Pack your lunch on Thursday and check out this fantastic event hosted by Seattle Art Museum. I can't wait to hear what this outstanding panel has to say! I've never considered myself "in" with the art scene in Seattle (what does that even mean?) but I've been quietly watching the work of the Free Sheep Foundation for awhile, and hearing great things about the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Additionally, from CityClub experience, I know Michael Kinsley is fantastic in these kinds of panel/moderator discussions.

Free and open to the public! RSVP info is below.

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Art and Sustainable Cities: A Dialogue
August 27, 2009
11:30 am–1 pm
Olympic Sculpture Park, PACCAR Pavilion

Introduction: 
Maryann Jordan, Interim Director, Seattle Art Museum
Moderator: 
Michael Kinsley, American political journalist
Panelists: 
Randy Engstrom, Founding Director, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
D.K. Pan and NKO, Founders, Free Sheep Foundation
Buster Simpson, Northwest artist
Beth Takekawa, Executive Director, Wing Luke Asian Museum
Closing Remarks: 
Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy

SAM and the Cascade Land Conservancy present the next panel discussion exploring the intersection of art, culture and the environment. Can steps be taken to ensure that revitalization and increased density are beneficial for both the arts and artists? How can we avoid artists being pushed out of our cities by rising prices? What roles do diversity and equity play in building vibrant, sustainable cities? Join us as we consider these and other questions.

“Art and Sustainable Cities: A Dialogue” is part of SAM’s Pivotal Perspectives series.  Bringing together some of the most compelling thinkers on a given cultural subject, Pivotal Perspectives is a timely and innovative forum that addresses pressing issues in art and society.

Free and open to the public. To reserve your space, please email
boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org or call the SAM Box Office at 206.654.3121.
Presented with support from the Seattle Office of Arts&Cultural Affairs

PATH, an amazing organization and a frequent CityClub, co-presenter, has just received a fantastic award! We are thrilled to hear this news, and wanted to congratulate them here in our blog, as well as share the news with all of you. From PATH's email:

We have just learned that PATH will receive the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize for 2009. This is the world’s largest humanitarian award, presented annually to a nonprofit organization judged to have made exemplary and extraordinary contributions toward alleviating human suffering. We are humbled to be this year’s recipient.

Established by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 1996, the award honors humanitarian organizations that are addressing the most challenging issues facing the world’s most vulnerable populations. “Bringing new ideas and technologies to the toughest global health challenges and scaling them up at low prices, often hand-in-hand with the private sector, PATH is having a profound impact on the health and quality of life of millions of men, women, and children around the world,” said Steven M. Hilton, president and CEO of the Hilton Foundation.

Previous recipients include Doctors Without Borders and Partners in Health. We’re honored to be in their company and hope the $1.5 million award will be a catalyst for expanding our work around the world and addressing new areas of need.

Click here to read PATH's full press release. Congratulations again, to everyone at PATH! (We also send them best wishes on their big move to South Lake Union from Ballard - we only had a few desks to move, and it was quite an undertaking! I ride the bus past PATH's current building every day and I've many times tried to imagine moving everything that must be in there! It's enough to make a person shudder.)

Although we have food AT every event (and it is often the topic of pre- or post-event conversation!) it's been quite awhile since we had an event ABOUT food. Out of curiousity, I look at a list of past events, searching for the "most recent" related event, and found a 2003 program called "Food, Wine and Community: A Recipe for Social Entrepreneurship".

2003 is well before the days of any of our current staffers, but a little research reveals the event was a happy hour at Fare Start, and focused almost solely on the Washington wine industry. This 2009 event, "Having Your Values and Eating Them Too!" will be a bit different: we wanna talk about food!

As it's been so long, it was almost as if the slate was wiped clean - we were starting at the beginning like we'd never done a food forum before, particularly when it came to looking for co-presenters (organizations with potentially interested audiences that could help us promote the event).

So, who's interested in local, sustainable, equitable food? Well, judging from the weekly crowds at the Ballard Farmer's Market, I'd say lots of Seattleites are interested. Restaurants boast that all their ingredients come from within 100 miles of Seattle, or even grow greens for their salads on their own roof. P-patches are numerous, and potlucks consist of veggies folks are growing in their own backyards. Coffee shops are expected to serve beverages made from fair trade beans. (This blogger once went to a vegan potluck in the Central District and took part in a very long conversation about the politics of bananas.)

As we spread the word about the event, we've made a few new friends we wanted to introduce to you!

Cascade Harvest Coalition: "Cascade Harvest Coalition is a non-profit organization dedicated to 're-localizing' the food system in Washington State by more directly connecting consumers and producers." Their methods include supporting farmers, educating consumers, and building healthy communities.

Slow Food Seattle: "Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment."

Pike Place Market: Although we have worked with Pike Place Market before, it's been a long time, and we lost touch. Thanks to the sustainable food program, we were able to reconnect!

Absolutely NOT to be left out, some of our regulars also deserve a shout-out! Hello and thank you: EarthCorps, Seattle Great City Initiative, Sightline Institute, Solid Ground, Sustainable Seattle, Washington State University, and YWCA of Seattle/King/Snohomish County.