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Hello, cultural supporters! 


We are so grateful to have wrapped up an active, inspiring, and meaningful summer. Between our Cultural Futures tour and Residency program, we visited 30 cities and towns across Washington and communicated with over 1,000 partners in a variety of ways. We connected with cultural businesses and district lawmakers and held town halls to learn more about the cultural ecosystem in all regions of our beautiful and diverse state. We also expanded our coalition by meeting with allies from local restaurants, tourism, and economic development offices. Most importantly, we met with organizations of all sizes; directing over 1,000 cultural businesses to funding opportunities: the Working WA Round 5 Grant Program and the upcoming support for cultural institutions with budgets of $5+ million. 


We are now less than three months from the state's legislative session. This will be a challenging year for cultural advocacy due to decreased tax revenues, shrinking federal support, and a potential economic recession. We know that science, heritage, and arts organizations are still struggling to recover from the pandemic and many are facing a financial cliff due to decreased audiences. We also know that your programs are vital to economic recovery, addressing the mental health crisis, and bringing connection and vibrancy back to community life. We have big goals for this legislative session and to succeed, we will need EVERY person in EVERY district to make their voice heard. 


We are excited to share an important date with you.  Join us for a Virtual Advocate Rally on Tuesday, Nov 8th at 12pm. At this time, we will share all of the cultural requests the Legislature will consider next year. 


We are also excited to share two funding opportunities for Washington cultural businesses from ArtsWA and ArtsFund! Scroll down to learn more about about these programs and how to apply.


We have worked tirelessly to represent your cultural programs and secure financial support but there's still so much left to do. Inspire Washington must remain visionary, ambitious, collaborative, and aggressive for the cultural sector.  Please consider investing in our advocacy objectives by joining as an invested cultural partner. We exist because of the growing list of partners that pledge dues every year.  Like you, it's been a hard year for us so we ask you to seriously consider joining our circle.  Click here to learn more


Thank you for all that you do. Please reach out if you have any questions!


Warmly,

Manny, Jessi, and Madeline

King County Cultural Access Info

In January of 2020, the future looked bright. Inspire WA began building a King County coalition and creating a plan for a second cultural access campaign. In 2017, the Access for All campaign narrowly lost during the August election. Just short by .3%, winning remained in reach. Two years ago, the November 2020 was the election in our sights. Of course, our plans were quickly derailed due to the pandemic.


We have new hope and aim to build a plan with you. If implemented through a public vote, Cultural Access will significantly expand funding to fuel greater cultural access and engagement in King County. Join us and our partners at 4Culture for one of 7 virtual meetings to learn about Cultural Access and the funding it could bring to cultural businesses and programs in our communities. 


Meeting Agenda:

  • What is Cultural Access?
  • How will it benefit my community and program?
  • How has it changed since 2017?
  • What is the future of Cultural Access?
  • How can I help?


Click to register for the time that best fits your schedule:

Tuesday, Oct 18 from 12pm-1:30pm

Thursday, Oct 20 from 9am-10:30am

Monday, Oct 24 from 12pm-1:30pm

Monday, Oct 24 from 7pm-8:30pm

Tuesday, Oct 25 from 9am-10:30am

Thursday, Oct 27 from 12pm-1:30pm

Legislative Agenda Reveal

Advocate Rally

Inspire WA along with our state-wide partners at ArtsWA, Humanities WA, WAMA, ArtsFund, WA Commerce, WA State Historical Society, and many others are excited to announce our broad cultural agenda for the 2023 Legislative session. At the Rally, we will share the details of each request and provide briefing sheets and resources so that advocates may confidently meet with their lawmakers before the holidays. It is vital that the legislature hears from their constituents about the needs of the sector before session begins.

 

Tuesday, Nov 8th at 12pm - Click here to register!

District Leader Sign-Ups


Every year in early February, Inspire Washington and partners host Arts, Heritage, and Science (AHS) Week, a time when advocates from all 49 legislative districts meet with their lawmakers about the issues facing the cultural sector. After two years of meeting in "virtual Olympia," we are thrilled to have a hybrid format: advocates can either attend in Olympia or meet with lawmakers virtually! 


Each legislative district has a team of advocates led by a District Leader, who schedules meetings with their lawmakers and energizes their advocate team. Do YOU want to be a District Leader? Learn more about the position details and sign up HERE

New Funding Opportunities

Funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, this new program will provide unrestricted grants for cultural nonprofit organizations across Washington state in amounts of $2,500 to $25,000. The initiative will open applications in January 2023 to provide essential capital to Washington’s cultural organizations, including fiscally sponsored and tribal organizations, whose primary mission is to produce or support arts and cultural activities. The funds are intended to boost arts organizations’ ability to invest in their missions and essential roles serving communities across the state.


This grant will be administered by ArtsFund. More info available here

In the last legislative session, $5 million was allocated to cultural organizations with budgets over $5 million to support COVID-related expenses. This funding pool will be administered by ArtsWA and they are getting ready to announce this program shortly. 


Here is the projected timeline for this funding with more information coming soon!


  • Application Open: November 1, 2022
  • Application Deadline: November 30, 2022, 5pm
  • Notifications sent: January 2 – January 6, 2023:
  • Funds dispersal: January 16 – January 31, 2023

Arts 4 All Update

Arts 4 All Tieton Retreat


Arts for All (A4A) is a statewide coalition working to ensure high quality arts education for all Pre K-12 students.


The Arts for All (A4A) Coalition met for the first time in-person with organizational partners in Tieton, WA, to kick off our work. A4A is a statewide collective impact project that aims to provide universal access to quality arts learning for all students in Washington. We dove into the work of mindfully shaping A4A and learned from virtual panelists across the country who are doing similar work in their state. David Holland, Deputy Director at the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) brilliantly facilitated our efforts and was a thoughtful guide through the experience.


Want to be involved in this work? Click here to become an A4A Champion!

Rep. Pramila Jayapal to Co-Sponsor HR 7627

Recently, Inspire WA proudly endorsed the Advancing Equity Through the Arts and Humanities Act (HR 7627). Sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) and developed by and for BIPOC artists and creatives, HR 7627 centers the arts and humanities as a critical lever to dismantle systemic racism in the United States.



To take the next step in advocating for this bill, Manny contacted all ten congresspeople from Washington State asking them to co-sponsor this bill. We are thrilled to report that, thanks to our advocacy, Representative Pramila Jayapal will be co-sponsoring this bill. Her co-sponsorship sends a clear message that Washington champions racial equity through cultural programming. Thank you, Representative Jayapal! 



HR 7627 would create a program under the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide grants to increase engagement with public and nonprofit entities, including faith-based and community-based organizations, that serve and are led by people of color, and to support arts and humanities projects that directly combat systemic racism through the arts and humanities.


Want to join Inspire Washington in supporting this bill? You can endorse too! We invite all Washington cultural organizations and individual artists to endorse HR 7627. Over 130 entities have endorsed HR 7627, including Inspire WA and the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), and we would love to see more endorsements come from Washington State.


Endorse HERE!

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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

Jessi Wasson, Programs and Operations Manager

Madeline Dalton, Outreach Coordinator



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