2024: A Year in Arts & Culture

Thank you for being part of our community in 2024! Read some of the highlights from our year below.


Creative Youth

  • 15,539 Seattle Public Schools (SPS) students received arts education through The Creative Advantage in the 23/24 school year, and we provided $380,635 to arts partners to make this possible.
  • 95 SPS schools hosted arts educators in school day residencies, representing 61% of all eligible schools.
  • Over 210 educators received professional development training in music, visual arts, and theater from 17 Seattle arts and cultural institutions.
Young children dance on stage at Pacific Northwest Ballet. In the foreground, two of them crouch with their hands on the ground in front of them. They're looking at each other and smiling. Behind, two more run, and a third crouches.
The Creative Advantage students from Broadview Thomson K-8 perform onstage at McCaw Hall after a Discover Dance residency with Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Photo by Jazzy Photo.

Downtown Activation

  • We directly supported over 50 events and activations all across the Downtown Activation Plan map, including producing 8 events at ARTS at King Street Station.
  • We granted $382,500 to 51 community partners for Cultural Facilities projects, $127,500 of which went to spaces in the Downtown area.
a group of teenagers performing on the plaza of King Street Station under green and blue lights.
Station Space Block Party performance. Photo by Bruce Tom.

Facilities

 ARTS at King Street Station 

Two women touch standing statues.
Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers. Photo by Marcus Donner

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) 

  • LHPAI welcomed over 18,146 visitors into the space.
  • LHPAI held 430 events and programs.
  • We invested over $300,000 on technical upgrades to LHPAI.
    • Musical production and stage show capabilities increased 100%.
    • Streaming and hybrid capabilities increased 100%.
A group of mostly Black and Brown people pose on stage in a group photo.
The cast and crew of The Uterine Files at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Photo by LANGSTON.

Grants 

  • We put thousands of artists to work by awarding $5,095,909 in grant funding to 638 artists and organizations.
  • We received a combined 1,019 applications for our 9 open grant opportunities in 2024. 
  • We’re seeing a significant year-over-year increase in the number of applicants to our grant programs; for example, Arts in Parks had a 50% increase in the number of applicants in 2024 compared to 2023. 
  • We relied on over 115 panelists to make community-led grant and public art selections.
  • Our staff and panelists put in over 200 hours of training and deliberation in 19 separate panel processes.

Public Art


Downtown is vibrant