ArtsWA news

March 2023

Contact: info@arts.wa.gov

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In this issue:

• Apply: Creative Start Project Grant
• Apply: Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program
• Event: Poet Laureate Book launch
• Event: Poet Laureate Passing of the Laurel
• News: Poetry Out Loud State Champion
• Watch: Poetry Out Loud State Final
• Watch: Building for the Arts Webinars
• Explore: Celebrating Women's History Month
• Explore: Madrona Poetry Project
• and more

Apply now: Creative Start Project grant

The Creative Start Project Grant supports projects that engage preschool to 3rd grade students in arts integrated learning. This one-year grant prioritizes the students’ creative, academic, and social emotional growth.

Apply by April 27. Learn more and apply

Apply now: Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program

The Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program supports individuals seeking to preserve traditional practices important to their community, heritage, and identity. The program provides a supportive mentoring environment and networking opportunities.

Apply by April 23. Learn more and apply

Other grants coming soon:

FY24-25 General Operating Support: Sustaining (large groups)

Opening April 11.

FY24-25 Art Service Organization Support

Opening April 11.

Mark your calendar

April 8: I Sing the Salmon Home - Seattle launch. Join Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest at Seattle Public Library on April 8 to celebrate I Sing the Salmon Home, a new anthology from Pacific Northwest poets.

April 10: I Sing the Salmon Home - Olympia launch. Join Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest at the Capitol building an April 10 to celebrate I Sing the Salmon Home, a new anthology from Pacific Northwest poets.

April 11: Grant applications open for General Operating Support: Sustaining (For Large Groups). Art organizations with an annual budget over $350k can apply for two-year funding to cover day-to-day costs.

April 11: Grant applications open for Art Service Organization Support. Statewide and regional organizations with career development services for arts professionals can apply for two-year funding to cover day-to-day costs. 

April 15: Veteran Resource Fair. ArtsWA's Wellness, Arts, and the Military program will be one of several programs and organizations with resources for Veterans at this free event in Tacoma, Washington.

May 4: Passing of the Laurel to the new Washington State Poet Laureate. Join us in Tacoma to celebrate the Passing of the Laurel from current Laureate Rena Priest to her to-be-announced successor.

News and updates

High school students from across Washington State took the stage at the Tacoma Little Theatre on March 11 for the Washington State Poetry Out Loud Final. Photo by Pavel Verbovski.

Matthew Valentine named 2023 Poetry Out Loud State Champion

Matthew Valentine, a senior at Olympia High School in Thurston County, is the 2023 Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion. Rising to the top from a competitive field of nearly 12,000 students from 38 schools across the state, Valentine was among the 9 high school students—all regional Poetry Out Loud champions—who competed in the State Final.

In case you missed it

Watch: Building for the Arts 3-part Webinar series

ArtsWA released a free 3-part Webinar series on Building for the Arts. Session 1 (Feasibility), Session 2 (Funding), and Session 3 (Grantee roundtable) are now available online. Watch now.

Read: Art in Public Places guidelines available in Spanish

Art in Public Places guidelines for the artwork selection process are now available in Spanish. These guidelines cover K-12 public schools and state agencies, colleges, and universities. Read the guidelines.

Listen: podcast from Center for Washington Cultural Traditions

A More Perfect Union, a podcast from the Center for Washington Cultural Traditions, focuses on groups sidelined and sometimes silenced in the American story. You’ll hear from Latine Americans in Wenatchee, LGBTQ+ activists from across eastern Washington, and Black Americans from around the Salish Sea. Listen to A More Perfect Union.

Explore: Women's History Month

In 1987, Congress designated the month of March as Women’s History Month, in perpetuity. Women’s History Month is now used to highlight the contributions and achievements of women to events in history and contemporary society.

Learn about the history of women by exploring their stories through art, from Washington’s State Art Collection.

Start exploring on My Public Art Portal. 

Carole's Dance (1996, linoleum print), Robin Holder, at Burlington-Edison High School, Burlington. 

Explore: Madrona Poetry Project

ArtsWA is honored to have played a small part in The Madrona Project: Art in a Public Voice, an ekphrastic poetry collection that pairs poems and images of public art in the Pacific Northwest.

ek·​phra·​sis: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art

Edited by Samuel Green—Washington’s first State Poet Laureate—alongside Sally Green and Michael Daley, The Madrona Project contains over fifty images with ekphrastic poems by renowned Northwest poets, including current Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest.

It is published by Empty Bowl, an independent press founded in 1976.

Omega Array (1996) by Jack Archibald, located at Chattaroy Elementary, Chattaroy, in Northeast Washington.