Are We So Different

RACE Exhibit

RACE: Are We So Different? challenges how we think about race and human variation, and reveals the reality - and unreality - of race. The exhibit uses interactive maps, historical artifacts, computer simulations of gene flows, compelling photographs and multimedia presentations to probe how racism has shaped our country's history and impacted every social institution in the United States.

Pacific Science Center's new exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? raises profound questions about the American concept of race. In conjunction with this exhibit, the Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative is offering:

Public response to our Facilitator Trainings has been overwhelming! Nearly two hundred volunteers have registered for six sessions to learn to facilitate free Group Workshops about the RACE: Are We So Different? exhibit. Our sincere thanks to everyone who contacted us to become facilitators!

Volunteer facilitators who work and/or live in Snohomish County: Click here to register for our free, day-long training to learn to facilitate Group Workshops on Saturday, October 19th at Edmonds Community College.

RSJI is gathering information and commitments from the many groups participating in the RACE exhibit group workshops. Our goal is to connect groups in the community that care about racial equity and want to work on similar issues. After the workshops have concluded, we will contact your group again.

All groups who complete Group Workshops are invited to sign a Commitment to Action. This form asks for basic information about your group, as well as the Equity Area(s) your group commits to work on to achieve racial equity:

  • Arts and culture
  • Business
  • Criminal justice
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Equitable development
  • Health
  • Housing
  • Jobs
  • Philanthropy

  • Tuesday, November 5, 11 am - 2 pm at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute: Arts & Social Change Visioning Summit including a panel with RACE exhibit lead designer Robert Garfinkle. Arts & Social Change (ASC) offers a network for arts administrators, artists, social service professionals, government representatives, and social justice leaders from around the Pacific Northwest to address and build on the role that diverse arts play in creating awareness, inspiring understanding and developing policies to address cultural equity and social change. The ASC Planning Team has invited Robert Garfinkle, lead architect of the exhibit 'RACE: Are We So Different?' currently showing at the Pacific Science Center, for a thought-provoking lunchtime roundtable with local arts activist leaders responding to the exhibit and exploring how its content might inform our own social change efforts in the arts. This panel session will serve as a springboard for Arts & Social Change to begin a community visioning process. Please join us for this exciting discussion and to help us vision together for the future of Arts & Social Change. Coffee and refreshments served. Lunch options: Bring your own or reserve lunch catered by Hidmo Eritrean ($7/plate). Register now to reserve your spot.
  • Wednesday, November 6, 1:30 pm at University of Washington Tower Auditorium, 4333 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195: UW Museology Fall Community Talk featuring RACE exhibit lead designer Robert Garfinkle of the Science Museum of Minnesota. Robert will explore the role of museums in advancing social change.
  • Tuesday, October 1, 7 p.m. at Pacific Science Center's PACCAR Theater: Kick-off event featuring john powell, author, international civil rights scholar and current Executive Director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley. Professor powell is a national expert in the areas of structural racialization, implicit bias, power, justice, education, criminal justice, racial and ethnic identity, spirituality, credit and social justice. His lecture will explore the various ways in which racial justice benefits us all. Dr. powell bridges many communities and consistently motivates and inspires action. He focuses on belonging and other, and how changing demographics is an opportunity and challenge. He will share his latest, provocative thoughts on achieving a racially-inclusive and fair society. He is the author of several books, including his most recent work, Racing to Justice: Transforming our Concepts of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society.
  • Monday, October 7, 7 p.m. at Pacific Science Center's PACCAR Theater: Broken on All Sides film viewing and panel discussion. This award-winning documentary examines racial inequities in the American criminal justice system through the lens of Philadelphia, PA. Panelists are Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel, Robert Chatman (current intern at People of Color Against AIDS Network, participant in Career Bridge and former member of the Black Prisoners Caucus at Monroe Prison), Merf Ehman (Staff Attorney, Institutions Project at Columbia Legal Services and leader in passing Job Assistance Legislation) and Marcel Purnell (member of the Seattle Community Police Commission, coordinator of Youth Undoing Institutional Racism/End the Prison Industrial Complex through American Friends Service Committee and organizer with the People's Institute Northwest). From 5 - 8 pm, the first 800 people who visit the RACE exhibit at Pacific Science Center will get in for free. This event is a lead-in to the Seattle Social Justice Film Festival, running Oct. 10 - 13 : www.socialjusticefilmfestival.org.
  • Check this page later this fall for the announcement of additional events, including a final celebration event in January.

All Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. The Arts & Social Change Visioning Summit requires advanced registration (above).

Group Workshops registration will be close at 5 pm Thursday, December 5th, 2013.Please read the following updates about availability and planning your Group Workshop. The link to the registration form is below.

We're excited to report an overwhelmingly positive outpouring of interest in Group Workshops! Due to the high demand, we are now requiring at least 4 weeks from the day you submit your registration form to the date of your requested PRE-exhibit session. PRE sessions can happen as late as January 4th, the day before the exhibit closes on January 5th. POST-exhibit sessions can be scheduled up through January 17th. In addition, all workshop spaces at the Science Center are booked through the run of this project. We are still able to send facilitators to your group at your place of gathering or another chosen location. We are able to hold workshop sessions during weekdays, but also encourage groups that are able to consider evening and weekend sessions.

What does racial equity mean? How can we take action to achieve greater equity?

Businesses, non-profits, PTSAs, faith-based organizations, neighborhood associations, government agencies, youth groups and other groups from King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties are invited to participate in free Group Workshops at Pacific Science Center or your place of gathering.

Each Group Workshop has two components:

  • A 75-minute pre-exhibit session
  • A two-hour post-exhibit session.

These experiences are designed for groups to use the exhibit to expand and apply their understanding of racial equity. There are many ways that groups can use Group Workshops, including:

  • To initiate or deepen work around racial equity, diversity and inclusion
  • As professional development, training or team-building
  • To lay the groundwork for new or revised programming, policies or initiatives

RSJI staff and our trained facilitators will work with your group to tailor the workshop experience to your particular needs and goals. Workshop sessions can take place all in one day, including a visit to the exhibit, or on different days, with a visit to the exhibit in-between. Facilitators will come to your place of gathering or meet your group at Pacific Science Center. Space at the Science Center for workshop sessions will be prioritized for groups visiting the exhibit that same day. Workshop sessions can take place at Pacific Science Center between 10:15 am - 4:45 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The exhibit can be viewed on all days but Tuesdays, when the Science Center is closed. All groups will be provided with resources and next steps to make on-going commitments to work to end racial inequity.

Group Workshops are free to groups who experience the exhibit, with paid admission to Pacific Science Center. Pacific Science Center is committed to making the RACE exhibit experience affordable for everyone who would like to participate. Discounted group admission rates are available to all groups of 10 or more who make advanced reservations. If you are concerned that your workshop group will not be able to cover the cost of admission, you will be asked to indicate this on the registration form. Someone from the Race and Social Justice Initiative will contact you to discuss additional discounts.

Please read Frequently Asked Questions about Group Workshops before completing the Group Workshop registration. This FAQ is designed to streamline your registration process by answering many of the questions you may have about organizing a Group Workshop. If you experience difficulties downloading the FAQ, please email diana.falchuk@seattle.gov with the subject line "FAQ Request."

Register for a Group Workshop