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 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.

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

Every day, our Storefront Media Gallery screens showcase dynamic media art from all over the United States to the thousands of commuters who pass by our Pioneer Square offices on Prefontaine Place South. We’re excited to continue a long-running partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bring this urban art experience to another Seattle neighborhood! Pass by their media screen, located at 500 Fifth Avenue North, to encounter these works, selected from applicants to the Storefront Media Gallery program:

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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!