Allied Arts of Seattle is a non-profit organization in Seattle, Washington, USA. The organization advocates for public funding of the arts, better urban planning and architecture, and other civic improvements.[1] The organization claims to be the "oldest non-profit organization in Seattle dedicated to urban livability",[2] but, in any case, at 50+ years old is certainly a venerable organization by the standards of a city barely older than 150 years It was a major force in establishing the Seattle Arts Commission, creating Seattle Center on the grounds of the Century 21 Exposition (1962 world's fair) and preserving historical landmarks and neighborhoods, particularly Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market, as well as defeating the 2012 Seattle Olympic bid.[1][3]
Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 744,955 residents as of 2018, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. According to U.S. Census data released in 2018, the Seattle metropolitan area's population stands at 3.94 million, and ranks as the 15th largest in the United States. In July 2013, it was the fastest-growing major city in the United States and remained in the top 5 in May 2015 with an annual growth rate of 2.1%. In July 2016, Seattle was again the fastest-growing major U.S. city, with a 3.1% annual growth rate. Seattle is the northernmost large city in the United States.
Seattle Center is an arts, educational, tourism and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, United States. Spanning an area of 74 acres, it was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. Its landmark feature is the 605-foot (184 m) tall Space Needle, which at the time of its completion was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Seattle Center is located just north of Belltown in the Uptown neighborhood.
The Century 21 Exposition was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair.
Allied Arts grew out of the Beer & Culture Society organized in early 1952 by University of Washington drama professor John Ashby Conway.[1] Other early members were U.W. professors Lloyd Schram, Robert Dietz, and Norman J. Johnston, assistant Seattle Art Museum director Sherman Lee, and architect John Stewart Detlie. On October 3, 1954, the Beer & Culture Society convened a "Congress" of the Arts that established Allied Arts as a permanent organization. Detlie became its first president. A second Congress in 1955 led to formal incorporation. By 1956, Allied Arts represented 57 local arts organizations and 55 artists and activists, including Kenneth Callahan, George Tsutakawa, and Lucile Saunders McDonald.[1]
The University of Washington is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Norman J. Johnston was a Professor in the Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning in the University of Washington College of Built Environments.
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the open Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on January 20, 2007.
The new group convinced the city to create an advisory Municipal Art Commission. The Commission, created August 1, 1955, published a master plan on June 23, 1956, which reads like a list of what would occur in Seattle over the next few decades. They proposed dedicating 2 percent of city capital funds to purchase art works (which in 1973 became One Percent for Art); establishing an annual city arts festival (Bumbershoot, established 1971[4]); hosting a world's fair (the Century 21 Exposition, 1962[5]); public funding for the Seattle Symphony; creating opera and ballet companies (the Seattle Opera, founded 1963,[6] and Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet, founded 1972 as Pacific Northwest Dance Association,[7] are now among the leading institutions of their kind in the country[8][9]); burying public utility lines; preserving historic landmarks; and planting street trees. The group also campaigned for a State Arts Commission (founded 1961). Their proposal to prohibit billboards met with lesser success (billboards in Seattle are now highly regulated, but not prohibited [10]).[1]
Bumbershoot is an annual international music and arts festival held in Seattle, Washington. One of North America's largest such festivals, it takes place every Labor Day weekend at the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle Center includes both indoor theaters and outdoor stages. The name of the festival was taken from bumbershoot, a colloquial term for umbrella, probably coined in the 19th century as a portmanteau of the words umbrella and parachute.
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera.
Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often with double casts in major roles to allow for successive evening presentations.
Allied Arts and the Arts Commission campaigned for a new civic center. Voter approval in November 1956 of a $7.5 million bond issue to upgrade the Civic Auditorium into an Opera House (later remodeled again as McCaw Hall) proved to be the first step toward the creation of the grounds for the Century 21 Exposition, later site of Seattle Center. Robert J. Block emerged as a leader during this period. He later helped establish the arts funding group Allied Arts Foundation.[1]
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, formerly known as the Civic Auditorium and Seattle Opera House, is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet. The building is named for Marion Oliver McCaw, whose four sons donated $20 million to fund a major renovation in 2003.
Preservation
Central Seattle's cityscape in the 1950s had changed little since before the Great Depression. Many buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century survived, but most were in poor shape, and the success of Boeing was gradually turning Seattle into a more prosperous city.[11] These older buildings were either going to be renovated or replaced. Allied Arts stood foursquare on the side of preservation. Under the leadership of architects Victor Steinbrueck, Fred Bassetti, and Ibsen Nelsen, the group was prominent in the creation of the Pioneer Square Historic District (1970) and the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board (1973), and were key supporters of a 1971 initiative that preserved Pike Place Market.[1] With respect to this last, an Allied Arts committee reconstituted itself in 1964 as the independent organization Friends of the Market;[12] Since 1974, Allied Arts and Friends of the Market have each been allocated two of the twelve seats on the Market Historical Commission which operates independently of other Market governance bodies with the specific mandate to preserve the Market's physical and social character as "the soul of Seattle."[13]
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how intensely the world's economy can decline.
The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services. Boeing is among the largest global aerospace manufacturers; it is the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world based on 2017 revenue, and is the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value. Boeing stock is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Boeing is incorporated in Delaware.
Victor Steinbrueck was a Seattle architect and University of Washington faculty member. Steinbrueck is best known for his efforts to preserve the city's Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market.
In this period, Allied Arts also advocated for the creation of the Seattle Design Commission that now guides municipal architecture. Other prominent Allied Arts leaders in this period were "secretary" and manager Alice Rooney, Jerry Thonn, Peggy Golberg, Lew Pritchard, Alf Collins, and Rae Tufts.[1]
A new generation of Allied Arts leaders emerged in this period. Paul Schell, later mayor, came to prominence as Allied Arts president and led the successful effort to establish One Percent for Art, with a more powerful Seattle Arts Commission replacing the earlier Municipal Art Commission. In the 1980s, Margaret Pageler and Victor Steinbrueck's son Peter Steinbrueck, both later members of the Seattle City Council were instrumental in the Citizens Alternative Plan (CAP) that put a moratorium for some years on new Downtown skyscrapers. Allied Arts also played a role in this period in establishing funding and changing zoning to promote artists' housing, and in the plans for facilities at the former Sand Point Naval Air Station.[1]
Not everything was a victory. In January 1992, despite much protest, the Music Hall Theater at 7th and Olive was demolished despite its landmark status. In the wake of its destruction, Allied Arts—led in this period by Mia McEldowny, Karen Kane, Walt Crowley, and Clint Pehrson, among others— pushed for stronger historic preservation laws and creation of transferable development rights (TDRs).[1] The latter allow a landowner to sell "air rights" to a neighbor. For example, the owner of a 3-story downtown building can sell development rights to an adjacent high-rise, guaranteeing that people in that side of the high-rise will not have their views blocked, and obtaining compensation for the commitment not to build a tall building adjacent to that high-rise.[citation needed]
Well into the 1990s, Allied Arts retained the anti-growth stance that had led to the CAP initiative. They opposed the Seattle Commons plan that would have reconfigured South Lake Union and opposed Seattle's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.[1]
That anti-urban orientation changed under presidents Clint Pehrson, Alex Steffen, David Yeaworth and Philip Wohlstetter. During this period the organization focused on both how to encourage smart growth, and how to make the ensuing density livable.[14][15]
In recent years (as of 2008) Allied Arts have played an important role in promoting discussion of what is to happen to Seattle's Central Waterfront once the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down. Allied Arts president David Yeaworth has advocated for rerouting Washington State Route 99 (SR-99) into a tunnel.[16] The People's Waterfront Coalition, who advocate for having SR-99 no longer run continuously through the city in any manner grew out of an Allied Arts charette.[17]
The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), founded in 1893, is a non-profit membership organization that protects New York’s legacy spaces, encourages thoughtful planning and urban design, and advocates for inclusive neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a college in the Denny Triangle, Capitol Hill and Seattle Center areas of Seattle, Washington, USA that focuses on the arts.
Peter Steinbrueck is a Seattle Port Commissioner, licensed architect in the State of Washington, and principal and founder of Steinbrueck Urban Strategies.
The Ward House is a house on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington, USA. Having been built in 1882, it is one of the oldest houses in Seattle. Existing houses reportedly built before 1882 in Seattle include the 2629 East Aloha Street (1881), 727 28th Avenue (1870) and Maynard's House located at 3045 64th Avenue Southwest.
Victor Steinbrueck Park is a 0.8 acre park overlooking Elliott Bay from Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. Located just northwest of Pike Place Market, between Western Avenue and the Alaskan Way Viaduct at the foot of Virginia Street, the park overlaps the former site of the Washington National Guard Armory, built c. 1909, damaged by fire in 1962 during an era where the future of the Market itself was a contentious issue, and torn down in 1968.
Cascade is an urban neighborhood abutting Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States, located adjacent to South Lake Union. It is bounded by: Fairview Avenue North on the west, beyond which is the rest of the Cascade Neighborhood; the Interstate 5 interchange for Mercer St to the north, beyond which is Eastlake; Interstate 5 on the east, beyond which is Capitol Hill; and Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny Triangle. It is surrounded by thoroughfares Mercer Street (eastbound), Fairview Avenue N. and Eastlake Avenue E., and Denny Way. The neighborhood, one of Seattle's oldest, originally extended much further: west to Terry Avenue, south to Denny Hill on the South, and east to Melrose Avenue E through the area now obliterated by Interstate 5. Some recent writers consider Cascade to omit the northern "arm", while others extend it westward to cover most of South Lake Union.
Seattle is a significant center for the painting, sculpture, textile and studio glass, alternative, urban art, lowbrow and performing arts. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra is among the world's most recorded orchestras. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, are comparably distinguished. On at least two occasions, Seattle's local popular music scene has burst into the national and even international consciousness, first with a major contribution to garage rock in the mid-1960s, and later as the home of grunge rock in the early 1990s. The city has about twenty live theater venues, and Pioneer Square is one of the country's most prominent art gallery districts.
Betty Bowen (1918–1977), was an American journalist and art promoter. She was born in Kent, Washington, and earned an English degree from the University of Washington. She worked briefly as a reporter for The Seattle Times, and later as women's editor for the Seattle Star. She was married to John Bowen, captain of an AT&T ship that laid undersea cables.
The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) serves to present and preserve the connections between the Pacific Northwest and people of African descent and investigate and celebrate Black experiences in America through exhibitions, programs and events. The museum is located in Seattle, Washington's historically African-American Central District neighborhood in the former Colman School. The building also contains 36 units of affordable housing.
The Patrons of Northwest Civic, Cultural and Charitable Organizations (PONCHO) is a non-profit corporation in Seattle, Washington, United States, whose annual fund-raising auction has long played a significant role in funding the arts in Seattle. However, over the years, the gala auction slowly ceased to be profitable and will not occur after 2008, being replaced by smaller art and wine auctions. Janet True, president of the PONCHO board, has indicated that the gala auction will probably be replaced by something parallel to New York City's Tony Awards.
Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. It is a place of business for many small farmers, craftspeople and merchants. Named after the central street, Pike Place runs northwest from Pike Street to Virginia Street. With more than 10 million visitors annually, Pike Place Market is Seattle's most popular tourist destination and is the 33rd most visited tourist attraction in the world.
The Central Waterfront of Seattle, in the state of Washington, US, is the most urbanized portion of the Elliott Bay shore. It runs from the Pioneer Square shore roughly northwest past Downtown Seattle and Belltown, ending at the Broad Street site of the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop is a store on the Central Waterfront of Seattle, Washington, United States, founded in 1899. It has moved several times, mainly within the waterfront area, and is now located on Pier 54. Best known today as a souvenir shop, it also has aspects of a dime museum, and was for many years an important supplier of Northwest Coast art to museums. As of 2008, the store has been owned by four generations of the same family.
The architecture of Seattle, largest city of the US Pacific Northwest, includes aspects that predate the mid-nineteenth century arrival of the area's first settlers of European ancestry, and has reflected and influenced numerous architectural styles over time. As of 2015, a major construction boom continues to reconfigure Seattle's Downtown, as well as neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Ballard and, perhaps most dramatically, South Lake Union.
The City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board is responsible for designating and preserving structures of historical importance in Seattle, Washington. The board recommends actions to the Seattle City Council, which fashions these into city ordinances with the force of law. The board is part of the city's Department of Neighborhoods.
Waterfront Fountain is an outdoor 1974 fountain and sculpture by James FitzGerald and Margaret Tomkins, installed along Alaskan Way in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. The fountain is located adjacent to the Seattle Aquarium at Waterfront Park on Pier 59.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
