Post navigation

Prev: (12/08/15) | Next: (12/08/15)

New Capitol Hill art walk gets boost from boutique, The Stranger, Block Party, and Starbucks

Artist Jesse Higman at an art walk past (Images: CHS)

Artist Jesse Higman at an art walk past (Images: CHS)

Revived by the chamber of commerce in 2009, Capitol Hill’s monthly art walk is ready to become a bigger, more widely attended event that attracts more visitors from across Seattle thanks to new leadership — and money — from a neighborhood art boutique, The Stranger, the Capitol Hill Block Party, and Starbucks.

Details of the partnership behind the newly revamped “second Thursday” arts event were sent to participating venues this week.

Likely to be one of the most popular aspects of the new take on the art walk: no more participation fees for venues. Thanks to cash from the producers of the annual musical festival and the coffee giant, it will now be free for galleries, cafes, bars, restaurants, and shops to sign up to become part of the monthly walk:

The Art Walk is delighted to announce art walk fees are waived for all venues on the art walk, thanks to the generosity of The Capitol Hill Block Party, The Stranger, and Starbucks. Please thank these organizations for their support of the arts in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. We are incredibly grateful.

CHS and a small handful of neighborhood and area businesses who have supported the walk over the years will also continue their community sponsorships.

In 2009, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce  working with neighborhood artist Ellen Forney and mitigation money from Sound Transit — revived the monthly event as a way to attract shoppers and support for the neighborhood’s remaining galleries and arts venues. Though the new art walk was able to draw occasionally larger crowds, Capitol Hill’s walk continued to pale in comparison to the Pioneer Square edition and struggled to grow beyond the chamber’s 200 or so members — even as the Capitol Hill Arts District was formed. The chamber will continue to serve as the event’s fiscal agent “for any grant or sponsorship funds,” an art walk representative tells CHS.

Meanwhile, the producers of the Capitol Hill Block Party have been looking for the best avenue to put thousands of dollars the festival has promised to support the Hill’s merchant community — especially those near the Block Party footprint — into motion.

Capitol Hill Art Walk also has a new logo

Capitol Hill Art Walk also has a new logo

The Block Party’s Jason Lajeunesse turned to a familiar partner to help overhaul the art walk plan. The Ghost Gallery’s Laurie Kearney has previously worked on the Block Party’s arts programming. Meanwhile, longtime organizer Jeanine Anderson continues to be on hand to pull the monthly event together.

Part of the overhauled event will include a promotional strategy to reach beyond the neighborhood’s borders. “The Capitol Hill Art Walk map and listings will be published in The Stranger every month, with a reach throughout the city,” the announcement on the walk’s changes reads. Starting in January, the newspaper will become the home for the event’s printed roster of listings and map. “Copies of the Stranger-printed map will be delivered to participating art walk venues,” the announcement notes.

You won’t have to wait until January for the next Capitol Hill art walk, however. December’s edition comes Thursday the 10th. The map and the December roster is posted at capitolhillartwalk.com.

Bringing the change nearly full circle, Friday brings a second art walk night, of sorts, involving the artist who helped restart the event in 2009. Stop by John at Broadway for a “sidewalk party” to celebrate Forney’s newly hung works inside Capitol Hill Station.

 

 

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Hybrid_Space
8 years ago

Join us on the Capitol Hill Art Walk for Warren Pope Sr. & Warren Pope Jr.’s triangulated sculptural installation “5000 feet”. Food and refreshments will be provided.

All are welcome!

Artist’s Statement:
5000 linear feet of hand-bent aluminum rod held together by the friction of tightly wound nodes. Seemingly mystic geometric origin and abstract spatial tracing are the product of pliers in-hand and worked meditative crafting.

Chromed, the strands continuously reflect and sum the surrounding movements/motion of vessels, lights, and people at 1205 E Pike St. Small, brilliant points of light trace their path before fading: constellation in flux.

Special Thanks to Warren Pope Sr., Warren Pope Jr. & Matt Fujimoto for all your hard work!