Arts
Fall Arts Preview 2016: Dance
Kick off the season with the best on the dance floor
Mother of Invention – Ezra Dickinson Seattle choreographer, dancer, and performance and visual artist Ezra Dickinson is a familiar and always arresting presence, whether dancing on Seattle’s stages or on its gritty downtown streets. A standout performer in the Seattle-based Maureen Whiting Dance Company and co-director of The Offshore Project dance group, the ballet-trained Dickinson’s…
Fall Arts Preview 2016: Arts & Technology
Tapping into the best tech-related events
Seattle in Parody – Maria Semple No author has captured the comedic absurdity of Seattle with more success than novelist Maria Semple, who moved here in 2008. In her 2012 novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? Semple gave the world an incisive, hilarious look at the manners and social mores of the Microsoft-era city-state. Its narrative…
Fall Arts Preview 2016: Film Festivals
What to watch for on the big screens this season
Every autumn, our city’s numerous and diverse film festivals present hundreds of short features and full-length movies to Seattle audiences, opening up views into a wide, diverse spectrum of human experience. One of the most important is the Local Sightings Film Festival (9/22–10/1), the Northwest’s premier showcase of new films, produced by the Northwest…
Fall Arts Preview 2016: Visual Arts
Welcoming a variety of mediums to kick off the season
Family Tree – Gail Grinnell, Samuel Wildman and Eric John Olson Since 2014, MadArt Studio has operated a storefront in South Lake Union where selected local artists are given a residency of several months to create large-scale, site-specific sculpture and installation work. Visitors can witness art in the making and in its completed form. The…
Sasquatch Books: Raising the Region’s Literary Bar for Decades
Local publisher helps shape Seattle's literary scene
Seattle has long been known as a book lover’s haven, and Sasquatch Books, a venerated local publishing company, has played a major role in helping to mold and shape the city’s lit life. For three decades, Sasquatch has been introducing new and unique titles to the region’s (and lately, the nation’s) readers, while cultivating some…
Seattle arts programs expand outreach, take on homelessness together
A look at the impact of experiential arts programs on people living in homelessness
Last November, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray declared a State of Emergency for King County’s homelessness crisis. While addressing the concern has proven to be a lofty task for councilmembers and citizens alike, Seattle’s arts programs continue to take initiative on the complicated social issue. On June 21, the Seattle Symphony announced “Simple Gifts,” a multi-year,…
The Must List: Seafair Celebrations, Seattle Art Fair & More
What to do this weekend in Seattle
Must Sea Party On During Seafair Weekend (8/5 to 8/7, times vary) Gather along the shores of Lake Washington to say farewell to another successful Seafair in the traditional way: with powerboats and air shows. Enjoy one of the city’s oldest events, as powerboats race on Lake Washington and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels rocket across…
Beloved Ask the Oracle Literary Event Goes to Bumbershoot
Literary answers to life’s pressing questions
For 20 years, Seattle’s Hugo House has served as an urban writer’s retreat at its Capitol Hill location across from Cal Anderson Park, sponsoring and hosting a wide variety of events, residencies and services for readers and writers alike. And while the institution is admired throughout the nation for its rich and innovative programming, its…
Ride the Historic Skyride at This Year’s Washington State Fair
The state fair ride that’s a link to the past
It may be less thrilling than the neon-lit midway rides like roller coasters, but the Washington State Fair’s Skyride is a classic. The aerial tram, which today transports riders across the Puyallup fairgrounds, debuted more than 50 years ago at the Century 21 Exposition, aka the Seattle World’s Fair. Imported from a company in Bern,…
Board Games: Round the Rock’s Stand-Up Paddleboarding Race
Stand up for the eighth annual Round the Rock race
One of the Pacific Northwest’s largest stand-up paddleboarding events returns September 17, when about 300 serious paddleboarders will wend their way around Mercer Island (aka The Rock) on a 13-mile course through Lake Washington’s sometimes choppy waters. The event, based at Newcastle Beach Park in Bellevue, also includes a 3.5-mile race and a half-mile kids’…
Get Ready for the Seattle Art Fair
Seattle Art Fair builds on its inaugural year’s success
The Seattle Art Fair returns for a second year, with representation from blue-chip contemporary art galleries, such as David Zwirner and the Zürcher Gallery, and more events and exhibits than before. On-site projects will include several by New York artists—including Dawn Kasper’s room-size forest of motion-activated cymbals; Roxy Paine’s ominous diorama of a CIA observation…
Growing Pains: Preserving Iconic Small Businesses
With rapid development in all corners of the city, how we can preserve the classic small businesses?
Seattle is undergoing unprecedented growth, at least in recent times. A Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) midyear report found there are currently 65 building projects under construction in the downtown core alone—even more by the time you read this. Projects are popping up at the rate of one per week. Many of us have stopped counting…
City Council Office Hours Invite Constituents to Voice Concerns
City Council members are now holding neighborhood office hours. Is it an effective way to govern?
On a bright afternoon at the Ballard library, constituents arrive in a steady stream for their chance to speak for 10–15 minutes with Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brien, who represents northwest Seattle’s District 6. He’s holding his in-district “office hours” for constituents. On this day, they include grizzled baby boomer guys in cargo pants,…
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