Seattle music/theater/art group "Awesome" premiered at noSIGNAL at On the Boards. Photo by David Nixon.
City invests more than $1.6 million in arts, heritage and cultural organizations
The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs announces more than $1.6 million in investments in 2009 to Seattle-based arts, heritage and cultural organizations through the Civic Partners program. The program will provide a two-year funding commitment to 133 organizations with allocations made annually in 2009 and 2010, up from 117 organizations in the 2007-2008 cycle.
"Seattle recognizes the importance of arts, culture and heritage in sustaining strong communities," said Michael Killoren, director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. "Despite a tough budget year, funding for our arts and cultural partners will be steady in 2009 with an increase in the number of funded organizations."
The Civic Partners program aims to strengthen Seattle's cultural ecosystem by helping sustain established organizations with predictable funding. The program also recognizes and fosters small and emerging organizations. Funding supports organizations' core programs and operations, aids in planning and attracting other supporters, and helps underwrite public access to a wide variety of quality arts and cultural opportunities.
Civic Partners for 2009 and 2010 represent a wide range of organization sizes, missions, disciplines and audiences served, from the largest and best known institutions to all-volunteer community groups. They include heritage organizations such as the Center for Wooden Boats, Tasveer and Densho; youth-oriented groups such as Youth in Focus, Coyote Central and Young Shakespeare Workshop; leading-edge alternative arts venues such as Suyama Space and New City Theater; and neighborhood-based groups such as Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and Musicians Emeritus Symphony Orchestra.
For a complete list of funded organizations for 2009-2010
click here.
Application to the Civic Partners program is open every two years to Seattle arts, heritage and cultural organizations and arts service organizations with a minimum three-year history of cultural services to the Seattle public.
Each year the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs contracts with every Civic Partner organization to support a specific part of its annual public programming. In 2008, these city-sponsored programs offered almost 4,000 performances, events and exhibit days, and served an audience of more than 1.1 million people, including nearly 486,000 free admissions. Every city dollar was matched by an average of 14 dollars in earned and contributed income raised by the organizations.
The 2008 budgets of Seattle's Civic Partners totaled more than $236 million, ranging from $9,000 to $27 million, with a median budget of $339,300. The 2009-2010 Civic Partners have a similar budget span.