ArtsWest

ArtsWest’s mission is outward-facing, one that measures success by response and not by the simple production of art.  We believe that it is not enough simply for an ArtsWest artistic event to be artistically excellent, an “art for art’s sake” argument.  Rather, we believe that art is the most vibrant, nimble exercise in evoking discussion.  Requiring conversation from the production of art constructs a perfect confluence of tolerance, understanding, and intellectual growth.   ArtsWest’s mission is at the center of every decision, and at the same time, our mission allows us to set goals to increase diversities of age, race, sex, sexual orientation, and region.

ArtsWest is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts organization located in West Seattle with programs in theater, visual art, and education.  Since the late 1980s, this organization has presented works throughout West Seattle in various locations.  We opened a 149-seat theater and visual art gallery in November 1999 and have since presented over 450 different performing arts productions and gallery exhibitions, to over 200,000 visitors.

As of this writing, ArtsWest is governed by a 16-member volunteer board of trustees; maintains a staff of 6 FTEs, several part time employees, and hundreds of volunteers; and operates on an annual budget of approximately $900,000.  The ratio of earned to contributed revenue is about 45% earned/55% contributed.  We are proudly supported by hundreds of individual donors and volunteers, the city, county and state arts commissions, foundations and numerous corporate sponsors.

As an art gallery with a free admission policy, we exhibit and sell the works of artists from across the region for the enjoyment and engagement of people from all over the Puget Sound area.  The ArtsWest Artists Association (AWAA) developed in 2001 out of the interest and enthusiasm of several local artists who believed that a visual artists group would benefit our local community and act as an additional enhancement to ArtsWest as an organization. 

As a theater company, we are proud members of Theatre Puget Sound, a service organization founded to promote the spiritual and economic necessity of theatre to the people of the Puget Sound region.  ArtsWest’s theater work is based on the premise that good art inspires good ideas and encourages the kind of healthy, non-harmful debate that builds a sense of community.  We rally around the idea that producing plays and musicals that fit our mission by inducing conversation is more important than the simple production of the plays.  We adhere to the notion that for theatrical art to be significant, it has to be a means to an end, rather than the end itself.

As an arts education leader, ArtsWest is nationally renowned for its summer youth programs.  ArtsWest is one of only three arts organizations in the United States to receive three successive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of the Summer Musical Theater Program.  ArtsWest's Summer Musical Theater Program serves area youth of all demographics. 

PO Box 16152
4711 California Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98116
Phone: (206) 938-0963
Fax: (206) 937-6193
Website: www.artswest.org