Just like history itself, our Heritage department has been in a state of flux this past year! Brian Carter became our Executive Director in August, leaving his former position of Heritage Lead open. We were thrilled to have Chieko Phillips, formerly the Heritage Support Specialist, head up the department in the fall. Now, we welcome Megumi Nagata into Chieko’s vacated position!

We are honored to announce the recipients of our Arc Artist Fellowship!

Did you know that King County has an art collection? We’re proud to be its caretakers, and thrilled to announce that it just got bigger!

The King County Council has created a Task Force to evaluate 4Culture through an equity and social justice lens. In the coming weeks, the Task Force invites you to give feedback and engage in dialogue with its members at a series of community input sessions:

Last year, a Yale study found that Latinx communities are especially ready to take action on climate change. Inspired by this collective will, and committed to growing our practices in equity and inclusion, we partnered with King County Water and Land Resources Division’s Stormwater Services Section to creatively engage local Latinx communities. We invited Spanish-speaking artists to apply for a new role in the Stormwater Section: Artist in Residence. This month, we’re thrilled to announce that Hernan Paganini was awarded this unique commission and has already begun work centering art in fostering dialogue and environmental change.

We are proud to have awarded a grant to the Black Heritage Society of Washington State (BHS) to preserve the legacy of Edwin T. Pratt, Seattle’s renown civil rights leader. On the eve of the 50th anniversary of his assassination, BHS shares how they are putting these funds to work:

Monday–Friday, December 17–21, 2018
9:00 am–5:00 pm

The Tolt Historical Society is settling into a beautiful new home just in time for the holiday season! After relocating from Carnation Farms in July, the Society and its collection now occupy the historic Hjertoos House, just south of Carnation. The Hjertoos House is a large, late-Victorian farmhouse with a prominent dairy barn, and a King County Historical Landmark. It is situated on the Carnation Tree Farm, which is on the National Register of Historic places.

4Culture is a public agency. It’s our job to make sure that all King County residents can access our resources and see themselves in the work we do. Deep inequities—especially related to race and geography—persist in our county and world. Too often, they prevent us from reaching all the people and communities we need to serve.

We’re thrilled to share exciting news from our Public Art department! Please join us in welcoming Selina Hunstiger and Andy Le.

As support for the Beyond Integrity working group, 4Culture has offered three Equity in Preservation internships that researched sites associated with underrepresented communities to understand inequities and find new ways to identify, protect and share the significance of properties with high social and cultural importance. University of Washington graduate student, Stefanie Barrera Aguila was 4Culture’s 2018 intern. She worked on identifying ways to strengthen preservation practices to address stories that had not yet been told.