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Performances celebrate water for Seattle Center’s ‘The Next Fifty,’ begin May 4

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From rainwater traveling through Seattle’s sewer system to water’s healing power, we presents three performance artworks that illustrate how local artists are contributing to the discussion about our local waterways. The performances are part of several temporary artworks commissioned by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs that address environmental sustainability for The Next Fifty, the 50th anniversary of the 1962 World’s Fair.
 
The performances run May 4 through May 27 at Seattle Center. See artwork descriptions below for details. All performances are free.
 
Stokley Towles, Stormwater: Life in the Gutter
Stokley Towles’ one-man performance Stormwater: Life in the Gutter reveals the world of urban rainfall and traces its travels from the clouds to the city’s streets, homes and businesses and the sewer lines below. Towles weaves interviews, observations and historical research together with images, props and humor to talk about runoff, offering a gutter’s eye view of Seattle’s drainage system and the people who
manage it.
 
The nearly one-hour performance will be at 7 p.m., Fridays, May 4, 11 and 18; and 1 p.m., Saturdays, May 5, 12 and 19 at the construction trailer at the north end of The Next Fifty Plaza, between Center House and the Experience Music Project. Performances will also be 6 p.m., Friday, May 25 and 1 p.m., Saturday, May 26 at  SIFF Cinema.  
 
Mandy Greer, Mater Matrix Mother and Medium Performance
Mandy Greer, choreographer Jessica Jobaris, performance artist Saskia Delores, harpist/composer Monica Schley, dancer Andrea Ives and video artist Rodrigo Valenzuela will create a multi-media performance by Greer’s artwork Mater Matrix Mother and Medium. 
 
Beginning just before dusk, 7 p.m., May 5 and 6, the 45-minute performance will be a luminous exploration of the three states of water. Attendees should meet at Kobe Bell, south of Intiman Theatre;  Key Arena, northwest corner, street level; or the Poetry Garden on the east side of Fisher Pavilion and look for a performer in a blue costume to join a procession to DuPen Fountain.
 
Greer’s crocheted artwork Mater Matrix Mother and Medium will be attached to trees and columns, creating a 250-foot “river” that sits seven to 15 feet off the ground. The evolving artwork will be on view through May 31 at DuPen Fountain and Alki Courtyard. Help create the artwork at one of several crochet workshops.
 
SJ Chiro, Britta Johnson, Susan Robb, Luke Sieczek and Rick Stevenson, Water Calling Short Films
In the Water Calling short films, five filmmakers tap into the flow of water and invite viewers to reflect on the preservation of our water resources—from drinking water through drainage. The short films vary in length and format—from a fairy-tale approach to sci-fi-like images to stop animation to a portrayal of water as a healing force.
 
The 70-minute presentation will run at 4 p.m., Saturday, May 5 and 4 p.m., Sunday, May 6 at Intiman Theatre; and at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 27 at SIFF Cinema.
 
Stormwater: Life in the Gutter is commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) 1% for Art funds and administered in partnership with 4Culture. Mater Matrix Mother and Medium is commissioned with SPU 1% for Art funds. The Water Calling short films are part of a series of temporary public artworks commissioned in 2009 with SPU 1% for Art funds.

Artworks for Seattle Center’s ‘The Next Fifty’ open tomorrow, Earth Day artists panel Sunday

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Artists Adam Frank, Mandy Greer and Stacy Levy each will present temporary artworks that address environmental sustainability for The Next Fifty, the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1962 World’s Fair, opening tomorrow, April 21. Read more about their artworks here.
 
Hear the artists talk about their artworks at a panel discussion for The Next Fifty’s Earth Day Celebration, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Sunday, April 22, Seattle Center’s Center House, Conference Room H. Julie Parrett, landscape architect, Seattle Design Commissioner and member of the Seattle Arts Commission’s Public Art Advisory Committee, will moderate the panel.

Artist panel on sustainability at Seattle Center’s The Next Fifty, April 22

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Artists Adam Frank, Mandy Greer and Stacy Levy will each present temporary artworks that address environmental sustainability for The Next Fifty, the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1962 World’s Fair. Hear the artists talk about their artworks at a panel discussion for The Next Fifty’s Earth Day Celebration, 2 to 3:30 p.m., Sunday, April 22, Seattle Center’s Center House, Conference Room H.

Julie Parret, landscape architect, Seattle Design Commissioner and member of the Seattle Arts Commission’s Public Art Advisory Committee, will moderate the panel.

Frank’s CURRENT is a real-time map of Seattle’s hydroelectric generation and energy use. The approximately 45-foot-wide by 30-foot-tall mural will be projected directly on the interior north face of Seattle Center’s Center House, April 21 through June 4.

Greer will create the 250-foot crocheted artwork Mater Matrix Mother and Medium and attach it to trees and columns, creating a “river” that sits seven to 15 feet off the ground. The evolving artwork will be on view April 21 through May 31 at Seattle Center’s DuPen Fountain and Alki Courtyard.

Levy’s Straw Garden: from Wattle to Watershed will be composed of wattles—tightly wrapped straw and coir cylinders and mats that aid in re-vegetation and erosion control—arranged in formal garden formations. The sculpture will morph into patterns that resemble water as it moves across the landscape. The artwork will change throughout The Next Fifty, April 21 through Oct. 21, at Seattle Center’s Broad Street Green.

Read more about these artworks and other artworks/performances at The Next Fifty here.

Limited parking is available in Seattle Center area pay lots. The site is accessible by bus or bike.

Frank’s Current is commissioned with Seattle City Light 1% for Art funds. Greer’s Mater Matrix Mother and Medium and Levy’s Straw Garden: from Wattle to Watershed are commissioned with Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds.

Image: Mandy Greer, Mater Matrix Mother and Medium, 2009, fiber. Located at Camp Long in West Seattle. Photo by the artist.

Message from the director: Celebrating 50 years of arts in Seattle and The Next Fifty

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The 1962 World’s Fair put Seattle on the map, and this year Seattle Center celebrates the fair’s 50th anniversary with The Next Fifty. Six months of artworks, events and activities at the Center April 21 through Oct. 21 will mark the legacy the fair left to the region and the opportunities that lie ahead. For the celebration’s “Sustainable Futures Month,” we’re presenting six temporary artworks and performances that illustrate how contemporary artists are shaping the conversation around environmental sustainability.

Before the World’s Fair, when people thought of Seattle it was as a point of entry to the 19th-century gold rush. The fair branded Seattle as a timely place celebrating science and technology and opening the door to the future. Dusting off the ways of the Old West, the fair took on a space-age name: Century 21 Exposition.

In 1962, nearly 10 million people enjoyed a broad range of attractions, including more than 2,500 performing arts events with acts from around the world. The futuristically themed fair gave the city a 74-acre park devoted to history, science, arts and culture, and the Space Age. It also gave us the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the cultural fundraising organization Poncho, and the Horiuchi Mural, all celebrating 50th anniversaries this year. It gave us Seattle Opera and its home McCaw Hall (Mercer Arts Arena in 1962), KeyArena (formerly the Washington State Pavilion), the Intiman Theatre (then the World’s Fair Playhouse), and a “modern art pavilion” for the Seattle Art Museum.

The fair led us to cultural festivals, the Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Children’s Theatre, the Experience Music Project, Bumbershoot, the Northwest Folklife Festival and Pacific Northwest Ballet and so much more!

The cultural legacy the fair left to the city was profound. Today, Seattle’s creative vitality is nearly three times the national average—among the highest in the nation—according to the recent Creative Vitality Index released by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). The measure is based on arts participation and employment. Nonprofit arts and arts-active organizations in Seattle earned $415 million in revenue in 2010. Ticket sales at Seattle’s live performing arts venues generated $193 million in revenues. That’s $235.17 per capita—nearly four-and-a-half times the national average.

Despite a down economy, we are a region of arts consumers. Overall participation in arts and culture activities in King County is 71 percent higher than the national average, according to a recent Local Arts Index report released by Americans for the Arts. County nonprofit arts organizations inject $254 per capita into the local economy compared to a national average of $58 per capita. And nonprofit arts revenues in King County are 248 percent higher than the national average.

And here’s more good news. We’re pleased to report that the governor signed Senate Bill 6574 last week, protecting up to $900,000 in estimated admission tax revenue to the city. The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs receives 75 percent of admission tax revenues, which support our funding programs for Seattle’s arts and cultural organizations and artists.

Here’s to the future!

Sincerely,
Vincent E. Kitch
Director