Seattle, WA. One Day Wages is a nonprofit working to fight extreme poverty around the world. Based in Seattle, the organization’s slogan involves looking toward a better future, “One Day.” The nonprofit has international branches and is working to build awareness for issues in underdeveloped areas. It helps poverty-affected communities by providing educational and professional resources and opportunities. It collaborates with other non-profit organizations. Its most recent project is ‘Project #191 Clean and Safe Hands in Nicaragua’ in a partnership with El Porvenir. The goal was to highlight how inaccessible handwashing stations were to rural Nicaraguans. With the help of One Day Wages, they distributed 1,818 handwashing stations with soap to homes, schools, health posts, and health centers in need. This simple but critical intervention cost only $10 per handwashing station, and El Porvenir’s established network in 6 regions of Nicaragua allowed for quick and widespread response. With this third partnership between ODW and El Porvenir, we were able to reach 92,220 people in total with access to handwashing stations.” Ultimately, through their collective impact, 1 Water Point was built, and there was now more accessibility to clean water and sanitation areas to help prevent illness.
One Day Wages is providing awareness for children’s education, children’s health, emergency relief, gender-based violence, girls’ empowerment, global hunger, human trafficking, jobs & skills, maternal health, preventable disease, refugee relief, water & sanitation.
Here’s a video about the organization:
Currently, One Day Wages is holding a 12th annual gala with covid-safety measures by providing 3 opportunities: in-person, limited, and virtual. Their in-person event is in Sodo Park, their limited ‘Party-Style’ is a small gathering in the comfort of your own home with packages that include a party box sent to your address, and a Zoom accessible event with DIY activities.
In response to Covid-19, One Day Wages wrote ” One Day’s Wages has launched an emergency relief fund to respond to the spread of COVID-19 within some of the most vulnerable communities around the world. While the strain from the pandemic is tangible for all of us, we’re coming alongside communities in vulnerable places such as refugee camps, remote villages, and densely populated urban areas where the spread of the virus could have severe impact.” and “Through our partnership with RSKW, 1,800 individuals were provided with relief during the pandemic through direct relief, food support, proper sanitizing kits, masks, and protocols to prevent spread of Covid-19.”
A woman who has received an emergency covid-relief aid.
From One Day Wages:
As a grassroots movement, we are impacting communities and changing lives.
Whether it’s a young girl who no longer has to walk miles to collect water, a mother who can provide for her children thanks to business training, or a school that can now grow nutritious food for their students–our impact is far reaching–community focused–and always sustainable. But we aren’t just about granting money toward issues of poverty, we also want to inspire people to care about justice, and to take action through simple generosity. Because together, we truly believe we can alleviate extreme global poverty in our lifetime.
Seattle, WA. Things are getting closer to normal at The Henry Art Gallery. Visitors no longer have to register in advance, they can walk-up and buy tickets. Mask and social distancing requirements remain in place regardless of vaccination status. Here’s a link to visitor guidelines.
The Henry Art Gallery is part of the University of Washington and is currently showcasing Will Rawls: Everlasting Stranger which is featured in the image above. The exhibit, in collaboration with Velocity Dance Center, runs through August 15th.
In Everlasting Stranger, New York-based choreographer and writer Will Rawls (b. 1978, Boston, MA) activates relationships between language, dance, and image through the fragmentary medium of stop-motion animation. In his installation, time and movement slow as a live, automated camera photographs the frame-by-frame actions of four dancers. While the performers occupy the labor of becoming images, visual capture is staged as an obsessive process that is constant yet compromised by the movement it aims to fix.
Here, as in previous works, Rawls develops strategies of evasion and engagement within systems that mediate, distort, and abstract the body.
Rawls’s exhibition takes inspiration from the work of Guyanese writer Wilson Harris and his surrealist novel The Infinite Rehearsal (1987). In the book, the constrictive projections of the colonial gaze manifest as a child’s fever dream where ghosts reinterpret time, genealogy, and identity as unstable matter. Harris’s novel serves as a conduit through which Rawls addresses the misrepresentation that haunts all forms of capture, including photography and choreography. Within the temporal delirium that marks existence in quarantine, Rawls animates the life that appears between frames.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Saturdays: July 17 – August 14, 12 – 3 PM
Will Rawls: Everlasting Stranger is a collaboration between Henry Art Gallery and Velocity Dance Center and is organized by Nina Bozicnik, Henry Curator, and Erin Johnson, Velocity Interim Artistic and Managing Director. It is presented in conjunction with the Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation, with project support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support provided by UW Department of Dance, and by John Robinson and Maya Sonenberg. Costumes complements of womxn’s rites.
The exhibition is presented in conjunction with Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations.
Other exhibitions are continually available this summer. For an online opportunity, Henry Art Gallery is hosting Sonolocations: A Sounds Works Series from June – August 2021.
Partnered with the Jack Straw Cultural Center, The Henry has commissioned a three-part series of audio artworks, to be released free and online throughout the summer of 2021. The participating artists were invited to consider the theme of place, and its unique resonance throughout the pandemic, to offer directed sonic experiences for listeners wherever they might find themselves. Participating artists are Byron Au Yong (b. 1971, Pittsburgh, PA), Chenoa Egawa (b. 1964, Ellensburg, WA), and Bill Lowe (b. 1946, Pittsburgh, PA) and Naima Lowe (b. 1979, Middletown, CT).
To get a preview of Sonolocations, listen to Byron Au Yong’s “Pomelo” here:
Audio artworks will be available on SoundCloud, and on the Jack Straw website. You can also subscribe to Sonolocations as a podcast to receive each piece when it launches.
The Henry is also hosting Gary Simmons: The Engine Room through August 22, 2021. The work of Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York, NY) explores racial, social, and cultural politics, interrogating the ways in which we attempt to reconstruct the past via personal and collective memory. For this commissioned exhibition at the Henry, the artist created a large-scale wall drawing, a suite of new paintings and sculptures, and a sculptural installation, drawing together disparate components to create space for new interaction and invention.
This piece has been utilized in Jambalaya Jam at the Henry, a night of music celebrating Seattle’s recent musical past.
The installation will function as an interactive space, riffing off traditional American suburban garage architecture and referencing the garage as a site for invention, creativity, and experimentation, particularly for music/bands. As both a private laboratory and a public stage, the garage sculpture will be activated by a series of musician residencies, drawing on unique areas of the Seattle music scene, both historical and present, and tapping into the lesser-known, yet equally influential, genres and practices.
Simmons researched and archived band and concert posters from around the world to create this piece.
From Henry Art Gallery:
The Henry is internationally recognized for bold and challenging exhibitions, for pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and culture, and for being the first to premiere new works by established and emerging artists. Through individual experiences with art, we inspire visitors to upend their expectations and discover surprising connections.
Seattle, WA. The Borgen Project is hosting its first virtual summer event on July 31st, 2021: BORGENFEST. It is both a festival and a call to action to end global poverty; with music, celebration, and guest appearances. The festival features musical performances by Kitty Coen and 99 Neighbors, and includes guest appearances by Congressman Adam Smith, representative of Washington’s 9th congressional district; Natalie Gill-Mensah, an infectious disease expert and member on The Borgen Project’s Board of Directors; and Clint Borgen, President, and Founder of The Borgen Project. Proceeds from the BORGENFEST will benefit the organization’s poverty reduction efforts. To attend the event, you can find more information and register here.
This event is meant to build awareness about poverty reduction legislation and aid programs, while also celebrating the many obstacles overcome this past year in the international community. From the COVID-19 pandemic to an increase in violence against women, 2020 and 2021 have been particularly difficult for everyone. Yet amidst these tumultuous times comes a potential for unity: and that is cause for celebration.
Here’s a video about the organization:
Amy Pettigrew, Senior Program Manager at The Borgen Project and BORGENFEST Committee Chair, outlined the importance of this event: “The negative impacts of COVID-19 have caused a significant setback in hunger and poverty reduction efforts. Now is the time to ramp up our efforts and amplify voices who continue to struggle with the effects of the pandemic, in tandem with the fight to end global poverty. That’s what this event is for.”
More about The Borgen Project:
The Borgen Project is a bipartisan nonprofit campaign working at the political level towards the goal of eradicating global poverty. The organization was founded in 2003 by Clint Borgen, and has since then met with 87 percent of the U.S. Senate regarding key poverty-reduction legislation and other relevant bills. The Borgen Project continually mobilizes people worldwide to join their cause. With the advocacy help of this campaign, bills have been passed that improve women’s access to education, implement global health programs, reform global food aid, and more.
You are invited to celebrate with The Borgen Project on July 31st at 7pm EST, and you are welcome to register for the event here.
Seattle, WA. UW Botanic Gardens grounds are open to visitors. Building access is limited, yet opportunities to learn and experience the gardens are bountiful. Above, the Washington Park Arboretum is alive with plant life.
UW Botanic Gardens continues to follow all advice and directives set forth by the University of Washington, which are detailed at length on the UW Novel Coronavirus Information Page.
Washington Park Arboretum: The Graham Visitors Center (GVC) is now open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., with the Arboretum Gift Shop open 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Due to limited staffing, these hours are subject to change. GVC restrooms are open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. daily, accessible only from the exterior of the building. Other restrooms are available at the bus turnaround in the Pacific Connections Garden, Washington Park Playfield, and Seattle Japanese Garden (south end of the Arboretum). Washington Park Arboretum closures are coordinated with Seattle Parks and Recreation. For more information about all Seattle Park closures, visit SPR’s Parkways blog.
The Washington Park Arboretum holds a world-class collection of woody plants that can be explored on your own, via group tours, or through classes and activities. All parts of the Washington Park Arboretum, with the exception of the Japanese Garden, are open to the public and are free of charge. The Graham Visitors Center has maps, restrooms, Arboretum Foundation offices, a gift shop, and a rental venue. Year-round visitors will find something of interest along the trails that wind through 230 acres of gardens, natural areas, and wetlands.
The Washington Park Arboretum’s Pacific Connections Garden hosts plant life from Cascadia, Australia, China, Chile and New Zealand.
This summer, explore the five eco-geographic regions of the Pacific Connections Garden. See stunning hydrangeas, magnolias and sorrel trees. The Japanese Garden is an opportunity for a tranquil summer stroll among water features and formal plantings.
Seasonal highlights for July and August include hardy fuchsias and Eucryphia species. More details about seasonal tours can be found here.
The UW Botanic Gardens has two locations: The Center for Urban Horticulture and the Washington Park Arboretum.
Tour Programs: Private Walking Tours and Tram Tours are available upon request. Walk-up tours for the general public are not currently offered.
Here are points to keep in mind regarding COVID-19 regulations:
As of July 7, face coverings are optional for fully vaccinated individuals at UW campuses and facilities, with specific exceptions that include health-care and child-care facilities, and UW shuttles, where you must wear face coverings regardless of your vaccination status.
Consistent with state regulations, individuals who are not fully vaccinated must continue to wear a face covering indoors at all UW campuses and facilities, in accordance with the UW Face Covering Policy. Individuals who are not fully vaccinated should also consider wearing face coverings outdoors when in crowds or when distancing is not possible.
Tour groups will be required to provide a log with names and contact information for all participants.
Center for Urban Horticulture: All Center for Urban Horticulture buildings are closed to the public until further notice. The grounds are open to visitors. The center has opportunities for educational classes, bird watching, youth programming, and more.
Although the Center for Urban Horticulture building is closed, the gardens are open for exploration.
Elisabeth C. Miller Library: The Library is closed to in-person patrons until further notice. UW Botanic Gardens staff will continue to answer reference questions via email or the online form. Email is preferred for questions involving plant identification. The Library book drop has reopened, so you may return your borrowed materials any time. The library is now offering contactless pickup of holds. In order to place holds, you will need to return all borrowed items. Learn how to borrow books and schedule a pickup.
From UW Botanic Gardens:
The University of Washington Botanic Gardens has two sites: the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture.
Our mission is sustaining managed to natural ecosystems and the human spirit through plant research, display, and education.
The 230-acre Arboretum includes a vibrant collection of more than 40,000 plants from around the world with trails to explore and programs for youth and adults.
The Center for Urban Horticulture includes demonstration gardens and natural areas, and also houses the Elisabeth C. Miller Library, Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium, and the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program. The UW Botanic Gardens is a unit within the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences.
Both sites offer excellent opportunities for exercise, exploration, and wildlife viewing. Visit the Botanic Gardens to explore and enjoy on your own or join with others on guided tours, in classes or other fun programs.FACT SHEET (pdf)
Seattle, WA. The Seattle Art Museum reopens to the grand public with new exhibitions and strict Covid-19 guidelines and policies to follow. Their newest exhibition piece is a small varied selection of carefully selected statement pieces from his debut to his best works by famous French impressionist painter, Claude Monet (1840-1926).
The beginning stages of the exhibition in preparation for guests on July 1st
The current exhibition, starting on July 1st and ending October 17th, features Claude Monet’s ten paintings he painted at a small fishing village, The Manneporte, or known as Étretat, in hopes of finding inspiration after a minor setback and painters block. Monet who had been financially insecure at this time needed something that would lead to a long-lasting impression and favorable results from collectors hitting the market. He needed to create paintings that were profitable, yet he recounted that most of his prior artworks were to be unfavorable and bad to him. What made this collection of paintings a hit in the world of artistry was the way that Claude Monet founded the style of an impressionism painting, which may be seen as a starting form of modernism. As most of his paintings focused on painting particular scenes of nature (landscapes or people) from the way that he understood and perceived it, his paintings painted at Étretat, focused on the livelihood and casual scenery of the most beautiful spots he chose to highlight during his trip.
Fishing Boats at Étretat, 1885, Claude Monet.
Claude Monet’s series of paintings made at Étretat focused on scenery, but what stood out was how, pictured below, he focused on the cliff at Étretat from a multitude of perceptions. Whether it was from a change in location from where he stood to paint, the highs or lows of the ocean tide that day, or if he decided to paint at daybreak or sunset. All of these variations were the precursor to his eventual growth into impressionism style painting, and this collection in particular is what stood him out from other artists at the time.
Another painting from Claude Monet’s Étretat painting anthologies.
But with such a popular exhibition, how would the Seattle Art Museum handle an influx of visitors while following covid-19 pandemic regulations while maintaining the fullest experience. Although the mask mandate in Washington State has been dropped only for vaccinated individuals; mask optional, meaning that unvaccinated individuals must still wear a mask at all times within the facility and social distance (suggested, but not enforced) as some of the areas are blocked off to the general public to avoid crowding. The places that have been closed off are “the entire south wing of the museum will be closed, including South Hall and South Hall restrooms, the Grand Staircase, the Chase Open Studio and the Ann P. Wyckoff Education Resource Center. The Bullitt Library and children’s play areas will also be closed.” They have also closed off certain entrances and exits to avoid too much foot traffic and have created one-way traffic signs for entry.
The Seattle Art Museum has added a new feature to impress individuals hoping the visit. By adding the interactive smartphone feature, users can listen to virtual letters written by Claude Monet and audited out loud for an interactive solo experience while touring the exhibition from start to last, from his selected five paintings from the Étretat painting anthologies.
The community has reacted positively, despite tour guides being unavailable, visitors can now enjoy the series of paintings, while also following a blueprint of where to go, all by themselves or in a small group. However, to ensure social distance and safety precautions as the pandemic is yet to be over, the Seattle Art Museum has decided to make certain exhibitions such as Monet at Étretat to be timed and limited, meaning that in order for all guests to have a chance to enjoy the exhibit, you cannot stay for too long. That is not the same for general admission, as you can stay for as long as you like. Overall, tickets to the Seattle Art Museum are open and available but online purchasing is the better route to go as only a small amount of in-person ticket purchasing will be available. The Seattle Art Museum states, “Advanced online timed tickets are encouraged and special exhibition tickets are likely to sell out. On-site tickets are available only if time slots are not sold out. Please arrive prior to your reserved ticket time. If you are more than 15 minutes late, we may not be able to accommodate entry.” The Seattle Art Museum is currently open from Wednesday to Sunday from 10-5.
From the Seattle Art Museum:
Suggested admission means visitors may choose to pay anything from a penny to $19.99 for general admission when they purchase tickets. General admission includes access to Collections and Installations at Seattle Art Museum and is suggested. Suggested admission tickets do not include entry to special exhibitions which have fixed pricing.
As for discounts, on the First Thursday of every month admission to the Seattle Art Museum is free! But general admission tickets tend to run out fast!
Seattle, WA. The Northwest Screenwriters Guild is a nonprofit organization aiding in further developing a screenwriter’s career by providing mentor support from the industry and show-business professionals, educational programs, and screenwriting events. Its mission statement is to, “promote professional screenwriting as a career across a broad range of ages, ethnic and gender identities, and experience levels in the Pacific Northwest.” They also hope to modernize old, traditional rules that dominated the falling industry of screenwriting.
Screenwriters from the organization reading aloud their perspective works.
Governed by a board of directors, with experience detailing screenwriting certifications to published authors or academic publications in healthcare, the Northwest Screenwriters Guild aims to advance the careers of screenwriting professionals and beginners to publish their developing stories and scripts to be on the big screen, such as for film or television, and other media, by helping them pitch to industry pros. Many compendium members have had their scripts developed onto the screen with hired actors for film festivals and submissions for awards in contests.
Screenwriters of the Northwest Screenwriters Guild rehearsing for their screenplays while adhering to a reading schedule.
When the scripts for screenplays are finished or drafted by compendium members, before they are submitted to film festivals or industry professionals for a chance to have live stage or on-screen performances, there are chances to further improve and receive critique on their screenplays. Due to the global pandemic, their services and events have shifted to a completely online remote environment, where on Tuesdays they promote a free “Weekly Scene Analysis Workshop” from 6:30-8:30 PM that aims to “assist fellow screenwriters hone the craft of writing scenes—both action and dialogue—that are cinematic, engaging and correctly formatted.” Fellow professional screenwriters or beginners in the industry are to bring a 10-page draft of their screenplay for this particular workshop. They also have an upcoming event for current members on Thursday, July 22nd about the importance of entertainment law for the screenwriting profession. However, to attend the NwSG events and most partner events, individuals must pay a membership fee of $60, but they do get eligibility to be a compendium member and have an exclusive chance of pitch sessions with professional screenwriters or industry professionals.
Actors and performers from SAG-AFTRA who helped perform multiple characters from written screenplays by members of NWSG
From the Northwest Screenwriters Guild:
The Northwest Screenwriters Guild is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing the careers of screenwriters, filling a major gap in the education and training available to screenwriters and filmmakers from across the spectrum, namely, how to take care of the business side of show business.
The newest generation of filmmakers will be pivotal. They consume—and create—film and video in huge volumes, in dozens of formats, on at least five form factors. The technological barriers to filmmaking have been reduced to nearly nothing, and so many of the old rules about when, where, and how audiences will watch the film have been shredded. These filmmakers will be at the leading edge of reinventing this industry yet again. We are here to help them get down to business.
Whether it’s a web series, TV, or feature films, breaking into the industry can be harder than writing a great script or making a great short film. While the barriers to filmmaking have crumbled, the barriers to becoming a professional filmmaker are as high as ever. To learn more, review the NwSG bylaws that govern the board.
Seattle, WA. Vadis has been providing services to people with disabilities since 1979, and had to creatively adapt to the pandemic. The nonprofit provides services to adults with disabilities and to youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and recently, Vadis administrators had to learn how to support people in new and virtual ways. This included helping the people Vadis supports in employment to understand the ramifications of COVID and in particular, all the safety protocols now in place, like masking in the photo above. According to CEO Christopher Christian, “this was not a swift and easy transition for many of the people we support in jobs in the community.”
Many of the people Vadis supports were deemed essential workers due to the nature of their jobs. They needed to keep working or rapidly return to work when many others in their lives were not, or had the option to work from home whereas they did not. In some cases, the people Vadis supports do not have control of their home environment and decisions are made for them. Some of those decisions included not being supported to go back to work for fear they would bring COVID back home with them from the work environment. Staff deployment and roles had to immediately change and morph with ever-evolving social restrictions and rules.
Many of the people supported by Vadis were deemed essential workers from the start of the pandemic.
Vadis administrators say they were in a “continual state of flux and adjustment, like everyone else, on a daily basis for a long time.” Alongside new employee-based working conditions and parameters, Vadis also “simply lost employees, or employees availability due to fear or the need to stay home with their school-aged children.” This stretched already strained staffing resources and ultimately affected how Vadis could support people in their jobs, or pursuit of jobs.
Team members at Vadis “learned by necessity” how to maximize the ability to support people in the best way possible through virtual means. This lead to the discovery of new and virtual ways for people with disabilities to engage in their communities, even during a pandemic. Virtual participation included online classes, clubs, support groups, educational events, and learning engagements.
New opportunities for employment arose when many were seeking assistance from Vadis during the ebb and flow of the pandemic.
There are additional positive developments for Vadis amidst COVID-19. Many of the people supported were designated as essential workers right from the start of the pandemic. As jobs became increasingly unfilled with employers, this created additional employment opportunities for people seeking employment, who did indeed want to work.
Christian says, “Like everyone else, we have helped people cope with the unknown, chronic change, sense of powerlessness in their lives and the uncertainty of knowing if their employer would be needing them back.” As safety protocols continued to shift and vary, and the frequency with which they changed, many people supported by Vadis faced consternation and adjustment challenges.
From Vadis:
Vadis has been providing services to people with disabilities since 1979.
From a small agency serving 25 people, we have evolved, expanded and now serve over 1,000 people per month in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Thurston and Mason Counties.
What hasn’t changed is our commitment to the people we serve. We strive to provide people with disabilities, and those who experience homelessness, opportunities and experiences to fulfill their economic and human potential.
Vadis is dedicated to assisting businesses in finding great employees and be a more inclusive employer. Our focus on customer service is your assurance of excellence!
If you have questions or need to talk with staff, please call (253) 863-5173.
Seattle, WA. Pacific Science Center (PacSci) is a famously hands-on place of learning. Despite closures for the pandemic, the organization established online programming through Virtual Field Trips, Curiosity at Home, Science in the City. This summer, PacSci will be expanding those programs and administrators are excited to welcome more than 1,500 youth to camps that will fully occupy the facility. Another 1,700 youth will participate in camps provided at four other locations in the area as well as virtually. PacSci administration says that, “Just as science continually evolves, so too will our programs and operations.”
PacSci launched Curiosity at Home, a portfolio of free, interactive, and fun digital programming that ignites curiosity and supports STEM learning. It includes videos of live science shows, hands-on STEM activities, tutorials, and more. Curiosity at Home has received more than 350,000 visits from more than 140,000 individuals. Check out the Science in the City video below. It can be found on the Pacific Science Center’s YouTube.
PacSci’s virtual learning opportunities provide a wide array of STEM related programs.
This past fall, PacSci launched Virtual Field Trips to continue to serve educators, students, and families during the school year. Virtual Field Trips are interactive programs that bring the fun and excitement of a PacSci field trip to wherever students are learning. During the 2020-2021 school year, PacSci served more than 28,000 students, half from Title I schools or low-income communities through Virtual Field Trips.
The response to both programs has been “overwhelmingly positive.” Teachers and schools are appreciative that Virtual Field Trips support NGSS standards, which makes it easy to integrate into their lesson plans.
According to PacSci administration, COVID-19 has been a catalyst for innovation. Digital and virtual programming is something PacSci staff has always wanted to incorporate but didn’t know how or didn’t have the resources. COVID also removed all the geographical barriers and allowed expanded access to science education far beyond Washington State. Now people from all over the world can experience PacSci programs and offerings, and ignite their curiosity for STEM.
Tens of thousands of fans of all ages have participated in the new virtual education programming provided in the last year.
From Pacific Science Center:
PacSci is preparing for the world premiere of a very exciting in-person hockey exhibition in October. Additional focus areas include anti-racism work, resuming private event rentals this summer, and installing a state-of-the-art lighting system on the iconic arches. Other developments include finalizing joint programming with community organizations, plans to resume Science on Wheels, and a re-envisioning of the membership program.
PacSci relies on philanthropic support from the community, and with this help can ignite curiosity in more students. Goals include further prioritizing systemically underserved communities and providing even more scholarships for summer camps.
Some elements of renewal, such as building a modern maker and innovation lab and transforming the courtyard, will require additional philanthropic investments.
PacSci is almost entirely dependent on support from the community, including individual donors and corporate partnerships. Now more than ever, PacSci is reliant on the community “to ensure that Curiosity Never Closes!” Find where to make a donation today.
Our Mission
Pacific Science Center ignites curiosity in every child and fuels a passion for discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking in all of us.
Our Guiding Principles
Delight our guests: We offer warm hospitality and highly-engaging interactive experiences. People of all ages and levels of science sophistication find their time with us entertaining, enriching, and memorable. Our guests recommend us and seek to visit often.
Model science as a process: We show that science is a boundless and timeless process of inquiry, discovery, and problem solving. We inspire people to ask questions, develop hypotheses, conduct experiments, and evaluate evidence in all aspects of their lives.
Embrace experimentation and innovation: Experiments and innovation are central to the experiences we provide and the work we do. We also demonstrate that failure is a key ingredient of progress.
Enable access for all: Our facilities, programs, experiences and the benefits they provide are accessible to people of all backgrounds and financial, social, physical, and intellectual abilities.
Support educators and education: We support high-impact science education, focusing on PreK-12.
Serve as a community laboratory and living room: The community gathers at Pacific Science Center to discuss, debate, and collaborate on opportunities and challenges in which science and technology play roles. People come here to learn about and celebrate scientific and technological achievement. We pay special attention to the issues relevant to our city and region.
Run a smart and responsible business: We invest to sustain and grow our long-term impact. Our work attracts investment from public and private sources. We are leaders in socially and ecologically responsible behavior.
Expect and nurture excellence in our people: We attract, develop, and retain exceptionally talented people who believe deeply in our mission and who reflect the community we aim to serve. We expect excellence, and we inspect what we expect. Our culture is collaborative, creative, joyful, and fun.
Seattle, WA. Pacific Ballroom Dance has reopened its studio. The dance organization is a nonprofit focused on the performance of a variety of ballroom dances such as Latin and the Waltz. Pacific Ballroom Dance has been closed due to pandemic regulations, but now the organization is following covid-19 safe protocols. Teachers are able to coach in either private one-on-one lessons or small group lessons.
Ballroom dancing students of Pacific Ballroom Dance at a recent competition
Recently, sixteen students from Pacific Ballroom Dance, specializing in international Latin dance were asked to perform on an online platform with music chosen from the organizer for the California Open. In order for the judges to properly evaluate each couple (the leader and the follower) the body contact and each competitive dance per heat must be measured while being they are followed by a camera within a certain frame, at all times. And no post-recording editing is allowed to ensure fairness, and couples are judged by a live audience of judges who scan each frame carefully.
There are a lot of protocols to follow. For one-on-one instruction for a private lesson, there cannot be more than three individuals per studio space for two private lessons. All professional dancers, including beginners and instructors, are required to wear a CDC regulated mask at all times, complete Covid-19 screening questions for admission into the space and signing safety waivers forms, and must arrive already prepared in their training clothes/outfits as bathrooms and changing rooms are closed-off until further notice due to constrained space. They must also bring any personal supplies, as regulations have put a stop-onto sharing (such as utilizing the water fountain), and must social distance at all times until dismissed. Pacific Ballroom Dance has mitigated the pandemic quite well, particularly with strict enforcement of social distancing procedures, anyone with a temperature of over 100.4 degrees will be asked to stay home, and any use of public equipment or spaces will be thoroughly disinfected. For small group lessons, a similar premise arises for safety procedures. A large student capacity of no more than 14 people can use the large studio. Covid-19 screening questionnaire is heavily enforced, the temperature is taken, and regardless of an increase in space, students are not allowed to be accompanied by outside guests.
Couples on the dance floor must social distance for each heat.
Ballroom dancing is an interesting sport. Like other sports, students go through a similar process with nationals, finals, any type of competition-based performances called “opening’s” to increase their overall ballroom dancer rank. But due to the global pandemic, how did the dancers still stay in the game–dance professionally in front of judges, participate in front of judges amid the safety procedures called for?
Ballroom dancing students who participate in competitions must perform for an audience of judges while following safety protocols.
Recently for the 2021 Nationals for Ballroom dance, students from Pacific Ballroom Dance, although not in official formations, still performed for the National DanceSport Championships, and were able to successfully showcase their skills to win a couple of awards and medals. For most of the open events, the participants were smoothly able to make it to the quarter-finals. Ranging from Youth Smooth (waltz, tango, foxtrot) and Latin Dance to Adult Smooth and Latin Dance championship.
One of the many couples of the ballroom dancing contestants to perform in front of judges.
Due to recent positive developments from the global pandemic, Pacific Ballroom Dance offers free ballroom dance workshops on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 PM, an adult Latin dance night on Thursdays at 8:30 PM for the special month of July, and are hosting an upcoming event called the “Mid-summer extravaganza” from 7:30-10:00 PM on Saturday, July 31st for a chance for collective social dancing.
From Pacific Ballroom Dance:
Our mission is to build character in youth by providing a positive ballroom dance experience. And their vision is to provide youth with a positive artistic, social and athletic experience designed to help them be productive community members.
For the Youth Performing and Competition Teams, The Pacific Ballroom Dance Performing Company now includes more than 150 dancers on 10 Performing Teams of various ages and skill levels (Stars, Preteen, Junior, and Youth) and 16 Competition Teams! Dancers learn choreographed “formation” pieces involving many couples. As the largest ballroom dance organization in the Pacific Northwest, these young people serve as ambassadors and positive role models for youth today.
Pacific Ballroom Dance also has an Adult Academy that provides ballroom instruction for beginner to advanced level adult dancers. Classes run in five-week sessions year-round on weekday evenings. Daytime Tea Dances bring ballroom to our retired community members, and weekend social dances for the public round out the program.
Seattle, WA. Seattle Theatre Group (STG) is preparing to reopen doors for limited in-person events in July. There are restrictions in place to keep patrons safe. Virtual events will continue, such as the upcoming DANCE This Virtual Performance, above. STG includes the Paramount, Moore, and Neptune Theatres.
For all STG theatres, proof of full COVID vaccination and matching photo ID required at the door. Face coverings are required for all attendees, regardless of vaccination status. Any individual who cannot wear a face covering due to an exemption should contact [email protected] for more information. Requests for accommodations to the face covering requirement will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. COVID policies are subject to change.
Proof of full COVID vaccination includes one of the following: (1) vaccination card (which includes name of person vaccinated, type of vaccine provided and date last dose administered); OR (2) a photo of a vaccination card as a separate document; OR (3) a photo of the attendee’s vaccine card stored on a phone or electronic device; OR (4) documentation of vaccination from a healthcare provider, electronic health record, or state Immunization Information System record.
This informational video regarding current safety precautions at The Neptune provides further insight.
STG is banding together in a national campaign with the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), Event Safety Alliance, Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), Coalition of Performing Arts Centers, and National Independent Talent Organization (NITO), to endorse and adopt this “Safe In Sound” reopening guidance checklist. This CDC-reviewed checklist of safety protocols is being adopted across the industry as the recognized standard for safe and healthy event operations as the live entertainment industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the transition to in-person events, online opportunities remain available. The virtual RE:DEFINITION gallery is up online. Tariqa Waters, owner and curator of Martyr Sauce, and the late Jonathan Moore founded the RE:DEFINITION gallery at the Paramount Theatre bar in 2015, a partnership with STG to redefine historic cultural space. The goal of the space was always to elevate underrepresented artists and issues of equity in the community.
This mural was commissioned for RE:DEFINITION by STG during the COVID-19 pandemic and coincides with the 5th anniversary of the gallery at The Paramount.
The events calendar provides a list of virtual and in-person opportunities coming up at all three theatres.
From Seattle Theatre Group:
Seattle Theatre Group® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization.
Mission:
To create enriching experiences in the arts, engage diverse communities, and steward historic theatres.
Vision:
STG is the people’s theatre. All are welcomed and represented.
Values Statement:
We value Art: Art connects us. It allows us to explore all aspects of our humanity, to debate, to celebrate and to grow.
We value Community: It is our role to advocate for greater participation in the arts, reduce barriers, and include diverse People, Cultures and Perspectives on our stages, in our audiences and within our staff, volunteers and board.
We value Service: We are committed to caring relationships with patrons, partners, artists and staff.
We value Learning for All: We deepen connection to art when we inspire the greater community through education, performance opportunities and healing.
We value our Team: We believe in the power of passionate people who care for our mission and each other.
We value Stewardship: We make the best use of our resources, effectively and sustainably serve our mission, and preserve our assets.
STG presents an average of 700 events annually at The Paramount, The Moore, and The Neptune Theatres as well as at venues throughout the region. Broadway productions, concerts, dance, theatre, lectures, education, community, film, and other enrichment programs can be found in our venues.
A multitude of artists and performers, partner organizations, donors and foundations, volunteers, and most of all – our patrons, make it possible for STG’s mission to be fulfilled.
NONPROFIT BENEFIT TICKET GIVEAWAYS!
Sign up for our free weekly highlights for the chance to win two tickets terrific nonprofit events! If you “like” us on facebook, or sign up for our weekly news highlights, you’ll be entered to win! Sign up today!
Look for another ticket giveaway soon! Are you a nonprofit looking to bolster your publicity with facebook and tweets? Email us and we’ll run a contest with tickets to your event! [email protected]
