Lake City, Pioneer Square, Chinatown-International District Host Created Commons Events This Summer

May 4, 2022 by April Jingco Leave a Comment

Last year, Created Commons—the community-curated celebrations held in Westwood, Delridge, Chinatown-International District, and Downtown Seattle—coordinated with the Welcome Back Initiatives, creating some highlights of 2021. In 2022, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) seeks to continue the celebration of community and safe outdoor gatherings through another series of community-driven Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition events that will be held in three neighborhoods, Lake City, Pioneer Square, and Chinatown-International District throughout the summer.

“Summer in Seattle is a time to celebrate, convene and nourish ourselves. We are excited to work with three of our city’s neighborhoods to bring a festival of arts and culture to our communities. Arts engage, bond and offer shared opportunities for lived experiences across diverse races, cultures and buoys us as we move from pandemic to endemic life.”
royal alley-barnes, Acting Director of the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

Chinatown-International District

The first Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition event will take place in Chinatown-International District from May 21 through June 4. Curated by Lourdez Velasco, Jaeeun Kim, Monyee Chau, So’le Celestial, and Roldy Aguero Ablao, CHinalek Festival is a two-week festival that was inspired by the Fino’ CHamoru word CHinalek (tee-now-lick), which means “flower” and also translates to “laughter.”

“We have collectively been through something we have never been through before with COVID-19. This festival will be a space where we can come together joyously to celebrate our communities, the Chinatown-International District neighborhood, and be immersed in an artistic curated space of workshops, performances, mural art and more.”
CHinalek

Community Workshops – 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at 619 S Jackson St, Seattle WA 98104:

5/21 – Nina Vichayapai: Felt flower flags/banners making workshop
5/22 – Guma Gela lei and flower garland making workshop
5/28 – Jourdan Imani Keith: PoeTREE, writing workshop
5/29 – Canoe Journey Herbalists’ medicine-making workshop

Community Festival – 6/4, 12 – 6 p.m. at Hing Hay Park:

Workshop
Temporary Art Installations
Live Poetry and Poetry Takeaways
Qi Gong and Movement Activities
Resource Tabling
Vendors
Zine and Map Takeaway

Lake City

The second Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition event will be held in Lake City with Lake City Arts and Culture events, curated by Build Lake City Together and community curators Mark Mendez and Chris Leverson, who will be coordinating music and events within Lake City Parks. They will commission a new community mural and celebrate the opening of a new community arts and culture space.

The Lake City mural projects will address some areas and transform plain concrete into vibrant art that will deter graffiti, beautify the neighborhood, promote public safety, and highlight local businesses and nonprofit organizations. Community and neighborhood youth will be involved in the design and the painting of the murals to make it truly a community effort. The anticipated unveiling of the finished mural projects is at the end of July with a celebratory event to recognize the achievement. The music and events that are being planned will take the form of weekly live music and dance events with a strong emphasis on cultural sharing to reflect Lake City’s cultural diversity. These “Arts in the Parks’’ events will be held weekly throughout the summer starting in mid-July.

“The goal of these projects is to safely come together and celebrate arts and the community that make Lake City a unique and vibrant neighborhood.
Mark Mendez

Throughout the summer, Lake City’s parks will be invigorated through live music and dance while bringing the community together for fun and to celebrate the neighborhood’s cultural diversity.

Save the date for the following events:

7/14: Gansango African Music and Dance
- Lake City Farmers Market (12546 – 28th Ave NE)
- 7 – 8 p.m.
7/22: Panama Folklore Seattle
- Lake City Mini Park (12359 Lake City Way NE)
- 7 – 8 p.m.
7/28: Trío Guadalevín
- Lake City Farmers Market (12546 – 28th Ave NE)
- 7 – 8 p.m.
8/12: David Arteaga and The Paul Miranda Trio
- Lake City Mini Park (12359 Lake City Way NE)
- 7 – 8 p.m.
8/26: Indian Classical Dance with Mrs. Ekta Sandbhor Patil
- Lake City Mini Park (12359 Lake City Way NE)
- 7 – 8 p.m.

Pioneer Square

The third and final event will take place in Pioneer Square on August 6. Styled as MS PAM’S Block Party and curated by Tariqa Waters, it will be an 80s-themed event that will be held in Nord Alley, Occidental Mall, and surrounding areas. The event will feature DJs, musical acts, interactive art activities, and performances.

The event will be coordinated with the release of Thank you, MS PAM, a television show that explores and celebrates local food, fashion, arts, and entertainment with a focus on BIPOC business owners in Seattle neighborhoods.

Thank you, MS PAM is playing a bit of ‘connect the dots’ with Martyr Sauce’s connections to various community partnerships over the years. Bringing Pioneer Square to other hoods around Seattle.
Tariqa Waters, artist and Pioneer Square Created Commons Curator

Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition returns in 2022 with a block party in Pioneer Square, curated and programmed by Martyr Sauce!

Join us as we celebrate the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood with an 80s-themed block party featuring:

Music and dance performances by Liv Warfield, Kisha Vaughan, Khari Cabral Simmons, Ryan Waters, and DJ9
Interactive art activities and more!

Stay tuned for additional details and dates for each of these exciting Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition events!

About Created Commons:

Created Commons is an expansive multi-agency initiative that centers, engages, and employs artists, communities, and cultural workers to activate public space for community connections, interpersonal resonance, and resiliency. The program leverages multi-agency collaboration and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s inclusive programming and activation models to support economic and community recovery. Created Commons builds on the momentum of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT) Stay Healthy Streets and Stay Healthy Blocks and the success of our Viaduct Arts Festival and ALL RISE programs to activate our City’s space in vibrant and creative ways in the Summer months of 2021 and 2022. 

Created Commons: Neighborhood Edition is a program created by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. For more information, please contact us at arts.culture@seattle.gov.

A Look Back at the Created Commons Launch During The City’s Welcome Back Weeks

August 9, 2021 by April Jingco Leave a Comment

ARTS’ new program, Created Commons, recently launched as a part of the City of Seattle’s Welcome Back Weeks. Spanning two weekends from July 12 – 26, the Welcome Back Weeks celebrated the return of our community to downtown Seattle with large-scale Created Commons events in three neighborhoods — the Chinatown-International District, Pioneer Square, and Westlake. Welcome Back Weeks are a key element of the City’s  Road to Downtown Recovery plan, which works to bring workers, small businesses, and visitors back downtown.

Take the Created Commons Survey

Take a look at some of the highlights from the festivities:

Welcome Back to the Chinatown-International District

On July 17 and 18, Hing Hay Park came to life with vibrant arts and culture celebrating the beauty of the Chinatown-International District.

Featured programming included:

The Chinese Association presenting a drill team, martial arts demo, and lion dance
Chrysalis Circus
Massive Monkees
Daniel Pak
Totem Star artists FRESA, Kiddus Fecto; Grae Violett, Lily Indigo, and Yung Fuego
Guma’ Gela’
Chong the Nomad
Bleachbear; Guma’ Gela’
Evan Flory Barnes
Hollis

Plus all-day activities and pop-ups such as Party Hat Gallery’s screen printing station featuring artwork by Stevie Shao, a self-defense class, and a vaccine pop-up with the Seattle Fire Department.

“I personally didn’t realize how much the Welcome Back Week shows would impact me as an artist until I was on stage at Hing Hay Park looking out into the crowd as I started my first song, realizing I would be singing songs for my family and my community. [It was my] first time onstage since the pandemic shut everything down in 2020.
Special thanks to Jenny Ku at ARTS for championing youth voice and culture, as she advocated strongly to get youth artists on the stages at Hing Hay, Occidental, and Westlake. Witnessing Totem Star artists bring so much love and joy to the community shows us how far we’ve come and also where we need to go to ensure that young people have a platform to share their stories and perspectives as the future cultural leaders of Seattle.”
Daniel Pak, artist and Executive Director of Totem Star

Bleachbear by Sheri Foreman for Ballard Vox

“The Created Commons event was amazing! Hing Hay Park was full of people excited to be back together enjoying shows and we were one of them. It felt wonderful to be up on the stage again. In fact, after such a long hiatus from playing live shows during the pandemic, we were probably more pumped to be playing a show than any time we could remember! While it felt new in ways, it was also comfortable and familiar, and it just felt awesome to see familiar faces from past shows singing along with us. Pulling together events in City parks with local performers was a brilliant way to get the community connected again, and we were so glad to be a part of it.”
Bleachbear, artist

Welcome Back to Pioneer Square

On Saturday, July 24, we spent the afternoon in Seattle’s oldest neighborhood, Pioneer Square. Occidental Square was buzzing with live music, local art, and community. Welcome Back to Pioneer Square featured performances by Totem Star artists Sharmaine and Haley Graves, Shenandoah Davis, Shaina Shepherd, and The Black Tones.

Plus, activities and pop-ups such as:

Live busking
Path With Art’s “Found Fashion Show” courtesy of Path With Art
Party Hat Party’s free screen printing booth highlighting artwork by Tariqa Waters
Seattle Fire Department’s Vaccine Pop-Up

Welcome Back to Westlake

Welcome Back Weeks came to a successful end at our last event in the heart of downtown Seattle, Westlake Park. Centering on the theme “Halloween in July,” Westlake was full of people in costumes, downtown businesses offering candy for trick-or-treating, and much more.

Program highlights included:

UP UP UP Inc.
Fraggle Rock Crew
SANCA Seattle Cirrus Circus
Taqueet$ Thriller Dance Class
El Vez, The Mexican Elvis
Teatro ZinZanni
Totem Star Artists Zoser, Mirabai Kukathas, and Delphine Elliott
Digable Planets

All day, audiences could also enjoy activities and pop-ups such as Lelavision, Party Hat Party’s free screen printing station with artist Brandon Vosika, a pop-up with Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery, carnival games, a costume contest, food trucks, and a Seattle Fire Department vaccine pop-up.

Thaddeus Turner (Thaddillac) performing with Digable Planets by Sunny Martini

“What a way to give the communities hope through art — lots going on and changing faster. It was a nice break thanks to you and all the people that got down! It was fun, most importantly.”
Thaddeus Turner (Thaddillac), Co-Founder of Totem Star and Music Director for Digable Planets

We were thrilled to close out the Welcome Back Weeks festivities with the iconic hip-hop trio, Digable Planets! Westlake Park was filled to the brim with audiences anticipating their closing performance.

Share Your Feedback

Calling all artists, performers, booth vendors, and community members who participated in this event:

Please take this brief survey about the impact of Created Commons! Your feedback will allow us to assess our programs and improve future programming with the community’s needs and suggestions in mind. Thank you!

Take the Created Commons Survey

Over the two weeks, over 15,000 people visited downtown Seattle to participate in the three events. Highlights from the festivities include:

An estimated 5,700 people attended our three events: 2,000 at Hing Hay, 700 at Occidental Square, and 3,000 at Westlake Park
200 creative workers were hired with 90% of the City-hired creative workers identifying as women, LGBTQ+ and/or people of color
Vaccination were given to 52 new people, courtesy of the SFD vaccine pop-up
500 downtown small businesses were supported and involved, with 80% being owned by women and/or people of color

You can see more outcomes from the Welcome Back Weeks on the Downtown Recovery website.

Stay tuned as Created Commons partners with the Seattle Department of Transportation to bring you more unique arts experiences in neighborhoods such as Othello, Rainier Beach, Westwood, Pioneer Square, and the Chinatown-International District!

Artist space program launches in Pioneer Square, ID

December 20, 2011 by Calandra Childers 1 Comment

Artists and arts groups seeking affordable space are invited to attend a space workshop on Jan. 7, take a survey and apply for space consulting services, all part of the the Artist Space Assistance Program (ASAP), a pilot program of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs designed to provide relocation and placement services for artists and arts organizations seeking space.

Nonprofit arts service organization Shunpike is developing and managing the program, which is focused in the Pioneer Square and Chinatown-International District neighborhoods. The program, also supported by 4Culture, grew out of community concerns related to the recent loss of artist studio space in Pioneer Square. The 619 Western Building, home to about 100 artist studios, closed in October to make way for construction of the Highway 99 tunnel below.

“One of the primary goals of ASAP is to connect property owners looking for tenants with artists in search of space,” said Vincent Kitch, director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. “Arts and culture play an important role in sustaining and building active, engaged neighborhoods that attract visitors, residents and businesses.”

Shunpike will assess artist needs and space opportunities, offer direct services to artists and arts groups and develop a model for expanding the program to other Seattle neighborhoods. Artists and arts groups working in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District – especially those displaced by the closure of the 619 Western Building – will receive priority for participation in a small pilot group, which will receive free planning and placement services in January and February 2012.

To help determine current art space needs citywide, Seattle artists and arts groups are invited to take an online survey available here. Artists and arts groups who want to be considered for the pilot program must complete the survey and check a box indicating their interest in the pilot group.

Shunpike will host a free art space workshop, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7 at Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave. Real estate broker Richard Hesik will give an overview of commercial real estate issues for artists. The event will include roundtable discussions, where artists will work with facilitators from Shunpike’s Arts Business Clinic. Space is limited and registration is required. For more information and to register, go here.

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