A Creative Community Newsletter for Information and Inspiration
Each week we will send news you need to know about the COVID crisis that will help put us on the road to recovery. We will also give you a glimpse of how our creative colleagues from across the state are using their talent to bring us all closer together! Read on for more.
GET INFORMED
The House of Representatives in Washington DC introduced the HEROS Act which would extend unemployment benefits for gig workers through January—including the extra $600 per week! The bill is facing an uphill battle in the Senate and President Trump has already threatened to veto the bill if it hits his desk. If extending unemployment is important to you, write Washington State Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray to tell them what the benefits mean to you.     

On Friday, May 15, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the US Treasury Department released the long-awaited Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness Application packet, designed to educate borrowers on how to apply for PPP loan forgiveness. A copy of the 11-page document can be found here . Have questions about how to navigate all the bureaucracy? Our colleagues at OneRedmond are hosting a webinar today at 3:30 pm to talk about all the new rules and how to apply. You can register for it here .

Missed any of our previous newsletters? Or looking for our intel in how to navigate unemployment? Check out our new landing page where you can find all that and more!  
GET BUSY

At a time when the world needs creativity more than ever, freelancers and creative professionals are being put on hold. Sometime has issued a call to arms and invites creatives to put their skills to work by helping during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking to put your life in focus? Take some online classes at the Photographic Center Northwest. Classes range from FREE to $135.

Learn to sell photos online for pros and amateurs. And once you learn, here are the top 11 places where you can sell them.

Photographers are trapped inside. Why not hone your foodie pics with this webinar to master the composition of food photography with Darina Kopcok from Vancouver, Canada?

The Washington Historical Society wants your work to document COVID-19. They are looking for photos, videos, audio recordings, written anecdotes or observations, and digital content like screenshots, web pages, and emails.
BE INSPIRED
Isolation Through the Eyes of Washington Photographers
Photographer Mindy Siks. Photo Credit: Monica Miller
We asked some Washington photographers to send us photos that captured our current state of isolation and social distancing, from their vantage point, and to give us a caption for the photo. We received beautiful photos from all over the state, along with thoughtful and inspiring messages to help us get through this, together.
Just Be
"Naiya, 15, stares out of her bedroom window observing kids riding bikes on the street below. She has been out of school for weeks. For her, social distancing has meant more time to just be and pursue her interests."
"This photo is of Two Rivers where the Spokane River meets the Columbia. It was taken from the Spokane Indian Reservation, the land to the right is the Colville Indian Reservation, and to the left is owned by non-Natives.

This area is not only special to our people—it is considered sacred. Our people are river people and have been here since time immemorial. Our sustenance was based on the massive salmon runs that once used to fill both of these rivers prior to the construction of Grand Coulee Dam. 

When Lewis and Clark first came through, they said they were so thick you could walk across the river on the backs of salmon. In today's pandemic, there is a new paradigm we must adapt to, much like the shift when we lost our salmon.

To us, salmon was a way of life. The salmon were not only protein but also the base of our monetary system and were considered sacred in our culture. With all that is happening around us, we must reimagine what it means to be free, to gather and to be ourselves. Isolation lets us look deep into ourselves and sometimes isolation can feel as lonely, empty and desolate as the waters in this photo."
"Long hikes in any weather, snow or shine, the beauty of nature, the sound of running water, the smell of fresh air all bring a sense of calm in the pandemic storm. Two shadows united on the bridge are at a safe distance from others and symbolize the importance of our family connections as well as the many complexities of social distancing. Go left, go right, go ahead, back up, what is safe, what is overreaction? Our relationship to nature is more important than ever at a time when the environment is getting a well-needed break from mass transportation and industry pollution. Quarantined together, the shadows are on a bridge to the unknown."
"Faint footsteps echo off brick in Red Square on what would be a busy lunchtime on Tuesday May 2, 2020 at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington."
WALLA WALLA MOVIE CRUSH PRESENTS:
We Just Click
On a regular basis we'll be inviting creatives to curate content for the creative community to enjoy during the pandemic, starting with local storyteller, producer, and programmer Warren Etheredge. He's the co-founder and curator for Walla Walla Movie Crush . Stay tuned for an exclusive photo contest from themoviecrush.com at the end of this program. Post entries on Instagram and tag @themoviecrush  *before* Thursday, May 28th, 2020.
WATCH WE JUST CLICK
**PLEASE NOTE** These shorts are unrated and one of them, "Unattended Baggage," does include brief, artful nudity… nothing pornographic, mind you, but should the naked form displease, then please do skip the second short in this program.
Watch some movies...win a prize? This week's selection of stay-at-home shorts is a tribute to the still image paid forward with moving images. From shutterbugs who find beauty in nature, to amateurs and prose alike who find beauty in their mates and near-primates. It's not a matter of point-and-shoot, it's a matter of our true heart's perspective when we capture art and love and life in a single frame. This is what happens when…we just click.
REMEMBERING LYNN SHELTON
1965-2020
The film community was shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton last Saturday. Here are some tributes, interviews, and ways to see her work online:
Here is the joint statement from Washington Filmworks, King County Creative, and the City of Seattle Office of Film + Music.

Read this touching tribute to Lynn Shelton from friend and Crosscut arts writer Brangien Davis.

Here's where to watch Lynn Shelton's work online.

Northwest Film Forum is doing a virtual screening of We Go Way Back this evening.

Read this interview with Lynn about the power of meditation and creativity.

And watch an interview Warren Etheredge did with Lynn Shelton for his show the High Bar back in 2011, below:
"Clearly, Lynn Shelton will be missed and, in our mourning, let’s remember arguably her most important lesson: in any career, in any life, goodness and kindness and generosity of spirit matter as much, maybe more, than talent. Lead with love and laughter; many will follow, and all will wish you well and lift you upwards." — Warren Etheredge
SUPPORT COMMUNITY

Flower Power—a community effort from Seattle florists supports local Hmong farmers.

Browse, buy or commission a piece from the artists at Alki Art Fair , online for the month of May.

Check out this book for a glimpse of life, art and the power of place on remote Orcas Island, WA.

Local photographer Howard Frisk sells stunning landscape photography from all over the state of Washington.

Buy prints from artists to help support immigrant rights for the Immigrants are Essential Art Project.
CREATIVITY IS EVERYWHERE
Photo Diaries and Pandemic Portraits
Frida Kahlo recreations on Instagram
People around the world recreate famous works of art with household items.
 
Seattle Photographer Rafael Soldi made a photo series of his family and friends, from a safe distance. 
 
The Northwest pandemic in pictures .

Families around the country pose for Porch Portraits during quarantine.
Washington Filmworks (WF) is the private 501(c)(6) non-profit organization that manages the Motion Picture Competitiveness program as well as a diversity of resources for the creative industries in Washington State. WF's mission is to create economic development opportunities by building and enhancing the competitiveness, profile and sustainability of Washington State’s film industry.
 At Whipsmart, we are unapologetic advocates for creative people and businesses. We give creative professionals the tools they need to succeed, by meeting them where they’re at—offering intentionally curated mentorships, job opportunities, and business resources scaled to every stage of their career.
‌