Supported by a 4Culture Art Projects grant, Alice Mao, 17, and Taylor Wang, 15, organized a teen art show. Here they share the inspiration behind it and invite King County to experience the results of their work:

What strikes you when you hear the words “The Modern Youth’s Identity?” We invited teen artists across the country to interpret this theme for our new Student Art Spaces gallery. Over the weekends and between our classes, we’ve been organizing everything from 4Culture grants to shipping of the work. The show will feature the work of 43 artists aged 15–21.

Our mission is to provide teens with an audience and a professional atmosphere. It’s often events like these, early in artists’ careers, that give them confidence and propel them forwards to a path of creativity. Not only will this encourage youth participation in the arts, but it will promote accessibility in an industry that is often perceived as exclusive or elitist.

We’ve been recognized by the Issaquah Reporter as “dedicated to youth outreach and participation in the arts.” Artists from Seattle’s Franklin High School to the Rhode Island School of Design submitted work that reflects the experience and the turmoil of being a young person in 2019. We hope that the unique viewpoints showcased in our gallery will prompt thinking and discussion. Thanks to grants from 4Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, and 34 Kickstarter donors, we are able to put on this show.

All 43 artists’ work will be on display at Seattle Artist League, 10219 Aurora Ave, Seattle, WA 98133, from August 31–September 2! Join us on opening night at 6:30–8:30pm. Learn more at studentartspaces.com.

“Country” Marilyn Roney is a 4th generation Duvall resident, still living on her family’s farm homestead, and Vice-President of the Duvall Historical Society. She shared with us about how some of the town’s quirkier history is still being celebrated today.

On Saturday, July 28, the 2nd Annual Uncle Lumpy’s Jug Band Fest took place at the Dougherty Farmstead on Cherry Valley Road. The Amber Lanterns, a six-piece band from the Snoqualmie Valley, performed bluegrass-inspired tunes with guitar, banjo, fiddle, acoustic bass, mandolin, and washboard.

51 years ago, Larry Van Over—also known as Uncle Lumpy—flew over Cherry Valley Road in a helicopter, watching as cars drove toward his property. Local radio station KRAB FM had announced that they would be partnering with the Helix newspaper to drop an upright piano from a helicopter at musician Van Over’s farm, and that rock band Country Joe and the Fish would perform. The Great Piano Drop of 1968 was born. An estimated 3,000 people attended the event—the population of Duvall at that time was 400.

The event’s history survives for a number of reasons. KRAB FM was founded and run by the Jack Straw Foundation, which still operates today as the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle’s University District. The editor of the now-defunct Helix was none other than beloved local historian and Seattle Times columnist Paul Dorpat. And at the center of efforts to keep this history alive is the Duvall Historical Society, which nurtures and supports the town’s art and culture. They convened and covered a conversation between surviving Piano Drop attendees—including Dorpat—at Jack Straw; read more about it in their recent newsletter! Now, the annual Jug Band Fest honors Uncle Lumpy’s love of music and Duvall.

From the DHS: “The Historical Society’s vision is to preserve, record, publish, and promote appreciation of the history of Duvall, the community pioneers knew as Cherry Valley, and the lower Snoqualmie Valley. We invite you to our regular Open House of the Dougherty House every Sunday, 1:00–4:00 pm, through September 30. We also welcome volunteers! Volunteer opportunities include:

• Docent at the Dougherty House.
• Design and implement exhibits.
• Help clean and maintain our buildings.
• Process and catalog artifacts, books, and archival material.
• Promote Society membership.
• Plan and organize programs on historical topics.
• Assist in meeting public research requests.
• Educational outreach to our local schools to promote the history of Duvall and the Valley.

Thanks to the support of 4Culture and collaboration with the Duvall Cultural Committee we can honor the past, celebrate the present, and provide a legacy for the future of Duvall.”

We’re thrilled to welcome new staff member Claire Miccio into a brand new position here at 4Culture—Government and Community Relations Manager.

The role is designed to strengthen our relationships with policymakers at the local, state, and national levels and help ensure that the communities we serve have a voice in how those policies impact arts and culture. Claire brings broad experience and a fresh perspective: before joining us she worked in public policy, consulting on issues like housing, education, public health, and more. She has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Smith College. At the heart of this impressive background is her love of the legislative process—most of the time!—and her belief that government can and should play a positive role in people’s lives. Claire steps into this new position with an invitation: “Are you a government or community leader looking to connect with 4Culture? Let’s get coffee.”

A note about the photo above: Claire stands in the Third Avenue lobby of the King County Courthouse in Seattle, a building she’ll be spending a lot of time visiting as she collaborates with the King County Executive and Council. On the lobby floor, you can see Truth Crushed to the Earth Will Rise Again, a marble artwork by artist Linda Beaumont. The terrazzo floor is etched with a photo of the March on Washington, celebrating the renaming of King County for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and, quite literally, grounding those entering the courthouse in Dr. King’s ideals. The piece is part of the King County Public Art Collection, which we are proud to steward—this integration of arts, culture, government, and community is a perfect illustration of Claire’s approach to this new position at 4Culture. Let’s get to work!

One of our 4Culture values is to meet communities where they are at as we work on building access to arts and culture. For the youth of King County, this largely means we need to meet them at school—how well are students able to engage with art as part of their education? We recently partnered with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction—OSPI—to learn more, starting with data. Now, we’re proud to share the King County Arts Education Data Dashboard!

This project provides crucial information to education leaders, teachers, families, and community partners about who is participating in arts education in King County’s high schools and who is not. The data shows that students receiving free and reduced-price lunch, students with disabilities, and students who are English language learners all participate in the arts at lower levels than peers who are not in these categories. Race and ethnicity demographics also show disparities when compared to the student body as a whole.

The arts are not optional enrichment activities. Our state school districts are required to teach and measure students’ progress in this core subject, and the existing requirement of one arts credit for high school graduation was recently increased so that the class of 2019 onwards will be required to have two arts credits on their high school transcript. Futhermore, new opportunities for careers and livelihoods are rapidly emerging in the creative economy. Students who have the opportunity to develop strong creativity and critical thinking skills through arts classes will be ready to take advantage of these opportunities.

Arts requirements for students increase their chances of success later on, yet the Data Dashboard shows where gaps in access exist—this is a starting point for ensuring that all students are empowered to engage with art. Dig into the Data Dashboard and learn more about the project in this FAQ.

The Holocaust Center for Humanity teaches the lessons of the Holocaust, inspiring students of all ages to confront bigotry and indifference, promote human dignity, and take action. In this guest post, Grants Manager and Communications Associate Sydney Dratel shares about the process of enacting change in education:

Founded in 1989, we are a museum and educational resource center that uses the Holocaust as a lens through which to engage and educate our community on issues of discrimination, tolerance, civic engagement, and the difference one person can make. From fall 2018 through spring 2019, the Holocaust Center worked with Washington State Senator Ann Rivers, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to research, draft, and ultimately pass into law bipartisan Holocaust education bill SB5612.

In 1992, three years after our organization’s founding, Holocaust survivors and Holocaust Center staff lobbied for a Washington State Holocaust education mandate. However, the bill that passed was a curriculum recommendation, which did not have a large enough impact on Holocaust education in Washington State. Three decades later, in 2018, Holocaust education was still an issue, and retired teacher Hannelore Tweed—who taught history for 30 years at Camas High School, supplemented with many Holocaust Center resources—approached Senator Ann Rivers about lobbying for stronger Holocaust education legislation in our state.

In October, I traveled to La Center along with our Baral Family Executive Director Dee Simon, a lobbyist, and an employee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle to meet with Senator Ann Rivers about this legislation. In response to this successful meeting, we spent months researching, drafting, writing, and rewriting the language of the bill. We included the teaching of other genocides and crimes against humanity and the stipulation that the Holocaust Center for Humanity would work with OSPI to create guidelines and best practices for these topics. Also added was a clause stating that after two years, the Holocaust Center will make recommendations to the state on the future of Holocaust education in Washington.

After gathering support from dozens of teachers and organizations across the state, a group of Holocaust Center staff traveled to Olympia with Holocaust survivors, members of our Teacher Advisory Board, and a member of our Student Leadership Board to testify in front of the House and Senate Education committees. None of the teachers, students, or survivors had testified in support of legislative bills before, but their passion for this bill helped them brush aside their nerves, and each person gave compelling, personal, and powerful testimony.

We were thrilled to see that SB5612 was widely embraced by senators and representatives, passing unanimously through both education committees. Legislators’ votes were often accompanied by moving remarks by those who had family histories related to World War II and the Holocaust and therefore understood first-hand the importance of Holocaust education. This bill is a huge step towards ensuring that every student in our state has equal access to quality Holocaust education.

Studies show that Holocaust education effectively teaches students about antisemitism, bigotry, and the consequences of indifference. This legislation could not be more timely, as antisemitic incidents are higher than they’ve been in almost 20 years: 2017 showed a 60% increase in antisemitic events, a staggering 32% increase in hate crimes in Washington State, and K-12 schools have been reporting disturbing increases in hate-based incidents. At the Holocaust Center for Humanity, we use Holocaust education as a powerful tool to dismantle hate and inspire action, and we know that SB5612 will aid us in carrying out our mission and reaching even more students across Washington State.

Did you know that May is Preservation Month? Since 1973, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has led the country in celebrating the people and organizations who advocate for our historic sites. And while the National Trust shared lots of ways you can celebrate, we’re joining in the festivities the best way we know how: by putting the spotlight on a King County historic site.

The View Crest apartment building in Seattle’s Queen Anne is a great example of the mid-century modern style that characterizes the neighborhood. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca—designer of Seattle’s Coliseum, Orpheum, Paramount, and Admiral theaters—it is now owned by a cooperative. This year, they received 4Culture funding through our Preservation Special Projects grant to hire a consultant to develop a historic structures report, which will help guide their preservation efforts. With information like the building’s historic significance and structural integrity recorded and recommendations for rehabilitation materials and techniques included, the report will be a powerful tool for the View Crest cooperative. They plan to submit a City of Seattle Landmark Nomination as the report is completed.

So, why highlight this site for Preservation Month? The View Crest building is not ornate or even particularly old—it doesn’t fit the profile of a property you might usually think of as “historic.” In fact, this is exactly why we are excited to share its story! It’s a property with historic significance that is still very much a part of the current-day fabric of Seattle. In their grant application, the cooperative state that the building residents are “middle-class wage earners such as teachers, nurses, and administrators in the health industry, as well as fine artists, writers, and designers that otherwise would be unable to live in the neighborhood.” As our region grapples with population increase and rapid development, too often the conversation forces us to choose between preserving historic buildings and creating enough affordable housing. The View Crest is a great reminder that we can actually have both, if we are creative and inclusive in our approach to preservation.

Happy Preservation Month from 4Culture!

With great enthusiasm, we share 4Culture’s new mission, vision, and values with you! Read them on our website.

To arrive at this point, our staff, Board of Directors, Advisory Committee members, and community stakeholders spent six months critically examining our organization’s ecosystem: who we are, what we do, and how we can support the myriad individuals and institutions that make our region so vibrant.

It was essential that our mission, vision, and values articulate the core beliefs that underpin our responsibilities toward King County’s cultural community. These new institutional guideposts recognize the complex web of systems that have historically privileged particular communities over others. This understanding of privilege demands a reckoning with the forces of oppression—racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, ageism, regionalism, classism, and more.

Our mission statement deliberately focuses on racial equity to affirm this understanding. More importantly, it provides 4Culture with the tools necessary to dismantle all oppressions. It prompts us to continually review and refine our internal policies, operations, and efforts toward the removal of entrenched barriers to inclusion. To date, this work has included the creation of an internal Racial Equity Team, a year-long training program for staff, Board, and Advisory Committees focused on racial equity, and the creation of programs like Community 4Culture, the Arc Artist Fellowship, Artists Up, and Creative Justice. Now, it also includes this new mission, vision, and values statement.

You will notice that in both our mission and vision, we use the term “culture.” This was a purposeful decision, not to deprioritize our four program areas—Public Art, Preservation, Heritage and Arts—but rather to embrace the intersections between them. The brilliance and creativity of the cultural sector means that it is fluid, constantly unfolding, and frequently realigns based on need and circumstance. We believe our new mission, vision, and values strongly position 4Culture to continue supporting the existing cultural environment, while simultaneously working to effect change—both internally and externally.

Our deepest thanks to all who helped shape these statements—our Board, Advisory Committees, staff, and consultants.

Sincerely,
Brian J. Carter, Executive Director
Heather Trescases, Board President

The goals of our long-standing Site-Specific program are to engage new audiences for contemporary art and create new opportunities for King County artists by encouraging collaboration. Over the years, the grant has periodically evolved—most recently it existed as Tech Specific, funding creatives working at the intersection of art and tech. In 2018, it took on a new shape: Creative Consultancies.

Cities across King County shared their challenges and hopes for what artists could bring to the table. We then invited artists, organizations, and creative planners to respond. Cities and creatives were paired, creating project proposals that have now been evaluated by a panel and awarded funding! The full list of funded collaborations is below—watch for these projects to get underway across King County later this year:

Auburn and Kathleen Frugé Brown
The visual and public artist will create an environmental design, street mural, and lighting elements for the alleyway between the new Arts and Culture Center and the Auburn Avenue Theater.

Bothell and Una McAlinden
The planning consultant will facilitate a cultural planning process for the newly created Bothell Arts Commission and the greater City of Bothell.

Burien and Enjoy Productions
This event planning firm will work with the City of Burien to redesign the highly successful Arts-a-Glow Festival which has grown to more than 5,000 participants in recent years.

Duvall and Don Fels
The visual and public artist and their collaborator, sound composer Suzie Kazowa, will work with the Duvall Foundation for the Arts to create architectural renderings for the reconstruction of the Thayer Barn as an art center.

Kent and Lucia Neare
The artist will conduct an extended community engagement project to connect with the new communities and changing demographics of Kent and activate the downtown corridor.

Kirkland and Ann Marie Schneider
The artist will create an arts plan and wayfinding project for the growing Totem Lake business district of the city of Kirkland.

Mercer Island and George Lee
The artist will create a new vision and arts plan for the restoration of the Greta Hackett Outdoor Sculpture Gallery located along I-90 and the future light rail station on Mercer Island.

Newcastle and Claudia Bach
The planning consultant will work with the newly formed arts commission, activities commission to facilitate a cultural planning process for the rapidly growing city of Newcastle.

Redmond and Susan Robb
A visual and conceptual artist will work with various city departments Friends of Youth to engage homeless and endangered youth in a developing tree canopy project for the city of Redmond.

SeaTac and Framework
The consulting company will work with the recently formed SeaTac Arts, Culture and Library Committee to help reimagine the former International Festival and explore opportunities to connect with the broader community and SeaTac airport.

Shoreline-Lake Forest Park and Beverly Aarons
A multi-disciplinary artist will work with the Shoreline historical museum and Arts Council to conduct a series of interviews and oral histories with various ethnic communities in the City of Shoreline and create a theatrical production based on stories of their past and imagined future.

To the artists and community members who have spoken out in recent days regarding 4Culture’s involvement with the Children and Family Justice Center: thank you. We—and, much more importantly, King County’s youth—need your voices. I write today, as Executive Director of 4Culture, to share some of the history and intent of our involvement with this project.

My own convictions and 4Culture’s organizational values put us firmly in opposition to the current system of youth incarceration, especially the overrepresentation of children of color within this system. In 2012, when King County voters approved a $200 million levy to build the Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC), the county’s percent-for-art ordinance went into effect, directing 1% of the budget for this county construction project toward public art. 4Culture automatically became the agency responsible for managing the 1% for this project.

At that moment, 4Culture had a choice to make. Walking away from the project would have been illegal—with far-reaching consequences for the artists and organizations we support across the county. Staying with the project meant working within a system that criminalizes the youth of our community, especially our black and brown children. There is no silver lining to this situation. We understood then, as we do now, that many in the community would rightly disagree with this decision.

4Culture accepted the percent-for-art funds with the intention of using as much of the money as we could to actually develop alternatives to youth incarceration in King County. This resulted in Creative Justice, an arts-based program that works to get youth out of detention and empowers them to advocate for systemic change. Over the past seven years, 4Culture staff pursued outside funding for the program through grants and donations, and we’re proud that it is now becoming an independently operating organization.

Despite our attempts to direct more CFJC percent-for-art dollars to Creative Justice and other social engagement efforts instead of fixed art, by law we are required to use the remaining funds to do the following:

• Purchase portable artwork for the public access areas of the juvenile court building on the CFJC campus. This is the call for artwork that went out most recently.
• Commission murals for the detention area of the campus.
• Commission an artwork for the exterior façade of the Alder Street transitional housing entrance.
• Relocate existing artwork from the current site to the new campus.

I make no claims to being infallible, and as long as our organization serves King County’s creative communities, we will continue to listen, collaborate, and respond. In this instance, we continue to push, as we have since 2012, for art that helps bring about a reality where youth incarceration is obsolete.

Sincerely,
Brian J. Carter
4Culture Executive Director

As development continues throughout King County, more and more of our surfaces are impervious. When rain hits pavement and asphalt, it collects pollutants as it travels into Puget Sound’s streams, lakes, rivers, and bays—this is stormwater.

In order to address stormwater issues, King County’s Water and Land Resource Division Stormwater Services Section (the Section) is developing a program to incentivize green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) on private properties in unincorporated King County. It partnership with the Section, we put out a call for an artist to reimagine rain gardens and help get the public engaged with them. Now, we are excited to announce that Vaughn Bell was selected for this unique opportunity.

Vaughn brings experience working with people across disciplines—engineers, community members, young people, scientists, artists, and many others. Her experience working with Seattle Public Utilities Drainage and Wastewater since 2016 as Artist in Residence has united her interests in environmental policy and public art.

She is especially interested in how rain garden design could reveal the function of GSI, and serve as a lens for people to experience more directly the flow of water through their environments and art’s potential to make connections to everyday life. Vaughn believes the design, construction and maintenance of rain gardens can be a way for people to create more intimate relationships with their local ecology.

In addition to an interest and experience with stormwater infrastructure, she will bring her fascination with plants to this project. Her experience working with plants in an art context, and collaborating with landscape architects, botanists, and horticulturalists, has given her a sensitivity to both the creative possibilities in planting and the issues at stake such as selecting plants that will thrive and considering maintenance, growth and change.

Over the next couple months, Vaughn will work closely with 4Culture and the Section to understand the art and science of stormwater management and the GSI Incentive program goals. By participating in site visits she will experience different rain garden design strategies to inform methods of creatively capturing and filtering stormwater runoff across a variety of landscapes in unincorporated King County. She will be involved with projects in two locations: King County-owned land and at the Vashon Island. Vaughn will work with the Section to select the King County-owned site location; WLRD staff will provide support, stormwater engineers will offer technical advice in properly sizing and locating the rain garden, and plant experts will review and provide feedback as the she develops a planting plan. She will create permanent art at this location.

The second site is the Vashon Market IGA parking lot, which is the first GSI incentive pilot project and consists of several connected and engineered rain gardens. For this site Vaughn will create a planting design highlighting plant groupings and formulate rain garden typologies, which will aid in creation of the palette of planting options.

Stay tuned, as we will provide updates as Vaughn starts exploring rain gardens this spring!

Gallery 4Culture has been exhibiting innovative and underrepresented artists and art forms in solo and small-group shows for 40 years!

Jurors Kira Burge, John Criscitello, and Marilyn Montufar reviewed applications submitted through a recent open call process and selected 10 King County-based artists for our next season, which runs from September 2019 through July 2020:

Ann Leda Shapiro
September 5-26, 2019
Opening: First Thursday, September 5, 6:00-8:00 pm
As an artist and acupuncturist, Ann Leda Shapiro uses a dual lens in her investigations of our interior and exterior worlds. Her cut and painted paper constructions pair anatomical features with elements from nature.

Cicelia Ross-Gotta
October 3-31, 2019
Opening: First Thursday, October 3, 6:00-8:00 pm
Is someone who lives in temporary housing still homeless? Cicelia Ross-Gotta explores this question with hand-embroidered reviews of the motel where a family member has lived since August 2016. The reviews highlight certain trends – from complaints about the conditions to critiques written by and about the homeless people who reside there.

Ko Kirk Yamahira
November 7-December 5, 2019 
Opening: First Thursday, November 7, 6:00-8:00 pm
Closing: First Thursday, December 5, 6:00-8:00 pm
Ko Kirk Yamahira’s deconstructed paintings are a meditation on the relativity of perception and time. As dots assemble to produce a line, the line forms a circle, and the circle forms a dot…

Yunmi Her
January 2-30, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, January 2, 6:00-8:00 pm
Yunmi Her’s social media-driven audio and video installation, The factory worker in 2016, examines the shared yet contradictory perspectives of observer and subject.

Tatjana Pavićević
February 6-27, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, February 6, 6:00-8:00 pm
In a series of etchings and other works on paper, Sarajevo-born Tatjana Pavićević delves into the transformational impacts of modern warfare and the realities of living in a perpetual state of violence and fear.

Nichole DeMent
March 5-26, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, March 5, 6:00-8:00 pm
Nichole DeMent’s mixed media encaustic portraits reveal the intersection of the creative subconscious and the power of art.

Nate Clark
April 2-30, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, April 2, 6:00-8:00 pm
Drawing on the history of meditative spaces, from gardens to cathedrals, Nate Clark’s handmade nets and cedar arches offer a contemplative environment.

Mia McNeal
May 7-28, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, May 7, 6:00-8:00 pm
Mia McNeal’s photography explores the intersections of history, trauma, and identity. With an emphasis on personal narrative, she empowers marginalized communities and inspires discussion and healing.

Carlos Brache
June 4-25, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, June 4, 6:00-8:00 pm
American-born, Cuban-raised Carlos Brache creates work in which objects overlap, representative of his search for home between a country that was never his and a country that tells him he is from somewhere else.

Philippe Hyojung Kim
July 2-August 7, 2020
Opening: First Thursday, July 2, 6:00-8:00 pm
Closing: First Thursday, August 6, 6:00-8:00 pm
Philippe Hyojung Kim experiments with plastic as a base material and cultural metaphor, articulating our complex relationship with this powerful, world-changing synthetic resource.

Interested in being a part of the grant-making process? On-Site Reviewers go to events presented by arts and heritage organizations funded by or applying for our Sustained Support grants—orchestras, theaters, dance groups, galleries, choruses, festivals, museums, and more. They then write up short reviews of their experience, which are given to the panels that determine funding, providing a patron’s-eye-view of each organization.

We are seeking artists, arts and heritage administrators, and informed community members who are comfortable evaluating arts and heritage events and who are able to articulate their opinions clearly in written form. You must have some verifiable background in an artistic discipline or heritage/ preservation activity, or you must be able to demonstrate your knowledge and experience in some other way. If you work or volunteer for an organization that receives 4Culture funding you can apply, though you won’t be asked to review organizations where there is a conflict of interest. You must be able to discuss the substance of events beyond a “thumbs-up, thumbs-down” response. Because grant panel members may be reading applications from more than 350 organizations, it’s crucial that On-Site Reviews be both thoughtful and concise.

On-Site Reviews will be conducted between May 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. During the spring and fall, when arts activity is heavier, On-Site Reviewers could possibly attend 3-4 events in a month, but more often will attend 1-2 events per month. 4Culture funds organizations throughout King County; ability and willingness to travel to suburban and rural communities is a plus! On-Site Reviewers receive 2 tickets to each event they review and are paid $40 per review, although we regret that we are unable to pay for travel expenses, with the exception of ferry costs.

Applications are due Wednesday, April 24, 2019 by 5:00 pm PDT. Please submit the following via email to Bret Fetzer at with “On-Site Review Applicant” in the subject line:

1. One page with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, along with a short (200-500 word) review of an event you’ve recently attended.
2. A resume indicating your experience with arts or heritage activity. If your experience is non-professional or doesn’t fit a resume format, please write a short statement describing your experience and what art forms or heritage activities you’d be comfortable reviewing.

If you have any questions before you apply, please contact Bret Fetzer at the email address above or at 206-263-1599. Download this call as a PDF.

The Washington Museum Association represents museums of all types and sizes throughout Washington state and offers an annual conference for peer-to-peer learning, networking, and idea exchange. This year’s conference is happening June 19 to 21 at Spokane’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The theme is “All Stories Are Told Here,” and we’re excited to offer $500 stipends!

Stipends are available to King County residents who are a staff member, volunteer, or board member of a heritage organization located in King County. The stipends may be used for conference registration, travel, and lodging costs. After the conference, we’ll ask you to write a brief statement about your experience.

To apply, please submit a letter of interest via email to Heritage Support Specialist Megumi Nagata at by May 1, at 5:00 pm. The letter should be no longer than one page and should include the following:

1. Your contact information (name, daytime phone number, mailing and email addresses).
2. Itemized budget for your conference attendance.
3. Your current status with a King County heritage museum or organization.
4. Please share how your conference participation will impact your career, your affiliated institution, and the heritage field. How will you utilize the information, connections, and inspirations you gain from attending the conference for your professional goals, your institution, and/or future of the heritage field?

Please include “WaMA 2019 Attendee Stipend” in the subject line of your submission email. 4Culture staff will review and select applications, and will notify all applicants by May 6, 2019. Please contact Megumi with any questions. See you in Spokane!

Our Sustained Support grant program offers unrestricted funding every two years—it helps culture thrive in our region by keeping the lights on at King County cultural organizations, and it’s growing! For the 2019-2020 cycle, we’re proud to be awarding more than $2.5 million to 447 organizations, and especially excited that 88 applicants were brand new to the program.

With this many organizations participating, you probably know and love many of them. Sustained Support funds museums, art centers, symphonies, theaters, and more, as well as city governments that offer arts programming or do preservation work. Visit our Past Grants page to see the full lists of this cycle’s recipients in Arts, Heritage, and Preservation.

Congratulations to all of the 2019-2020 Sustained Support recipients!

In 2015, we partnered with Executive Dow Constantine and the King County Council to invest a historic $28 million in our region’s cultural infrastructure. Now, almost four years later, we continue to see the results of that investment as more and more of these major renovations and building projects are completed. The latest is the Sunset Garage in North Bend!

The Sunset Garage sits prominently at the corner of North Bend Way and Bendigo Boulevard South. It has evolved with the times—originally a livery stable, it provided car sales, repair services, and gasoline for travelers as the Sunset Highway became an east-west thoroughfare in the 1930s. Although many of the building’s original 1929 Art Deco features remained intact, they were covered by a facade of concrete and plate glass sometime in the 1960s. The primary corner of the garage sustained multiple collisions over the years, resulting in the building being labeled “the eyesore of the decade.”

Rehabilitating the Sunset Garage was a priority for both its owner and the City of North Bend. Now, thanks to their dedication and Building for Culture funds, the Garage has been restored to its historic appearance. The concrete exterior facade was completely demolished, and the storefront was framed, sealed, and textured with stucco in the blue color pictured above. New custom windows, front door, and upper awnings with Spanish tile roofing were added. Underneath the new second floor overhang, LED lights were installed to provide night-time illumination.

The restored Sunset Garage serves as a tangible, visible link to North Bend’s past, while also making way for its future.