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For Immediate Release
July 2, 2018

Information: Sarah Sidman | 206-788-3051 | sarahsidman@artsfund.org
ArtsFund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Communications

ARTSFUND AWARDS $2.48 MILLION IN 2018 GRANTS

Seattle, WA – ArtsFund is pleased to announce the distribution of $2,486,949 in grants to 60 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in King and Pierce Counties from its recently concluded annual fundraising campaign. With this allocation, ArtsFund’s grants surpassed $81.6 Million awarded since its founding in 1969.

ArtsFund is dedicated to strengthening the community by supporting arts and cultural groups throughout the Central Puget Sound region. Annual grant making is a core component of the organization’s mission, complemented by leadership and advocacy programs. Grants are distributed as general operating support, which recipients can use to provide programming and arts education, reduce barriers to arts participation, increase access and opportunity for underserved youth, and for staffing, capacity-building, professional development, and facilities. This unrestricted funding enables grant recipients to invest the funds where needed most to advance their missions.

Mari Horita, ArtsFund President & CEO, stated:

“For nearly 50 years, ArtsFund has been raising funds to strengthen the community by supporting the arts. Our annual grants are one key way in which we invest in expanding access to the arts, generating far-reaching multi-disciplinary cultural programming, and presenting outreach and education programs throughout the region and state. It is our privilege to partner with a vast range of groups (from Red Eagle Soaring to Pacific Northwest Ballet, from Seattle JazzED to the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, from Broadway Center for the Performing Arts to Richard Hugo House), and to support the important work they do to build community both on and off ‘the stage’.”

Carol R. Powell, ArtsFund Board Chair, added: “At ArtsFund, we believe arts and culture inspire, empower, and transform individuals and communities. We are deeply grateful to the businesses, foundations, and individuals who invest in ArtsFund. Their support enables us to provide leadership, advocacy and financial support to more than 120 arts organizations throughout the Central Puget Sound Region.”

Revenues from ArtsFund’s 47th annual drive, which ended on May 31st, support the 2018 grant allocations, as well as additional programs and services reaching more than 150 organizations throughout the Central Puget Sound region. For a list of ArtsFund’s cultural partners, visit www.artsfund.org/CulturalPartners.

The 2018 Allocations Committee was led by Co-Chairs Gemma Aronchick, Corporate Citizenship & Public Affairs, Microsoft Corporation, and Tim Otani, Director, External Affairs Manager – NW & Chicago, MUFG Union Bank.

In complement to ArtsFund’s annual grant allocations, in January of 2018, ArtsFund awarded $32,500 in grants to eight multicultural arts and cultural organizations as part of ArtsFund’s Multicultural Arts Project. To date, $92,500 in grants have been awarded through the Multicultural Arts Project.
Horita continued, “We understand that the arts are not the only thing that makes our region the extraordinary place that it is, but our region would not be the extraordinary place that it is without the arts.”

For more information on ArtsFund’s current grant recipients, visit: www.artsfund.org/about-arts-fund/arts-groups-we-support.

For more information about ArtsFund, visit: www.artsfund.org/about-arts-fund.

2018 ArtsFund Grants

King County

5th Avenue Theatre  $112,537
ACT Theatre  $96,299
Artist Trust  $20,403
Arts Corps $5,000
Auburn Symphony Orchestra $1,635
Bellevue Arts Museum $5,947
Book-It Repertory Theatre $26,012
Burke Museum  $11,607
Coyote Central $5,000
Early Music Seattle  $10,529
Earshot Jazz   $23,114
Frye Art Museum  $10,547
Henry Art Gallery  $120,072
Intiman Theatre $9,964
Jack Straw Productions  $11,990
Jet City Improv $4,471
KEXP 903FM $7,500
Meany Center for the Performing Arts  $17,197
Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)  $27,537
Nordic Museum  $17,407
Northwest Film Forum $8,932
On the Boards  $34,657
Pacific Northwest Ballet  $217,242
Red Eagle Soaring $5,000
Richard Hugo House  $21,121
Seattle Art Museum $213,632
Seattle Arts & Lectures $21,407
Seattle Chamber Music Society $40,237
Seattle Children’s Theatre  $96,457
Seattle JazzED $7,500
Seattle Men’s Chorus/Seattle Women’s Chorus  $19,897
Seattle Music Partners $2,500
Seattle Opera  $176,029
Seattle Pro Musica $8,240
Seattle Public Theater $4,328
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra  $24,649
Seattle Repertory Theatre  $140,927
Seattle Shakespeare Company  $59,097
Seattle Symphony  $190,519
Seattle Theatre Group  $81,032
SIFF  $17,591
Spectrum Dance Theater  $26,441
Taproot Theatre Company  $12,417
Three Dollar Bill Cinema $5,832
Town Hall Association  $41,837
Vashon Center for the Arts $5,899
Velocity Dance Center  $12,106
The Vera Project  $10,315
Village Theatre  $97,057
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience $45,177
Whim W’him $2,000
Youth In Focus $5,000
King County Total  $2,199,843

Pierce County
Broadway Center for the Performing Arts $68,572
Museum of Glass $6,804
Northwest Sinfonietta $3,551
Symphony Tacoma $18,665
Tacoma Art Museum $53,714
Tacoma Musical Playhouse $9,510
Tacoma Opera $7,590
Pierce County Total $168,406

Special Grants

ArtsFund Plestcheeff Design and Decorative Arts Grants
Bellevue Arts Museum $5,000
Burke Museum $7,500
Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) $7,500
Nordic Museum $5,000
Seattle Art Museum $10,000
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience $10,000
Subtotal $45,000

Kreielsheimer Remainder Foundation Grants $73,700

Grand Total 2018 ArtsFund Grants $2,486,949

2018 Allocations Committee

Gemma Aronchick, Co-Chair, Corporate Citizenship & Public Affairs
Microsoft Corporation

Tim Otani, Co-Chair, Director, External Affairs Manager – NW & Chicago
MUFG Union Bank

Jennifer Bibby, Director, Global Social Impact
Starbucks Coffee Company

Sue Coliton, Chair
Washington State Arts Commission

Mark Dederer, Executive Director
Biller Family Foundation

Ellen Ferguson, Trustee
The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation

C’Ardiss Gardner Gleser, Program Officer
Satterberg Foundation

Mari Horita, President & CEO
ArtsFund

Alice Ito, Director, Community Programs
Seattle Foundation

Erika Nesholm, Executive Director
Nesholm Family Foundation

Lisa Smith, Manager, Global Social Impact
Starbucks Coffee Company

Kim Vu, Senior Vice President | Seattle Market Manager, Enterprise Business and Community Engagement
Bank of America

About ArtsFund:

ArtsFund’s Mission: ArtsFund strengthens the community by supporting the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant making.

ArtsFund’s Vision: A community with a dynamic and world-class arts and cultural sector where the arts are accessible to all and valued as central and critical to a healthy society.

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Photo credits (l-r): Museum of Pop Culture, Imagination Unlimited: The Jim Henson Exhibition, photo courtesy of Museum of Pop Culture; Seattle Music Partners, photo courtesy of Seattle Music Partners; Seattle Art Museum, Teen Night Out, photo by Jen Au; Frye Art Museum, Archipenko: A Modern Legacy, January 28–April 30, 2017, photo by Jonathan Vanderweit; The 5th Avenue Theatre, “Man of La Mancha,” photo by Mark Kitaoka.