for her arrival, complete with fireboats and firecrackers.

A weekly round-up of arts and culture news in Seattle.

The Fussy Eye: Salvage Art

Seattle Weekly, Brian Miller

At the center of the atrium at MOHAI, newly relocated to the Naval Reserve Armory in South Lake Union, is a permanent new sculptural installation that helps anchor the museum to our maritime past. From 1897 into the ’40s, the schooner Wawona carried cargo on Puget Sound. Then it was moored for decades, rotting, near the Center for Wooden Boats (now MOHAI’s neighbor).

Not just another night at the opera: La Boheme is back in Seattle

Crosscut, Thomas May

There will always be cynics who roll their eyes at mention of “La Bohème.” But for the rest of us who are defenseless against its attractions, the only thing that can make Giacomo Puccini’s turn-of-the-century opera about young love and loss grow tiresome is a lack of conviction. Even mediocre performances don’t seem to dampen the “La Bohème” effect. Yet any hint of auto-pilot, of relying on routine, tends to break the spell.

SSO mounts Marvin Hamlisch tribute

Seattle Times, Tom Keogh

Composer-conductor Larry Blank will lead the Seattle Symphony orchestra in a selection of Hamlisch hits in a series of concerts Feb. 21-24, 2013.