The Mixer: July 2019 – Space Affordability
Join us at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on 7/31 for our third in a series of community discussions to help shape the City’s vision for the future of our creative economy.
The spaces where artists and creatives practice, create, and present their work are essential to a healthy creative ecosystem. Yet as Seattle continues to grow, space keeps getting more expensive. How might the creative community meet the need for space in this intense real estate market? Join us to learn about some of the investment models that cultural organizations, private businesses, and arts advocates are using to ensure that creativity still has a place here.
At this month’s Mixer Tim Lennon, Executive Director of LANGSTON, will lead a discussion with panelists Cassie Chinn (Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience), David Bestock (Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association), and Julie-C (Artist Coalition for Equitable Development).
Afterwards, attendees will break out into small groups for more networking and to give feedback about how the city can help creatives meet their needs for space in our rapidly growing city.
This event is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome. Refreshments will be provided, and alcohol will be available for purchase for guests 21+.
RSVP here, and share with your network through our Facebook event page.
For ADA accommodations or accessibility information, contact filmandmusicoffice@seattle.gov.
All members of Seattle’s creative community are welcome at this conversation: visual artists, musicians, music and film industry professionals, teaching artists – whatever role you play in our local creative scene, we want to hear from you!
About the Speakers:
Cassie Chinn
Cassie Chinn, Deputy Executive Director at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, oversees planning and implementation of exhibition, collection, public programming and education initiatives in collaboration with community members. In her 20 plus years with the museum, she has worked with numerous community advisory committees and community members to create exhibitions, gather oral histories and produce other museum projects, including The Wing’s recent multi-year exhibition on Bruce Lee. During the museum’s capital project, she led community-based program planning and served on the design team. She is the author of The Wing’s Community-based Exhibition handbook. She currently serves on the 4Culture Heritage Advisory Board. Chinn holds a BA and MA in art history as well as a Master in Teaching.
David Bestock
David Bestock is the Executive Director of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association. David is a native Seattleite, and has a background working in nonprofits, video production, and international public health youth work before coming to DNDA.
At DNDA, he loves the people he gets to work with, and loves that DNDA does necessary and tangible work on a neighborhood scale. He loves the challenge of integrating Art, Nature, and Neighborhood while working with affordable housing and youth. Outside of DNDA, he loves to hike, camp, cook, and eat. He moonlights as an auctioneer, does improv comedy, and plays ultimate Frisbee.
Julie-C
Julie-C is an artist, organizer, and emergent strategist who builds at the intersections of art, culture, and community self-determination. She is a program coordinator for NW Folklife and primary liaison for Seattle’s Artist Coalition for Equitable Development (ACED), which advances creative solutions to reclaiming land, space, and agency in the physical and economic processes action on cultural communities. As an emcee repping Alpha P and BOC Music, she remains a humble yet ever-present pivot in the city’s thriving Hip Hop scene. Text her anytime at (425) 223-7787 to connect.
Tim Lennon (moderator)
Tim Lennon serves as Executive Director of LANGSTON, an arts producing and presenting organization located in Seattle’s Central District. Its mission is to strengthen and advance our community through Black arts and culture. Its vision is to Cultivate Black Brilliance. Prior to LANGSTON he led the Vera Project, an all‐ages music and arts center that fuels personal and community transformation through collaborative, youth‐driven engagement in music and art. Tim has worked at the intersection of arts, culture and events for Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, the Seattle Center Foundation, One Reel, the Elliott Bay Book Co., the University of Washington and several local non‐profits. In all of these roles he’s strived to create opportunities for diverse artists of all disciplines and to connect them and their amazing work to Seattle audiences in a variety of ways. Tim is chair of the Seattle Music Commission’s Advocacy & Economic Development Committee, and serves on the board of the Washington Bus. He aspires to be as awesome as his wife and son.
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This conversation is more important now than ever: the 2019 Creative Economy Report found that Seattle creative workers employed in tech (web developers, for example) are the highest paid in the nation, while creative workers employed in arts and entertainment occupations (such as photographers and musicians) are the lowest paid in the nation. The report also found that women and people of color are underrepresented in certain creative occupations, and that wage disparities exist along job title, race, and gender. We need to hear from you, Seattle’s creative workers, to help us better understand the full story behind these disparities and find ways to bridge the gap.
Please mark your calendars for the final remaining Mixer in this creative economy series: August 28.
The Mixer | Seattle 