American Infamy #5, 2010 Courtesy of Roger Shimomura

Exciting news from Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project! Densho was recently funded through 4Culture’s Heritage Cultural Education program to develop a teacher workshop on using primary sources. The workshop will focus on using primary sources to teach about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans and will include insightful materials, powerful learning activities, teacher stipends* and breakfast.

The workshop is scheduled for:
Saturday, June 9, 2012, 8am – 12:30pm
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence
2445 Third Avenue S., Seattle
[*contact i...@densho.org for more information]

Participants will receive a CD containing primary source materials and learning activities. They will also receive printed copies of the educational supplement produced by Densho and the Seattle Times Newspapers in Education program about the Japanese American incarceration. Heritage materials used for this 8-page educational insert came from the Densho Archives and the paintings came from Roger Shimomura. For more information about the workshop visit http://densho.org/about/events/TeacherWorkshop20120609.pdf. To register for the workshop email: i...@densho.org.

From the largest applicant pool to date, 4Culture approved funding awards for 41 projects under the 2012 Heritage Special Projects and Heritage Cultural Education programs. Awards totaled $224,099 for 8 cultural education and 33 special projects throughout King County.

A sampling of projects includes, The Seattle Times Newspapers in Education receiving $10,000 through Heritage Cultural Education for The Many Different Cultures of 98118, a proposal to develop curriculum and a teacher’s guide to examine the various cultures within zip code 98118, the most diverse in the U.S. Also funded under the Education program is Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories, with an award of $2,520 going to MOHAI for creation of a hands-on field trip for 3rd to 5th grade students to learn about Coast Salish culture through “scavenger hunt” experiences.

First time applicant, Andrew Hedden, was awarded $5,450 through Heritage Special Projects to research and collect material for the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge documentary and website. Built in 1911, this Beacon Hill landmark is was named for a notable local Filipino figure. Hedden’s project will focus on Dr. Rizal, the Seattle Filipino community, and the bridge.

Another new applicant, the Hokubei Hochi Foundation, was awarded $9,990 to digitally scan over 100 years of the North American Times and its successor North American Post, a bilingual English-Japanese newspaper. The project will be documented as a model for replication and provide free public access to the historical information recorded in the newspapers through online resources. The International Examiner was awarded $6,500 for Snapshots in Time: Uncovering King County’s Asian Pacific Islander Heritage and Identity, a project to organize and scan over 2000 photographic images from the newspaper’s collection to be used as a historical and educational tool for the broader community.

Other  proposals funded through Heritage Special Projects include $2,575 awarded to Nordic Heritage Museum’s Microsoft Swedes & Boeing Norwegians: Nordic Mobility & Immigration to King County, a symposium highlighting contemporary Scandinavian local settlement. The Northwest African American Museum was awarded $3,300 for Pullman Porters in the Pacific Northwest, an interpretive exhibit to be installed at Seattle Repertory Theatre during the run of the new musical, “Pullman Porter Blues.”

Images: (Top)Arctic Circle and Club Cars event © 2012, courtesy of Nordic Heritage Museum. (Right) Mother and son © 2012, photo by Amy Scarfone, courtesy of Seattle Times NIE.

Selected as a Local Legacy by the Library of Congress in 1999, the Northwest Folklife Festival is a year-round nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for all people to appreciate, share, and participate in the evolving traditions of the Pacific Northwest. Every year since 1972 the Northwest Folklife Festival has been presented at Seattle Center on Memorial Day Weekend. In those forty years, the focus of the Festival has grown to reflect the ever growing number of communities that call the Northwest home. This four-day Festival attracts an audience of about 250,000 visitors and has over 6,000 volunteer performers and 800 volunteers. Visitors from all over the world come to Seattle Center to take part in the weekend’s activities, but the focus remains local–all performers hail from communities in the Northwest. The Folklife Festival is a truly Northwest experience, our diversity and our commonality told through music and dance. Experience The Festival’s 40th Anniversary and get ready for the upcoming 2012 Festival!

Click here to view the embedded video.

This waterfront park, located in northwest King County, evokes both Native American heritage and industrial history of the Richmond community. A cast bronze ‘Welcoming Figure’ designed in the Coast Salish style welcomes visitors to the park. Carved by Steve Brown, Joe Gobin and Andy Wilbur out of red cedar, the sculpture honors the importance of waterways and canoeing in Salish culture. For thousands of years the beach was a campsite for local people who traveled in dugout canoes to harvest clams and shellfish. Later, the beach was also used for “ship breaking,” in which salvage companies brought old wooden vessels to the site and burned them to recover their metal. For more information on points of interest in the area, download a free Destination Maritime brochure.

The month of May is hoppin’ in Richmond Beach, with plenty of outdoor activities for the young and old (or young at heart) alike:
Embrace Shoreline Schools Day – Saturday, May 12, 2012, 9:00 a.m. to Noon, Syre Elementary School, 19545 12th Avenue NW. Beautify your local school, meet a neighbor, inspire a child to learn at the fifth annual Embrace Shoreline Schools Day. Parents, students, neighbors, church members and businesses are all welcome. The goal is to enhance student learning and appreciation for their school. Bring your own labeled gardening tools and gloves for greening activities.

13th annual Strawberry Festival – Saturday, May 12, 2012, Noon to 5:00 p.m., Richmond Beach Community Park, 2201 NW 197th Street. Enjoy local music and food for all ages at the Strawberry Festival! Delight in the handcrafted items including jewelry, textiles, ceramics, photography and original art at the Arts and Crafts Show. Check out cars of yesteryear at the Car Show, or explore plants in the unique, naturalistic Kruckeberg Botanic Garden. For a full list of activities visit www.richmondbeachwa.org/strawberryfestival.
Community Garage Sale – Saturday, May 19, 2012, throughout Richmond Beach community. This year the RBCA will help coordinate advertising by publicizing the event on various websites and through our paper. If you plan on holding a sale or would like more information on attending, visit www.richmondbeachwa.org/garagesale.

Images: (Top) © Steve Brown, Joe Gobin and Andy Wilbur, Welcoming Figure, 1998, Cast bronze, King County Public Art Collection, Photo by Joe Manfredini. (Bottom) Anderson home-built boat © 1910, courtesy of Shoreline Historical Museum.

Attendees, Panama Hotel Workshop © 2012, photo by 4Culture staff

Last week at the Panama Hotel, the owners of some 15 historic buildings gathered at a breakfast workshop sponsored by the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), to hear the latest on grants and other financial incentives for historic preservation. This is the sort of thing that SCIDpda and its dedicated staff regularly offer to the district – strategic assistance with community revitalization designed to give property owners the tools they need to make projects happen.

4Culture was pleased to be invited to talk about our Landmark Challenge Grants program, one of the very few sources of local grant funding for bricks & mortar repair and rehabilitation available in Seattle. Owners from the Chinatown/International District are really beginning to take advantage of this program.  Paul Murakami, owner of the Higo Variety Store, talked about getting a Challenge Grant last year to refurbish the distinctive 1950s store sign on the front of his building. Paul pointed out that SCIDpda was there to help with the process all along the way.

Property owners also got a great overview of other incentives available for revitalizing historic buildings. Investment Tax Credits, Special Valuation, and building code relief, among others, were presented by Brian Kalthoff, a SCIDpda intern and UW Masters student in Real Estate and Urban Planning.

Cathay Bank co-sponsored the workshop, providing a beautiful breakfast spread. The Panama Hotel on 6th and Main is a National Historic Landmark, a site that embodies the story of the Japanese American experience in World War Two. Hotelier Jan Johnson hosts visitors from all over the world, many of whom have come in recent years to see the place that inspired the best-selling novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

For information on SCIDpda services related to historic preservation, contact Ching Chan, Design Lab Coordinator at IDEA Space, at (206) 838-9267. To find out more about the Landmark Challenge Grants program, contact Flo Lentz, Preservation Lead at 4Culture, at 206-0296-8682.

150 Chairs, Pat Graney performance, Next Fifty, Photo © Spike Mafford, 2012

Next Fifty celebrated its opening on April 21 at the Seattle Center with performances, exhibits and art installations. Events, symposia, and opportunities for participation will go on for the next six months as we communally celebrate the fifty year anniversary of the Seattle World’s Fair, look back on the intervening years and forward to the next half century. 4Culture funded artists and organizations participating in opening day celebrations included Pat Graney, Mandy Greer, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Children’s Theatre and Seattle Men’s Chorus. We’ll be checking in with updates we think you’ll want to know about over the course of the Next Fifty celebration.

4Culture funded events happening in MAY:

Book-it Repertory Theatre Special Edition presents: Adaptation of The Future Remembered – a dynamic theatrical reading, recalling the formal and funky, weird and wonderful event that put Seattle on the world map. 4Culture sponsored performances in May:  Friday, Sunday & Monday at the Folk Life Festival (Narrative Stage, SIFF Cinema); Friday the 25^th at 5pm, Sunday the 27^th at 1pm, and Monday the 28^th at 11am. Visit Book-It’s website for updated performance information or additional venues.

Jack Straw Productions presents: Seattle World’s Fair Audio Tour – a self-guided tour available via cell phone and /or as MP3 that individuals may use to experience some of the highlights of the 1962 World’s Fair and Seattle Center. Visit their website to access the tours.

Mater Matrix Mother and Medium, Mandy Greer, Next Fifty, Photo © Spike Mafford, 2012

Imagine Curriculum – developed for educators as a project of Next Fifty, the curriculum uses the 1962 World’s Fair as a lens through which students may examine life in the Pacific Northwest 50 years ago and Identify similarities and differences in today’s world. With so many partners for this project, there are multiple places to check this one out, History Link or The Next Fifty website.

In addition, keep an eye out for aLIVe artist Stokley Towles’ Waterlines performance.

COMING IN JUNE:

Docomomo WEWA (Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement in Western Washington) and Historic Seattle will present a three-part lecture series addressing the architecture and design heritage of the World’s Fair and its impact beyond the fair’s original physical space. Happening June 5, 12, & 19 at The Armory/Center House. Visit their blog  for more information.

For a deeper look at Next Fifty programming visit the events page on their website.

Grandfather’s Wisdom, detail, © Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, 2012

Artwork discussion and demonstration

Saturday, May 19th, 11am – Noon

Brightwater Education & Community Center, Community Room

The latest in a series of artworks that celebrate water, natural habitat, and the science of plant processes at Brightwater, Grandfather’s Wisdom is installed by water that flows to Little Bear Creek, a salmon bearing creek. The welcoming Longhouse structure features carved motifs of creatures of universal importance among Puget Sound tribes. It is flanked by a series of upright paddles that pay homage to the canoe journey and acknowledge the historical importance of salmon to Native peoples and the restored habitat made possible by Brightwater.

Andrea, a member of the Squaxin Island Tribe and the first documented Native woman carver of many generations, will share the stories her artwork tells and offer demonstrations of traditional Northwest Coast carving techniques. She will be joined by Native storyteller and educator Roger Fernandes, a member of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, for a discussion about the origins and recent renaissance of Coast Salish art.

Tours of the treatment plant and public artwork installed at Brightwater will be offered between 10am and 3pm as part of a Brightwater Center Open House. Online reservation is required to tour the treatment plant.

Guardian, Jacob Foran, 2012, digital inkjet print, Photo © Curt Doughty

Jacob Foran: New Works

May 3 – June 1, 2012

Opening: First Thursday, May 3, 6:00- 8:00 pm

Gallery4Culture is pleased to present, for the month of May, Jacob Foran: New Works, an installation of figurative sculpture and works on paper from 2012. The exhibition is comprised of half a dozen handbuilt ceramic heads and torsos, widely ranging in scale. Richly glazed, painted and embellished with gold leaf, the dramatically lit sculptures present an imagined reality grounded in the notion of the majestic (monarchs, courtiers, jesters). Foran’s characters vary from imperial to impish; from Rococo-like to nobly plain. Complementing his sculpture is a series of closely related photographs and drawings. The photographs are interpretations (portraits really) of the three-dimensional heads; they capitalize on shadow in a style reminiscent of Italian chiaroscuro where the image is defined through the dramatic use of light and shade.

The creation of this body of work was funded in part through a 2011 GAP (Grants for Artist Projects) from Artist Trust.

Learn more about the artist and our Gallery program on our website.

• Free! Media art, accessible to everyone, every day.
• Fast! Videos are short, between 1-5 minutes.
• Fabulous! A curated collection of electronic artworks, selected by local artists.

e4c offers…

• Great exposure. e4c is visible by foot, bike, car or bus to more than 20,000 people each day.
• Lots of play. Selected works are played for a full year, about 10 times daily.
• On-line promotion. Selected artist are featured on 4Culture’s website.

Click here to view the embedded video.

4Culture seeks media artworks for e4c, a storefront gallery for electronic art. Visible by foot, bike, car or bus to more than 20,000 people each day, e4c exhibits selected artworks from regional and national artists, on rotation, from 7 am – 10 am, daily.

Up to sixteen media works or media proposals will be selected for presentation through this public, gallery for a period of up to one year. Due to the transitory nature of the audience, works between 1-5 minutes are desired. Media artists, residing in the U.S., working in all genres are encouraged to apply.

e4c is located adjacent to Gallery4Culture facing Prefontaine Place South in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. e4c consists of four, LCD monitors and two speakers mounted to face the exterior of the building, broadcasting sights and sounds to passers-by.

Selected artists will work with the e4c program manager to adapt selected work for optimal presentation. e4c utilizes software with a timeline interface, which is distributed through a network to the display monitors and speakers. The selected artists will also work with the e4c program manager to create promotional materials. Each selected artist will receive a modest honorarium to help defray expenses. The artists retain all rights of the works submitted.

The application deadline is Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Guidelines and applications, which include information about eligibility and review criteria, are available online at http://www.4culture.org/e4c/apply.htm

Curator Hilary Pittenger cleaning items from the collection © 2012, courtesy of the White River Valley Museum.

Once again this year, 4Culture is pleased to offer funding opportunities for care of historical collections through the 2012 Heritage Collections Care program. While addressing critical conservation needs, the program’s priority is aimed at basic collections’ issues, and support for assessments and their implementation. Eligible applicants are King County-based organizations holding historic collections in the public trust; collections that primarily represent an aspect of King County history. Last year through this program, 4Culture provided funding for 20 projects from 20 organizations throughout King County.

TO APPLY: Go to www.4culture.org/apply/heritagecollections, and read the updated guidelines. Once you have read the guidelines and have gathered required information, you may begin the online application by clicking on the “Start your Application” link. Helpful hint: GIVE YOURSELF TIME to go through the application, and remember you can save, quit and return to it as many times as you need until the deadline of 5pm, PDT, Wednesday, June 27th.

Want to talk to someone about your proposed project? Heritage staff will be holding walk-in workshops every Tuesday, noon to 1pm at the 4Culture offices, from May 29th through June 26th. Feel free to contact Eric Taylor, 4Culture Heritage Lead, at eric.taylor@4culture.org, or 206-296-8688, to inquire about this, or other Heritage funding programs.

Ellen Lake & Chris Green, Seaworthy, video still, © 2011. Photo: Courtesy of the Artist

Beginning May 3rd, 4Culture proudly presents work by Ellen Lake & Chris Green and George Lee to e4c. New works, selected by a peer-panel in 2011 will be added to e4c’s rotation for the next 12 months.

Ellen Lake & Chris Green offer Seaworthy, is a collaborative video piece based on observations of everyday life – an eclectic mix of cargo ships, tug boats, and sailboats shot on the Oakland Estuary, with a bluegrass soundtrack by Evie Ladin, and a body floating by – mixing fantasy and documentary, love and loss, while exploring the urban landscape.

Chris Green (scientist) and Ellen Lake (artist) join forces to make mechanical sculptures, videos, and installations. We are currently working on a series exploring contemporary urban space. Chris and Ellen live in Oakland, California. Ellen works at Kala Art Institute, a residency program for printmakers and digital media artists and Chris is an environmental scientist at the United States Geological Survey. Seaworthy has shown at the Director’s Lounge 2011 Urban Research Program “Places and Locations: Reality Check,” in Berlin, has traveled in Europe with Ciné Martiko, played at the Sante Fe International New Media Festival, “Currents 2011,” the Great Wall of Oakland, and the Kala Art Gallery in Berkeley.

Seattle-based artist George Lee shares, When Wooden Sheep & Penguins Dance, as an alternative to seeking answers to life in deep, complex thinking and tasteful complexities, Lee’s work seeks to expose the hidden potential, liberation, and wisdom in the festive, useless, and everyday. Lee found these whimsical figurines and then transformed them into professional, synchronized dancers.

George Lee, a New England native, is a young multi-disciplinary artist and designer who has been growing in Seattle soil for the last 5 years. He studies Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, and is currently researching how best to design for everyday festivity in urban settings to foster beneficial social processes. Lee’s work has encompassed participatory design/build, earthen sculpture, video/photography/animation, cuisine, poetry & community performance art.

These works will join the ongoing rotation of pieces by other selected artists for e4c including: Evertt Beidler, Salise Hughes, Bradley Hyppa, Carol dePelecyn, Andrew Binkley, Tess Martin, Barbara Robertson, Betty Jo Costanzo, Michael Lasater, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Stephen Sewell, Drew Christie, Piper O’Neill.

Adams Elementary School student, courtesy of Julia Kuskin

At its April meeting the Board of Directors of 4Culture signed a resolution affirming May 2012 as Arts Education Month – a time to celebrate and strengthen arts education in all schools for all students.  Arts Education Month recognizes the creative endeavors taking place in our schools and demonstrates to the community that the arts are making a difference in education. We encourage you to join our partners at ArtsEd Washington in this statewide campaign to raise awareness and advocate at all levels of government for comprehensive arts learning in the schools.

You can show your support by:

• Requesting a resolution from your city or school board
• Attending public performances, art exhibits, and classroom presentations at local schools
• Encouraging local school district leaders and elected officials to see arts learning in action
• Sharing information about special student arts events, encouraging your community to see first-hand how the arts are positively impacting schools and students

Arts Education Month is also your own personal opportunity make a commitment to arts education:

• Learn about the issues and how the arts are critical to student success
• Request that the arts be put on the agenda and funded in your community
• Serve as a community voice, sharing the importance of the arts in school

By working together, we can ensure all students in every school have access to learning in the arts.

Visit ArtsEd Washington to access the Arts Education Month toolkit, learn more about the issues, and find out how you can get involved.

While schools across the country attempt to operate with the best interests of students at heart, they continue to face major challenges in delivering a complete education. Tough roadblocks greatly impact the ability of school principals to deliver the critical components of everyday learning to students, such as the arts. In fact, in Washington state, approximately 63% of principals* note their dissatisfaction with arts provision to students. It’s clear principals need support, but what’s the solution?

Adams Elementary School student, courtesy Julia Kuskin

How can the paradigm be shifted to provide a more systemic approach to arts education?

From this need, an idea was born. Based on the simple premise that leadership and change comes from within, a single practical concept emerged – build school capacity and provide comprehensive arts learning by empowering and transforming principals as instructional leaders in the arts. This is the impetus for ArtsEd Washington’s Principals Arts Leadership (PAL) program.

As the key instructional educator for all subjects, equipping the principal with directional knowledge, support, and resources in the arts is the answer. And to ensure that the change would be sustainable, it needed to begin at the top. Now implemented in almost 50 schools across Western Washington, PAL is igniting the role of principal; propelling them as stellar arts leaders, and turning schools into vibrant places of teaching and learning.

PAL is the roadmap principals have long sought; delivering support and resources to:

• Work with a school arts team to develop an annual arts plan
• Effectively guide expectations, engaging staff and partners
• Maintain/develop powerful arts programming
• Ensure successful student and community impacts

Parkwood Elementary School students, courtesy of Seattle Dance Project

The program emphasizes shared leadership, sustainability, capacity-building, communication, collaboration, and partnership. Principals also benefit from PAL’s peer coaching model including hands-on support from experienced participants. With mentoring, principals grow as stronger, more dedicated and effective leaders.

Mark Haim, Alia Swersky, Scott Davis, and Corrie Beffort in Salt Horse's "12 Hour Play", photo by Tim Summers.

Through the On-Site Review program, 4Culture evaluates arts and heritage organizations who receive Sustained Support funding. On-Site Reviewers attend events produced or presented by recipients and write up short reviews, which give the adjudicating Sustained Support panelists a patron’s-eye-view of each organization.  Each month, the 4Culture blog presents excerpts from these reviews.  This month’s review is by Justin Mata.

12 Hour Play was an improvisational dance and theater piece by Salt Horse, performed in Washington Hall.  The musicians stood in four corners of the floor with various noise making devices including traditional instruments like drum sets and guitars, but also pots, pans and other utensils. The dancers moved on and off the performance area, spreading the piece into the hallways, stairwells and balcony. A few groups of chairs were positioned around the perimeter of the dance floor along with blankets and pillows so the audience could lie down.

The performance itself was completely improvised, though there was a strong chemistry in the group.  I watched it at two different times and saw strikingly different segments. I first arrived early when there was a lot of energy in the room and many reoccurring elements, such as animal-like movements and group actions.  One dancer would slowly start a kind of repetitive movement that would be echoed by other performers until the entire troupe would be in loose unison. It reminded me of schools of fish or flocks of birds. The musicians would similarly build off each other from ambient noises to dramatic crescendos.

When I returned at 2 in the morning it was a different performance. The musicians had stopped playing in unison and instead there was a constant hum of a single instrument. There were more structured narratives to the dances: a male pawed at the ground with his feet while eying a female across the floor, mimicking courtship.  A line of girls danced Motown two steps in the back snapping fingers like backup singers. When I left the performers still had three more hours to go and it had already gotten weird.

For one segment of the piece, a child of about 5 crawled his way onto the dance floor. At first I thought he would cause a disruption, but he was quickly scooped up by one of the performers and became part of the choreography. It was actually quite touching. Because of their chemistry, I guessed that it was the dancer’s son as the boy played along well. There were many points like this with a strong metaphorical weight, especially in the early morning. Some powerful symbolism developed as the dancers strained their bodies and their creative processes and audience members interpreted their actions through a lens of fatigue. Also, at certain times absolutely nothing was happening: no music, no dancing. I might have found this more compelling as symbolism if I wasn’t fighting off sleep. To be fair, this is the nature of a 12-hour performance focused on endurance—I was quite happy to have seen the show in the later hours. The endurance aspect was one of the most impressive elements of the show.

Salt Horse‘s previous works include Titan Arum and Man on the Beach.

Reard House, Sammamish scheduled for relocation to new site in June © 2012, courtesy of Sammamish Heritage Society

2012 Landmark Rehabilitation Program Recipients

May is Preservation Month! In celebration, 4Culture is pleased to announce funding for fourteen local restoration projects through the 2012 Landmark Rehabilitation Program – providing over $100,000 in critical support for designated King County and “interlocal city” landmark properties.

This year’s first time recipients include the Fall City Masonic Hall, which will receive $9,700 for critical exterior painting. Construction of the hall at its present location was completed in 1895, and it still remains the tallest building in Fall City. For nearly 117 years, the hall has been a fixture of the community, and continues to serve lodge members and local residents alike as a well-loved gathering place.

The former home of Northwest historian and writer Murray Morgan and his wife Rosa, now a designated King County landmark, will receive $8,000 for exterior painting and powder post beetle eradication. The Morgans moved into the former dance hall near Trout Lake in 1947, and lived out their lives in this rustic retreat. They enclosed the formerly open dance hall porch with timber cut from the property, but kept the double-layered dance floor of old-growth firs and the pine-paneled interior, all of which are still intact.

The City of Black Diamond was awarded funding in the amount of $2,007 for materials to replace the water service line and spigots at the Black Diamond Cemetery. A new water service will allow better visitor and staff access to water for watering plants and lawn, cleaning, and other basic services. Established in 1884, the cemetery contains approximately 1,200 graves commemorating the lives of hard-working coal-miners of many ethnic backgrounds, including Welsh, Italian, Australian, Russian and German.

The 2012 Landmark Rehabilitation Program Recipients Are:

Auburn’s Carnegie Library, awarded $7,764 toward completion of a new roof.

Black Diamond Cemetery, a coal-mining town’s burial ground dating back to the 1880s, awarded $2,007 for materials to replace the aging water system.

Dougherty Farmhouse, home of a pioneer Duvall family, awarded $5,610 to continue phased restoration of the original wood windows.

Fall City Masonic Hall, built 1895, awarded $9,700 toward exterior painting.

Haida House Replica #4, designed by renowned Northwest woodcarver Dudley Carter, awarded $9,000 toward roof restoration.

Issaquah Depot, housing the city’s Depot Museum, awarded $9,668 for gutter replacement.

Issaquah Sportsman’s Club, built in the 1930s by the WPA, awarded $2,500 toward a new roof.

Krain Tavern, center of a Slovenian community on the Enumclaw Plateau, awarded $3,000 for a preservation plan.

Murray and Rosa Morgan House, home of the renowned Northwest author and historian, awarded $8,000 for pest eradication and exterior paint.

North Bend Theatre, an Art Moderne theatre constructed when the highway through town was widened in 1941, awarded $9,200 for repair of marquee signage.

Luigi and Aurora Pagani House, a rare example of a Black Diamond coal-miner’s cabin, awarded $6,438 toward restoration of three windows.

Jacob and Emma Reard House, home of a Sammamish Plateau pioneer family, awarded $12,000 toward wood window restoration following relocation to new site.

Richmond Masonic Center, centerpiece of Shoreline’s evolving commercial core, awarded $9,945 for repair and stabilization of corner foundation.

Tollgate Farmhouse, an 1890s pattern-book house on a historic site in the upper Snoqualmie Valley, awarded $5,857 for seismic upgrades.

Since 2002, the Landmark Rehabilitation Program has supported the stewardship of historic places with funds for project planning, design and engineering, labor and materials. Although it provides only a portion of total costs for any given project, the awards help to leverage hundreds of thousands of dollars spent privately and publicly by stewards of King County landmarks. For more information on the Landmark Rehabilitation Programs, contact Flo Lentz, Preservation 4Culture, 206 296.8682.

© Robert Morris, Johnson Pit #30, 1979, Earth, grass, Photo by Spike Mafford

On June 2^nd bicyclists are invited to participate in the Earthworks Tour Inaugural Ride, a half-day exploration of four extraordinary land art and reclamation projects in the Green River Valley.  It’s free and fun for the whole family.

The tour will link four remarkable reclamation sites: the Robert Morris Earthwork in SeaTac, the Herbert Bayer Earthwork in Kent, Lorna Jordan’s Waterworks Gardens in Renton, and the Green River Natural Resources area, also in Kent. Three of the sites were created in 1979, but despite their physical presence for more than 30 years, they are not well-known to local residents.

In 1979, King County Arts Commission (4Culture’s predecessor agency) sponsored the groundbreaking Earthworks: Land Reclamation as Sculpture symposium. Artists Robert Morris and Herbert Bayer were commissioned to create landscape sculptures for specific sites throughout King County.

Robert Morris was at the forefront of Minimalism and Land Art in 1979 when he was invited by King County Arts Commission to reclaim a former gravel pit overlooking the Green River Valley. Untitled (Johnson Pit # 30) , a tiered, grassy earthwork now surrounded by a residential neighborhood, is the result.

© Lorna Jordon, Waterworks Gardens, 1997, Stone, concrete, mosaic, landscaping

Shortly after that, the Kent Arts Commission, which had just been established by the City of Kent, boldly and ambitiously decided to create a stunning large scale art project. The Kent Arts Commission commissioned Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer to integrate a stormwater retention system into a public artwork.

That same year, the City of Kent Public Works reclaimed an abandoned sewage lagoon and transformed it into the largest constructed multi-use wildlife refuge in the nation, the Green River Natural Resources Area.

Almost 20 years later, artist Lorna Jordan changed the expectations for what integrated art in wastewater infrastructure could be. Rather than erecting a chain link fence around a dull wastewater treatment facility, Jordan proposed creating a public park in which walkers and joggers could actually see stormwater being filtered. Located in Renton, Waterworks Gardens was called a must-see place in Sunset magazine when it opened in 1998.

Now you’ll have the opportunity to visit all four sites and experience site specific performances and installations along the way.   There are three different loops for bicyclists of all skill levels. The Easy Ride is only 12 mostly flat miles. A great ride for families with children.  For the more adventurous, an Intermediate Loop is 20 miles, but for the most part still relatively flat. For hardcore riders, the Advanced ride is 23-miles and includes a steep hill climb.

Earthworks Tour Map, The Inkwell Collective

The Cascade Bicycle Club, the city of Renton and 4Culture are helping the Kent Arts Commission with this project, which received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mayor’s Institute on City Design 25^th Anniversary Initiative. By the time you say that out loud, you could have completed the Easy Loop.

So get out on what I’m sure will be a pleasant, warm, sunny late spring morning and discover some of the wonders of south King County.

To learn more about the Earthworks ride including trail maps and registration for the inaugural event (free, remember,) go to www.KentArts.org/earthworks .

Jim Kelly

Congratulations to the Seattle Center Foundation, this year’s recipient of 4Culture’s ‘Golden Rain Globe’ award for Excellence in Heritage Tourism! The Foundation was recognized for its support of the Seattle Center for 35 years and for its recent work in planning and coordinating The Next Fifty, the golden anniversary commemoration of the 1962 World’s Fair.

According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, excellence in heritage tourism is exemplified by a destination that successfully promotes itself beyond the local level and meets the five principles of Sustainable Heritage Tourism. The Seattle Center Foundation has excelled in those principles, supporting this region’s largest tourist attraction, while conserving and enhancing a site that draws 12 million visitors annually to experience local history and culture.

The Foundation was formed in 1977 as a nonprofit to support Seattle Center, the city-owned physical and cultural legacy of the 1962 World’s Fair. Since then, the Foundation has raised millions of dollars to augment, preserve and revitalize many of the Center’s iconic historic structures. The Foundation also actively inspires broad community engagement, as epitomized by The Next Fifty. For these and other reasons, 4Culture is proud to present Tracy Robinson, Seattle Center Foundation Director and her staff with the 2012 award.

We would also like to thank the Association of King County Historical Organizations for allowing 4Culture the opportunity to present the Golden Rain Globe at the Annual AKCHO Awards program on Tuesday, April 24th at MOHAI. Congratulations to all of the 2012 AKCHO award recipients for their outstanding work in the heritage and preservation fields! For more information about the AKCHO awards, visit www.akcho.org/awards.

For more information about 4Culture’s annual heritage tourism award, including past-year recipients, visit www.4culture.org/goldenrainglobe.

Images: Jim Kelly presenting Golden Rain Globe award © 2012, photo by 4Culture staff

Splab Word Orchestra, Photo © Piper Hanson, 2011

Folklife Festival Returns May 25-28

We welcome guest Ryan Anne Davis, Marketing Manager for Folklife Festival.

Seattle’s favorite celebration of all things arts & music is almost here! The iconic Northwest Folklife Festival returns this Memorial Day Weekend to Seattle Center, its home for over 40 years.

This year Seattle Center is more than just our home, it’s our Cultural Focus. We’ve put together a special program that features everything from hands-on family activities to hip-hop performances, all with the theme of marking Seattle Center’s Next Fifty Celebration. And we’ve got 4Culture to thank, not just for year-round support of the Festival and Northwest Folklife organization, but for the special support this year for Next Fifty programs.

During your Folklife visit, be sure to check out Book-It Repertory Theatre’s presentation of the new play The Future Remembered, based on the book by the same name. (Paula Becker and Alan J. Stein, authors of that book, The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy will present a special lecture and slide presentation each day of the festival.)

You can find a full listing of all the 800+ dancers, musicians and artists performing in this year’s Festival beginning May 3 on our website where you can read more about Northwest Folklife, including our many year-round programs and events.

See you at the Festival!

University Heights Center for the Community Association, staff © 2010, photo by 4Culture staff

Have you got substantial rehab plans for a designated Landmark property, here in Seattle or elsewhere in King County? Consider applying to 4Culture’s upcoming Landmark Challenge Grants Program for historic preservation support.

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, July 11th, 2012. Watch for the program guidelines and application to be posted on our website by May 11th. Noon-hour workshops at 4Culture offices are set for Wednesdays, May 23, 30; and June 6, 13, 20, and 27.

This program requires a minimum ask of $10,000, and requires a 1-to-1 cash match. Awards of up to $25,000 have been made in past years. Eligible activities include materials and labor for repair or restoration of historic features, such as roofs, foundations, windows, siding, porches or other detail. The program also funds upfront planning, design, permits, and related costs.

To indicate your intent to apply, and to schedule a pre-application site visit with 4Culture staff, contact Flo Lentz, at 206-0296-8682.

Ann Watson Durant, Barn Illumination © 2011

This is your friendly reminder about the upcoming deadline for 4Culture’s NEW Site Specific focus for 2013 – artistic programming at historic sites in King County. This is an opportunity for stewards of heritage sites or landmarked properties to nominate them as potential venues for creative collaborations in 2013. Property owners are asked to submit a letter of interest by May 11, 2012 along with a cover sheet and three images on CD. 4Culture will publish the roster of participating sites in June, and encourage artists to explore creative collaborations with these historic places, to take place next year. Questions about this program? Visit WANTED: Historic Sites and Landmarks | Site Specific. Questions for staff? Feel free to contact one or all three:

Charlie Rathbun, Arts Program Lead, 206.296.8675
Eric Taylor, Heritage Program Lead, 206.296.8688
Send venue applications to:  Flo Lentz, Preservation Program Lead, 206.296.8682