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Crosscut launches Black Arts Legacies showcasing contemporary and historic Black creators in the Northwest

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SEATTLE—Crosscut today launched Black Arts Legacies, a digital archive highlighting the roles Black artists have played in the Northwest’s cultural landscape. For its debut, Black Arts Legacies is featuring 26 creatives spanning decades and artistic disciplines.

Black Arts Legacies was the brainchild of Vivian Phillips, founder of Arte Noir and a longstanding advocate for Black artists, and Dr. Quinton Morris, director of chamber and instrumental music at Seattle University.

“During my time as the co-chair of the Seattle Arts Commission, I remember feeling extreme exhaustion during the turmoil centered around the brutal murder of George Floyd and racial profiling of Christian Cooper, I wanted to turn my anger into action by healing our community through telling the stories of our local Black artists and organizations, who combat racism and social justice through art and cultural activities daily.”

Dr. Quinton Morris, director of chamber and instrumental music at Seattle University

The archive is supported by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Additional support is provided by Meta and BECU.

“Celebrating Seattle’s Black Artists emboldens our shared knowledge about the impact of Black Culture in Seattle, uplifting both historic understanding and powerful creative work. The Black Arts Legacies celebration elevates our arts sector and helps bring together all audiences as we strive to come together, heal together, and identify positive human connections and commonality.”

City of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell

“Social cohesion is a key element of the Black Community values. Black artists have historically been in the forefront of radically changing social narratives about art and its power of place.”

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

Black Arts Legacies includes written profiles, photos and videos. Crosscut will also produce a Legacies newsletter, podcast and Instagram.

“This project paints a complex portrait of the artists and organizations that help us make sense of who we are as a city and as a region — and only scratches the surface of the important contributions Black people have made to the fabric of Seattle.”

Kemi Adeyemi, project editor of Black Arts Legacies with Jasmine Mahmoud

At launch, Black Arts Legacies will include spotlights on:

  • Al Doggett, painter and graphic designer
  • Anastacia-Reneé, poet and installation artist
  • Barbara Earl Thomas, visual artist
  • Barry Johnson, painter and installation artist
  • Benjamin McAdoo, Jr., midcentury modern architect
  • Dave Lewis, musician, keyboardist, bandleader
  • Donald Byrd, choreographer and dancer
  • Douglas Barnett, theater maker and performer
  • Edna Daigre, dance/movement teacher
  • Elisheba Johnson, curator and artist
  • Ernestine Anderson, jazz singer
  • Esther Ervin, sculptor and jewelry maker
  • Ishmael Butler, musician (of Digable Planets and Shabazz Palaces)
  • Jade Solomon, dancer and choreographer
  • James Washington, Jr., painter and sculptor
  • Kabby Mitchell, ballet dancer
  • Laurie Allison Wilson, architect
  • Marita Dingus, sculptor, glass and ceramic artist
  • Mona Lake Jones, poet and author
  • Porter Ray, musician and rapper
  • Sharon Nyree Williams, theater maker and performer
  • Tariqa Waters, curator and installation artist
  • The Black Tones, rock band led by twins Eva and Cedric Walker
  • Tina Bell, punk rock/proto-grunge musician/singer
  • Valerie Curtis Newton, theater maker, and director
  • Zoë Dusanne, visual art curator for midcentury Seattle artists

A celebration of Black Arts Legacies will take place at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute on June 16 as part of the annual We Out Here Festival. The event is free and registration is required.

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About Crosscut
Crosscut is the Pacific Northwest’s independent, nonprofit news site. We believe an informed
public is essential to solving the challenges of our time. Crosscut strives to provide readers with
the facts and analysis they need to intelligently participate in civic discourse, and to create a more
just, equitable and sustainable society.

  • Online: Crosscut.com
  • On Twitter: @crosscut
  • On Facebook: @crosscut

Contact:
Chris Nelson
206-940-1605
cnelson@pyramidcommunications.com


About Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) manages the City’s public art program, cultural
partnerships grant programs, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, ARTS at King Street
Station, and The Creative Advantage initiative in the effort to foster a city driven by creativity that
provides the opportunity for everyone to engage in diverse arts and cultural experiences. In
alignment with the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, we work to eliminate institutional
racism in our programs, policies and practices. ARTS is supported by the 16-member Seattle Arts
Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council.

  • Online: seattle.gov/arts
  • On Twitter: @seattlearts
  • On Facebook: @seattlearts
  • On Instagram: @seaofficeofarts

Contact:
Erika Lindsay, Chief Communications Officer
(206) 684-433
erika.lindsay@seattle.gov

Seattle Arts Commission 2022 Budget Priorities Letter

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Dear Council Members,

The Seattle Arts Commission wishes to express our collective gratitude for your commitment and support for creative communities and workers, given the economic hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that now is a critical time to invest in the recovery of our sector, by making meaningful investments in sustainable infrastructure which will ensure that arts and culture will thrive for years to come.

The Seattle Arts Commission, as a body which represents the community and supports the work of the Office of Arts & Culture, is committed to economic recovery in a way that centers and champions the arts, as well as equity and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities that have historically been disenfranchised. As outlined in our budget letter addressed to Mayor Durkan and the Seattle City Council on August 3, 2020, the Seattle Arts Commission’s goal through the continuation of 2021 is to ensure that as little harm as possible come to the arts and cultural ecosystem, especially to the communities and economies that are highly represented, by BIPOC individuals.

Thank you all for your support of previously outlined priorities and for helping support the Office of Arts & Culture through 2022 with estimated admissions taxes, given the devastation of the COVID-19 year. We are pleased to see that the Mayor’s budget draft for funding the Office of Arts and Culture incorporated$1.5M in funding for Hope Corps, which will serve to create meaningful job opportunities for artists and organizations as we move forward in our recovery efforts. We are also pleased by the incorporation of Cultural Education work via the Equitable Communities Initiative, and ask that you protect these important investments as the budget process progresses.

While there are many worthy inclusions in the Mayor’s budget, there are several critical investments in Arts & Culture that have been left out. The following are areas of concern where we urgently request your support:

Financial Support for the ARTS Office
As it stands, the Office of Arts & Culture will experience a 10-15% budget reduction in 2022, which puts on hiatus important legacy programs such as the Cultural Facilities Fund, which supports space-related projects by local arts organizations. Even with limited resources, the ARTS Office makes high impact investments that strengthen the arts community and ensure the well-being of artist communities. It is important that the office’s budget be back-filled to pre-pandemic levels, so that it can continue to offer critical support for artists and arts organizations on the road to economic recovery. Please consider an additional $2M be allocated to ARTS, which will restore cuts currently in place for notable programs and increase capacity within the Office.

Rent Forgiveness for Arts Organizations
The City currently houses 40 organizations and had previously provided rent forgiveness which has now expired. No funding for rent relief has been allocated in the budget for 2022, but we ask for your support in providing $2M in rent relief to arts organizations, in order to provide short-term stop-gap solutions as they recover from the pandemic. Many organizations still operate under limited hours and capacity, and the actual cost to the city is lower.

Funding for the Cultural Space Agency
COVID-19 has illuminated the critical need for long-term space for arts organizations both small and large, in order to secure a future for the creative community. The Cultural Space Agency has been intentionally designed to build community wealth, especially within BIPOC communities and historically disinvested neighborhoods, through a community-led process that places decision-making authority into the hands of impacted community members. It is an especially groundbreaking entity and one solution that community members often reference as a long-term solution to keep the local arts community thriving. The Cultural Space Agency has already received viable cultural space site acquisition and development proposals from 20 BIPOC-led community organizations. However, the current budget proposal does not include funding for the Cultural SpaceAgency, which needs seed funding to succeed. We request consideration of $5M in critical seed funding to activate this innovative program and support its initial projects.

Your support is vital to our art and cultural communities, especially in times of trial and hardship. We invite you to stand with the Seattle Arts Commission as we work to create a community of support for those who are experiencing incredibly difficult challenges. This is our moment to declare unequivocally that we value arts and cultural workers, institutions, and organizations who have helped make Seattle a culturally rich tourist destination and economically thriving city.

Thank you for your shared interest and values in creating a vibrant arts and cultural sector that addresses historical inequality while prioritizing artistic and cultural sustainability. We are so grateful for your ongoing commitment to this work, and we would love to continue this important conversation with you.

Co-Chairs James Miles and Vivian Hua 華婷婷
Seattle Arts Commission

The Seattle Arts Commission welcomes four new commissioners

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The Seattle Arts Commission (SAC) has welcomed four new commissioners Rick Araluce, Ebony Arunga, Vivian Hua and Vanessa Villalobos. They all bring a wealth of experience and diverse artistic backgrounds to SAC that will be invaluable as the commission navigates advocating for the arts and culture sector which has been devasted by the pandemic. 

Born in 1960, Rick Araluce has been a life long artist. At an early age Rick began creating drawings, paintings, hand-fashioned objects, miniature scenarios, plastic models—creations depicting whatever piqued his interest at the time. He put his efforts into being a painter originally, though began to create and evolve his artwork towards a more sculptural realm, and in the 1990s began making detailed miniatures a primary focus of his work. This he continues to this day. Along the way, Rick began to work in a larger form, ultimately creating complex immersive installations which incorporated multiple media, including lighting, sound, motion, and computer automation. These have been some of Rick’s most noteworthy endeavors. He has among other artistic pursuits created book and album illustration, art-directed and created work for a number of animated music videos, and has had his artwork featured in a handful of commercial films. For 20 years, Rick was a Lead Scenic Artist with Seattle Opera, until the Opera’s closure of its scene shop, though he continues this work as a Master Scenic Artist employed by Arts Tech Group, a scenery and event fabrication company where he oversees and runs multiple facets of the artistic side of production. He is essentially self-taught, having chosen to forgo university and art school. Nonetheless, Rick has secured some significant achievements, including a Pollock/Krasner in 2009, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Award in 2010 and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship. As an individual coming from a low-resource background, Rick has acquired a degree of understanding and empathy for the challenges of those coming from less privileged and non-traditional backgrounds who have chosen the artist’s path.  

Ebony Arunga is an arts manager, advocate and entrepreneur. She was born in Kisumu, Kenya and raised in the historically Black Central District of Seattle, Washington as part of a multi-faceted artistic family. In 2008 she graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, with a BFA in Theatre with an emphasis on Stage Management and has since managed artists, projects and events both nationally and internationally. Her work spans across arts genres including theatre, film, music, dance, and literature. Ebony’s presence in the Seattle arts scene grew prevalent through her work as an event producer at the legendary Faire Gallery Cafe. Carrying on the legacy of her mother, Marcia Tate Arunga, Ebony and her sister Nia re-launched Seaweed International in 2017, a Black owned business specializing in jewelry imported from Kenya with the mission to provoke a new consciousness in social justice and beauty. In 2020, she teamed up with Ijeoma Oluo, Gabriel Teodros and LANGSTON to manage the Seattle Artist Relief Fund (SARF), the largest COVID-19 relief effort geared towards directly supporting artists in Washington State. Ebony serves on the board of LANGSTON and was a 2020 Office of Arts and Culture BASE (Building Art’s Spaces Equitably) cohort member. She resides in Seattle.  

Vivian Hua 華婷婷 is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer. As the Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum in Seattle and Editor-in-Chief of the interdisciplinary arts publication, REDEFINE, much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They regularly share human-centered stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE! In 2021, they will [hopefully] begin production on a comedic Asian-American series entitled Reckless Spirits. They are passionate about cultural space preservation and creation, as well as seeking ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. Learn more about their work at vivianhua.com.  

Vanessa Villalobos is a performing artist, choreographer, producer and non-profit consultant from Lima, Peru with Indigenous, African and Spanish ancestry. She presented hundreds of original works and danced with companies in New York, Seattle, and more. She has degrees in Theatre and Dance from the University of Washington and earned her MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University.  She co-founded creative company VANICH Multimedia (NY) and is the founder of BALORICO.dance (WA). She is a seasoned Teaching Artist having worked in many public and private schools in Seattle and New York. Trained in contemporary, ballet, jazz and Ballroom Theatre Arts, she is a certified American Ballroom Rhythm & Smooth instructor. Film credits include MadHot Ballroom and Walt Disney’s Enchanted where she was a principal dancer. Her dedication to racial equity is expressed through her community work with 501Commons, the Covid-19 Response Alliance, La Sala, the Dance Educators Association of Washington and Seattle University’s Center for the Study of Justice in Society. Vanessa’s cross-industry expertise has brought forth opportunities to help influence funding decisions on behalf of the Washington State Arts Commission, 4 Culture and the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. 

We need to invest in individual artists, cultural communities, and cultural space

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A case for our sector by Seattle Arts Commission Co-Chair Dr. Quinton Morris on behalf of the Seattle Arts Commission

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

Dear Mayor Durkan,

For more than a year now, Seattle has been enveloped in chaotic, stressful, and at times, inhumane moments that have tarnished our beloved city’s reputation. The haunting ripple effect of the global pandemic; the rise of racial injustices affecting people of color; economic devastation in artistic and cultural communities; and the downward spiral of the emotional, mental and physical health of our city. People are suffering and our community is in crisis. At this point of devastation, what do we do? How can we evolve and change so that people from all walks of life, regardless of where they live in the world, perceive our city as a place that is comforting to call home and a safe place to visit?

On July 29, 2020, I wrote on behalf of the Seattle Arts Commission to both you and Seattle City Council to request that as little harm as possible come to the arts and cultural community, which includes many marginalized people from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and all people of color that includes Latino/x, Asian Pacific Americans and the spectrum of Immigrant/Refugee communities) community. Yet, there are so many people who are continuing to suffer and struggle, amid the many crises our city has experienced. As a Black artist, Seattle native, and co-chair of our Seattle Arts Commission, I am deeply concerned about the people in our community that we love so much. It is going to take a village to bring Seattle out of this crisis. More than 62% of artistic and creative workers have become fully unemployed, 95% of them have experienced significant income loss and 71% of arts organizations indicate that the financial impact has been “severe” due to the pandemic.

For the past year, the Office of Arts & Culture has served as an important partner in the COVID response initiative. The Office’s success can be attributed to strong partnerships it has maintained with our arts and cultural communities. The arts and cultural sector is uniquely positioned to unite and help bring feelings of safety and solace back to our city’s residents during this crucial COVID recovery period.

I recognize that this letter is probably unconventional and unlike others that you have received from my predecessors. I acknowledge the gracious support for Seattle’s arts and cultural communities which you have provided in the past. You have invested in those communities and because of such, we have thrived and been able to carry a tradition of artistic and cultural excellence. I applaud the exponential velocity with which the City moved to provide relief for arts and cultural organizations and artists, which we recognize as both the first cultural relief package in our country; and was also among the very first actions you took to address the pandemic. In the last year, artists created connections over screens, on pieces of plywood protecting buildings, and through their professional practices. These actions made people who were scared feel connected, gave communities whose voices had been silenced a microphone, and created moments of joy and relief in an unprecedented time. Your actions with the Office of Arts & Culture alone employed close to 100 artists who were employed through various Hope Corps projects that provided key support for the community in the areas of arts education, documentation, and connecting our community last year. More than 5,000 people have viewed The Creative Advantage teaching artist videos that were created in response to the pause of in-person education. For these actions, I am forever grateful.

However, a lot has changed in a year. The severe statistics and percentages, along with the countless stories that I’ve heard at numerous Arts Commission meetings have been heartbreaking. As we begin to rethink how to “re-open” and “revitalize” the vibrant, fantastic city we were “pre-pandemic”, I invite you to collaborate with the arts and cultural community so we can get people back to work. This will only be achieved through the following recommendations for American Rescue Plan fund distribution:

  1. Invest in individual artists: The CityArtist grant program has received 10x the number of applications it has funds to grant. There simply isn’t enough funding to address the significant need in our community. We need another plan of action to address this need. I respectfully request that you invest in individual working creatives in two areas:
    • Allocate $15 million to serve as a stimulus towards individual working creatives in Seattle. These creative workers have been deeply impacted, with nearly ⅔ out of work. Working artists can create welcoming and unique physical distancing markers for local businesses, bring people together safely with public art performances like music or dance or other performances in parks and public spaces, support storytelling and sharing with interviews, videos, and written narratives, and document recovery events and infrastructure. There are so many ways that creative workers can support the City as it works to re-open safely, while the City supports creative workers to remain as vital, respected members of our community.
    • Invest seed funding of $1 million annually for a period of three years towards Hope Corps, a strategy which centers the restoration of wealth to those who have been disproportionately impacted, both physically and financially, by COVID-19, people of color, while meeting civic needs. This allocation of funding would demonstrate your desire to assist the BIPOC community who are exhausted from the aftershocks of state-sanctioned murders, COVID-19, and persistent race-based injustices. This investment also carries out the sound findings from the Creative Economy report, which recognizes the need to address inequities in the sector while also pointing to its central economic role within our City. With this commitment, your leadership will fuel our work to sustain and build wealth in these communities.
  2. Invest in Cultural Communities: I am requesting that you make an investment of $20 million towards cultural organizations, which will assist in the economic recovery of the city. Cultural organizations will play a significant role in encouraging Seattleites to re-engage with their neighborhoods while attending events safely and return to supporting their local businesses. As the city reopens, cultural facilities and activities will rebrand our city as a safe place for tourists to visit and attract local and regional visitors, who will visit downtown and the various cultural communities that make the Emerald City so vibrant. A $20 million investment would match what King County and the State have announced and will demonstrate that the City of Seattle takes our role as a leader in the cultural sector seriously and is ready to invest in ensuring our cultural anchors, which will be the last businesses to reopen, and who were already on razor-thin margins, have the support of the City to weather this storm. This is an investment in the heart and soul of our City, as well as the economic recovery that comes with our community spending money on leisure and healing activities.
  3. Cultural Space: In my letter to you, addressed on July 29, 2020, I requested support from both you and the Seattle City Council regarding the protection of our cultural spaces. Because of the COVID-19 and social issues that have permeated our city, many cultural spaces have suffered significantly, losing revenue and resources. These organizations need time to recover and rebuild as the city begins to open up. While Governor Jay Inslee’s eviction moratorium will continue through June 30th, I am fearful that once it is lifted, we will see an enormous uptick in evictions in arts and cultural spaces. These evictions will exacerbate the mass migration of Seattle’s cultural anchors, and with them, our identity as a creative capital, outside of the city limits. Because of this, I am requesting that you forgive all rents for 2021-2022 for arts and cultural organizations and artists who call the City a landlord.

    I appreciate your support of the Cultural Space Agency and am so pleased that this new entity exists to develop and steward permanently affordable space for arts and culture. Having your support to anchor Seattle’s vibrant cultural communities in place by providing additional capital to advance the development projects chosen by the community constituency of the Cultural Space Agency will provide further resources to secure the arts and cultural life that makes our City so special, support social cohesion, and further business activity, all rooted in our City’s BIPOC communities and neighborhoods. This is truly a BIPOC-centered wealth-building strategy that simply needs to be resourced to fulfill its potential.

    Regarding the 2022 budget, I’m requesting that financial cuts, resulting from diminished Admissions Tax collection, be paused and that the Office of Arts & Culture’s budget is supplemented to match their 2019 adopted budget total, before pandemic impacts. In this time of dire need for this sector, we cannot undertake austerity. Finally, I request that the city invests in digital equity for all, which will have a significant impact for artists and arts organizations and their audiences in our city. It is essential that our community has access to Wi-Fi. We humbly request that the city invest immediately in keeping our community digitally connected to the world and to each other, which so heavily relies on technology, and is absolutely essential in this moment of virtual presentations. I recognize that we are living and experiencing unprecedented times. While I applaud the availability of resources that you have provided for our work, I remain cognizant of the growing pressures people feel daily that result in racial injustice and the decrease in affordability and sustainability in our arts and cultural communities. I am writing as a very concerned Seattle native who wants what is best for our city. I believe you, as a Seattle native, do too. Therefore, I feel this is a time to engage in uncomfortable conversations and make unprecedented requests. I believe that these activities will empower us to work towards solutions that will create a more racially inclusive and equitable distribution of available support. I acknowledge and appreciate your support in the work that you have done towards the preservation of cultural space and support for BIPOC communities. Our goal at the Arts Commission is to work with you in implementing these strategies and support the work you are already doing at the policy level.

    Recently, I met with Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington and we were able to speak about some of the same issues that I’ve raised in my letter to you. It was lovely to meet her and it seems that she shares a lot of the same concerns. I informed her that I would request a meeting with you so we could discuss some of these requests. I have since followed up and am awaiting confirmation on our meeting.

    As co-chair of the Seattle Arts Commission, I speak on behalf of all of my colleagues when I express my appreciation for your support in preserving the incredible arts and cultural city that we are known to be. I appreciate the action you have taken towards helping to sustain our arts community and the confidence you have in our Arts Commission in serving as allies in accomplishing the goals and initiatives you have already put in place.

    As you complete your term as Mayor, I believe that your legacy will be secured through your support of empowering and re-inspiring the arts and cultural community in our city. Please allow the Seattle Arts Commission to play a role in helping you. We stand with you in solidarity towards supporting the great work of Seattle arts and culture and appreciate your continued ongoing support, in advance.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Best wishes,
    Dr. Quinton Morris, co-chair
    Seattle Arts Commission
    Endorsed by the Seattle Arts Commission Sarah Wilke, Co-Chair, Meany Center for the Performing Arts; Cassie Chinn, Wing Luke Museum; Dawn Chirwa, Philanthropy Northwest; Kayla DeMonte, Citizen University; Steve Galatro, Pratt Fine Arts Center; Vivian Hua, Northwest Film Forum; Holly Jacobson, Path with Art; Yeggy Michael, Artist, Yeggy Studio; James Miles, Mentor Washington; Chieko Phillips, 4Culture; Vanessa Villalobos, Artist, Balorico Dance; Racquel West, Bill Holm Center; Mikhael Mei Williams, Seattle Art Museum

Statement from the Seattle Arts Commission on Recent Events regarding Black Lives

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In light of the recent protests that were sparked over the heinous murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and the countless other Black lives across the United States; and the anti-Blackness act to weaponize Christian Cooper are all the result of racism, police brutality and white supremacy. We are wounded, angry and outraged that the Black community continues to be victims and targets of this violence.

In the Arts Commission, diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism are always in the front of our minds and play a large component in our policies, decision making and service that we provide to both the arts and cultural communities. We see and acknowledge the hurt and pain and stand in solidarity with our Black artists, Black leaders of organizations and Black arts and cultural administrators during this painful and egregious period.

We recognize that these acts of injustice will continue to surface unless we, the arts and cultural communities collectively unite to dismantle the systemic racism that continues to cripple the Black community. We must work together to find a legislative process that legalizes Blackness and is fair and equitable to all Black artists, organizations, cultural centers, and the Black community at large. We invite everyone to stand with us as we continue to battle these issues so that the Black community does not have to continue to be impacted by these repeated, painful experiences. Only then will we be able to stand united together once we have attacked and abandoned these unhealthy ways continue to hurt our Black community.

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

Dr. Quinton Morris is the new co-chair of the Seattle Arts Commission

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Dr. Quinton Morris, concert violinist, educator, entrepreneur and filmmaker is the new co-chair of the Seattle Arts Commission, serving with Chair Priya Frank. Dr. Morris joined the Seattle Arts Commission in 2017. The 16-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council, supports the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Commission members include artists, arts professionals and other citizens with diverse backgrounds and strong links to Seattle’s arts community. The Seattle Arts Commission supports the City by advocating for arts policy, creating access for equitable participation in the arts, and fostering enriching arts engagement for all residents.

portrait of Dr. Quinton Morris with violin
Dr. Quinton Morris, photo by Jean

Dr. Morris is the founder of Key to Change, a nonprofit with the mission of inspiring underserved youth and students of color through world-class music instruction and supporting their development as self-aware leaders. Key to Change operates two string studios in South King County, Washington which serve middle and high school students who may not otherwise have access to classical music instruction.

Key to Change was born out of Dr. Morris’s BREAKTHROUGH World Tour, which paired recitals and concerto performances with lectures, master classes and educational outreach in over 40 cities across five continents. The tour also featured Dr. Morris’s short film The BREAKTHROUGH, which premiered at the Seattle Art Museum and the Louvre Museum in Paris, among other distinguished venues worldwide. He directed and starred in the film, which tells a modernized story of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges: a violinist of African origin who, against all odds, rose to become one of the most prolific and forgotten figures of the 18th century.

Dr. Morris has received numerous awards including the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, the Young Artist Governor’s Arts Award, top prizes at the European Independent Film Awards (Paris) and New York Film Week. He was recognized as one of Musical America’s Top 30 Movers & Shapers and the Puget Sound Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award. Additional career highlights include concerto appearances with the Seattle Symphony, three consecutive years of sold-out recitals at Carnegie Hall, eleven years as Artistic Director of The Young Eight String Octet and a TEDxSeattle talk on “The Age of the Artist Entrepreneur.”

Dr. Morris is a Renton native and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Seattle University faculty in 2007 as Director of Chamber and Instrumental Music and Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music. He is the first tenured music professor at Seattle University in over 35 years and the second living African-American violinist in United States history to receive such a distinction. He is currently enrolled in an online business certificate program through Harvard Business School. 

Terri Hiroshima steps up as new Seattle Arts Commission chair

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The Seattle Arts Commission and the Office of Arts & Culture are excited to welcome Terri Hiroshima as the new chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. Hiroshima will take over from Vivian Phillips, who was chair from 2015-17. The Seattle Arts Commission is an advocacy and advisory body for the City of Seattle.

Terri Hiroshima at the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture 15th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards reception at Chihuly Garden & Glass at Seattle Center on August 31, 2017.
Photo by Marcus R. Donner

“It’s an exciting time to chair the commission as we work to increase awareness of the value and role that the arts has in creating vitality and sustainability in Seattle,” says Terri Hiroshima, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, UW. “Seattle Arts Commission work has never been more important now that the arts have become an essential tool for helping to address the challenges of a growing city — be it housing, work space, education, community building — and the equity issues that are tied to them. Vivian’s skillful leadership is one for the records and I hope to serve by strengthening what is now fully put in motion.”

Hiroshima was recently featured in a piece on KUOW, “I’m not the submissive Asian woman you think I am” and has been on the Seattle Arts Commission since 2012.

She is a Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the University of Washington, and was formerly Vice President of Communications at Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Hiroshima has served and worked in Seattle’s non-profit sector for more than 20 years, holding executive and marketing leadership positions at Crosscut Public Media, Seattle Theatre Group, Empty Space Theatre, and One Reel. She currently serves on the LANGSTON board and the Pratt Fine Arts Center board; in the past she has served on the boards of Shunpike and Degenerate Art Ensemble. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from Boston University, and completed Seattle’s Leadership Tomorrow program in 2009.

 

FIRST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LANGSTON HIRED

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Tim Lennon to lead Seattle non-profit for African American arts

Central Area, Seattle, WA– LANGSTON, the new non-profit arts organization recently established after an extensive community process to guide programming intended to strengthen and advance community through Black arts and culture, announces the selection of Tim Lennon as Executive Director. Lennon will begin his tenure on January 3, 2018.

Inye Wokoma, president of the board of LANGSTON stated, “Tim’s combined experience working at the City of Seattle, with local festivals, and with artists, makers and non-profit organizations makes him the ideal person to carry out the mission of this new arts organization and launch it to success. We are so excited that such a dynamic local arts leader and community collaborator will be LANGSTON’s first executive director.”

Lennon has held leadership and programming positions in Seattle at several non-profit organizations and public sector offices, including: The Vera Project, Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Center Foundation, and One Reel. His current board service includes The Washington Bus and the Seattle Music Commission for which he chairs the advocacy and economic development committee. He is an alumnus of the Leadership Tomorrow program and currently serves on its curriculum committee, and was selected in 2017 for Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program.

 

Additionally, Lennon played a key role in supporting the transition process for LANGSTON, which centered on creating a community-led organization that resides within the historic Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Lennon has also been an advocate for and planning advisor to the Historic Central Area Arts and Cultural District.

“I’m inspired by Seattle’s artists, collaborators and community partners who are passionate about the legacy of LANGSTON, and I look forward to continuing work of establishing a thriving arts and cultural institution in this historic space named for one of America’s most prolific artists of African descent. In partnership with the local and broader community, we will build upon the existing legacy and further cultivate Black brilliance through robust arts and cultural programs,” says Lennon.

Photo: Tim Lennon by Michael B. Maine

ABOUT LANGSTON

LANGSTON is the new non-profit arts organization created in response to both the community and the City’s desire to support the historic mission of Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.

LANGSTON’s mission is to strengthen and advance community through Black arts and culture.

After 40 years of programs and a three-year review and engagement process, LANGSTON was conceived and designed by the community with the vision of transforming Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute into an independent and thriving arts organization and a hub for African American arts and culture.

LANGSTON is housed at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute building, which is owned by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation, and operated by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

ARTS welcomes two new commissioners

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Jescelle Major and Sarah Wilke join the Seattle Arts Commission.

The City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture 15th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards reception at Chihuly Garden & Glass at Seattle Center on August 31, 2017.
Photo by Marcus R. Donner

Jescelle Major is a landscape and urban designer at multidisciplinary design firm Mithun. She holds a BS in Sustainability and the Built Environment from the University of Florida and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University. Her thesis research and current professional design work have a heavy focus on urban scale change centered on environmental sensitivity, historic fabric and social justice. She has also worked alongside various teams within the City of Miami Beach Parks and Recreation and the planning department at Denver Zoo, before relocating to Seattle. After spending most of her life in the Southeast, she sees the Arts Commission as the perfect opportunity to engage in dialogue, critique and knowledge capture here, in the City of Seattle. Major is involved with the ULI, Arcade Magazine, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Center for Wooden Boats and a local rowing club.

Major served as a Get Engaged Seattle Design Commissioner for the 2016-2017 term and continues to serve as a member of the City’s Public Art Advisory Committee.

The City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture 15th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards reception at Chihuly Garden & Glass at Seattle Center on August 31, 2017.
Photo by Marcus R. Donner

Sarah Wilke is the Executive Director of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), the largest, most highly attended film festival in the United States. In addition to its 25-day festival which presents over 450 features, short films, and documentaries from over 80 countries each year, SIFF provides year-round film programming though SIFF Cinema’s five screens and SIFF Education youth and adult programming. Prior to joining SIFF, Wilke was the Managing Director of Seattle’s contemporary performing arts center On the Boards, where for 12 years she led day-to-day and long-term strategic management of the organization. During her time there, On the Boards received a 2015 Fractured Atlas Arts Innovation Award for OntheBoards.tv., a 2013 William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and Sustained Achievement in Programming from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, a 2011 Mayor’s Arts Award, and a 2006 Stranger Genius Award for outstanding Arts Organization. Wilke worked as managing director of Consolidated Works in Seattle, as associate curator of education at the Tacoma Art Museum, and at the Freer & Sackler Galleries in Washington, D.C. in various education, programming, and curatorial positions. Wilke was a Fulbright Fellow in Sri Lanka. She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, The Kresge Artist Fellowships, The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Artist Trust, and the National Performance Network.

 

Seattle Arts Commission letter to King County Council in favor of Access for All

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Today, the Seattle Arts Commission (SAC), 16 citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council, supporting the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture released a letter to the King County Council in favor of placing Access for All on the August ballot. Commission members include artists, arts professionals and other citizens with diverse backgrounds and strong links to Seattle’s arts community.

The full letter is available here. Below is an excerpt.

The Seattle Arts Commission (SAC) promotes the cultural vitality of our region by supporting arts and culture through a lens of economic, geographic and racial equity. While our charge is limited to the City of Seattle, we are acutely aware of our role within the cultural fabric of our county and our responsibility to serve a much broader region. With that in mind, we strongly encourage you to consider placing Access for All on the August ballot for voter consideration in King County.  

Protecting the Values of Our Region 

We are faced with a challenging political climate in our nation. A stark cultural divide has called our values into question and inspired many of us to mobilize in efforts to defend the principles we hold dear. The field of arts and culture has not been immune from vulnerability and Access for All offers our region the opportunity to respond with a powerful statement of support.