Community feedback is being used to inform the programming at King Street Station

SEATTLE – The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) announced the release of the King Street Station Community Feedback Report. The report represents over 500 individuals and encompasses their thoughts, dreams and ideas on how to program a new arts and cultural hub at King Street Station with the goal of realizing tangible impacts in race and social justice. ARTS is using the information gathered from the community to create an innovative programming model for King Street Station. The goal of King Street Station is to increase opportunities for communities of color to present their work.

King Street Station will be a dedicated cultural space and provide public access to presentation and creative spaces, ARTS staff and resources, space for city convenings, and professional development, meeting space and other services that were requested through the outreach process. ARTS is planning to open King Street Station in fall 2018.

In 2016, ARTS engaged in an inclusive, city-wide outreach effort to hear from the community about their needs. Throughout the year ARTS conducted three public listening sessions and hosted 16 focus groups focusing on voices of people of color including Latinx – Hispanic, Asian, Asian American and Asian Pacific Islander, African, African American and Black, and Native artists.

The report is divided into four themes, racial equity and inclusion, art that reflects the city, strengthening Seattle’s creative economy by supporting artists, and community ownership that promotes accessibility. Each section outlines community feedback and opportunities to address these issues.

The feedback report will directly inform the programming model and while not all of the ideas in the report are within ARTS scope it provides the city with an incredible opportunity to create a nimble and flexible model that can address the needs of the community. The information gathered in this report will not only inform the programming model for King Street Station, it will also help inform how racial equity and social justice is manifest throughout ARTS’ work.

Image: August 10, 2016 King Street Station public meeting photo by Sunita Martini