Seattle Art Museum Tees Up Summer
SAM’s season of play gives the city a reason to putt around.
By Sarah Stackhouse May 28, 2026
Seattle Art Museum is loosening up for summer.
The museum announced a season-long “Summer of Play” lineup, with events and programs across all three of its locations. The main event is a nine-hole, artist-designed mini golf course at Olympic Sculpture Park, which opens with Tee Up for SAM on June 13. The ticketed event includes live music, food stations, local beer and wine tastings, and a first look at the course. Mini golf opens to the public June 17 and runs Wednesdays through Sundays through September 7.
“Summer of Play reflects the energy and momentum building across SAM and across Seattle right now,” says Scott Stulen, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO of SAM. “We’re transforming the museum into a more welcoming, joyful, and community-centered space where art becomes a catalyst for connection, creativity, and shared experience.”
The course features holes created by Seattle-based artists and designers, including Julie Alpert, Andy Arkley, Zack Bent, Elizabeth Gahan, LMN Architects, Cathy McClure, Chris McMullen, Kalina Wińska, and Anthony White. It will operate rain or shine.
SAM is also getting into baseball. From July 1 through August 2, the museum will display Fresh Off the Field: Mariners’ Cleats in its downtown Forum, which is free to visit. The show features cleats from the Mariners’ starting lineup. SAM Night at the Mariners follows July 31 at T-Mobile Park, with ticket packages that include a limited-edition T-shirt.
The museum’s free Summer at SAM programming also returns to Olympic Sculpture Park from July 9 through August 2, with Thursday evening events and Sunday daytime activities. Expect live music, food trucks, art-making, yoga, park tours, dance performances, and Drag Bingo. The season wraps with an all-day carnival celebration on August 2.
There is a World Cup thread, too. SAM Shop will release a summer merchandise collection starting June 10, including an artist-designed jersey by Camano Island artist Shogo Ota, who also created Seattle’s (winning) host city poster. There is also a limited-edition soccer ball by FriendsWithYou, the Los Angeles-based artist duo whose Little Cloud Sky is currently on view at SAM. Olympic Sculpture Park will also be part of the Unity Loop, a 4.25-mile walking trail connecting Lumen Field and Seattle Center through Pioneer Square, the waterfront, and more than 110 murals and public artworks during the World Cup.
It all makes for a very Seattle kind of summer, with art, sports, and civic pride all sharing the same lawn.
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