ArtsWA news

May 2023

Contact: info@arts.wa.gov

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In this issue:

Governor's Arts & Heritage Awards - nominations open until June 16

🏆 Nominations are now open for the Governor’s Arts & Heritage AwardsThe awards recognize Washington’s outstanding arts and cultural leaders, artists, culture bearers, and organizations. Anyone from Washington State who is eligible can be nominated. We strongly encourage nominations that reflect communities across the state, including historically underserved communities.

Apply by June 16 at 5:00 p.m.

Photo courtesy of the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, a 2022 Governor's Arts & Heritage Awardee. 

More opportunities

📣 ArtsWA's Art in Public Places team is hiring a Conservation Technician to join a dynamic, growing team that manages the condition of public artworks in Washington State. The Collections Team surveys and reports on the condition of many kinds of public art and performs maintenance activities as needed.

💵 $4,425.00 - $5,960.00 Monthly

🌎 Thurston, Pierce, or South King counties – telework eligible with statewide travel

Apply by May 29.


📣 ArtsWA is accepting midterm applications to the 2021-2025 Public Artist Roster. The Roster is a list of artists who are pre-qualified to design and create site-responsive artworks at K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and state agencies with our Art in Public Places program.

Apply by June 13.


📣 ArtsWA is seeking youth artists ages 16-19 to join the 2023-2024 Washington Youth Arts Leadership (WAYAL) cohort. Young artists in the program explore arts and arts administration careers with mentors in the field. Youth can self-nominate. Mentors, teachers, and community members can nominate a youth artist from their communities.

Apply by July 16.


📣 Artists Up—a collaborative between the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture, and ArtsWA—is connecting artists with mentors through Mentorly, an artist-owned and -operated online mentorship platform. Apply for an Artists Up Mentorly Scholarship to receive 4 free online sessions with an artist-mentor of your choice.

Opening June 5.

News and updates

Poetry Out Loud State Champion Matthew Valentine, Governor Jay Inslee, and Washington State Poet Laureate Arianne True

Left to right: Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion Matthew Valentine, Governor Jay Inslee, and Washington State Poet Laureate Arianne True.

Arianne True, Matthew Valentine celebrate poetry with Governor


On Wednesday, May 24, Arianne True (Washington State Poet Laureate) and Matthew Valentine (Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion) met with Governor Jay Inslee to celebrate their accomplishments.


Governor Inslee spoke with Arianne and Matthew about how they developed their interest and skills in the practice of poetry. Matthew, currently a student at Olympia High School, noted the importance of making a poem "your own" in recitation. Arianne, who became the seventh State Poet Laureate on May 4, recommended the The Book of Delights by poet and essayist Ross Gay.

Watch Arianne at the Passing of the Laurel
Watch Matthew at the State Poetry Out Loud Final

In case you missed it

🏅 Creative Districts videos win Telly Award


Two Creative Districts videos won a Bronze Telly Award for Branded Content - Campaign: Social Impact. The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens. Both videos were produced by Elliat Graney-Saucke.

📺 Watch: Creative Districts: Placemaking

📺 Watch: Creative Districts: Driving Local Economies

📣 2023 Poetry Out Loud roundup


The Poetry Out Loud National Finals were held in early May. Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion Matthew Valentine received an honorable mention for the Western Region. Enjoy videos and audio from Poetry Out Loud—and the new original poetry contest Poetry Ourselves—here:

📖 Read: 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Champion announcement

📺 Watch: 2023 Washington State Poetry Out Loud Final Competition

📺 Watch: 2023 Washington State Poetry Out Loud - Students Speak

🎧 Listen: 2023 Washington State Poetry Ourselves finalists

📖 Read: Performing Arts integration in Eastern Washington


ArtsWA’s Arts in Education program and Wolf Trap teamed up in ESD 123 ECEAP classrooms to share how integrating song, drama, and storytelling into learning can help get kids ready for kindergarten. Read the story.

🗺️ Celebrate: AANHPI Heritage Month 


Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is celebrated in May to remember and celebrate the achievements and contributions of people of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander descent in the United States.


May was chosen because of two important anniversaries: the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the United States on May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad by many Chinese laborers on May 10, 1869. 


Explore on My Public Art Portal.


September Moon (1994) by Aki Sogabe, located at Windsor Elementary, Spokane in Eastern Washington. Photo courtesy of the artist.

September Moon by Aki Sogabe. This piece portrays a stylized nightscape and plays with light and pattern to depict rocks, trees and flowing water.
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