It has been a joy and an honor to serve the region’s arts & culture community on behalf of Spokane Arts. I have made the tough decision to leave my role as executive director of Spokane Arts for a new challenge. I’ll remain with Spokane Arts through July 31, then pass the baton to a new director. The Spokane Arts governing board is conducting a national search, and I have full confidence they will find a fantastic, experienced leader to guide Spokane Arts forward.
News
Curious what’s happening in arts and culture? Read all about it. Here you’ll find announcements of new calls for artists, grant awards, photos of public art installations, links to local media coverage of creatives and the creative economy, plus relevant regional and national news related to arts and culture.
Stepwell
We are thrilled to announce Stepwell, a sculpture by J. Meejin Yoon of Höweler + Yoon, located in Riverfront Park, north of the Providence Playscape is now open to the public! Stepwell is an interactive sculpture that uses a renewable resource (mass timber) as its primary material. Comprised of 68 individual pieces, each hand-carved and machined, all precisely engineered to fit together like a puzzle, Stepwell explores a new, more climate-conscious way to think about our built environment. Stepwell will invite the community to sit, climb, and enjoy the unique space it creates within the park. Visitors will move through the interior of the sculpture via an ADA pathway or climb its steps to experience an elevated view of the Spokane River.
The Chase Gallery Presents Persistence of Vision: Asian Diaspora Perspectives in Continuum
Spokane Arts invites you to our newest exhibition featuring artworks from Margaret Albaugh and Frances Grace Mortel, exploring the persistence of Asian diasporic narratives. The show is open April 7 through May 26, 2023.
Spokane Arts to distribute $1 million in COVID relief to local arts & culture sector
Arts and culture organizations, businesses, and individual creatives in the city of Spokane will soon be able to apply for covid relief grants, funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars distributed by the City of Spokane and Spokane Arts.
The Chase Gallery Presents Landscapes Reimagined
Have you ever seen an artwork that made you look at a familiar landscape in a new way? Spokane Arts invites you to join them for a unique art exhibition, Landscapes Reimagined, featuring artworks from Roxanne Everett and Josh Hobson that explore the beauty of nature from a new perspective. Come explore the creative interpretations of familiar landscapes and be inspired to look at the world around you in a new light.
2022 Spokane Arts Award Winners!
Thank you for attending the 2022 Spokane Arts Awards! Congratulations to all the nominees, winners, and performers.
Queer Art Walk 2022, presented by Spokane Arts
Spokane’s third annual Queer Art Walk begins Friday, June 3, 2022. Queer Art Walk was founded in 2019 by a group of local artists, with the mission to uplift LGBTQ+ voices and celebrate a historically marginalized group through art.
Welcome new arts commissioners!
Spokane Arts is thrilled to welcome four new advisory board members, who were recently appointed to the City of Spokane Arts Commission.
“Layer by Layer” opens at Chase Gallery
Spokane Arts kicks off the new year with an exciting new exhibit at the Chase Gallery, opening Friday, January 7. Layer by Layer features the work of Madison Jones, Emily Somoskey, and Aleeta Renee Jones, and will be open through February 25, 2022.
Monument removal recommended by Citizens’ Advisory Council
Spokane Arts stands with the Pacific Islander community in asking the city to remove this statue. Removing it would be one step toward correcting inaccurate history and toward healing the communities harmed. This monument was donated to the city of Spokane in 1906, commissioned by a wealthy family. The pediment of the statue perpetuates racist stereotypes in both text and imagery, and is a source of ongoing harm not only to Samoans and the broader Pacific Islander community, but to all Indigenous peoples who have been denigrated with the same racist stereotypes found on the monument. The statue should be removed.