Traffic Alert for the FIRST First Thursday of the Year

With the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program underway, you may be wondering how you'll get to see any art during First Thursday. But you'll be happy to know that traffic will be re-routed to accommodate access to the waterfront and Pioneer Square!

WSDOT is rerouting Alaskan Way South between South Main and South King streets beginning at 5 a.m, January 5th. Drivers will travel on a new temporary roadway located underneath the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but access to the waterfront and Pioneer Square will remain open.

See you at the art walk! And remember to check out Your Spot Is Here for sweet parking deals.

There's Snow Place Like Pioneer Square!

There's Snow Place like Pioneer Square this upcoming First Thursday! On Thursday December 1st, join us for the First Thursday art walk and stick around for the spectacular Holiday Tree Lighting in Occidental Park!

When: December 1st, 5-7 pm

Where: Occidental Park

What: Holiday Tree Lighting

In addition to the 25-foot Douglass Fir holiday tree lighting, Tuba Luba will provide musical accompaniment to the festivities. Also happening is free hot chocolate and caroling by the Beaconnettes in Nord Alley, and sea shanty songs with the Shifty Sailors at the Klondike Park down the street!

So many festivities, don't know where to park? Remember to check out Your Spot to find sweet parking deals! Hint: $3/hr parking at Pier 48 and the 305 First Ave S Lot.

First Thursday Parking!

WSDOT has been hard at work making visits to downtown Seattle a lot easier through the Your Spot program. In Pioneer Square, Pier 48 is wide open for $3/hr parking on Alaskan Way between South Main Street and South Jackson Street. The upcoming First Thursday and holiday festivities on December 1st should be conveniently accessible from the pier, so get there early!

THE LAMPLIGHTER to appear at the First Thursday Art Walk

STORY
The novelette by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), is about a little boy who lives on an asteroid with one rose and three volcanoes that come up to his knees, one of which is extinct at that. When The Little Prince realizes he is unhappy, he sets off to learn about life and visits seven nearby planets, the last of which is Earth. On his travels, he meets The Lamplighter, a man under orders to extinguish his lamp at daybreak and light it again at dusk. The Lamplighter explains how his task, once useful, has became absurd over time as his planet began spinning more and more quickly. Now that a new day occurs every minute, the lamplighter is so busy there isn't a moment to sleep. Is not The Lamplighter a metaphor for our own condition and times? I know it happens to me. I get so busy doing things I think are of greater consequence that I often miss the smaller, simpler things that really make up the truly significant stuff (seeing the stars, sharing a sunrise, listening to a friend, making a dance, putting my hands in the earth, talking to the elephants). The Little Prince is a fable about how money, ego and power close our hearts over time and turn into dimwitted adults.

PERFORMANCE
With a 10' rolling lantern and a spinning, paper mache planetoid (conceived of and constructed by inventor/designer Clinton Lee Bliss), performance artist A K Mimi Allin will roll through the Seattle nights, illuminating and extinguishing her lamp once per minute. When you see her wink of “good night” and blink of “good morning," think of the things of consequence in your life, then come and commemorate a person who believed in you when you but a child by painting a golden square onto my lamppost. By mid-October, my lamppost will be golden by the light of our beliefs.

SCHEDULE OF APPEARANCE
The Lamplighter will appear at six artwalks this October: Wallingford (5 October), Pioneer Square (6 October), Fremont (7 October), Capital Hill (11 October), West Seattle (13 October) and Greenwood-Phinney (14 October). This will give me the opportunity to light and extinguished my lamp 1,440 times over the next course of two weeks. After that, my lantern will be installed at The Phinney Center in Greenwood for the remainder of the month.

THANKS
This project supported by a CityArtist grant from the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Cosmic thanks to inventor/designer Clinton Lee Bliss for manifesting a whimsical, working lantern! Thanks also to the talented & beautiful Mylinda Sneed & her brilliant son Beckett Arnold for their physical & emotional support. And to The Fremont Arts Council for use of the Powerhouse. Thanks to Christopher Peragine for his time and drawings. And to all those who support public art throughout the universe.

619 Western Building Documentary in Progress

Two independent filmmakers are documenting the 619 Western building, to be able to preserve its legacy and share its story for generations to come.

To check out the project and perhaps contribute please visit: http://www.indiegogo.com/619

OACA Seeks Proposals for Artist Space Program

The Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs is seeking proposals from individuals, groups or organizations to launch a pilot program in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District to provide relocation and placement services for artists seeking affordable studio or live/work space.

The Artist Space Assistance Pilot Program (ASAPP) is designed to keep artists in Pioneer Square – a historic cultural district and home to the First Thursday Art Walk – and the surrounding area.

“This pilot program grew out of business and community concerns related to the loss of artist studio space in the neighborhood due to the Oct. 1 closure of the 619 Western Building,” said Vincent Kitch, director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. “619 was home to more than 100 artist studios and has been an important cultural presence in Pioneer Square for more than three decades. The dilemma of the Western Building reinforces the importance of this work, which could provide a cultural space model for other neighborhoods in the future.”

The selected consultant will determine artists’ need for space, identify and publicize arts space opportunities in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District and provide relocation and placement services for artists. The pilot program will run from October through December 2011 and may extend longer.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 30. Proposal budgets should not exceed $10,000. The RFP is available online at www.seattle.gov/arts.

The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs promotes the value of arts and culture in communities throughout Seattle. The 16-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council, supports the city agency.

Funding Available for Seattle Neighborhood & Community Arts Events

Festivals and events color the character of Seattle’s neighborhoods. Community groups presenting a neighborhood arts or cultural event in 2012 can apply for funding through the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ Neighborhood & Community Arts program.

The funding program helps Seattle’s neighborhood art councils and community-based groups produce annual festivals and events that enhance the visibility of neighborhoods, promote cultural participation, celebrate diversity and build community through arts and culture.
Neighborhood arts councils and community-based groups may seek support for a recurring festival or event that has been in existence for at least one year, has a significant arts and cultural component, is open to the public and takes place in Seattle. Applicants are not required to have 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status.

Funded organizations each receive $1,200 to support direct project expenses, including artist fees, marketing and promotional fees, venue and equipment rentals or other production-related expenses. Funds may not be used for fundraising or organizational administrative expenses. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Oct. 26. Link to the online application at www.seattle.gov/arts.

Pick up some pointers on putting together a successful application at an information session, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 4 at the Douglass-Truth Branch of The Seattle Public Library, 2300 East Yesler Way. RSVP to Paul Rucker at paul.rucker@seattle.gov or (206) 684-7084 by Friday, Sept. 30.
A 2010 National Endowment for the Arts study of outdoor arts festivals – Live from Your Neighborhood – underscores the value of community-based events. They are accessible. family-friendly, involve exceptional numbers of volunteers, strengthen community identity and attract diverse participants who wouldn’t necessarily cross paths otherwise.

In 2011, the funding program provided $1,200 each to 40 organizations to support annual public festivals and events, including the Wedgwood Art Festival, Moisture Festival, Bastille Day Festival and Iranian Festival.

The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs promotes the value of arts and culture in communities throughout Seattle. The 16-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council, supports the city agency.