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Hello, Cultural Advocates!

It's an important week! Arts, Heritage, and Science Week kicks off today and we are thrilled to welcome over 200 advocates from across the state to join us in person and virtually in Olympia.

We have our first important ACTION ALERT for you! There are three cultural bills that have hearings this week that need some love. When a bill has a hearing, the public is given the opportunity to have their position noted "pro" or "con" for the legislative record. Legislators really rely on people signing in because it helps them to determine which bills are important to their communities and where to put their support. Scroll down to learn about this week's bills and sign in pro or con!

House Bill 1658 (Waters): Ensuring dedicated funding for history and heritage museums and county historic preservation programs. 

Instructions for Signing in PRO:

1. Go to this link.
2. Select HB 1658: History museum funding
3. Select: I would like my position noted for the legislative record
4. For Position select "PRO"
5. Fill out your personal information and click "Submit Registration" at the bottom.

About: From our friends at Washington Museum Association, "HB 1658 is critical to ensuring funds already collected for museums & heritage organizations are distributed as intended, without requiring new budget allocations. It's about making sure our communities' museums and local preservation groups get the funding they deserve!" This bill is from our friends at the Washington Museum Association, to read their one sheet click here.

House Bill 1576 (Walen) / Senate Bill 5554 (Salomon): Concerning the designation of historic landmarks by cities.

Instructions for Signing in CON:

1. For HB 1576, go to this link. For SB 5554, go to this link.
2. Select HB 1576 or SB 5554 Historic landmarks/cities
3. Select: I would like my position noted for the legislative record
4. For Position select "CON"
5. Fill out your personal information and click "Submit Registration" at the bottom.

About: From our friends at WA Trust for Historic Preservation, "House Bill 1576/Senate Bill 5554 threatens to dramatically undermine local preservation efforts by restricting how communities are able to designate local landmarks. The bill proposes that owner consent be required for a historic building to be designated as a local landmark. Its confusing language seems to suggest that local designation would be prohibited if it restricts alterations to or demolition of the building and that landmark designation of single-family homes would prevent the creation of much-needed middle-income housing (despite the fact that data has shown this is not the case). As a whole, the bill threatens to upend decades of precedence empowering local communities to decide what historic places in their communities should be protected and how. We firmly oppose this bill and ask for your help!" To learn more about this bill from our partners at the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, click here.

House Bill 1631 (Nance): Establishing the state marine forest

Instructions for Signing in PRO:

1. Go to this link.
2. Select HB 1631: State marine forest
3. Select: I would like my position noted for the legislative record
4. For Position select "PRO"
5. Fill out your personal information and click "Submit Registration" at the bottom.

About: The Seattle Aquarium Youth Ocean Advocates (high school volunteers), along with partners at the Puget Sound Restoration Fund and Rep. Nance, have created this bill to build awareness about the importance of bull kelp both among the public and legislators, and thereby hopefully create a foundation for future legislative action and funding—in this case, to promote the preservation and restoration of wild kelp forests. To learn more, click here.

Join us TONIGHT for the 2024 Governor’s Arts and Heritage Awards ceremony, as we celebrate creative excellence throughout the state. The event is open to the public and tickets are available for purchase at the link below.

Date: February 3, 2025

Time: Doors 6:00 p.m. / Event 7:00 p.m.

Location: Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts, 2011 Mottman Rd. SW, Olympia

Learn more and purchase tickets: https://www.arts.wa.gov/gaha-2024/

The awards are administered by ArtsWA on behalf of the Governor.

ArtsWA named ten honorees across eight categories for the 2024 awards, including the debut of a Tribal Arts & Heritage category:

• Arts Champion Award: Pearl Jam
• Tribal Arts and Heritage Award: Philip H. Red Eagle
• Organization Awards: 206 Zulu and Look, Listen & Learn
• Community Impact Award: Inspire Washington
• Educator Award: Danh T. Pham
• Young Leader Award: Dennis Robinson Jr.
• Legacy Award: Consuelo Soto Murphy
• Individual Awards: John Furniss and Joe Fedderse

About Inspire Washington

Inspire Washington nurtures the human spirit and strengthens communities by increasing access to science, heritage, and arts programming through advocacy, resource development, education, and coalition building.

Inspire Washington

info@inspirewashington.org

P.O. Box 806, Seattle, WA 98111

InspireWashington.org

Manuel R. Cawaling, Executive Director: manny@inspirewashington.org

Jessi Wasson, Deputy Director: jessi@inspirewashington.org

Anna Tatelman, Annual Fund Manager: anna@inspirewashington.org

Madeline Dalton, Outreach Coordinator: advocacy@inspirewashington.org

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