ARTventures
React to the Sites and Sounds of the Seattle Region.
All ARTventures will depart from the Washington State Convention Center. Departure times vary. Please gather for your tour 15 minutes in advance of your tour’s scheduled departure time. Wear comfortable walking shoes and come prepared for Seattle weather, which at this time of year can be warm and sunny or cool and rainy. Tours will run rain or shine. Lunch will be provided.
At Harborview Medical Center and Swedish Hospital, art is a fundamental part of creating a healing environment. Talk to artists, administrators, and designers about the extensive and specialized collections at two of the region’s outstanding healthcare facilities. Learn how art enhances the patient care environment and mitigates the stress experienced by patients and staff alike.
See works from the University of Washington public art collection, created through a unique partnership with the Washington State Arts Commission. Highlights will include Martin Puryear's Everything That Rises, Erwin Redl's Nocturnal Flow, Brian Tolle's Stronghold, the Gallagher Law Library Collection of contemporary American Indian art, and a curator-led tour of the Henry Art Gallery. Enjoy lunch at the Robert Irwin installation 9 spaces, 9 trees.
Take a walk through four landmark theaters in downtown Seattle built between 1908 and 1928: The 5th Avenue Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, The Paramount, and The Moore. Meet the staff and artists who create and perform shows in these spaces, and learn about the challenges of maintaining these architectural splendors. Come prepared to walk about a mile, rain or shine.
Start with a spectacular 35-minute ferry ride across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island, where you’ll sample the island’s locally grown food and encounter its gems of sustainable design. Tour IslandWood, a "school in the woods" with an integrated curriculum of environmental experience, technology, and the arts. You’ll also visit Bainbridge Island City Hall, an award-winning model of civic design, green building practice, and architecturally integrated public art. Artists Carolyn Law, Gayle Bard, and Erin Shie Palmer will discuss their involvement in the project.
Seattle’s artist live/work spaces are essential to its cultural ecosystem. Meet the creative catalysts and project developers behind the Artspace Hiawatha Lofts, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, and learn the secrets of their success. Discuss planning strategies, creative financing options, effective operating models, and community building techniques. You’ll also visit individual studios and meet artists at each facility. 
Tacoma is an industrial town transformed by the arts. The birthplace of renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly, glass has played a crucial role in the city’s renaissance. You’ll learn about the unique partnerships and investments that fostered the emergence of glass in Tacoma. Visits include the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, Hotel Murano, and Traver and Vetri International galleries. Enjoy lunch while you watch live glass-blowing at the Museum of Glass.
Privately owned, publicly treasured. Venture into four art venues, offering an exciting glimpse into some of Seattle’s most beloved art spaces. We’ll discover new work by contemporary artists of international acclaim at Suyama Space and Western Bridge, watch glass blowing at Dale Chihuly's Boathouse and tour his studio on the water. Finally, we’ll explore Chihuly’s Ballard Studio full of his private collections of arts, craft, and Americana. Explore these venues with curatorial guides from the City of Seattle and 4Culture. 
The Seattle area is home to three iconic examples of earth art: Herbert Bayer’s Earthworks, Robert Morris’s Johnson Pit #30, and Lorna Jordan’s Waterworks Gardens. Visit all three sites for a view of green infrastructure, environmental art, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. En route you’ll watch an informative documentary and have an opportunity to discuss the projects with experts. Enjoy lunch while watching a marvelous, site-specific performance by local artists. 
Seattle is a public art city, and nowhere is this more visible than in its most prominent civic buildings. From City Hall and the County Courthouse to the Central Library, art is placed at the center of civic life. You’ll meet artists along the way and see work that reflects the area’s rich creative and civic life. Come prepared to walk two to three miles. Security checks are required at city and county courthouses. 
Terroir is a culinary term that describes the influence of location on food and wine. This tour will celebrate the Northwest art of place. Visit Pike Place Market and continue to the Vine Street P-Patch and Richard Hugo House cottages, where you’ll see Buster Simpson's artwork 
Historic Georgetown has been called the "last outpost of any blue-collar, bohemian arts culture in Seattle." Despite an encroaching wave of gentrification, it remains a place where neighbors organize, coalesce, and build community. Visit local businesses and artist studios to hear from residents about their creative approaches to surviving the challenges of a changing region.
East of Seattle, the City of Bellevue has practiced smart growth by creating a compact, urban downtown where the arts are vital. See what’s on the ground and on the drawing board in a downtown that’s doubled its residential population and increased its workforce by 9,000 in just one year. Enjoy unique craft exhibits at the Bellevue Arts Museum. Visit 989 Elements, a mixed-use development emphasizing arts uses and AIA award-winning Bellevue City Hall, noted for its sustainable design.
Learn how the community, artists, and cultural organizations have revitalized the Chinatown-International District. The area has been shaped by creative re-use, renovation, and re-adaptation of buildings and community spaces while retaining its unique flavor. Visit Wing Luke Asian Museum, public art projects, an Asian artisan gallery, and Seattle’s most popular Asian grocery store. Come prepared to walk two miles, rain or shine. 
Rediscover African-American art, theater, history, and culture on this tour highlighting Seattle's African-American heritage. Journey into the heart of the Central District, where the country's greatest jazz artists once played. Continue with an interactive tour of the Northwest African American Museum, followed by a visit to a Juneteenth festival. End with a dynamic discussion with local African-American artists and cultural organizations. Come prepared to walk approximately one mile to utilize public transportation. 
Experience some of the pioneering programs that encourage Seattle youth to value and express creativity, citizenship, and cultural roots. Discover the programs of 826 Seattle and the Young Shakespeare Workshop at Cornish College of the Arts and learn how environment and partnerships are pivotal to success. Meet the staff members extraordinaire that steer programming, recruitment, and fundraising to new heights, and appeal to audience sense of humor and generosity.