CityArtist Grant

Application

Opens April 2, 2024.

Apply online through the City of Seattle’s grant portal.

If you don’t have a computer or internet access, contact staff as soon as possible. 

Deadline

May 7, 2024, 5 p.m.(Pacific) 

Open Date
4/2/2024
Open Time
Close Date
5/7/2024
Close Time
Eligible
Individual
Application

Four singers up on stage, two with their arms extended to the roof.

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Our CityArtist grant supports Seattle-based individual artists/curators in the research, development, and presentation of creative work. By sustaining individuals who are at the core of the cultural sector, we ensure that creative careers and work can develop and adapt over time, which is critical to artists’ professional growth and business insight. Providing financial support for creative entrepreneurs contributes to the broader economy and quality of life in neighborhoods across the city. 

The 2025 application is open to artists/curators working in Dance, Music, and Theater (including Playwriting). Awarded artists will need to offer a public presentation within Seattle city limits. We encourage a broad range of artistic and cultural expression that reflects the Seattle’s diversity.

This program is open to specific discipline clusters in alternating years:

  • Even Years (2024, 2026): Literary, Media/Digital/Film (including Screenwriting), and Visual
  • Odd Years (2023, 2025): Dance, Music, and Theater (including Playwriting)

Eligibility

You are qualified for this grant if you meet this criteria:

  • You are a generative artist/curator who produces/presents art.
  • You are a Seattle resident OR have a permanent studio/workspace in your name within Seattle city limits where you receive mail. It cannot be a P.O. Box.
  • You are at least 18 years of age by the application due date.
  • You are an individual artist/curator or the lead artist/curator of a team of artists/curators.
    If you are the lead artist/curator of an arts or cultural group/organization, you must clearly distinguish work for this award from the ongoing/seasonal work of your group/organization.

You are not qualified for this grant if:

  • You are enrolled in school at any level (high school, undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral) in any degree program related to one’s own artistic work or career;
  • You are a current award recipient from any Office of Arts & Culture program with an active contract.

Please read the guidelines for full details.

Funding

Awards are set at a single amount of $8,000 for all recipients.

Scope of work and final event details will be determined after awards are official and during the contracting phase.

Due Date

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 5 p.m. Pacific

Please allow ample time to complete your application. Submissions after the deadline will not be accepted.

Virtual Information and Draft Review Sessions

Learn more about this opportunity and how to turn in your strongest application. We highly encourage first-time applicants to watch this information workshop:

Draft Phone Review 1
Monday, April 22, 2024
1 - 5 p.m. Pacific
Visit our calendar and select your preferred timeslot to RSVP

Draft Phone Review 2
Monday, April 29, 2024
1 - 5 p.m. Pacific
Visit our calendar and select your preferred timeslot to RSVP

Open Phone Office Hours
Wednesdays, April 2 - 24, 2024
3 - 5 p.m. Pacific
Call Project Manager, Irene Gómez at (206) 684-7310.

Application

Apply online through the City of Seattle's grant portal. If this is your first time using FLUXX, you will have to create a user profile before you start your application. If you don’t have computer or internet access, contact staff as soon as possible.

Info

For information and assistance with the application, eligibility or online technical support, please contact Project Manager, Irene Gómez at (206) 684-7310 or Irene.Gomez@seattle.gov.

We can speak to you in your language, including American Sign Language via video. Just call us and tell us what language you speak. There will be a short pause while we find an interpreter to join the call.

Manage your award

Log in to your account

The current CityArtist application is on a new online system called FLUXX. Applicants must initiate an account/user profile, complete the Demographic section, and proceed to the application form. If you have questions, please contact Project Manager Irene Gómez for guidance at irene.gomez@seattle.gov.

Please check back here for future updates.

Getting the word out

Want to get the word out about your arts or cultural event or exhibit? Here are some tips on sending out information to the public and local media.

Step 1. Gather all the details: who, what, where, when, and why.

Step 2. Gather graphics for publicity. Gather photos, create a logo if necessary, work with a designer on the look and any printed materials.

Step 3. Write a press release and/or prepare a press kit and send it to the media.

Social Media

  1. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Also, be sure you’re signed up for our email newsletter.
  2. Post about your grant/event/program, and tag us! On Twitter, tag us by typing “@SeattleArts”. On Instagram, tag us by typing “@SeaOfficeofArts”. When you tag us, we get notified and can respond. On your Facebook post, type in “@Seattle Office of Arts & Culture”, and select our office’s page from the drop-down menu.
  3. The sooner you tell your Project Manager about your event, the more likely we’ll be able to fit it into our social media calendar. We have a lot of news and events, and schedule posts and activities weeks out.
  4. If you have promo materials, please remember to send anything you have produced (press releases, postcards, brochures, etc.) to your Project Manager. These items should include the Office of Arts & Culture name and/or logo. We rebranded our Office in 2013, so if you’ve been funded before, please make sure to update our logo.

We recommend circulating these items at least two weeks prior to your event to increase awareness and attendance.

The Press Release

Press releases inform the media about your event and can inspire the media to publish a calendar listing or even cover the event. Click here for a description and example of the anatomy of a press release.

  • Try to let the media know what makes your event unique or relevant.
  • Be genuine. Exaggeration or inaccuracy will only hurt your chances of being a reliable media source. The more a press release reads like an actual news article, the better. Many smaller publications love releases they can print verbatim.
  • Press releases should look professional and be easy to read. Type double-spaced.
  • Make sure the organization's name, address, website, and contact information are visible.
  • Include the media contact's name, direct phone line, and e-mail address near the top of the first page.
  • Include a "pull date" (the last date of the event) near the top of the first page.
  • Include a headline that summarizes the event and invites people to read the details.
  • All the most pertinent information should be included in the first paragraph - the five W's. Who is presenting what, where, and when? Why should people attend? Include information on how people can attend or buy tickets, locations of ticket venues or website, e-mail, and/or box office phone-line information.
  • Additional paragraphs can provide more descriptive information about the event, artists involved, and quotes.
  • Use your mission statement or general description of the organization at the end of the press release.
  • If the press release is longer than one page, write "-More-" at the bottom of each page. At the end of the last page, include "# # #" to indicate the end of the release.

The Press Kit

Press kits provide useful background information for members of the press writing previews or reviews of your arts or cultural event. A press kit should be organized in a folder and generally includes:

1) Organization Information (front to back on the left side of the folder)

  • Mission statement
  • Brief organizational history
  • Organizational brochure
  • Feature articles on the organization or lead staff
  • Board list
  • Business card for media contact

2) Specific Event Information (front to back on the right side of the folder)

  • Press release for the event
  • Photos or artwork related to the event
  • Event postcard or flyer
  • Event program
  • Artists' bios, if not in the program
  • Preview articles about the event

Note: Do not include reviews of the event or previous events in the press packet. Most reviewers do not want to be influenced by the opinions of others.

Online calendars

There are numerous websites with online events calendars to use to publicize your event. Here are a few:

Daily and Weekly Papers

Send your press releases to local newspapers. Here are some of the dailies and weekly papers to begin with.

Neighborhood Newspapers

Radio

Most radio stations accept a written public service announcement (PSA). Some will take a pre-recorded PSA. Check the website of the radio station you think best matches your audience. Many stations belong to the Puget Sound Broadcasters Association or Washington State Association of Broadcasters. Both organizations list links to their members.

Television

Seattle Channel, the city's municipal television channel, is committed to covering local arts and culture. Art Zone with Nancy Guppy on the Seattle Channel specifically covers the local art scene.

Local television stations are:

Funded Partners

Please Note: The 2021 CityArtist cycle was paused due to COVID-19.

2020

2020 CityArists 

Chai Adera
I was raised in a world of Indigenous media making and storytelling. My practice was shaped through experiential learning but with an ethic of giving back to the community. I don't limit myself to one medium because our stories develop along with our art forms. A big component to my work in the last few pieces is glitch art technology and warped VHS distortions as a distinct style choice. I love breaking down VHS images. It feels metaphorical. It's also a great challenge for my mind to build visual pieces out of broken segments that might push emotional reactions. I want to push myself to capture the underground vibe of my generation in an authentic yet visually distorted manner that confuses and informs all at once.
$5,000

Christina Antonakos-Wallace
I had experienced the growing xenophobia in Europe firsthand and was witnessing the anti-immigrant movement grow in the U.S. I knew that we needed empowering stories of migration and diaspora that broke the myths of cultural and racial purity. Using my creative practice to foster belonging has offered clarity. Right now, it means continuing to tell the stories of immigrants and children of immigrants who challenge exclusionary systems.
$8,000

Quenton Baker
I use a combination of erasure poems of source texts-pages from the Senate document detailing the Creole case-and poems in the invented form to look at black interior life under what Fred Moten would call the "constraint" of black non-being, both throughout chattel slavery and in modern civil society. In the future, I see myself with a larger/broader readership and a level of rigorous participation in national/international conversations that deal with poetics and/or Blackness. This is my entire life.
$8,000

Justine Fedronic
I aspire to continue researching and learning about the artistic traditions of my origins and exploring how to fuse them into a contemporary expression of international life. I envision a series that celebrates the symbiosis between natural forms and patterns, individual human health and well-being, and humanity as a community. I believe in the multi-functional potential of art: each piece would also serve as a purposeful component within the home.
$8,000   

Aramis O. Hamer
I feel proud to be a Black woman, despite society's challenges to the Divine Feminine. I constantly make new discoveries on my journey to Liberation. It's all too easy to shackle ourselves and limit creative growth. These discoveries help me break my chains, with the ultimate goal of helping others to do the same.
$8,000

Jesse Higman
My work sample shows a compilation of recent public paint pours and illustrates my greatest interest, the corollaries between particles in motion and our own agency as we participate in social systems, always looking to where emergence occurs. My hopes are that together we can go further to see the essence of what is human, collaborative, and generative. It is important to see action and agency as necessary for growth, how clearly our efforts and even our accidents lead to new life.
$8,000

Etsuko Ichikawa
Through this work, many important things in my life have come together - my love of glass, my Japanese heritage and nuclear legacy, my perspective looking through the lens of America, and my fear, hope, and responsibility for the future as an artist. My ultimate goal as a person as well as an artist is to create art to share the inspiration that lights up one's soul.
$8,000

Adam Jabari Jefferson
The story in my DNA is not unique. It echoes the African American experience. Reflections are found in the diasporic, Indigenous, and Asian experiences. We, all of us, are affected by our stories. Memoirs of the Hopeful is a declaration that "I was. I am. I will." It employs storytelling as a tool for discussing, reckoning with, and healing ancestral traumas. My work seeks to depict their descendants, empowered by our stories, as fully embodied beings. It is a celebration of being melanin rich.
$8,000  

Eliaichi Kimaro
As a self-taught artist and creative storyteller, I am constantly reinventing myself, experimenting with new materials and techniques, and learning whatever medium it takes to tell the story that is emerging. Across every medium, I find beauty in the rusty, weathered, and worn. As a lover of process, I believe our works deserve to be seen, witnessed, and considered in their current state of being...and becoming.
$8,000   

Robert Kunz (Robb Kunz)
All my work is inspired by the tornado sirens that blanketed my childhood town in Oklahoma every week with a surreal wailing that seemed to blur in and out of reality. My intent is always to provide a similar communal experience of listening, to get people to take off their headphones and open their ears. My more compelling work often involved collaborative contributions of composers or crowdsourcing the public for content. That's because I could focus on perfecting the technical aspects, trying to make the soundscapes more compelling without having to ALSO come up with every bit of content for a massive multi-channel sound collage and mix.
$8,000

Fulgencio Lazo
With intense colors and dynamic images, I aim to celebrate the migratory journeys made by children, whose entry into other countries makes it possible to establish a never-ending exchange between societies and cultures. My work is inspired by my exploration of themes of cultural identity. Given the current anti-immigrant climate and the rise of white nationalism, it is vital that I continue to raise my voice on behalf of immigrants and people of color.
$8,000

Megan Griffiths
I grew up never seeing my experience reflected on television or in films, in books or magazines. For people with disabilities (or to use the more punk rock nomenclature, "crips"), as with many marginalized groups, that's now changing. Underrepresented and oppressed communities are popping up on our screens more and more, and not as tropes of themselves, but fully realized, complicated, and radically human people. We are at a point as a culture where these new points of view are more and more sought after. Elevating these stories alongside those we've traditionally celebrated allows for our view of the world we live in to expand, and our collective empathy to grow.
$8,000

Suzanne Morrison
I plan to immerse myself in this literary lineage, research how scientists and engineers envision the world at mid-century, and hit up theater artists and critics for their views on how the American theater will adapt in the face of climate change, political turmoil, and technological advancements. My excitement for this book keeps me up at night, distracts me from other stories I'm revising. Its ambition requires me to become a writer who can complete it. It will require research into subjects I'm unfamiliar with, a deep dive into my own emotional terrain, and the artistic rigor with which to synthesize its many parts. It's a challenge I am eager to meet.
$5,000

Arlene Naganawa
My current project is an integrated art/text piece transforming a steel toolbox into a text-based work of visual art. In this piece, Word Medicine, I am transforming sections of my own poems into "medical objects," including words written on pills made of buttons and entire poems rolled into ACE bandages. My earlier work focused more on pain, but as I evolve, I would like to explore how people manage to work through the pain and sometimes heal.
$5,000    

D.A. Navoti
My artistic purpose is to empower indigenous communities through literary nonfiction. As someone who is gay and a member of the Gila River Indian Community, where tribal sovereignty forbids same-sex marriage and legal protections for those who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ), and Two-Spirit (2S), I confront tribal injustices head-on. I believe that conflict is merely an opportunity to advocate and empower others like myself. I want readers to know that language is political.
$5,000

Hanako O'Leary
I am one in a long line of Japanese women who dared to defy tradition and forge their own path. I will continue my quest to unearth feminine power through clay and impart my knowledge to those who want to learn. Like my Mother and my Grandmother, I follow my heart and never look back.  I explore myths, folklore, and iconic artworks from Japanese and European culture, observing the consequences of being perceived as feminine in today's world.
$8,000

Shin Yu Pai
As a writer, I consider part of my creative practice the act of curating literary gatherings that bring together the community for intimate conversations on socially relevant themes while facilitating dialogues on literary craft and process. In the last two years, my literary curation work has focused on going beyond curating diverse readers together and structuring programs that allow for audience engagement with authors and onstage conversations with writers that can more deeply interrogate creative intention and craft. My application seeks to fund a live poetry event series centered on socially engaged themes (immigrant voices, the role of poetry in healing, and sanctuary) that I will host in collaboration with KUOW.
$8,000

Cris Romento
I want to tell diverse stories with an underlying theme. Most of my ideas are shaped by multi-racial, female, and indigenous communities' experiences. I believe keeping an uplifting tone in my work encourages people from all walks of life to watch and understand. A love story is universal. People can see themselves in each of these stories because they're the essence of humanity. 
$8,000

E.T. Russian  $8,000
After 20+ years of making comics, while simultaneously exploring the cultural aspects of disability and chronic illness I became interested in the intersection: multi-sensory art. I thought how do people who are blind, Deaf, or neurodivergent access art? I wanted my comic books to reach a wider audience, not just people who read comics, but who watch videos, listen to sounds, like to touch things, and move their bodies.
$8,000

Sondra Segundo (Cunningham)
I see myself sharing my Haida books and songs with more international audiences while continuing my lifework with the youth in my local Indigenous and Seattle communities. I feel it is of great importance for all children to experience many cultures...but to experience it from the people who actually come from that culture. This will plant seeds of equality and acceptance for the next generations. Through my teachings, I want to help rewrite our negative history. Read my words with your heart and let my art take you on a journey into another realm.
$8,000   

Che Sehyun
The G'ma Project, which honors our elders, cultures, and ancestors in the modern world, gathered 10 artists from various backgrounds all over WA (Olympia to Bellingham) to share stories about our Grandmas, our G'ma, and through our artistic forms (music, dance, story, food, etc.) we shared why our elders, cultures, and ancestors matter as modern, young adults.  This project built meaningful relationships, put me in a much healthier, empowered frame of mind about social justice, community organizing, and public art and their role in our both unique and collective cultures.
$8,000

Shann Thomas
My most recent project, Gender Gems, is inspired by a desire to create vibrant and readily accessible documentation of living transgender and gender-diverse elders. I am also inspired to create Gender Gems because rarely are transgender and gender diverse people celebrated when they are living; more often than not they are commemorated once they have passed away due to high rates of suicide and hate crimes.
$8,000

Timothy White Eagle
For 20 plus years I have been exploring and seeking connections between ritual, healing, and art. I think I have been very privileged to have been able to spend many years in close connection with my Indigenous elders while at the same time exploring ritualized art-making. This much is certain, there is not a clear blueprint or trail for me to follow, so through experimentation, risk, and vision, I will craft future work that offers individual, communal, and cultural healing to art. Now as my elders retire or pass on, I find myself in the place of elder, and I understand that further growth will come in working with and learning with younger artists. In the future, I will be creating projects which allow me to connect with young creators, exchanging viewpoints, wisdom, and experiences. I have no desire to be a "teacher" I want to be a co-conspirator with younger folks.
$8,000

Inye Wokoma
For the past 15 years, I have been working on an evolving body of work that explores the connections between, land and lineage, culture and community, politics and identity. I experiment with dissolving the boundaries between creative disciplines. I want to continue along this path, creating more expansive films, conceptual art, and projects rooted in community and an investigation of our collective history as a society.
$8,000

Maria Zurbano (Maritess Zurbano)
As the only Filipino-American magician in history, I chose to combine my skills as a playwright, performer, and political activist. I draw a wider audience than usual into my themes of race, gender, and power by using magic, drama, and humor. I work in a tradition, of people of color who convey their political views via entertainment. When audiences witness my Filipino-American excellence in the arts, they now have precedent and I'm hoping with every success I have, it makes it easier for me and other artists/audiences to visualize Filipino-Americans as significant cultural contributors.
$8,000

2019

2019 CityArists Projects

Shontina Vernon
"What has been most exciting for me as an artist is deepening my commitment to social justice through the work I make. Given this time, and this political climate, I am most inspired by everyday people who continue to show up and to share their stories despite the threat of injustice and violence."
$8,000

Paula Nava Madrigal
"Conducting and performing classical music excites me. My Latino heritage and the diversity of Seattle's heritage have inspired my work. I use my creative and collaborative skills to further social justice and accomplish my personal goals."
$8,000

Daniel Kogita
"I am inspired by the full range of humanity and all of its emotions and challenges... The ability to inspire generations all around the world is truly rewarding and humbling. As a minority and disabled person who's overcome many obstacles, I'm inspired to do everything in my power to instill these principles in others, helping them actualize their talents and skills."
$8,000

J Mase III
"My work over the years has consisted of both the content of my art as well as the commitment to economic justice that fuels the capacity of my community to continue creating art."
$8,000

Corrie Befort
"I am interested in unsettling perceptions of what is stable: time, scale, gravity, the form the body takes and what its true identity is."
$5,000

Y York
"I am passionate about the craft of playwriting because I believe in the power of theater - the poetry of individual behavior in the here-and-now. A play asks an audience to walk in the shoes of others - an experience that is a step toward addressing the questions that obsess me. While much of my work is original, I often take inspiration from interviews or by confronting classic texts."
$5,000

Etienne Cakpo                   
"I always draw on my cultural heritage to influence and inspire my dance creations. This performance allows me the time and depth to reflect on the past decade in my life, to revisit the most diverse aspects of my country of origin, experiences as an immigrant in the US, and to share that richness with audiences here."
$8,000 

Fern Renville
"I have been recovering my artist roles and responsibilities as a Dakota woman and good human being by now working as a director and storyteller. I have been adapting traditional stories to the stage with help from many teachers and elders along the way, and have begun adapting my own contemporary story to a mythic format in the hopes of producing and directing a play about the Dakota uprisings of the past, present, and future."
$8,000

Christopher Icasiano
"As a musician, my work has been deeply rooted in a need to express myself through my instrument-the drums. I found that outlet with improvisation. In music, this involves making split-second decisions about composition, timbre, and texture, all while collaborating through careful listening. More importantly, improvising allows me to be expressive, honest and vulnerable."
$8,000 

Lily Raabe                                 
"My work as an artist is 100% focused on using theatre as a conduit for social change, starting in low-income communities. I use storytelling and community-engaged theatre models, such as Theatre of the Oppressed, to create theatrical works with, by, and for diverse populations so that their stories can be heard in their own words."
$8,000

Samantha Boshnack
"For 15 years I have been dedicated to building a large catalog of sophisticated yet fun compositions. With jazz as a foundation, I create new works that exercise both the freedom and discipline of the genre while incorporating influences and inspirations from other styles of music as well."
$8,000

Amy Escobar                  
"As a playwright and puppeteer, I am excited by the complex simplicity of language and practical magic in the theater... I seek to create work that heals, that is openhearted and relevant."
$8,000

Neve Mazique-Bianco
"I am interested in virtuosity, in creating aesthetic hierarchies which destruct the ones previously established. The driving force is my belief in love, Black/Indigenous folk magic, and transcendent healing."
$8,000

Randy Ford               
"I noticed that my works all centered around ideas of identity, spirituality, evolution, eroticism, and social representation. Basically all of the things I was dealing with internally as I transitioned. As a trans femme person, people only seem to gravitate towards the physical changes of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but never want to ask how many affirmations I have to give myself to walk outside the door every day."
$8,000

Mark Haim                                  
"The questions that arise for me are: How do we hold those we know and love in our bodies? How do we embody others? Can a soloist dance inter-connectedness? How many people does it take to feel the enormity of our presence, and the scope of our lives?"
$5,000

Lavinia Vago                  
"I developed a desire to dive into my own personal research and passions that a company setting could not provide me fully. These interests include both performance studies and dance as therapy through education."
$2,000                

Marisol Rosa-Shapiro                  
"I am, first and foremost, inspired by the human capacity for play. Imagination, laughter, creation, and the spiritual act of collaboration drive my explorations as a theater artist, educator, and citizen."
$5,000

Kaley Eaton
"My work's primary focus now is the voice as the portal both to the individual subconscious and to cultural moments. I intend to create a multi-movement work for soprano and small ensemble with electronics that tells the story of my own family's journey through multiple generational traumas and how that relates to our current societal predicament."
$5,000

Amy Denio
"As a composer, I am inspired by nature's wonders and by the foibles of humankind. My music is influenced by decades of exposure to international cultures and by my preternatural love of playfulness. I often invite audiences to participate."
$8,000

Angel Alviar-Langley
"WPL?! is a living blueprint for other Street Styles organizers in how to organize in a way that celebrates womxn. It's a step in reclaiming a Street Styles history that womxn are erased from and demand for academia to be more accountable in their research practices."
$8,000

Ricki Mason
"My work and career are dedicated to creating theatrical productions that explore content that is vital to the queer community while employing queer, POC, and women artists."
$8,000

Hilary Field                  
"I recently had the opportunity to compose solo guitar music as well as music and poetry duets in collaboration with Washington State Poet Laureate, Claudia Castro Luna, based on the theme "Ode to Hope." I am excited, inspired, and encouraged to build and expand upon this project by inviting various poets, storytellers, and writers to share their stories about struggle, personal or societal, and their means to survive."
$2,000

Maritess Zurbano
"As a 48-year-old Filipina-American single-parent and seasoned performer, I have new insight into my life choices. Why would a fairly attractive young woman who is educated want to become a Las Vegas magician in an environment where chopping women in half was mandatory? Why would any woman of color want to gain power in our world of continuing misogyny and white supremacist attitudes?"
$8,000                    

Michael Hall                                   
"The art/music that I make carries all that I have witnessed and absorbed for 50 years. Some have said to me in the past: "to make it here, you have to leave this place". I think I will stay to see what happens next."
$8,000

Savita Srinivasa
"At age five, I witnessed a breathtaking Kuchipudi drama, igniting my devotion to train extensively in Kuchipudi under the foremost student of Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam (founder of modern-day Kuchipudi). From traveling to India for additional training to my unwavering daily practice, I push for perfection in this uncommon style of Kuchipudi."
$8,000

Devin Muñoz
"As a young Latina, dancer, and filmmaker in the Seattle dance community, what influences me is being in a room with other dancers whose melanin ranges in all shades, who have overcome obstacles, and who continue to raise their voice for their communities."
$5,000

Jason E. Anderson                   
"I'm interested in the relationships between sound, meaning, intelligibility, translation and rhythm of speech. And I've found that providing a context for sounds attends to the social aspect of sharing the work, how it is received and interpreted, and how it is made accessible."
$2,000

El Nyberg                                  
"'You can't be what you can't see.' I repeat these words daily to remind myself why I dance, and why it is important for me to keep dancing. As a queer, femme, non-binary, mixed-race person of color, I rarely find art that is reflective of me or other dance artists who share my identities."
$2,000

Julie Schulman
"For the last 15 years, this belief has been my compass for navigating my life in my art and organizing work. I am the product of my legacy, family, community, and city. The histories and untold stories that bind us to each other stand to be displaced in the current surges of economic disparity that are threatening to characterize Seattle's future."
$5,000

2018 CityArists Projects

Roldy Aguero Ablao, Jr.
$5,250
Curate and create an installation of traditional Pacific Islander functional and decorative woven works for public celebration of the Lunar Year. 

Clayton Aldern
$6,000
Complete a manuscript of creative non-fiction on the relationships between climate change, environmental degradation, neuroscience, and mental health. A public reading with panels on selected essays will be offered.

Joanne Ardinger
$5,200
Finalize and screen a reproductive justice feature documentary about reproductive justice with post-screening panel talk.

John Harry Baluran
$7,600
Produce, direct, act and compose a short film about a day in the life of South Seattle, riders from the #7 bus route and the impact of gentrification. A community screening with performances and exhibit will close project.

Amy Benson
$6,800
Complete a new, hour-long documentary in a series illuminating the complexities of three first generation Nepalese female teens from a poor family as they work to become literate. The film closes with a public screening.

Jean Bradbury
$2,960
Create 50 new, life-size portraits that will become one large patchwork piece. Each of the 50 people interviewed use head coverings as an expression of their identity sometimes adapting with each generation.        

George Brown
$6,400
Edit archival footage of a 1990s public access program featuring episodes of NW Hip-Hop for a public screening.

Wendy Call
$4,084
Hold two workshops in English and Spanish and complete an essay collection about navigating grief, loss, and the cancer-industrial complex.

Alaia D'Alessandro
$5,200
Research, interview, and complete a four-part film capturing four local musicians that cross genres, genders and neighborhoods. The film will be screened with a concert.

Suzanne Edison
$4,500
Produce 10 new poems for a book based on interviews with scientists, medical providers, young/adult patients and caretakers living with/working on a variety of autoimmune diseases. The book will include photos and visual art pieces culminating in two readings with talks.

Peter Edlund
$3,000
Complete post-production phase and release of short film that satirizes political Discourse whle highlighting how we collectively ignore, silence and appropriate Perspectives. It closes with a screening and panel talk.

Amy Jean Enser
$6,400
Complete a feature documentary combining film and live stage performance based on 'Buckaroo,' a male revue that follows the visionaries behind the Moulin Rouge-inspired cabaret club.

Sarah Fetterman
$2,400
Fabricate and install a large woven tapestry in white, layered thread on a black background created on a computerized loom that revisits a past performance about memory recall for a public exhibit.

Jolyn Gardner
$4,725
Curate and present a monthly virtual exhibit consisting of daylong pop-ups, showcasing work by 12 Seattle-based artists of the African Diaspora via smart device or wall-projections at non-traditional sites. A catalogue will be published.

Elke Hautala
$6,000
Complete feature documentary about the life work of renowned glass artist Preston Singletary, who seeks to preserve and evolve the Salish culture. There will be a public screening and talk.

Claudia Heron
$6,925
Present two, interactive, bilingual staged readings of poems honoring women killed in a wave of femicide in the 1990's in the border town of Juarez, Mexico. The poem highlights the ways in which the female body endures violence and injustices. Each reading will close with a bilingual discussion. 

Robert Hutchison
$2,000
Fabricate conceptual, large-scale architectural models exploring topics of Mortality and memory through the lens of architecture for a public exhibit.

Sibyl James
$1,200
Final edit and publication of a poetry collection inspired by musical genres. There will be four readings where intentional connection with diverse audiences can be made.

Robert Sparrow Jones
$4,931
Research and create a new series of large-scale paintings depicting the evolution of birds, featuring their plumage coloration, sensory ecology (how they interact with their environment), and habitat loss for a public exhibit. The artist will create a multi-age curriculum for potential school visits.

Eliaichi Kimaro
$4,800
Produce a series of 12 new, encaustic mixed media storyboards that were inspired by a recurring dream featuring the ability to breathe underwater, and explores the interdependence of our shared existence and the natural world. There will be a public screening and talk.

Jody Kuehner
$4,800
Develop and complete an installation and performance in collaboration with John Criscitellos.  The installation will feature a gallery swathed in fabric printed with physical landscape images that explore the de-sexualization of the feminine.  A panel discussion closes opening.

Fulgencio Lazo
$6,300
Create six new, 3D wood sculptures that reflects lives of immigrant workers, their journeys, families, innate beauty, and struggles for a public exhibit for International Workers' Day. Artists talks will accompany the exhibition.

Mita Mahato
$3,000
Create and produce a 40-page cut-paper comic book about ocean life informed by an Arctic Circle Residency in Norway. The manuscript will be accompanied by a series of workshops highlighting conservation art and environmental justice issues.

Natasha Marin
$6,000
Co-curate, assemble and present a story bank by/of mixed generation, multi-lingual Black creatives, which will be collected into soundscape elements for a live gallery experience.

Margaret Mullin
$7,200
Produce a 90-minute documentary film about late artist and champion of dance/AIDS, Ian Horvath including a restaging of two choreographic works.

Doris June Pai (Shin Yu)
$3,000
Assemble, curate, write and edit book manuscript of a retrospective of past/current multidisciplinary work for publication including audio/video stills and image plates that culminates in a community presentation.

Clyde Petersen
$6,000
Complete interviews and filming of a documentary about the musical history of Seattle band Earth and founder Dylan Carlson. As Kurt Cobain's best friend, Carlson pioneered the drone metal genre. There will be a public screening.

Leah L. Piepzna-Samarasinha
$6,400
Curate and produce a literary event with 12 queer artists with disabilities exploring the theme of disability resistance.

Myisa Plancq-Graham
$6,800
Film and edit short documentary stories featuring storytellers of the African Diaspora across all artistic fields for community screenings.

Jason Reid
$6,000
Produce a coming-of-age feature documentary following the main character through adulthood as he deals with his mother's disappearance, family dysfunction and healing. There will be an advance cut screening followed by a discussion.

Rafael Soldi
$4,550
Create a new photographic installation and sculptural objects that share the artists story of immigration. There will be a public exhibit/lecture and an international online platform.

Francine Strickwerda
$8,000
Create a 12-minute documentary film segment featuring a 64-year old Iranian American grade school counselor working with trauma-affected East African immigrant/refugee kids via Ultimate Frisbee. A community screening with discussion closes project.

Ann Teplick
$2,054
Research and write first draft of youth novel in poems that explores the impact of suicide on those left behind. Self-care poetry teen workshops and a joint public reading will close project.

Timea Tihanyi
$4,250
Create new work exploring the sculptural potential of 3D printed ceramics, for two public exhibits.

Monica Washington
$3,250
Create and screen two new short films and remount a digital comic to book for a daylong pop-up showcase with three artists examining the relationship between marginalized citizens from three historically oppressed groups.

David Williams
$2,400
Research, write, and complete first three chapters of book illuminating relationships between people and environment, past and present and natural landscapes and altered ones. Project closes with a public reading.

Koon Woon
$1,800
Complete a full-length book of vignettes, ruminations and poems exploring immigrant life, bi-cultural adaptation, and exploitation in service of solutions.  Three readings will be scheduled with one senior center workshop.

2017 CityArists Projects

Ivan Arteaga
$8,000     
Create and perform new score for acoustic ensemble plus vocals accompanied by live electronics system and three dancers. Arteaga will hold open rehearsals-workshop.

Etienne Cakpo-Gbokou
$4,800
Develop and perform new work exploring innovative concepts set on fusing Western classical composers like Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi with traditional African dance from Benin.

Ana Maria Campoy
$4,500
Rehearse and perform a bilingual staging of the award-winning play Proof to raise awareness of mental illness and genius through a Latino cultural lens. Performances will be offered on three residential porches in three different neighborhoods.

Terry Crane
$4,800     
Create and present a full-evening, immersive performance with 12 artists combining circus, theater and dinner.

Alex Crozier-Jackson
$4,800
Choreograph and present a 10-artist, two-act dance performance influenced by colloquial speech, pop culture, a millennial mindset, appropriations of black culture, gay culture and feminism.

Jade Solomon Curtis
$7,200
Develop and present a mix of five remounted and one new solo work with music, motion-visual art and live mixed media, includes five artists. The work intends to subvert and denounce mass depictions of Blacks.

Hilary Field
$4,200
Compose, commission and perform new music by three musician-composers featuring guest artists from the North, Central and South America for classical guitar concerts integrating elements of classical, jazz, folk and contemporary genres.

Robert Flor
$4,331   
Present a full-evening original production with eight artists involving teen Filipino American girls' rejection of a traditional 'community queen' contest.

Sarah Foster
$5,250        
Create and perform a new hour-long theatrical clown production by three artists, examining friendship and physics as accidentally plummeting off a cliff.

Alice Gosti
$6,000    
Present a live, immersive installation dance performance and communal ritual with 19 artists that grapples with complexity of living in an object-based society.

Stephen Griggs
$4,800
Compose and perform an hour-long piece of narration with improvised music by a quintet exploring police use of force coinciding with anniversary of Native carver John Williams' death.

Kimberly Holloway
$6,000
Rehearse and present a contemporary dance work by nine artists inspired by childhood experiences with abusive control with workshop exploring healing through personal storytelling and concert.

Davida Ingram
$4,550    
Remount an interdisciplinary performance installation into an hour-long production with original music about the lived experiences of Black women focused on meditations of Ingram's paternal grandmother's death.

Leslie Law
$5,200       
Produce, record and broadcast a live radio theater performance episode with scripted story, original live music and sound effects for 30 artists.

Veronica Lee-Baik
$7,200
Conceive, choreograph and present an evening-length, multidisciplinary revamped version of Giselle focused on teen suicide and madness with special lighting design and sound compositions.

Jill Marissa
$4,400     
Create a mobile mini-circus performance hybrid for eight artists featuring a series of acts interwoven with storyline, musical numbers, new media and audience engagement.

Ricki Mason
$5,600          
Mason Re-interpret, script and produce a theatrical performance for 6 artists exploring Bible stories through shame, fear, misogyny, faith from a queer, absurdist, feminist perspective with comedic and poignant affect.

KT Niehoff
$5,200
Interpret and perform immersive dance, music environment for 15 artists-participants honoring and illuminating experiences of six guest contributors with unique-powerful connections to their body: an astronaut, athlete, transgender young adult, professional dancer, cancer survivor and a differently-abled person.

Serene Petersen
$5,200
Produce a live theatrical piece about transgender queer punk coming-of-age for 17 artists integrating stop-motion animation, and live music.

Peggy Piacenza
$4,800      
Direct and produce an evening-length premiere dance performance for five artists with an original score focused on life markers and asking questions about the human experience.

Elspeth Savani
$5,200  
Produce a remounted, full-evening Cuban dance-music retrospective of selected popular genres from 1880's to the present performed by 20 musicians and four dancers.

Che Sehyun
$4,800
Compose new music to fuse with a documentary of community-based, intergenerational, mixed race exchanges and performances with nine artists.

Michael Shantz
$5,600  
Perform a 30-minute, three-part suite for steel drum compositions modeled after three female archetypes from Yoruba (Nigeria) performed by nine female musicians, choreographers and dancers.

Jessie Smith
$5,200
Choreograph, film and complete a new work with stop-motion animation, music and other photo-media techniques for three dancers. Work will be installed at viewing stations across the city and close with a public screening and live, solo performances.

Timothy Smith-Stewart
$6,400
Develop, rehearse and present one part of an evening-length premiere of the multi-media performance for eight artists using movement that using movement to battle disaffection with oppressive systems, suicidal ideation and an overall hopelessness.

Ilvs Strauss
$4,400
Complete a two-act comedy script and perform an hour-long queer sci-fi play for 17 artists addressing lack of homeland for and fluidity of queer community-culture.

John Teske
$2,925     
Develop a series of new compositions that are algorithmically generated where each score and performance is unique while shaped by musical parameters, accessible on-line and premiered by an ensemble of six musicians with strings, winds, percussion and electronics.

Carol Thompson
$7,200
Workshop, edit, rehearse and present an evening-length, site-specific play for 11 artists in a house scheduled for demolition that explores themes of personal progress and citywide progress.

Storme Webber
$5,600
Produce a multidisciplinary performance installation for seven artists with dance, music, visuals and video projections from an historical lens of working class queer life in Seattle from the 1930's before any liberation movements.

Amontaine Aurore Woods
$3,005
Complete and produce a new play with 11 artists on activism that explores loss of dream, the subsequent effect on one's life and lives of future generations from the Black Panther Party to the 1999 World Trade Organization talks to the present.

2016 CityArists Projects

Samar Abulhassan
Lena: Novel-in-Poems: Producing a hybrid novel-in-poems chronicling the life of a daughter of immigrants. Reflecting on memory, longing and the Arabic alphabet ignited while exploring Pike Place Market and Seattle's waterfront. The project closes with a public reading.
$4,900
Christina Antonakos-Wallace
Reimaging Belonging - Northwest Stories: Filming interviews with Seattle residents about migration, racism, and belonging through two workshops as part of a larger-scale venture with WINGS and ROOTS. The edited videos will be showcased at a live event where attendees will be invited to share stories.
$8,000
Rick Araluce
The Great Northern: Designing and creating a nearly full-sized train tunnel within MAD Art space in South Lake Union. The sculpture will be a rendering of the Great Northern train tunnel incorporating light and sound to fully immerse the audience.
$7,200
Quenton Baker
Ballast: Finalizing a book-length poem about the only successful American slave revolt in 1841. Using invented forms based on the 19th-century secondary slave market, Baker will explore the manifold realities of the men and women present on the brig Creole, where the 1841 revolt took place.
$800
Corrie Befort
A Rendering: Finalizing a 30-minute dance film in two parts generated with sound artist Jason E. Anderson for a premiere at the Northwest Film Forum in fall 2016.
$4,800
Vaughn Bell
Being with the River: Creating a public installation including sound and images collected from contemplative paddling events on the Duwamish River. Visitors are encouraged to create rocks from clean river sediment and clay to be accumulated and used as a marker by the river.
$3,325
Zack Bent
Spires: A project exploring forest fire land as a tableau for photographs and sculptures while considering human relationships to natural disasters and the potential for rebirth.
$4,088
Therese Casper
The Underground Life of Piero Heliczer, a documentary film, and multimedia experience: Presenting a work in progress of the documentary film and a display of Piero Heliczer's original works in letterpress printing and poetry. Original photographs including Andy Warhol's Factory and the first film shoot featuring the Velvet Underground will also be displayed.
$5,600
Katy Ellis
Anybody's Animal: Completing a poetry manuscript-in-progress and presenting it at a public reading as part of a writing class for children.
$2,400
Karen Finneyfrock
The Year We Ruined the House: Revising the author's third young adult novel and working with four teenage novelists providing them personal manuscript consultations on their own novels. Everyone's work will be presented at a public reading.
$8,000
Noel Franklin
Girl on a Road: Finalizing a storyboard for a full-length graphic novel and sample chapter of a book exploring female friendship, loss, and life on the road. A young adult workshop and a public reading will close the project.
$3,600
Gail Grinnell
We Are a Crowd of Others: is an interactive installation co-designed with artist Sam Wildman that engages a diverse public while challenging the features that differentiate artist from audience. Collaboration and participation will engage the audience prompting questions about the role of family and performance in our lives.
$7,200
Catherine Grisez
Generating a new body of work using copper, mixed media sculptures, interactive installations, and one community-based piece. The public will be invited to participate in neighborhood events, culminating in an exhibition at Traver Gallery and in South Park.
$6,400
Lauren Grossman
Leviathan' Interactive Installation: Developing and fabricating a new interactive sculpture installed in the water tower of Volunteer Park. The audience is encouraged to engage in dialogue about cultural myths and monsters.
$5,600
Teresa Hulls
Feeding Ghosts: The Life of Sun Yi: Creating a research outline for a non-fiction graphic novel exploring themes of cultural identity, mental illness, generational inheritance, loss of language, and mixed-race identity based on the life and legacy of the author's grandmother, Sun Yi. A panel will be held to discuss themes from the graphic novel.
$5,600
Wes Hurley
Capitol Hill Season 2: Completing the remaining eight scenes of the second season of a queer web series parodying 1970s and 1980s TV shows based in Capitol Hill. A public screening will premiere the series.
$8,000
Jody Kuehner
Clock that Mug: Live creation of a new painting drawing from vintage feminist ideals and questioning present-day queer/drag feminism. Clock that Mug pays homage to feminist performers Janine Antoni and Ana Mendieta who focused on the body as a canvas for social change and rebellion.
$7,200
Ingrid Lahti
Rippling Water, 2016: Create, fabricate, install and uninstall a new kinetic sculpture exploring natural metaphors, focusing viewers on the relationship between visual effects. The sculpture will be on display at the Heaven and Earth outdoor sculpture exhibition at Carkeek Park. The park will be restored to its original condition after the five-month-long exhibition.
$5,166
Fulgencio Lazo
International Children’s Day exhibit and celebration: will feature 10 new acrylics on canvas with themes based on the joy and fun of childhood to be on display at Casa Latina. The project will also include a one-day celebration for International Children's Day with tours, a bilingual (Spanish/English) artist talk, and a hands-on art activity for children and adults.
$4,888
George Lee
City of Faces: Human and Non-Human Community Building in Rainier Valley: Build community and deter youth violence by constructing an outdoor hanging wall of cast human face birdhouses. 30 local youths will participate by getting their faces cast and turned into birdhouses.
$2,575
Frances McCue
Demolishing Richard Hugo: Researching and creating a first-person narrative for pre-production of a documentary film about the demolition of the current Richard Hugo House building. This will show the building as a case study for the ‘erasure’ of old arts and cultural venues. A public screening event will be offered.
$5,600
Jessica Mooney
When I Find You: Completing a draft of a novel in progress exploring different strata of violence, from domestic to global, from personal experience to ancestral memory. Passages will be presented in a collaborative reading centered around the theme of "Cultural Memory".
$3,500
John Mullen
Naked City: Finishing the first draft of a manuscript of autobiographical short stories about growing up in the closet, highlighting moments including cross-country hitchhiking, crash landing in Seattle, and more. There will be a public reading of the manuscript.
$4,410
Frances Nelson
Light Gathers in Folds: Fabrication of a form of light architecture revolving around the movement of reflected and refracted light, a site-specific installation in Chinatown-International District's Nihonmachi Alley.
$5,600
Ellery (ET) Russian
Casting Shadows: is a multi-sensory installation piece comprising approximately seven video comics portraying stories of people with disability and chronic illnesses. Each short video will be projected onto various surfaces within the exhibition space, feature pen/ink illustrations with text captions, and a soundscape. The exhibition will take place in a variety of venues.
$5,600
Juniper Shuey
Untitled: Build and dismantle an immersive visual art installation to create an interactive sculpture that hosts three heightened performances. Inspired by memory and the maps our brains create to house thought, the installation will fill an entire gallery for three and a half months.
$8,000
Imani Sims
2155: An Afro-futurist Affair: Exploring what it means to envision the future through the eyes of People of Color through performing arts and a reading highlighting local artists' interactions with the idea of the African American aesthetic in the future. The multidisciplinary show will be staged at Gay City Arts.
$4,590
Xin Hui Tan
A Taste of Home: Completing shooting and post-production of a feature-length documentary tracing 100 years of Seattle Chinatown ID's immigrant history through five signature heritage dishes, served by five of the oldest Chinese American family food establishments. Public screenings planned.
$5,600
Leah Warshawski
Big Sonia: Finishing a feature documentary about 89-year-old Sonia Warshawski the larger-than-life seamstress, Polish immigrant, only Holocaust survivor in Kansas City, and local celebrity. A public screening will include educational discussions.
$6,400
Koon Woon
Paper-son Poet: Finishing and publishing a memoir in a multi-genre format of poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and straight memoir for four generations of a Chinese immigrant family in Seattle's International District where the author has lived for 25 years. Four public readings will take place.
$4,000

2015 CityArists Projects

Daniel Barry
Compose, perform new music for jazz orchestra that incorporates elements of classical, jazz and Brazilian traditions including an educational component.
$3,560
William Satake Blauvelt
Create and present new music/sound score incorporating the almost lost art of katsudo benshi (live film narration) for the classic Japanese silent film "A Story of Floating Weeds."
$3,200
Paul Budraitis
Rehearse and stage the play "Fireface" in a domestic residence or a neglected industrial or commercial space with bused-in audiences with actors and audience in close proximity.
$4,500
Codjo Etienne Cakpo-Gbokou
Develop and present new body of solo and group choreographic work exhibiting styles from both East (Zimbabwe/So Africa) and West (Togo/Benin) Africa for two public performances.
$5,200
Desdemona Chiang
Produce new bilingual ASL/English play about the intersection of hearing and Deaf culture and the controversy over cochlear implants featuring a mixed ensemble of Deaf and hearing actors.
$5,200
Anna-Lizette Conner
Create and produce a multidisciplinary work including performance and sound design and exploring death via the transitional world and the living world.
$3,600
Terry Crane
Complete and present an evening length contemporary circus show with director KT Niehoff inspired by The Library of Babel, by Jorge Luis Borges.
$3,200
August Denhard
Five performers present demonstrations and concerts exploring music along the Silk Road with cultural and historical context for the music including presentations or workshops to public school students and the general public.
$3,600
Nat Evans
Collaborate with eight West Coast composers and compose new pieces with field recordings while on a walking trek of the Pacific Coast Trail. The work will culminate with performances and school workshops.
$2,600
Christian French
Generate songs for a new Rock Opera with local composer and perform selections at a Duwamish River festival.
$3,600
Alice Gosti
Develop a five hour-long live performance that questions identity, community and where art belongs, and challenges the canonic boundaries of dance and that brings politics and history into the foreground.
$5,200
Steve Griggs
Commission a 45-minute program of narration with composed and improvised jazz music to be performed at the site of one sculpture by James Washington.
$3,300
Alex Guy
Compose, record and mix a musical score for "With Wings and Roots," a feature length documentary about immigration and belonging, with a screening event of the finished film.
$4,000
Dayna Hanson
Create and present a new solo-group quartet dance work based loosely on a discarded sheet of calculus problems as a visual blueprint for intricately patterned movement for premiere performances.
$6,000
Robin Holcomb
Compose new music for piano, voice and cello for two public performances and a studio recording.
$3,250
Wayne Horvitz
Complete a new 15-minute piece in three movements for full orchestra with an improvising soloist to be performed by the Seattle Symphony based on three poems by Richard Hugo.
$6,000
Kristianne Huntsberger
Develop and record stories of challenging experiences of 10 women of different ages and backgrounds. Closes with a draft script and recording.
$2,300
Christopher Icasiano
Compose, produce and present a new recording and create new student ensemble focusing on free-improvisation.
$3,250
Jessica Kenney
Complete recording of a voice-on-voice performance of classical and contemporary Persian poetry, lecture, and song-melody from mystical literature with four artists.
$3,600
Paul Kikuchi
Development and design of an online interactive experience of a multi-faceted website combining original music, photos, writings, and historic recordings with a 'Meet the Artist' event to discuss the work.
$6,400
Jody Kuehner
Pushing past performance category traditions, development and performance comes second in a triptych of gender-bending modern dance/drag solos exploring existential crisis. A journey to find peace in the unknown.
$3,600
Paul Kuniholm Pauper
Present a nine-artist participatory Garden Party Theatre parading wearable art with large public feast where gowns are given to young women for proms.
$2,400
Kyle Loven
Complete, rehearse, and present an evening-length performance incorporating multiple performers, objects, live video and original music. Work is inspired by conspiracy theories and explores how we as viewers and as humans process information.
$4,800
Donald McGreevy
The Temporal Nature of Stability is a minimalist symphony depicting the Chernobyl Disaster. Using modified electric guitars, acoustic instruments and organs, the music will illustrate the inclination toward patchwork solutions often applied to problems created by technological advancements.
$4,000
David Nixon
Record a soundtrack for an animated musical documentary film, the true story of a charismatic LSD-loving leader of a controversial Buddhist sect centered in Seattle in the 1970's, closing with a public screening.
$6,000
Angelique Poteat
Compose and present new music for orchestra with girls’ choir addressing pressures girls face from popular culture and society today from their own perspectives.
$6,000
Monica Rojas-Stewart
Produce a bilingual Peruvian holiday of De Inga y Mandinga exploring mixed ethnic-cultural heritage from an Afro-Peruvian perspective. Remount version invites a new partner, the Sound of the Northwest with Negro Spirituals, for a public performance.
$3,600
Michael Sauder
Create a 3-show performance series exploring original and experimental musical composition in a visceral environment with visual art works.
$3,400
Zoe Scofield
Create and present a new, evening-length choreographic work with an original Sacred Harp score in Southern Baptist a capella traditon. It will take place in an environment immersing audience in cacophony of song and dance.
$5,200
Mary Scott
Develop and present 8 new, solos for an evening-length dance works designed for experimentation. Work will be taken apart, transposed from stage to site-specific locations and reassembled in new orders.
$4,800
Tikka Sears
Collaborate and create a cross-cultural performance with Indonesian director Rachman Sabur of the Black Umbrella Theater exploring birth, re-birth, trauma and near death experiences through physical theater, storytelling and puppetry.
$7,200
Greg Sinibaldi
Create, record and premiere new music for a small jazz group and electronics based on the poetry of Sylvia Plath's book Ariel with lecture and demonstrations.
$6,000
Paul Taub
Commission and perform five new works for flute and up to five other instruments.
$6,000
Stokley Towles
Present a solo performance piece exploring the social and physical landscape of the Metro bus based on interview excerpts with transit drivers and observations of daily life on the bus.
$3,600
Rosa Vissers
Develop and perform a 20-minute choreographic-dance performance examining the effect of accidents on people, communities and their futures with 11 artists via interviews and research of past incidents with common themes.
$3,200
Hope Wechkin
Create a site-specific, cross-sector and multidisciplinary performance including imaging studies of brain activity that explores the experience of being 'in synch' with another, or 'withing.'
$3,200
Mirta Wymerszberg
Recreate and perform a children's theatrical work, the practice of 'el contador de cuentos', the storyteller of ancient Latin American children stories and songs, by two actors in Spanish. Rehearsals will close with two public performances.
$3,900

2014 CityArists Projects

Roberto Ascalon
Research and production of a manuscript of new and edited poems that generates an illustrated chapbook. A high school reading of selected pieces will be accompanied by musicians at the Massive Monkee headquarters.
$6,800
Mike Attie
A complete feature-length documentary film about a Vietnam War reenactment. Searching for solace from the ghosts of their own wars, a platoon of veterans head into the woods of the Pacific Northwest to recreate some of the darkest days of American history. A public screening will be offered.
$5,200
Erin Brindley
Complete first two chapters of the Cafe Nordo Cookbook, an interactive multi-media cookbook, and compendium of the science, history, and philosophy of food based on previous shows. Chapters will be accessible via free download and presented at farmers markets.
$5,200
Webster Crowell
Complete a partial feature-length adventure in episodic format for both big screen and download. The film will include live-action as well as animated effects and title sequences.
$6,800
Karen Finneyfrock
Complete writing a young adult novel: a fictionalized account of the author's senior year in high school while facing repercussions of a friend's lies. Culminating with a reading and lecture at Nathan Hale High School.
$7,040
Eroyn Franklin
Complete first three chapters of a graphic novel-memoir exploring a year spent living in European squats that culminate with a comic workshop plus public reading.
$3,960
Tory Franklin
Create daily fairy-tale narratives based on worldwide stories in a public window theater that explores working with removable materials at a storefront and workshop at The Vera Project.
$2,621
Sean Gallagher
Curate and document an intergenerational, multi-disciplinary, and traditional event for Native American-Alaskan cultures in and alongside a newly created Umiak that illustrates the importance of community sharing with an exhibit, film, dance, and gift-giving.
$5,200
Chad Goller-Sojourner
Write and self-publish a collection of narrative essays surrounding what happens when a black, transracial adopted boy, raised by white parents, ages out of honorary white and suburban privilege and into a world where folklore, statistics, and conjecture deem him dangerous until proven otherwise.
$3,229
Wynne Greenwood
Create a video archive of 17 separate video recordings of band performances in Northwest houses and punk clubs widely embraced by national and international queer, feminist and artistic communities. Excerpts from the archive will be screened for youth and college-age audiences.
$3,801
Stephanie Guerra
Complete a young adult novel set in present-day Las Vegas, where a seventeen-year-old protagonist is trying to support himself, find love, face dyslexia, and struggle to find an authentic identity in a world revolving around money. Closing includes readings and workshops.
$5,950
Salise Hughes
Produce a new, short film by manipulating layers of footage of rogue cop, horror, and film noir genres frame-by-frame with an original score for a public screening.
$3,250
Robert Hutchison
Complete a book manuscript including transcription and editing of interviews with Japanese architects and artists, personal essays, and photography executed by the author while in Japan for public lectures.
$3,250
Rachel Kessler
Complete and give a reading with a slideshow from a book-length manuscript about working as a hack in all aspects of life: writer, parent, partner, and child. Employing poems and stories this tale of post-partum depression, broken noses, spilled milk, and sins of the generations unfold.
$2,600
Yuri Kinoshita
Create an illuminated, floating teahouse that floats on water for open-air, traditional Japanese tea ceremonies in public places.
$3,200
Margot Quan Knight
Generate and exhibit a new body of photo-based work on the theme of conversation that explores photography's struggle to document the unseen. A public exhibit and an elementary school workshop will be presented.
$7,040
Natasha Marin
Complete original poem per Red Lineage adapted to allow others to contribute their own personal histories that echo, overlap, and foster a sense of community despite real and/or perceived barriers. Produce interactive, multimedia archive, public workshop, and a screening and performance event.
$4,400
Jen Marlowe
Complete BAHRAIN: THE UNCOVERED UPRISING, a feature-length documentary film providing an in-depth look at the pro-democracy uprising in the Gulf Kingdom of Bahrain. Once complete, the film will be screened at multiple Seattle venues, and include discussions about the situation in Bahrain.
$5,720
Brian McGuigan
Complete the first draft of a book-length memoir entitled THE ANATOMY OF A GUN OWNER about my personal history with guns and violence and the fear and paranoia that led me to become a reluctant gun owner. Present two readings in South Seattle near the sites of shootings covered in the book.
$5,200
Larissa Min
Complete a manuscript exploring the intersections of development, conservation, social justice, and global climate change in two of the world's last wild places, Antarctica and the Amazon, from a developing world's perspective with a public presentation.
$5,800
Sierra Nelson
Create new poems to complete a book manuscript with an interactive poetic structure inspired by the ancient Chinese divination method Book of Changes (I Ching). A series of audience-interactive group-divination performances of the new poems will be held.
$5,100
Kay Ray
Complete final re-edit of a documentary film based on interviews of American women instrumentalists in jazz from the 1920s to 1970s with public screenings.
$7,040
Paul Rucker
Create an installation comprised of lynching postcards brought to life through animation and original music, and wooden sculptures marking historic deaths related to the civil rights movement as part of a series demonstrating parallels between slavery and the prison industrial complex.
$7,040
Adam Sekuler
Complete early research and development phase of a dance film piece about abandonment derived from a multi-year residency experiment with choreographer Shannon Stewart and company of 15 set in an abandoned site in King County. Year-end work will have a public screening.
$4,125
Ward Serrill
Produce a short documentary following Seattle inventor, Peter Scott, as he creates the world's most fuel-efficient cookstove that saves forests and lives. Public screening planned.
$6,800
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Maria TV interweaves videos of Latina domestic workers with reenactments of their jobs based on how they are portrayed in the media to highlight experiences of local underprivileged people. Work creates a connection and sensibility for an important and tangible political and cultural issue. A public screening will be offered.
$8,000
Danielle Villegas
Complete interviews, shoot, and post-production of a 30-minute documentary focused on an indigenous North American concept of 'Two Spirit' for a public screening. 'Two Spirit' references a person who fulfills one of many traditional mixed-gender roles among Native American and Canadian First Nation communities.
$6,800
David Williams
Finish manuscript for a book exploring how and why Seattle shaped its physical landscape, including Denny Hill, the Duwamish Tide Flats, the historic shoreline, and Lake Washington Ship Canal. Free public presentations at community centers and museums will be scheduled.
$3,900
Allyce Wood
Produce new site-specific installation at a storefront comprised of video projection throughout the space, shimmering upon three-dimensional cut paper elements suspended.
$2,282
Carolyne Wright
Complete poems based on a sequence of intercultural encounters with girls and women that form a section of a book confronting family and national history, and the intersection of the personal and public arena.
$2,000
Ben Zamora
Create and exhibit an immersive, site-specific sculptural light installation representing Phase II MALA, a multi-year project based on Buddhist prayer beads creating a meditation mantra. MALA is built with 108 individual sections.
$4,400

2013 CityArists Projects

Kathya Alexander
Revise and complete a script Old Testament about homosexuality in the Black church and gang violence in the Black community, based on gang violence in The Old Testament. Material from community forums will be integrated into the production.
$3,000
Amontaine Aurore Woods
Expand conceptual aspects of a full-length, one-woman play (including multimedia) about a Black teen exploring revolutionary mindsets in 1970s suburban Seattle.
$3,000
Samantha Boshnack
Develop eight new jazz pieces that push parameters. These works will be performed by a new group of musicians covering a span of ages and experiences in disparate venues around Seattle including an elementary school. Final live concerts will be recorded. Develop eight new jazz pieces that push parameters. These works will be performed by a new group of musicians covering a span of ages and experiences in disparate venues around Seattle including an elementary school. Final live concerts will be recorded.
$4,500
Paul Budraitis
Completion of a playscript for non-verbal, image-based theatrical performances that follows the protagonist of the classic play "Death of a Salesman" into the afterlife highlighting his modern resonance.
$4,500
Catherine Cabeen
Development and presentation of a dance-theater performance blending historic scholarship and choreography based on Niki de Saint Phalle. A major theme of the work is criticism of female artists on accomplishment versus beauty. Events will engage UW students and participants from Reel Grrls.
$6,000
Rose Cano
Complete script development and staged presentations of a bilingual play based on Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as homeless characters. Performances will take place through a series of readings at local shelters and for homeless and advocacy organizations.
$8,000
Alex Chadsey
Further collaboration with multidisciplinary artists from Mexico, Los Angeles, and Seattle plus immigrant youth in the development of new compositions culminating in two concerts/fandangos and video.
$8,000
Steven Cherena
Record, rehearse and perform traditional Afro-Cuban compositions descended from Yoruba folklore with sacred bata drums and vocals for a public concert.
$6,000
Kevin Connor
Create, record, and present original compositions for Cuban tres and guitar showcasing similarities between Cuban tres and Gypsy Jazz guitar. New work will be performed at a community concert.
$4,500
Emily Doolittle
Present and record a concert of music based on sounds from nature performed by the Seattle Chamber Players with pre-concert talks and recording. Performances will be made available to middle school students and senior citizens.
$4,500
Dayna Hanson
Present a new, evening-length dance-theater piece blending details of the 2012 school board shooting with studies of Chekhov's suicides and the Death Wish crime films.
$8,000
Wayne Horvitz
Create and record a set of instrumental songs for string trio with electronics and for piano with electronics that will be performed as a suite. The songs incorporate repurposed compositions, acoustic material, and real instruments.
$4,500
Jessika Kenney
Compose, record, and perform new work exploring secular court music, vocal traditions, and fragments of classical literature from Iran and Java including innovative and open-ended translation processes.
$8,000
Paul Kikuchi
Compose, rehearse and perform a song cycle in five movements for six artists based on the artist's great grandfather's memoir. Culminating events will be two public performances, one of which will include a composer question/answer period.
$4,000
Jody Kuehner
Present new ensemble drag dance comedy of excess work inspired by small-town fame to replicate and commodify our personas no matter how unflattering the results.
$6,000
Joan Laage
Research, create and produce a new retrospective, multi-disciplinary butoh piece focusing on gender and its relationship with costuming, make-up, movement, and themes for public performances and talks.
$2,000
Leslie Law
Rehearse, present and record live theater for a radio show with poets and playwrights, composers, and performers highlighting the Puget Sound region. Thematic episodes are all scored with original music and sound effects available online as podcasts.
$6,000
Malika Lee
Debut the production of a full-length stage play about an African American woman's journey with breast cancer. The project encompasses development, rehearsals, and production which will be in Fall 2013.
$6,000
Hengda Li
Create and develop a new collaborative dance drama with the Chinese National Acrobatic Troupe from Beijing based on a young boy's struggle to pursue his dream of becoming the best acrobat in the world.
$6,000
Etta Mamin-Lilienthal
Produce an environmental site-specific light installation based on Buddhist prayer beads and meditation mantra that will have a number of live performances over a two-week period in multiple spaces. The installation will be fully documented.
$6,000
Paul Mullin
Develop through research and collaboration with theatre artists a stage play that dramatizes current scientific and philosophical explorations of human consciousness. The process will culminate in a fully staged workshop production in 2013.
$4,500
Jason Parker
Select, arrange and record original jazz compositions by Seattle-based musicians for two public performances with four high school workshops-concerts.
$6,000
Terry Podgorski
Complete final script of Don Nordo, a new full-evening theatrical work about food culture issues with free readings and post-reading talks including performers, producers, and supporters.
$3,000
Tamara Power-Drutis
Create, record, and present six derivative Northwest Americana works from the mid-19th century through the early 20th Century exploring the settlement era, railroads, mining communities, travel to the west, and their influence on our local culture. Pieces will be accompanied by historical context and photos for school and public performances.
$4,500
Sarah Rudinoff
Create, rehearse and perform an original rock n' roll play, These Streets, with exhibit and oral histories inspired by the lives of women musicians from the 1990's Seattle grunge scene.
$8,000
Anna Telcs
Present a dramatic live show exploring the ritual of dressing, the ceremony of fashion, and exclusivity within the fashion industry based in part on textile archives research. Performances will be concurrent with fashion week 2013 and performed three times on a single day with the exhibit.
$6,000
Ann Teplick
Complete the first draft of a full-length play about homophobia among teens. There will be a community and school staged reading with post-play discussions led by the director and representatives from King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.
$3,000
John Teske
Complete and perform two 60-minute performances of new concert music for a 26-piece ensemble of strings and woodwinds, exploring the subtleties of human consciousness, awareness, and experience at two venues.
$3,000
Jenna Bean Veatch
Present a two-woman show via a collage of monologues, ballads, old photos, modern dance, and '60s pop songs that weave a sad story of a Ukrainian-American family's war-torn past. Work paints an unexpectedly whimsical picture of loss.
$4,500

2012 CityArists Projects

Juan Alonso
To further develop a new body of photographic work of a recent trip to Cuba giving some insight into what life is like for the average person living on this Caribbean island where the average U.S. citizen cannot visit and the Cuban citizens are not allowed to leave.
$2,000
Amy Benson
To complete and screen a full-length documentary exploring poverty and suicide among young girls in Nepal. Two showcases with post-screening panel discussions will be offered to communities with large Nepalese populations and teens.
$4,000
Zack Bent
Create an addition to a pop-up camper van as an installation venue featuring six composers/musicians at five local festivals, inviting pedestrians and the general public to engage.
$4,000
Cody Blomberg
In partnership with Safe Schools Coalition, complete a 12-piece series of paintings illuminating aspects of bullying GLBTG youth and potential interventions. After a month-long gallery exhibit, work will be shown at Washington Middle School with a panel discussion.
$4,000
Jean Bradbury
Continue exploration of small sustainable farms of Snoqualmie Valley via plein air studies and large studio paintings to be shown in venues where organic food is sold or its production is referenced. Public exhibits will take place at three farmers markets and at a Seattle Tilth event.
$4,000
Cris Bruch
Develop a performative, portable sculpture on a bicycle trailer to encourage interaction about food rituals and family recipes at six P-Patch sites in diverse, socio-economic neighborhoods.
$4,000
Wendy Call
Write and publish a chapbook of lyrical essays exploring patriotism, imperialism, and environmentalism characterizing our national parks closing with writing workshops and one joint reading at the Klondike Gold Rush National Park Museum.
$4,000
Suzanne Edison
Create and publish new poems plus broadsides based on interviews and conversations with families raising chronically ill kids of ethnically diverse backgrounds with public readings at Seattle Children's Hospital, Odessa Brown Clinic, and UW Schools of Social Work and Nursing.
$4,000
Michael Falcone
Complete final editing of a short documentary featuring the Fremont Troll as a community public art venture to premiere at the Fremont Outdoor Movies and UW School of Architecture.
$2,000
Karen Finneyfrock
Research and write four chapters of a young adult novel about a girl raised on a commune in the Pacific Northwest for one public reading and one combination reading-lecture at a north-end high school.
$4,000
Elizabeth Gahan
Create a wall-mounted art installation at the South Park Community Center made of 3-D hexagonal patterns activated by vibrantly colored vinyl and lights with an interactive component inspiring neighborhood dialogue.
$4,000
Tatiana Garmendia
Transform a 2-D series into an installation of large-scale, silk paper burqas (traditional outer garments worn by some Islamic women) with burned calligraphic markings and sound recording accounts of violence from war survivors for a public exhibit at Seattle Central Community College.
$4,000
Chad Goller-Sojourner
Complete final draft of a manuscript focused recounting an eating disorder suffered by a fat, black, gay, bulimic adopted by white parents struggling with the diagnosis of a girl's disease. Public readings will be offered in partnership with LGBT agencies, the National Eating Disorder Association, and the CD Forum.
$4,000
Mandy Greer
Develop a multi-platform project of performative photos and giant wearable works exploring weight, physical burden, and labor. Interactive workshops, a blog, and a residency in Ireland will culminate in a public exhibit.
$4,000
Serge Gregory
Complete a short film as a composite myth told through native story fragments, visual allusion, and complex sound design to be screened in partnership with Conservation Northwest and UW Department of American Indian Studies.
$4,000
Gail Grinnell
Create a 3-D, site-specific installation of complex layered drawings through which the public can move with tours and talks aimed at Pike Market Senior Center and a Montessori school.
$4,000
Victoria Haven
Complete walking tours, a published trail guide, and an exhibition of physical, autobiographical artwork mapping a personal trajectory of studio space over time and reflecting current displacement of local artist live/workspace. HistoryLink and Storefronts Seattle will partner on shows and tours.
$4,000
Jill Hodges
Complete a short documentary exploring connections and complexities between adoptive and birth families of children in Guatemala. Adoption service agencies will partner on screening outreach and lead a panel discussion.
$2,000
Howard Hsu
A photographic series documenting the changing character of Seattle's industrial Sodo neighborhood exhibited at four galleries with presentations at four high school photography classes.
$2,000
Luke Johnson
Complete a draft manuscript of revised/new lyrical poems exploring isolation via Northwest urban/rural landscapes for a public reading and north Seattle high school visits.
$2,000
Marya Sea Kaminski
Draft a collection of 20 short stories inspired by a brother's struggle with autism and other family dysfunctions. Two public readings will be held with extended outreach to local organizations serving persons with autism plus talks at high schools.
$2,000
Sarah Kavage
Create a large-scale, site-specific braided grass sculpture/venue for seven musical performances at Discovery Park, including the Daybreak Star Cultural Center, to provoke new park experience and viewer responses.
$4,000
Rachel Kessler
Compose, print, and produce public health service messages/poems as laminated placards and books for display in public restrooms at sites including art venues, college campuses, high schools and small neighborhood businesses.
$4,000
Bharti Kirchner
Complete final draft of novel chronicling the life of a village girl employed by the East Indian Company in medieval India. Two public readings will target South Asian cultural organizations and UW students.
$4,000
Robert Kunz
Present a temporary sonic porthole via a large-scale, sound installation at Union Station featuring 15 layered broadcasts from train stations from around the world. Performances will target youth and senior populations from the International District.
$4,000
Fulgencio Lazo
With an all-ages team from Casa Latina, create a large-scale sand painting and mechanized carved sculpture reflecting immigrant themes of separation, hard work, nostalgia and struggle to adapt for installation at SAM's Olympic Sculpture Park in recognition of Day of the Dead.
$4,000
Margie Livingston
Create a new series of 3-D artworks made entirely of acrylic paint, bridging the space between painting and sculpture for a gallery exhibit of "paint objects" and a public talk at a local high school.
$4,000
Amanda Manitach
To print a series of four, limited edition, hand-bound issues of Folio, a local arts journal containing writing and artwork by regional artists for public distribution and readings, performances, and presentations at Seattle Art Museum.
$4,000
Tess Martin
A stop-frame animated film series comprised of vignettes based on 12 taped interviews exploring human-animal connections with pets for a public park screening. Media programs serving young girls and Native American teens will be invited.
$4,000
Brian McGuigan
The completion of a lecture-slide show presentation chronicling struggles with weight loss and a workshop performance targeting the health and fitness field with a focus on groups addressing childhood obesity.
$2,000
Donna Miscolta
Revise and create chapters of a current novel on race, identity, and belonging. A flash fiction workshop with Latino students on the theme of growing up brown will close with a joint reading of work.
$4,000
Peter Mountford
Complete draft of a novel about a middle-aged widower who scandalously quits a well-established career with the World Bank. One reading and discussion will be offered in Spanish and one will be targeted to inmates in the correctional system.
$4,000
Serene Petersen
Final production of a short animated film exploring the struggles and transformative changes of transgender experience and encouraging dialogue on the subjects of visibility, safety and support. Screenings will be geared to the queer community and youth.
$4,000
Nancy Rawles
Produce an audio book of a self-published novel about an urban school in disarray and the veteran public school teacher as champion. Free interactive readings will target populations struggling with literacy.
$4,000
Tivon Rice
Complete a sound and light installation incorporating urban sounds recorded in Seoul, Korea, and amplified through a kinetic sculpture for public presentation at Union Station.
$2,000
Adam Sekuler
Develop a series of videos for public screening that draw on stories, sounds, and images and capture the essence of a neighborhood and serve as a record of the community.
$2,000
Nicki Sucec
Create a multi-media exhibit featuring a sculpture made of helicopter rotor blades symbolizing ascension along with audio-visual portraits of individuals recovering from adversity. A public exhibit will aim to combat stigma and inspire hope.
$4,000
Polly Sutton
Create a new body of sculptural cedar bark basketry incorporating invasive plant species in Seattle and using experimental gathering and preparation techniques for a public exhibition at a park's environmental center.
$4,000
Kevin Tomlinson
To produce a documentary featuring the professional and personal journey of reinvention of local and internationally recognized photographer Phil Borges for a public exhibit.
$4,000
Glenn Tramantano
Create a multi-media installation for the public exhibit, including drawings, sculpture, and video, that re-imagines the world of Oz based on research of gay history within the military.
$2,000
Hannah Viano
Design and produce a set of alphabet images using paper cut technique and silkscreen and relying on distinct Pacific Northwest flora and fauna for exhibit at libraries and community centers.
$2,000
Kary Wayson
Complete a book-length lyric poem divided into short sections that study the route of a daily Queen Anne neighborhood walk for a public reading that reaches local youth arts programs.
$2,000
Kevin Wildermuth
Identify two neighborhoods with a high volume of young adult pedestrian traffic to use QR codes and smartphones for viewing Oaxacan images paired with the specific location of QR code.
$4,000
Ben Zamora
Create a large-scale, site-specific light installation that transforms the Intiman Theatre courtyard and creates a space for performance and reflection for Seattle Center audiences.
$4,000

2011 CityArists Projects

Mimi Allin, interdisciplinary, The Lamplighter. To create a lamppost, inspired by the lamplighter in The Little Prince, to be illuminated and extinguished 1,440 times at neighborhood art walks and a gallery.
$2,000
Holly Arsenault, theater, Undo. To complete and present a public staged reading of a new full-length play exploring religion, commitment, and family through the story of a familiar yet foreign ceremony.
$2,271
Byron Au Yong, opera/musical theater, Stuck Elevator. To complete a revised script with a performance, and to produce a CD, of a comic opera prompted by the true story of a Chinese deliveryman who was trapped in an elevator for three days.
$4,662
Scott Augustson, theater, Where the River Styx Meets Route 66. To complete the development of a theatrical adaptation of the Odyssey and create puppets for a large-scale silhouette puppet production.
$4,995
Tom Baker, music, Invisible Cities: String Quartet No. 1. To create the first of nine string quartet compositions based on the book Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino.
$3,996
Eric Banks, music/interdisciplinary, Approaching Ecstasy. To compose and develop a concert-length ballet for mixed double-chorus, string quartet, and eight dancers, inspired by the poetry of Constantine Cavafy.
$3,330
Jherek Bischoff, music, Ambient Orchestra. To create, present and record a performance of ten new compositions for a forty-five-person orchestra, three conductors working simultaneously, and two sound operators manipulating live sound to create a wash of sound, melody, and mood.
$6,660
Samantha Boshnack, music, The B'shnorkestra. To develop and perform nine original compositions for a 19-piece ensemble exploring multiple musical genres and unique instrumentation for school showcases, a lecture, and two public concerts.
$4,009
Catherine Cabeen, dance/interdisciplinary, Crystallizing Space ("CS"). To complete research, early choreography, and a lecture performance on the way to developing a new full-length work inspired by post-World War II painter Yves Klein.
$3,330
Etienne Cakpo, dance, Mikwaabo Benin. To create and present two performances of a new choreographic work juxtaposing traditional dance and music from Benin, Africa, with contemporary elements, including video projections from the region.
$3,996
Toby Campbell, music, Anomie Belle String Quartet. To compose and present a new piece for string quartet with accompanying electronic elements, using cross-genre sound and instrumentation.
$4,005
Alexander Chadsey, music, Sones Marineros. To develop new and in-progress musical works in son jarocho, salsa, and jazz with a collaborative ensemble of musicians from Seattle, Los Angeles and Mexico.
$5,661
Carol Clay, theatre, little world. To develop and perform a puppet theater piece inspired by the grieving process. The work will utilize a reverse theatre-making process in which puppets and set design are created first, followed by character and script development.
$6,660
Terence Crane, theatre, Circus Syzygy. To create and present an original full-length circus show through residencies and rehearsals with local and international artists, culminating in a month-long series of performances.
$6,660
Christopher DeLaurenti, music, Thrill: A Jazz Madrigal. To compose a work, melding the voices of three Seattle-area jazz, blues, and gospel singers, that re-imagines the classic song "You're My Thrill" as a haunting Elizabethan madrigal.
$4,662
Lori Dillon, multidisciplinary, Interview Me. To research, rehearse, and present four interactive multimedia performances that explore the roles of interviewer and interviewee through pre-recorded and real-time playback sound, film projection, and live theater.
$4,995
Ruthie Dornfeld, multidisciplinary, Music of Bards: From Modern Africa to Medieval Europe. To create a multi-disciplinary performance linking the traditions of African kora players and medieval European musicians and poets through music and recitation.
$2,000
Beth Fleenor, music, Mother May I. To develop a sound art and craft installation inspired by sound wave patterns that the artist will translate into unique cross-stitch panels.
$3,330
Levi Fuller, music, Songs About Books. To develop, perform, and record 25 all-new songs by five separate musicians, all inspired by books of the artist's choosing.
$6,573
Lori Goldston, music/multidisciplinary, Charismatic Megafauna. To create and perform a multimedia piece featuring solo amplified cello and a commissioned 16mm film that explores concepts of wilderness, the human condition, and the natural world.
$3,046
Bernard Hazens, multidisciplinary, Rola-Juggler. To refine and perform a solo circus act involving acrobatics, juggling, and rola bola. The circus will be performed on a car retrofitted to serve as a movable stage.
$3,330
Fred Hoadley, music, Afro-Cuban Jazz Tribute to Charles Mingus. To arrange pieces of music by Charles Mingus for Latin Jazz ensemble; compose an original piece as a tribute to him; and rehearse, record, and perform new Latin jazz works with an expanded version of ensemble.
$5,328
Robin Holcomb, music, New Music for Jazz Orchestra. To create, rehearse and produce an archival recording of a new work by the Washington Composer's Orchestra that interweaves composition and improvisation.
$4,995
Wayne Horvitz, music, Smokestack Arias. To research, create, and perform a song cycle for voice, piano, and pre-recorded electronic score based on the emotional impact of the Everett Massacre.
$4,995
Etsuko Ichikawa, visual arts/multidisciplinary, Firebird - Between the Eternal and the Ephemeral. To develop a new body of glass pyrographic work integrating a dance performance to Stravinsky with videotaping in a glass studio.
$1,500
Marya Sea Kaminski, theatre, The Bonnie Papers. To research and draft a play exploring Americans' cultural fascination with images of women with guns. Play research and writing will be done in collaboration with a dramaturg and script consultant and will culminate in public readings.
$5,581
Paul Kikuchi, music, Paul Kikuchi - Union Station Concert. To develop and present new and existing music in the historic Great Hall at Union Station, taking advantage of the space's unique acoustics.
$4,728
Jody Kuehner, dance, Summer Squat. To complete, rehearse and perform an evening-length, site-responsive dance exploring the LGBTQ experience in Seattle for a performance at Gay Camp.
$5,214
Susie Lee, dance/visual arts, Thresholds. To develop, rehearse and present an improvisational and interactive new work in which a group of disparate performers, digital artists, and computer scientists act out dream-influenced vignettes in unusual performance spaces.
$2,997
Kyle Loven, theatre, Blink. To complete, rehearse and present a one-man show incorporating intricate puppets, masks, and original music inspired by the mystery of the night.
$3,996
Elspeth MacDonald, music, Snow Language. To perform and produce a multi-lingual full-length CD of original music and arrangements that fuse Latin American, jazz, and pop elements.
$3,996
Etta Mamin-Lilienthal, multidisciplinary, Still. To produce an evening-length improvisational piece in which four artists explore the nature of the life cycle and the process of artistic collaboration.
$6,460
Natasha Marin O'Brien, multidisciplinary, Miki Kuro's Midnight Tea (MKMT). To present an interactive and participatory theatre piece, inspired by the Japanese Tea Ceremony and 1960s art "happenings," that involves performance artists, dancers, and live and electronic music.
$4,995
Rachel Matthews, music, New Orchestral Work. To create a new composition for orchestra in two movements and a recording of the premier performance by Philharmonia Northwest.
$5,328
Marissa Niederhauser, dance, the only sunshine. To develop and perform a new choreographic work that integrates projected images in an intimate setting, with a focus on a personal investigation of a public performance.
$1,860
KT Niehoff, dance, Untitled. To create a year-long series of dance performances, videos, writing, events, and sightings culminating in a full-length production that incorporates all previous elements, creating a sense of audience ownership and belonging.
$5,328
Haruko Nishimura, multidisciplinary, Collaboration in Three Mediums. To create a site-specific contemporary work that re-imagines fairy tales through comical and horrific butoh dance, artistic installation, and sculpture.
$6,660
Amy O'Neal, dance, All Adds Up. To create and perform a new evening-length dance piece that gradually accumulates dancers and musicians on-stage, from one performer to twenty over the course of thirty minutes, raising questions of overpopulation, information overload, and cultural crossover.
$5,328
Monica Rojas, multidisciplinary, Echoes Afroperuanos. To create, rehearse and perform a two-hour show blending theatre, music, and dance to explore the cultural contributions of African descendants to Peruvian culture.
$6,660
Ellie Sandstrom, dance, The Decline. To present a new group piece inspired by the field recordings of Alan Lomax. The work will balance technical precision with unique movement and sound to explore the cracks within human existence.
$3,596
Jovino Santos Neto, music, Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto - New Recording. To perform and record a CD of new original music, adding additional percussion, melodica, and flute to recently completed musical tracks.
$3,330
Hugo Solis, music, Sound Installation of the Washington Sea Coast. To produce a traveling sound installation inside a cargo container that explores the history, sights, and sounds of the Washington coast.
$5,328
Paul Taub, music, From Riga to Tblisi: Recording and Performance of Flute Music Written for Paul Taub. To produce a high-quality CD of premiere pieces by prominent and emerging Baltic and Caucasian composers.
$6,660
Curtis Taylor, theatre, A White White Day. To workshop, design, and stage an evening-length original play exploring the nature and high cost of loneliness as it occurs across liminal modern spaces.
$4,663

2010 CityArists Projects

Gala Bent, visual, Drawing a Parallel. To complete a new body of work consisting of large-scale drawings with graphite and gouache.
$3,000
Zack Bent, visual, Scout's Honor. To create a new series of photographs and sculptures representing the solitude and individualism of dying.
$6,000
Carrie Bodle, media, Sewing Sonifications. A sewing and sound art performance of data stemming from University of Washington oceanographic research in Puget Sound.
$5,000
Wendy Call, literature, Grief's Hidden Gifts. To write 10 essays plus offer writing workshops on grief and loss, based on cancer, end-of-life issues, hospice care and grieving.
$2,605
James Coupe, media, Surveillance Suite. To develop a cinema project consisting of seven gallery-scale video installations and sculptures from a network of cameras used in surveillance.
$4,000
Claire Cowie, visual, Tancredi et Clorinda. To create scenery and projected animated costumes for the staging of Monteverdi's short opera Combattimento di Tancredi et Clorinda.
$5,000
Chris Engman, visual, Time and Space. To create the final five of 15 pieces of photographic and video work for a solo exhibit in fall 2010.
$4,000
Garrett Fisher, visual, Psyche, a Web Opera. To curate and create a virtual evolution of the artist's live original opera Psyche, via a 10-part series of Internet films developed by several different artists.
$8,500
Claudia Fitch, visual, Floating Mechanism. To construct and install a 25-foot diameter sculptural tableau floating within Suyama Space.
$7,500
Felicia Gonzalez, literature, Swimming in Mercury. To complete a collection of short stories or flash fiction on three generations of a family's life.
$3,900
John Grade, visual, Circuit. To make a large-scale sculpture of thin stoneware in eight parts designed to change in direct response to an alpine location.
$10,000
Allison Green, literature, Trout Frying in America. To complete a memoir about growing up in the Northwest as a lesbian and writer-to-be influenced by the Tacoma-born writer Richard Brautigan, author of Trout Fishing in America.
$3,000
Mandy Greer, visual, Honey and Lightning. To develop a body of fabric installations and narrative photographs for a solo show revolving around the mercurial nature of human desire.
$10,000
Himanee Gupta-Carlson, media, Throwing Like a Girl and Proud of It: Feminism and Activism in Hip-Hop. To complete a book manuscript on Seattle's non-commercial hip-hop community with a focus on the women who participate and the artistic, cultural and civic engagement components.
$4,000
Annie Han, visual, Future Perfect. To explore multiple aspects of "uncertainty" as it relates to building construction through a 30-minute performance staged in a fragment of a building-like structure within a real excavated construction site.
$5,000
Victoria Haven, visual, 3D Translation of Linear Structures. To create a series of three-dimensional metal and resin linear structures that explore abstract ideas of built space.
$5,000
Jenny Heishman, visual, Ghosts in the Closet: Examining Contemporary Haute Couture as an Armature for a New Collection of Sculptures. To research and develop four sculptures that explore the deeper meanings of fashion in the relation of surface and the body beneath.
$3,000
Kevin Heutink, media, Out On A Limb. To produce a documentary film about Seattle's "Squirrelman," who became the face of homelessness when city officials evicted him from his elaborate tree house on Eastlake.
$10,000
Salise Hughes, media, New Work for Recycled Visions. To create, screen and tour a new hour-long work of experimental shorts using recycled film footage.
$10,000
Britta Johnson, media, Unearth. To make several large-scale outdoor video installations in different regional sites that illustrate natural processes in a landscape in an un-natural way.
$7,800
Tomiko Jones, visual, Passage. To create a multimedia installation mining the artist's own photos, family pictures and recorded oral history for a meditation on the migratory passage of humans across borders of geography, generations and identity.
$1,500
Margot Kahn, literature, Untitled. To research and complete a manuscript draft of three essays exploring shifting ideas of "territory" within landscape, family, politics and culture in eastern Washington, Montana and Wyoming.
$5,000
Jourdan Keith, literature, Coyote Autumn. To complete a creative non-fiction collection weaving tales of three women's lives as they journey through the landscapes of divorce, civil rights and Yellowstone.
$3,500
Sarah Jane Lapp, media, The Mistakes I Made. To produce a 90-minute edit of a partially animated/partially live-action 16mm documentary examining the artist's mistakes in life and filmmaking.
$5,000
Robert Lawson, media, Christiania: Our Heart is in Your Hands. To complete a 60-minute documentary about Christiana, a 38-year-old squatter community in Copenhagen, Denmark, for public television broadcast and a free outdoor preview screening.
$5,000
Isaac Layman, visual, Four Seasons. To develop a solo show of six large photo-constructions focused on the four defining spaces in the artist's home - kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom.
$5,000
Jack Mackie, visual, CEDAR@CEDAR. To create a marker of urban history, neighborhood and place by making and installing a bench made from a salvaged cedar tree formerly planted at 1st Avenue and Cedar Street.
$3,600
Cienna Madrid, visual, Mountain Home. To research and complete a novel based on farming and ranching communities set in the semi-fictional town of Mountain Home, Idaho.
$3,000
Narayan Mahon, visual, A Labor of Love. To create photographic portraits, documentary images and audio interviews of 10 Washington state craftsmen and women.
$3,000
Tess Martin, media, Plain Face. To complete a 20-minute stop-frame animated short inspired by a trip to Ghana and the issues of identity and alienation caused by being an outsider.
$3,300
Anne Mathern, visual, Atelier Method. To collaborate with a painter to produce a paired drawing and video using their distinct media to observe one another sharing a simple activity.
$1,500
Kelly McLain, visual, Perception. To create a series of seven small sculptural marionettes fancifully combining plant, human and animal forms for an exhibit at Harborview Medical Center.
$3,000
Gene Gentry McMahon, visual, Water Watching: Puget Sound and the Duwamish River. To create a series of paintings/visual dramas at specific sites on the Duwamish River and Puget Sound. The series will be for an exhibit and a workshop for teenagers to explore issues with these waters.
$3,000
Donna Miscolta, literature, Strong Girls and Other Family Stories. To revise a collection of 15 short stories looking at three generations of a family.
$2,605
Peter Mountford, literature, Kamikaze, a Novel. To complete a rough draft of a novel set in Bolivia in 2005 that investigates the fragility of identity with the narrative including sections in Spanish.
$4,000
Fiona Otway, media, Local Economies Documentary. To complete and screen a 90-minute documentary exploring how economic issues play out across varying cultures, age groups and class groups.
$5,000
Chauney Peck, visual, Bang, Universe, Everything. To create six large and 12 smaller pieces on paper in which numbers and data about nature may transform into patterns and surprising images.
$2,000
Holly Pendergast, visual, Facing War. To create and exhibit a group of stylized painted portraits of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, beginning with photo portraits and interviews. The goal of the final portraits is to look through the eyes of soldiers, rather than make a pro- or anti-war statement.
$3,000
Peter Pereira, literature, Poem Series: 15 Poems Exploring the History of Medicine. To write 15 poems about medical breakthroughs that also changed the way we see the body, illness, health, and recovery in ethical and social terms.
$4,000
Susan Rich, literature, Fire Poems. To complete a collection of poems inspired by a terrifying brush with wildfires in Spain that explore all aspects of fire—literal and metaphorical.
$2,500
Ward Serrill, media, TreeStory. To raise awareness of the meaning of trees to our communities through six radio documentaries in which Seattleites will share their connections to individual trees that have profoundly influenced their lives.
$5,000
Lynn Shelton, media, My Dinner With Shermdre. To create a feature-length film unfolding over the course of an hours-long fictionalized conversation between writer Sherman Alexie and musician Sean Nelson.
$8,000
Ghida Sinno, literature, Short Story Collection. A collection of eight narratives from various perspectives, thematically linked by the terrorist attacks of 2001.
$2,690
Francine Strickwerda, media, Oil & Water. To create an initial 10-minute segment of a full-length documentary that follows the lives of two young men connected by the far-reaching effects of rainforest contamination by oil exploitation.
$6,500
Whiting Tennis, visual, Matador. To create an outdoor sculpture of a reconstructed 1970 AMC Matador sedan made from salvaged wood which will then be allowed to decompose in place.
$7,000
Ann Teplick, literature, The Beauty of a Beet: Poems from the Bedside. To write 15 new autobiographical poems that explore struggle and beauty at the bedside of loved ones who are dying.
$4,000
Eugenia Toledo, literature, Photographic Letters. Three artists will write and publish a bilingual book with poetry, narratives and and photos that pays tribute to Latino women and men in Washington state.
$3,000
Emily White, literature, Whatever Happened to John West. To complete a novel about an alienated boy and his passage into young adulthood in 1980.
$3,000
Inye Wokoma, visual, The Geography of Community. To create a series of short documentary-style videos and town hall events focused on the Central District intersection of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street.
$8,500
Shawn Wong, literature, The Ancient and Occupied Heart of Greg Li. To complete the first draft of a novel about an Asian American in Europe thrust into new global worlds of language, business, fashion and communication.
$3,000
Laura Wright, media, Untitled. To create an installation that uses light, sound and sculpture to simulate the sensation of an Ohio summer night and that also functions as a small cinema for screening Super 8 films.
$5,000

2009 CityArists Projects

Zaki Abdelhamid, theatre, Sixteen Wounded. To produce and perform a play by Eliam Kraiem addressing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Focus will be on the human side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rather than the political: a story of identity, love and the struggle to overcome the dark past in favor of a bright future.
$4,000
Mimi Allin, theatre, Adopt-A-Poet. To create and perform in a project about a poet seeking employment for a poet residency at a corporation in Seattle. Providing poetry in uncharted territory creates dialogue about what it means to offer actual payment to an artist whose work typically only garners complimentary copies of small poetry publications. The poet gains insight and a space to work and the corporation gains access to the creative impulse through offering a workshop, reading and new chapbook of poems.
$5,800
Eric Lane Barnes, theatre, My Evil Twin. To produce a five-person show composed of a collection of songs, scenes, dances and dreams. The five intertwining storylines revolve around the dark corners we all hold in our minds, and the great (and often hilarious) lengths we go to in avoiding/denying them.
$4,000
William Satake Blauvelt, theatre, Minashigo (Orphan). To create and perform a 90-minute performance work based on the true story of Iva Toguri, a young Nisei (2nd generation Japanese American) woman, who was unjustly convicted of treason by the United States government for being the mythical World War II Japanese radio propagandist Tokyo Rose.
$8,000
Andrew Boscardin, music, New Jazz Music for Large Wind Ensemble. To support and present the creation of new music for large jazz ensemble with an emphasis on woodwinds premiere and recording. The music will use unique instrumentation that inverts the balance of the jazz orchestra sound by moving the dominance from the brasses to the woodwinds, and by adding timbres less often found in jazz in the form of multiple clarinets, oboe and bassoon.
$4,000
Brianca Delaney, theatre, Giving Birth To Death. To create and perform a project that combines short monologues, poetry and dance to express one woman's life experience of giving birth to endings. The piece honors the process of death to poverty, suffering, enslavement and nightmares that can strangle second chances. It inspires the courage and personal discovery that propels the character through the journey of overcoming deeply-rooted personal and societal challenges.
$1,500
Amy Denio, music, Musical Bench at Seattle Center. To compose and create an all-weather musical bench containing a large hand-crafted music box. A hand crank will turn either way, playing the melody either backwards or forward. In keeping with ecological concerns, it will be a relatively "green" installation - one that requires no electricity. It will provide an enchanting soundtrack for those who choose to sit upon this bench.
$6,600
Mary Ewald, theatre, COMING OF AGE. To perform a theater work dealing with the issue of ageism: the segregation, stereotyping and stigmatizing of people on the basis of age. It will delve into the metamorphosis of youth becoming adults and adults becoming elders. The work will have a collage structure incorporating scenes, monologues based on interviews, video and poetry.
$7,000
Amber Flame, theatre, Hands Above the Covers: Hairy Palms and Other Nightmares of a Church Kid. To create and produce a multidisciplinary full-length evening performance incorporating new, original music and stories about the experiences of being raised in a fundamentalist religion from a young age.
$3,000
Chad Goller-Sojourner, theatre, The Bus Stop: Destination Anywhere But Here. To write, develop and stage read a full-length play based on the characters, themes and storylines contained in "In God's Way." The play chronicles the lives of two very different women, and the friendship that develops during a chance meeting at a bus stop.
$4,800
Ben Gonio, theatre, "America Is In The Heart" (a work in progress workshop presentation). To perform a solo show workshop performance that will partially stage a work-in-progress multimedia format about the prolific Filipino American writer, poet and social activist Carlos Bulosan.
$2,000
Stefan Gruber, theatre, Psychic Portraiture. To create and perform a show in which the artist paints portraits of audience members with animated light on a stage arranged with a large-sized canvas. Symbols from the life of the model also materialize to decorate the portrait. In a banter with the model and audience, psychic details are intuited.
$5,000
David Hahn, music, What Is The Word: New Choir Music. To compose, perform and record a new musical work for nine-voice choir. The piece will be settings of four to five poems by Samuel Beckett, creating a new and satisfying piece of choral music. One goal of the new piece is to make sure, from a practical point of view, that the piece is "singable" and viable to be performed by a professional choir.
$4,000
Mark Haim, dance, Morphing Landscapes. To develop an evening-length performance piece based on a continually metamorphosing repetitive process. This process could best be described as a gradual, perpetual unfolding of movement images, embodied ideas and dramatic situations.
$5,000
Dayna Hanson, theater, Great Great Great Great Grandchildren of the Revolution. To create and perform a dance-driven rock musical bringing the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's legendary ride and other iconic moments of the Revolutionary War to life. The work blends dance, theater, music, design elements and testimonials to link revolutionary ideas to modern-day hopes and failures.
$8,000
Keri Healey, theatre, Torso. To research, write and workshop a new play based on a recent real-life murder case in Minnesota, to which the playwright has a personal connection. "Torso" (working title) will explore new and darker territory for the writer: violence, revenge and broken family relations in America.
$5,000
Robin Holcomb, music, String Quartet #2. To compose and present a new work for string quartet, which also includes a new composition for piano solo, culminating in three performances and a recording. Copies of the score will be made available to string quartets internationally and the recording will be included on an upcoming CD by the composer.
$6,000
Marya Sea Kaminski, theatre, Condomillennium: A Play About Fantasy and Real Estate. To develop and perform a full-length monologue play that investigates the inner-workings of people who have been affected by a major condominium project in their neighborhood. The play will combine real human stories with absurd fantasies to build a theatrical picture of the evolution of our urban landscape and our instinctual need for space and home.
$6,000
Elizabeth Kenny, theatre, When I Was Sick. To create a play that explores a patient's journey inside the most advanced healthcare system in the world - a journey that almost killed her - and how treatment by well-meaning, sophisticated practitioners for a common gynecological issue leads her on a two-year downward spiral of misdiagnosis through the complex medical and mental health establishments.
$5,000
Brian Kooser, theatre, Bloody Henry. To create a new puppet show wildly based on the life and times of King Henry VIII of England. It strives to bring artistic excellence to the puppet stage while creating a rich tapestry of riveting storytelling.
$8,000
Joan Laage, dance, Operation Theater: "body under the knife". To create and perform a multi-disciplinary theatrical production that creates a kaleidoscope of images, movement and sound revealing and commenting on surgical procedures and on the specialized world of the operating theater. The project views operation (surgery) as theater on the edge of life and death with the surgical knife embodying that edge, both physically and metaphorically.
$1,950
Tiffany Li Chin Lin, music, This Old Piano. To create, develop and exhibit two new instruments. These two instruments will be reconstructions, each from an upright piano that has been relinquished by its owner and no longer can function as a piano in its original form.
$5,000
Lois Mackey, theatre, Bullied by the Beast. To complete and present a full-length multimedia stage play about a character's sub-prime loan dilemma, a second mortgage and graduate school tuition. On the verge of losing her house, she places an ad on Craigslist searching for roomers in a last-ditch effort to save her home. Her new roomers, a white gay couple, are met with hostility from the black community as the State is preparing to vote on gay marriage.
$3,000
Derrick Mitchell, theatre, Flinch Not and Give Not Back. To create active dramaturgical environments geared towards the idea of third-person narrative dialogue that addresses the non-narrative subtext of the often striking images performance group Implied Violence is known for.
$8,000
KT Niehoff, dance, What I Really Want. To perform a dance spectacle/social evening that plays with physical and emotional proximity between artists and audiences. Five artists entwine with an intimate audience inside an enigma-tic cabaret space. The dancers cajole and flatter, nudging the spec-tators to enter farther into the world of the work and gamble with yielding to their emotional fissures.
$8,000
Haruko Nishimura, theatre, Dance Art Collaboration. To develop a multimedia performance using butoh dance and physical theater. Inspired by the Topsy-Turvey Doll toy - Little Red Riding Hood on one side, flip the dress over and the grandmother is on the other side. Flip over grandmother's bonnet and the wolf's face is on the other side of her head. Through manipulation of the costume and media, the three characters transform the audience's perception.
$10,000
Amy O'Neal, dance, too. To create a dance/video performance following the fragmented and dreamlike events of two dancers who encounter 50 other people duet style, but manage to miss each other while environ-ments and people constantly change. The duo meets people under varying circumstances and their inter-action with these strangers, friends and acquaintances creates a cut- and-paste dance of physical extremes.
$8,000
John Osebold, music, THE WEST. To create a stage performance deconstructing, debunking and celebrating the myths of the Westward Expansion and American imperialism. This multidisciplinary show will explore Lewis and Clark's discovery of the Pacific Northwest, subsequent growth of regional industry, and social impacts on the modern and future world.
$7,500
Serene Petersen, music, The Unspeakable. To create an audio-collage of stories from individuals and music groups in the Northwest, addressing issues of gender and queer identity, music and the intersections along the way. Topics include personal relationships with the physical body, hormones and transitions, visibility and safety, art, sexuality, mental health and family issues.
$5,000
Jessica Raymond, music, Jes Raymond. To arrange and produce a concert of songs, for a band of 12 musicians. The cycle of 12 songs use elements of old-time music, gospel, bluegrass and swing. All have themes of human cultural connection with the natural world, and many address finding that natural connection in an urban environment.
$4,550
Amelia Reeber, dance, this is a forgery. To perform an evening-length solo dance incorporating the visual element of video. There will be a soundscore that consists of previously recorded songs and a thematic armature of original music by composer/musician Sam Mickens.
$5,000
Max Reichlin, theatre, Her Mother Was Imagination. To perform the story of a girl whose mother was "Imagination," told through five exhibits in multiple media over a year and culminating in a theatre production. The project focuses on creating environmentally responsible art and encourages audience involvement. All electricity for the final play will be provided by two pedal-powered generators.
$6,000
Greg Ruby, music, Greg Ruby Quartet Recording and Performances. To create 10 new compositions, followed by a recording of those songs and followed up by live performances. The project will capture conversations between the artist and the genre often referred to as "Gypsy jazz."
$5,000
Murl Allen Sanders, music, She Blows Hot and Cold: A Piece for Chorus and Orchestra. To write a new piece for mixed chorus and symphony to be performed by Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers in their 2009/2010 regular season. The inspiration for this piece is to honor the memory of the artist's mother who died January 2, 2008.
$3,800
Elspeth Savani, music, Viva Cuba. To create a performance of Cuban music and dance with selected folkloric and popular styles represented, spanning from the late 1800s to the present. The show will be an evening-long performance involving 16 musicians and two dancers.
$8,000
Tikka Sears, theatre, Below U.S. To perform a multimedia storytelling, physical theater, music and satire work inspired by oral interviews with Latinos that span different classes, generations and nationalities. This original theater work explores the invisible walls and borders that divide communities.
$8,500
Stokley Towles, theatre, Seattle Waste. To develop a performance exploring local perceptions and behaviors around waste, recycling and conservation. The artist will explore the many facets of the waste stream and reveal the different environmental, social and logistical factors involved in how this city manages waste.
$7,000
Cuong Vu, music, Cuong Vu Trio Recording "Live in Seattle." To perform and record engagements in Seattle from which a CD will be made and released. The performances will include original compositions by the artist, as well as new approaches and treatments to literature from the traditional, standard jazz repertoire.
$8,000
Jennifer Zeyl, theatre, Sonic Tales. To design and coordinate the execution of the scenic environment for the work, a series of contemporary fairy tales told through intricately woven dance theater and live music, set in Joseph Cornell-inspired and video-powered landscape. This project will put the idea of heroism under a magnifying glass - exploring the tiny, everyday variety - exploding them into a new mythology.
$10,000

2008 CityArists Projects

Elizabeth Austen, literary, Incidental Graces. To write a series of 15 poems exploring the ramifications of choosing not to have children, articulating the ambivalent graces associated with finding small ways to mother the world.
$4,000
Heather Ayres, film, My Time with Betty. To complete post production, promotion and community outreach for a 12-minute film exploring mental illness.
$3,000
Wanda Benvenutti, visual, Boricua: Puerto Rican Life in the American West. To create and exhibit 20 black-and-white photos of modern Puerto Rican culture and community as seen throughout 11 Western states. 
$8,000
Emily Beyer, literary, Sightseeing. To complete a book of poems based on the four-line Sapphic stanza poem adapted from the ancient Greek poet. The poems will explore the growth and deterioration of imagination, people and scenery.
$6,200
Jennifer Borges Foster, literary, Uneasy Heavens Await Those Fleeing. To complete a poetry manuscript examining spirituality and identity from the perspective of a Portuguese-American Jew.  Includes stanzas from an epic poem Seraph and other poems.
$9,000
Drew Daly, visual, Visual Fiction. To create and exhibit a group of artworks that explore and exploit the separation that occurs between an object and the image of an object's forced perspective in sculpture, photos and videos.
$3,700
Suzanne Edison, literary, Healing Art of Poetry. To complete and publish a chapbook of poems dealing with the experiences of having a child with a chronic illness.
$5,800
Eric Eley, visual, Tunguska sculpture. To create and exhibit a sculpture inspired by a meteoric explosion in the air above Siberia at the turn of the 20th century. Fabricated in aluminum and powder coated, the work explores hidden structures in landscape and atmosphere.
$4,200
John Grade, visual, Meridian. To create a sculptural installation choreographed to collapse and evolve while sited within two contrasting landscapes.  The artist will capture the collapse of the sculpture on video.
$10,000
John Helde, film, Corn & Soybeans. To film and screen a documentary about a 21st century family farm, reaching back through 100 years of owners and tenant farmers, exemplifying those deeply tied to food growing life and those who know nothing about it.
$9,800
Andrew Hida, film, Slow Healing. To continue work on a multimedia documentary and formal portraits of returning war vets from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering traumatic brain injuries. 
$8,500
Salise Hughes, film, Recycled Visions. To create and screen a short film about change and regeneration. The artist manipulates recycled film footage, tearing it apart and rebuilding it, resulting in a handmade painterly effect and exposing another film underneath.
$3,700
Britta Johnson, film, 21 Landings. To complete production and present a screening of a stop-motion animated looped video depicting 21 attempted landings of a bird-like creature onto an icy, futuristic surface.
$2,200
Robert Lawson, film, Christiania: Our Heart is in Your Hands. To continue work on a feature-length documentary about a squatter community occupying an abandoned military base in Copenhagen, Denmark, where hundreds of young people declared the 84 acres a "free state."  
$8,000
Susie Lee, media, For these Unclosings. To choreograph and present performances of an event merging dance with media. The dancers' movements will be tracked in real time — the projected image supported by a complex network of artificial intelligence including robotics.
$7,500
Perri Lynch, media, Towards Mamori. To complete and present a series of multidisciplinary installations using recording equipment to collect field recordings and photographs of the rainforest and abundant wildlife in Amazon, Brazil.
$5,000
Jen Marlowe, film, Rebuilding Hope. To continue work on and screen a documentary film about three young boys who fled to the United States from South Sudan due to civil war.  Now in their twenties, they travel back to Sudan where stories shed light on their homeland and a precarious peace plagued by war.
$9,000
Gabriel Miller, film, Creative Currents. To create and screen a short film featuring three interconnected artists examining the connections between each other, an institution, and the impact of community and environment on their individual creativity. 
$9,000
Larissa Min, literary, Breaking English. To complete and present two readings of a book about displacement and remembering. The autobiographical work blends fiction and nonfiction, weaving fragments of a family's migration from Korea and Brazil into a larger context and collective history. 
$3,000
Mike Min, visual, Motel 3. To create a third and final site-specific visual and performance piece on the theme "transience in its most youthful state." Twelve artists will present an illuminated art regatta, while the audience observes via boat rides.
$10,000
Chad Morris, film, The Way of the Bboy. To complete, edit and screen a 75-minute documentary about local breakdancers.  The film documents a crossroads, focusing on breakdancing beginnings in the early '70s and its continuing cycle that is shaping the next generation of dancers.
$7,000
Heather Oaksen, media, A House Divided. Research and development for a documentary film chronicling the 15-year journey into manhood of five former juvenile offenders.  The artist will film short 'catalyst' videos to be distributed on portable media devices and a web site. 
$4,800
Joanne Petrina, visual, Duwamish Tribe - Portrait Narrative Series. To capture a contemporary perspective of the Duwamish people through photographs and interviews of selected members. A permanent exhibitition and several showings of the portraits with edited narratives will raise the visibility of tribal issues, identity and stories.
$8,000
Belle Randall, literary, The Collected Letters of Thom Gunn & Belle Randall. To edit correspondence between a mentor and student over 46 years, recording a cultural exchange between San Francisco and Seattle. 
$4,000
Bob Redmond, literary, Haiku Year. To complete and give a reading from a manuscript using Haiku and Haibun (prose form) following an artist's daily journey, including the Belltown neighborhood, the homeless, a P-Patch, the 2006 Capitol Hill massacre, immigrant grandfolks, birds, rats, and more.
$4,000
Jason Reid, film, Beijing to Shanghai Bicycle Documentary. To complete post production of a documentary in China filmed while bicycling 1,000 miles to explore the country's economics, sociology, technology, and environment, including views of Chinese people and a spotlight on the Olympics. 
$5,000
nko, visual, Monique Lofts Mural. To create a 4,900-square-foot mural on the Monique Lofts building with cascading geometric structures and an abstract architectural waterfall reacting to the surrounding architecture.
$5,000
Susan Robb, visual, Project Sea-Ice Life Boat. To underscore global warming by creating and exhibiting an environmental, relational artwork that equips Alaskan polar bears with large raft sculptures made of recycled oil drums to resemble a floating sea ice.
$5,000
Alex Schweder, visual, Stability. To create "performance architecture" with two 4-foot by 6-foot dwelling units on either end of a 24-foot balance beam. Each unit will be occupied for one week by an artist. Separated by kitchen and bath, each unit will move in relation to other to keep the building level.
$7,000
Shaun Scott, film, Notes from the Seat of Empire - Seattle 1909-2009. To create and screen a documentary film about the centennial of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expedition and what it means to Seattle's minority populations by relating themes of immigration and imperialism. 
$3,000
Adam Sekuler, film, Interpretive Site: Pacific Northwest. To create a seven-minute dance inspired by and performed in Kosmos, Wash., and captured in a single shot on 35 mm. film. Kosmos, which flooded and remained underwater since 1968,  recently resurfaced. 
$4,500
Lynn Shelton, film, Humpday. Working in an experimental and collaborative style, the artist will create a comical and poignant feature-length film exploring interpersonal male dynamics and the round-about machinations men sometimes go through.
$8,000
John Sutton, visual, Mini-Mart City Park. To create a "sculptural intervention" using green building and art to turn a former gas station into an indoor city park and conservatory, commenting on contemporary society's civic roles/responsibility. 
$10,000
Lara Swimmer, visual, The Palouse Project. To create and exhibit a series of large-scale mappings of wheat growing regions in Southeast Washington and Northern Idaho, through photo montage, topography, structures, roadways and multiple layers of information systems superimposed.
$2,000
Curtis Taylor, film, Church Weather. To create a 15-minute film about a waking dream where perceptions are unstable, using technical tricks to combine old with new photography and a choir soundtrack. 
$3,500
Dan Webb, visual, Stone Carving. To create and exhibit a new body of work carving stone, marble, granite or alabaster for exhibition, exploring new ideas and themes for the artist. 
$5,000
Storme Webber, literary, Renegade Roots/Insurgent Souls. To create and perform a series of multimedia poems and performance pieces celebrating multi-ethnic family history and commonality of hybridity. Themes explore history, family, journeys, spirituality and transformation. 
$2,600
Mark Zirpel, media, Universal Theory. To create a mixed-media kinetic installation portraying the universe as observed phenomena. The exhibit will be designed by a series of orreries (apparatus displaying orbiting planets) powered by light analogous to the sun, with optical devices enhancing observations.
$7,000

2007 CityArists Projects

Tom Baker, music, Hunger: The Death of Tamsen Donner
To compose and produce an hour-long chamber opera based on historical text by Ruth Whitman of the pioneer spirit of the Donner Party and American West.
$5,500
Eric Banks, music, The Seven Creations
To compose a new work and present ancient melodies in a cappella oratorio for antiphonal chorus The Esoterics.
$8,000
Lori Dillon, multidisciplinary/dance, Performance Memoirs
To create an interactive dance/theatre multidisciplinary-media experience to be performed in a hotel room including a live Web stream and complimentary gallery installation.
$5,000
Thione Diop, traditional ethnic music, The Spirit of West Africa
To present a five-hour West African dance and music concert and workshops.
$3,500
Wayne Horvitz, music, The Heartsong of Charging Elk
To create and present new work for a music composition oratorio about a historic show predicament.
$9,000
Raymond Houle, dance, Against the Grain/Men in Dance
To create and perform male dance in contemporary society and throughout history.
$1,500
Jessica Jobaris, dance, Stuck in Ugly
To develop and present touching and comedic music-dance stories.
$5,500
Brian Kooser, theater, Dracula: A Case Study
To create and present a new puppet show based on Brian Stoker's Dracula, written and directed by Kooser with live music featuring Bunraku, traditiional Japanese puppetry.
$10,000
Matthew Kwatinetz, multidisciplinary/theater, War of the Roses
To complete one work-in-progress and present a Shakespearean adaptation of theatrical music performances with episodes streamed on the Web.
$8,500
Gregg Loughridge, multidisciplinary/theater, Mary's Secret
To create and present new work using actors mixing classic black-and-white film imagery with the multidisciplinary media of the 19th century.
$6,000
Elspeth Savani Macdonald, traditional ethnic music, Elspeth Savani and Friends
To develop music and present a concert of original boleros, sambas and folkloric vocal music from Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.
$2,600
Ryan Mitchell, multidisciplinary/dance, Our Summary In Sequence
To create and present a multi-disciplinary piece focused on two Pillar Pieces and interconnected over three months through symphonic/dance work.
$6,000
Todd Jefferson Moore, theater, Everybody's Mainstream
To create a theatrical script from 300 hours of interviews detailing the struggle over survival of the Skagit River.
$7,000
Paul Mullin, theater, The Ten Thousand Things
To develop and stage read a play intended to evolve for 10,000 years, illuminating ideas embodied by the Clock of the Long Now.
$6,500
Lucia Neare, multidisciplinary/theater, Lullaby Carriage
To remount and present an outdoor, interdisciplinary "dream theater" piece with expanded ensembles and moving sets.
$10,000
Michael Nicolella, music, M3
To compose and present one large-scale original composition and one large-scale arrangement for classical guitar trio.
$6,000
Haruko Nishimura, dance
To create and present partnerships with a dance, theater and music artists culminating in four complete works.
$9,500
Hossein Omoumi, music
To create a recording of a pieces of classical Persian music, including original compositions based on multilingual poetry in Farsi and English.
$7,500
John Osebold, multidisciplinary/theater, Magic Mouth/BacklogAnalogue
To present a full-length work blending deconstructed/re-arranged compositions and absurdist theater.
$5,000
D.K Pan, multidisciplinary/dance, Tengu and the White Rabbit
To develop and present an original story about love and relationships integrating dance-theater, music and video performance.
$7,500
Mary Sheldon Scott, multidisciplinary/dance, Geography
To create and present a new dance-music performance about how we map and navigate changing and compromised worlds.
$5,000
Tikka Sears, multidisciplinary/theater Work Created Under Compulsion
To complete and present a multidisciplinary-media musical theater production inspired by individuals worldwide forced to create to stay alive.
$8,000
Wally Shoup, music, New Wally Shoup Trio Project
To create, present and record a new set of jazz compositions for an avant-guard trio with alto sax, percussion and piano.
$5,400
Greg Sinibaldi, music, Greg Sinibaldi Recording
To develop and present new music and produce a CD incorporating electronic and acousitical elements.
$7,200
Cheryl Slean, theater, SITE (Seattle Indie Theatre Experiment) SPECIFIC
To commission and present a series of short, new "Padua-esque" plays staged outdoors in site-specific locations.
$5,000
William Smith, music, Jazzopera
To compose, record and present a lecture performance combining classical music with elements of various jazz styles.
$8,500
Julie Tobiason, dance, Seattle Dance Project 1
To create and present an original dance work exploring music, timing and personal styles by exchanging video and visit from NYC choreographer Pat Catterson.
$9,000
Annette Toutonghi, multidisciplinary/dance, Pants
To create and present a one-act work including theatrer, film, dance and live music offering a glimpse into personal isolation, anxieties, vulnerability and aspirations.
$6,000
Jason Williams, multidisciplinary/theater, Automata
Create and present a new theatrical re-creation of the silent movie experience combining acrobatic performance, music, videography and stage magic.
$4,800
Stuart Williams, traditional/ethnic music, Evergreen Fiddler
To record and produce a CD and tunebook of "old time" unique styles and techniques for tunes collected over 30 years from fiddlers in Washington and Oregon.
$6,000
Jennifer Zeyl, theater, Hedda: Blah, Blah, Bang
To direct a reconstruction of Hedda Gabler, a classic Henrik Ibsen play.
$5,000

Arts & Culture

Gülgün Kayim, Director
Address: 303 S. Jackson Street, Top Floor, Seattle, WA , 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 94748, Seattle, WA , 98124-4748
Phone: (206) 684-7171
Fax: (206) 684-7172
arts.culture@seattle.gov

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The Office of Arts & Culture promotes the value of arts and culture in, and of, communities throughout Seattle. It strives to ensure that a wide range of high-quality artistic experiences are available to everyone, encourage artist-friendly arts and cultural policy.