WINTER 2024

Thank you, Rhonda and Lisa!

Rhonda J Soikowski and Lisa Palmatier officially ended their tenures on the Edmonds Arts Commission at the end of December after serving six and four years, respectively. We wish them all the best as they continue their good work in the arts community!

Rhonda J Soikowski served on the arts commission for six years. She was Commission Chair for the two years through the COVID shut-down, and sat on several EAC committees, including Tourism Promotion Grants, Create Grants, Cultural Planning, and Poet's Perspective. Rhonda is an actor, director, and educator. As actor and director, she performed in the 2023 Fairhaven Summer Repertory Theatre (Bellingham) production of Gidion's Knot by Johnna Adams, and recently directed the devising process (a method of theatre-making in which the script originates from collaborative, or improvisatory work by a performing ensemble) for Fellow Passengers, adapted from Dickens' A Christmas Carol by Greg Carter, at Seattle's Strawberry Theatre Workshop. She continues her work as an educator on faculty in the Theater Department for Cornish College of the Arts.

Lisa Palmatier served on the commission for four years. She sat on several committees, including the visual arts committee, Create Grants, Tourism Promotion Grants and the summer concerts selection committee. This past year she served as the Vice Chair. A long-time resident of Edmonds, Lisa was the visual art teacher at two K-8 Seattle elementary schools and has been very active in the Snohomish County arts community for many years. She currently works at ShoreLake Arts as the Gallery Director. This year she will be serving on the Edmonds Arts Festival Board as the Student Art Co-Director.

The EAC is composed of seven volunteers who work throughout the year to advocate for Edmonds' creative community, ensuring that the arts are integral to Edmonds' culture and economy.

"Young Ideas"

Betty Phillips, 1967

The painting depicting the entrance to the former Edmonds Carnegie Library in downtown (currently the Edmonds Historical Museum) was purchased in 1968 by the library in honor of Maxine Clark, a former Library Board President. Betty Phillips was an Edmonds artist.

Edmonds Library Reopens Jan 13

EAC resumes its library art exhibit program

On Saturday Jan 13, the Edmonds Library will once again welcome patrons into its 650 Main St. location after a year and a half of renovations, due to a waterline break in spring of 2022.

With the re-opening, the EAC will resume its visual art exhibit program in the library. The quarterly rotating exhibits will feature Puget Sound area visual artists working in two-dimensional formats. The EAC will open the annual program with a selection from the City's Public Art Collection, including two artworks that previously hung in the library, "Young Ideas" and "Oh, the Places You Will Go".

For information about the reopening event, go to Edmonds Library Grand Reopening page. A Call for Art will be posted at a later date for upcoming library exhibits on the EAC Opportunities page.

We Speak Call for Youth Literary Artists

Young people between the ages 13 and 21, living in the Puget Sound region, are invited to submit video samples of spoken word performance responding to the following themes:

• Belonging – How do we connect with ourselves and our communities to find belonging? 
• Self-Care – It can be hard to take time for oneself, especially when under pressure.
• Identity – Identity encompasses the memories, experiences, relationships, and values that create one’s sense of self.

Three finalists will be selected to perform their work live at the Edmonds Center for the Arts stage, during We Speak Festival on Friday, March 1, 2024.

The deadline to submit materials is January 30 by 11:59PM. For complete information about the program and application, go to the We Speak web page.

Kidstock is back in-person!

The EAC is proud to be a sponsor of the Edmonds Center for the Arts' annual Kidstock. This free, full-day arts celebration returns on Saturday Jan. 27 to an in-person event. It is designed for families with children of all ages, featuring a variety of live music performances, arts education workshops, and activities for kids. Go to Edmonds Center for the Arts for admission and the full schedule.

Edmonds Arts Commission offers a one-time second round of Tourism Promotion Grant Funds for 2024 

This past fall, recognizing non-profits continue to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, the EAC requested an additional $12,000 from Ending Cash in the 123 Tourism Promotion Arts Fund be added to the baseline of $20,900 already approved for the 2024 Tourism Promotion Awards program. These funds are available in a one-time second round of awards for arts-related program and events that promote cultural tourism in Edmonds in 2024.

An open application process is available for these additional funds through February 5, 2024, for arts-related not-for-profit organizations seeking grants up to $2,500. Both new applicants and organizations already allocated funding for 2024 are encouraged to apply. Applications are available by contacting eac@edmondswa.gov. 

Deadline for 2024 Poet's Perspective is February 5

The third annual literary program celebrating the Pacific Northwest through poetry seeks short poems which will be posted in various locations in Edmonds. For complete information and application, please go to the EAC's Submittable page.

Youth writers under the age of 18 years are also encouraged to participate! For complete information regarding the youth program, please send a request for information to eac@edmondswa.gov.

WA State Cultural Access: Local Agency Updates

Inspire Washington has been focused on increasing investments from the state, and developing new funding resources from local government to support growth of local arts agencies. Last year, WA State House Bill 1575--modifying the sales and use tax for cultural access programs--places the Cultural Access opportunity in reach of local government agencies by expanding the authorizing options for the program. Now a community may adopt a program with a public vote or council authority to increase local sales tax up to .01%.

What this all means is that any county or city in the state can implement a Cultural Access program if they introduce a bill that receives a majority vote from that jurisdiction’s elected officials (including counties and cities). Since campaigns can often consume large amounts of both time and money, council-manic authority might make it faster and less costly for many jurisdictions to implement Cultural Access programs. The cities of Tacoma and Olympia have adopted the program, and King County, through its Doors Open initiative, adopted the program this past November.

For information about Cultural Access in Snohomish County, contact the Snohomish County Arts Commission.

Save the Date

The annual event bringing together arts, heritage, and science leaders and cultural professionals from across Washington in Olympia is Feb 7th. Join others to advocate cultural and science programs and organizations with your legislators, and, most importantly, your local interests and concerns. Given the newly elected legislators and the reshuffling of legislating positions, this is a particularly important year to join your peers in Olympia. Virtual attendance is available. For complete information about this event, go to the Inspire Washington website.

Edmonds Arts Organizations & Businesses