Best of the City 2008
You're about to see your city in a whole new way.
Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Christopher Werner, Ben Schock, Kathryn Robinson, Rachelle Robinett, Erin Pursell, Laura Peach, Kelly Huffman, Leah Finn, James Ross Gardner, Lee Fehrenbacher, Stefan Durham, Wilson Diehl, Laura Cassidy, Roger Brooks, Sarah Anderson, and Steve Wiecking
OUT & ABOUT
Film Series
Whether we’re talking monorails or movies, Seattleites like nothing more than a good old-fashioned debate. At the ITVS Community Cinema Seattle’s flagship series, our penchant for polemic is provoked when freewheeling discussions follow film screenings. In one memorable moment a Starbucks rep came to watch the Ethiopian coffee contemplation Black Gold—then defended the very company the doc condemned. The fourth season opens this September with Chicago Ten, from the team behind the Robert Evans docu-pic, The Kid Stays in the Picture. ITVS Community Cinema Seattle, SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer St, 800-930-6060; www.communitycinemaseattle.org
Arts Channel
Sorry, KCTS, but while you were rerunning Andre Rieu’s European kitsch concert for the umpteenth time, Seattle Channel hooked us with its Art Zone programming and claimed the prize for top-notch television. Nancy Pearl has monthly Book Lust; Nancy Guppy does In Studio appearances to take the pretense out of theater and gallery work; KEXP’s John Richards sounds out The Local Music Show; and there was even an opening-night special for the Seattle International Film Festival. We’re staying tuned. Seattle Channel, Cable Channel 21, www.seattlechannel.org
Media Arts Program
Native Lens, a function of local Longhouse Media, puts Seattle’s Native American youth in touch with their world, and themselves, through technology. A partnership with the San Juan Islands’ Swinomish tribe, the program (a 2007 Mayor’s Arts Award winner) gives each kid a camera, and then industry professionals teach them how handle the film equipment. What these young people choose to express—peer pressure, self-esteem issues, the bonds of community—finds a compelling home on celluloid. Native Lens, 206-778-8394; www.longhousemedia.org
Indie Craft Fair
Though the cozy, seams-on-the-outside, DIY craft movement makes a happy home in Seattle year round, each December we’re particularly graced during Urban Craft Uprising. At this mother of all craft revolutions, held at Seattle Center, clever vendors sell earrings fashioned from Barbie-doll shoes, journals made out of old textbooks, and clocks created from melted vinyl records. Urban Craft Uprising, www.urbancraftuprising.com
Block Party
Capitol Hill’s Microsoft-sponsored hoodfest draws the big-name bands, but for a more homespun hoedown, we suggest the South Lake Union Block Party. From the barbecue burger cook-off to the beer garden to the dog-show obstacle course, the August event hits the perfect pitch for a low-key summer afternoon in the city. South Lake Union Block Party, Westlake Ave & Denny Way, South Lake Union, 206-342-5900; www.slublockparty.com
Artist-Run Gallery
Tucked behind a wooden fence at the convergence of Olive and Denny, Crawl Space can be tricky to find, but it’s worth the extra effort to watch the emergence of the seven member artists—including Anne Mathern and her deadpan commentary on falseness and sincerity in the form of large-format photographic portraits—and Diana Falchuk’s exploration of death and decay in the form of food sculptures. Crawl Space, 504 E Denny Way, Ste 1, Capitol Hill, 206-201-2441; www.crawlspacegallery.com
• Impresario
Wier Harman
Town Hall has flourished as a center for civic and cultural life, and for that we have Wier Harman to thank. The local arts veteran and Yale University alum sharpened his theater-running skills in both New York and Atlanta before becoming the hall’s executive director. “The thing that I really dig about it,” he says, “is I feel like we’re pioneering a new kind of venue, where our own produced work is sharing the stage with the best work the community can throw at us.”
Harman remains genuinely engaged in what he deems Town Hall’s “cultural flattening,” which allows a regional spelling bee to share common ground with a lecture by Al Gore. The hall recently purchased its building and will start a capital campaign for much-needed renovation (air-conditioning!). “I inherited something that was primed and ready to go,” says Harman. “All I’ve really done is turn up the volume a bit.” Turn it up higher, Harman—it’s a beautiful noise. Wier Harman, Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave, First Hill, 206-652-4255; www.townhallseattle.org
Published: July 2008
