WEST SEATTLE GIVING SPIRIT: ‘Find joy, build empathy … make magic’ with ArtsWest, celebrating its first quarter-century

Another one-of-a-kind local nonprofit is in our spotlight tonight so you can demonstrate the West Seattle Giving Spirit: ArtsWest. We’ve been bringing you this special holiday-season opportunity to learn about, and support, some of our area’s nonprofits, in partnership with the Learning Communities Foundation, and tonight, West Seattle’s playhouse and gallery tells you its own story:

ArtsWest is a nonprofit theater located in West Seattle’s Alaska Junction. This season we proudly celebrate our 25th anniversary! Since opening our doors in 1999, we have been producing live theater experiences that celebrate our shared humanity, invite us to ask questions of one another, and imagine a better future together. We firmly believe that theater is for everyone, and by joining us you are automatically a member of our community.

We are the only professional theater between Seattle and Federal Way. We program and produce five thoughtfully crafted and innovative productions per season that invite audiences to explore the human experience with us. When we present beautifully specific stories like Sanaz Toossi’s ‘English’ or John Cameron Mitchell’s ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch,’ we explore universal questions we all have like “Who am I?” and “Where do I belong?”

Last season at ArtsWest we…
– Provided our community with over $22,000 in free and reduced tickets
– Employed over 70 local artists
– Increased our audience by 43% and welcomed 2,000 new audience members

At its best, live theater helps us find joy, build empathy, and in Joseph Campbell’s words, have an experience of being alive. That kind of magic can transcend what happens on stage and impact each of us for a lifetime.

It’s no secret that arts organizations across Seattle and the nation are struggling. Live theater is an expensive business and less than 35% of our revenue comes from ticket sales.

A donation to ArtsWest, no matter the size, makes a tremendous impact. The magic we make in the theater is only possible with support from artists, crew, staff, and most importantly you!

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We have one more West Seattle Giving Spirit spotlight for you on Monday. Learn about all the nonprofits we’ve already featured by scrolling through this archive!

1 Reply to "WEST SEATTLE GIVING SPIRIT: 'Find joy, build empathy ... make magic' with ArtsWest, celebrating its first quarter-century"

  • Scarlett December 28, 2024 (8:12 am)

    I didn’t attend a live professional theatre performance until later adulthood and it was a revelatory  experience that me wondering why I hadn’t done it long before.  There is a exhilirating visceral intimacy to live theatre that film, however good it can be, cannot replicate.  This is preaching to the choir to those of you who regularly attend theatre, but to those of you who have never been, give it a try. 

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