-Good evening. Hello.
If you could all please take your seat.
I am Manny Cawaling, I am so honored
to be the Executive Director for Inspire Washington
and the advocate for science, heritage
and arts in our community. Thank you very much.
And on behalf of our organization
and our Board of Directors, I welcome you
to our 2023 King County Candidate Forum.
Inspire Washington acknowledges
that we and our partners statewide
are on the homelands of Native peoples
who have lived in this region from time immemorial.
We pay respect to the elders, both past and present.
We also acknowledge the traditional custodians
of the lands where all of our cultural partners live and work.
Currently there are 42 tribes,
35 of which are federally recognized,
that share traditional homelands and waterways
in what is now Washington State.
Some of these are nations and confederacies
that represent multiple tribes and bands.
Inspire Washington recognizes and respects all of them.
We express our deepest respect for and gratitude
towards these original and current caretakers
and culture bearers of the region.
As a cultural sector, we acknowledge our responsibility
to establish and maintain relationships with these tribes
and Native peoples in support of tribal sovereignty
and the inclusion of their voices in teaching art,
heritage, natural science,
and providing cultural programming.
We pledge that our relationships will consist of mutual trust,
respect, and reciprocity.
Inspire Washington acknowledges that here at Town Hall,
we are on the homelands of the Duwamish tribe
in the interconnected lands of the coastal Salish people.
Inspire Washington is your cultural advocacy organization.
We exist to serve every state community
from Spokane to Sequim,
from Kennewick to Kitsap, from Wenatchee to Whatcom,
and right here, King County.
We serve communities by supporting all of you,
our cultural partners.
You are the ones that inspire Washington communities
every day with uplifting programs.
Inspire Washington's advocacy coalition combines
and focuses the energy of thousands of people
and organizations and businesses that provide science, heritage,
and arts activities and experiences
to every one of Washington's 281 cities and towns.
As we start this cultural conversation tonight,
I want to highlight that we are more than the people
gathered here today that fill these chairs.
The cultural sector is representative.
We are hundreds of businesses across King County.
We are thousands of creatives
and cultural workers and labor unions.
We are tens of thousands of volunteers and supporters,
and we serve millions of audience members,
students, patrons, and other participants.
We are a big, interconnected community,
and we make King County vibrant, beautiful, and alive.
Cultural programs are service-oriented,
and they're community-based.
We are here today because communities
from Shoreline to Algona, Vashon Island to Snoqualmie Pass
count on our quality-of-life programming.
We bring joy. You forge human connection.
We also drive local economy and serve as the catalyst
for our partners in human service,
education, and public health, just to name a few.
With our partnership, these partners succeed.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Analysis,
creative economy represents 10.8% of the state's GDP.
I imagine that percentage is even higher here in King County.
We are essential to Washington State's economy
and the anchor that keeps us competitive
in the emerging modern markets.
All of this valuable community- centered work is threatened.
For us, the pandemic isn't completely over,
and we need further public partnership and investment
so that we may fully recover
and so that our businesses may thrive.
And we also need more incentives
so that we can really address the barriers of access
to ensure that every community in King County,
every citizen, every family, every child benefits
from the uplifting power of science,
heritage, and the arts.
Whoever wins in November will be a leader in this work.
They will be our partners
in charting King County's cultural future,
so we are really thrilled to have this conversation today
so that you may learn more about their views on cultural work,
and so that we may all look forward
and see the path that leads us
to a brighter cultural future in King County.
So clearly, we have a lot to talk about tonight,
but we're going to start with some inspiration
from tonight's artists.
I would like to welcome Sah Pham to the stage.
Sah is Seattle's first Vietnamese-American
youth poet laureate. She is the author of Love Like,
a poetry collection on the multitudes of love
and the depths of the Vietnamese-American experience.
Her poetry has been featured in Seattle's Child, on KUOW,
and the University of Washington's The Monologues.
She is born and raised in Seattle.
We bring a lot of creative people here,
but it's really special when we have somebody
that we raised here in the cultural sector.
She is a graduate of our University of Washington
with her studies in political science.
Let's warm up the stage for Sah.
[ Applause ]
-Hi, how are we doing today?
Awesome. I'm going to shift over here,
but I wanted to introduce the poem
that I'm going to be performing.
It's called Shipmakers.
When mother came to land, she, in her hands, carried nothing.
The motherland, a lustrous wreck of war,
the girl in the picture, running, burning.
If only my grandmother understood the thing
she photographed with her eyes.
My grandfather, tinkering with a piece of copper,
his calluses, a topography dated back.
Do we know if he is smithing a bomb shelter
or a boat full of stars?
Mother comes to land with a displaced daughter,
carries across the shore,
and she, dreamer of dreamer of landlocked shores,
brings children along until years later,
I come to school with a backpack of water
so dense you could have her paint the sky red
or paint the sky blue, too,
or learn to catch fire, to latch onto this art form.
But instead, we say, teach her to latch onto this art form
and not this burning body.
Maybe sail her back to Saigon before it ends
because how do you explain heartbreak to a kid?
How do you console us who have lost our love land
looking back over shoulders at a mother
that does not properly exist today?
I come to school with questions. How do you still hold me
from the other side of this shipwrecked song?
How do you mend a beat of sky, paint the sky red?
How do you explain that my Asian-ness
is for aesthetic purposes only, not to be tragedied any further?
Recall that many words are dead in my tongue.
I cannot English my way back into a first language,
but I can at least vernacularize grief through this piece of art.
So when it is my turn to kiss the water,
breath like a phone on hold, you ask me to write.
And I tell this story not because it hurts
or because I want to illustrate the art of burning,
but because I want to say, thank you.
You taught me how to catch fire, how to take a passion project
and fan the flames, how to paint the sky red.
For when it is my turn to kiss the water,
breath like a phone on hold,
you ask me to write a part of myself I cannot see.
You say, writing is just like boat making.
And maybe, maybe, just maybe this art making could save me.
So for the first two decades of my life,
I build a boat and sail it to the center of the ocean.
Sitting silly in a fourth-grade classroom,
light spills into breath mix, voice the same way
Mrs. Freeman guides us into
what I now name artful liberation.
She says to brainstorm, and so I do.
I dance into tsunami, poeticize hurricane,
synthesize the storm. Which is to say,
in the aftermath of a thousand thunders,
we will paint the sky, my son.
Because did you know the ocean is blue only because the sky is?
That when I come to class,
I paint the ocean blue and the sky too.
I paint for all who swim outside these shores,
who build boats and life jackets and floats.
Boats big enough to carry our dreams to shore.
Boats big enough to carry our reckless imagination.
That it is because of this port language
that I arrive at this pier,
where the same hands before me held nothing.
The boat full of stars I hold are burning,
so that when I look up, I see that I have everything.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-All right, my goodness,
I have so many pictures in my head.
Boats big enough to carry our dreams to the shore.
What a beautiful idea. Thank you, Sah,
that was amazing and gives us a lot to think about.
Just a reminder, Sah will be selling her new book,
which just came out at the end of the forum,
so you can purchase them over at her table
right there on the side. And also,
I encourage you, get a drink.
We're going to be here a while, so enjoy yourself.
All right, to get warmed up,
I want to explain to you how this, you know,
how we create this event and kind of the way
that we're going to be guiding your evening tonight.
Now, certainly, I've been doing this work for a while,
and I have a lot of ideas, but it's not about my ideas.
Inspire Washington believes in all of our leaders,
and we know that the ideas and the conversations, really,
the richness of that really is within our leadership.
So we convene. We convene this event today.
We create a space for us to have this conversation
with some leaders that we've worked with
and also with all of you as audience members.
So we identified a variety of diverse leaders
that do programs in science, heritage,
and the arts across the county,
and what we asked them to do is form teams.
Really make this an inclusive opportunity for you
to reach out to the cultural community within your district.
One thing I think we can all agree on
is that culture is unique to place,
and whether you're in West Seattle
or in Queen Anne or in Bellevue or in Newcastle or Mercer Island
and on and on throughout the county,
that culture is specific to the place there,
and there are unique characteristics
of cultural programs all across King County.
So we asked our district captains
to really form a team
and really draw upon them to get the ideas about
what they wanted to talk about,
to identify themes and threads and challenges and opportunities
and topics that they all could agree on,
and we asked them to come up with three to five questions.
We're going to try to get through as many questions
as we can today, but in the issue of fairness,
we're going to make sure that we keep this moving around.
So each candidate will start off by being given three minutes
to answer each question,
and we will rotate through who goes first.
Jessie, in the interest of fairness,
because we support a fair process,
will time each candidate's answer
and will hold up a colored flag,
which corresponds to how much time remains
and how much more time the candidate has left.
The green means keep talking, share everything, tell us more.
The yellow flag means that the candidate has one minute left,
so wrap it up.
And the red flag means you got 15 seconds,
so wrap this up and we're going to be moving on.
Jessie will cut off candidates at the end of three minutes
so that we can stay on time
and make sure that everyone on stage
has an equal opportunity so that we may support a fair process.
If your questions in the audience are not answered,
at the end of the district segments,
there will be an opportunity for the audience
to ask questions to any of the candidates.
So you will have that opportunity,
and there will be a microphone, that one right there,
that will be placed there in the corner.
I will moderate this part, and I will do my best.
Please be patient with me because I want to make sure
that if we have a certain amount of time left,
that we have the same amount of questions for each candidate
so all of them have equal time at the microphone.
Any questions about this process?
All right, but really, you know, this is not a debate.
This is an opportunity for us to really get
to the heart of each candidate's cultural views
and their platform and the opportunities
that are before us. I also want to state, too,
that Inspire Washington does not endorse any candidate.
This is a voter education event, right?
But you are all voters, so we are certain
that you will have opinions.
But we are not here to promote or endorse any candidate,
and you will not see anything like that from us afterwards.
We simply want to stimulate good conversation,
empower our leaders to spotlight important topics,
and for you to walk away feeling like you know
more about where they stand on issues of science,
heritage, and the arts. All right, so at this time,
I invite each of the candidates to join me onto the stage.
Let's give them a round of applause.
[ Applause ]
Thank you, thank you. Welcome, welcome.
All right, at this time,
as they get settled in, I want to tell you what's next.
I'm going to invite each of the candidates
to take two minutes to introduce themselves,
and Jessie will be timing them with her flags as well.
We do have one candidate, Teresa Mosqueda,
will be arriving late,
so we will reserve time for her later
to provide these same remarks. Has everyone settled in?
All right, and I first would like Sarah to introduce herself.
-Thank you so much, Manny,
and thanks to Inspire Washington for having us this evening.
It's great to see everyone and be here.
My name is Sarah Reyneveld.
I'm running for King County Council position number four,
to follow in the footsteps of our arts champion,
Councilmember Kohl-Welles, on the King County Council.
We are blessed in District 4 to have a rich, vibrant,
brilliant arts, cultural, scientific community,
and we need to do more in King County
to ensure that we're following in the footsteps
of Councilmember Kohl-Welles
and building a brighter and more equitable future for the arts,
for the science, and culture,
and I want to be that champion on the King County Council.
I am an assistant attorney general.
I am a working mom. I am a public sector attorney,
as I said, a transit rider union member,
and for over 10 years, I, as an assistant attorney general,
have fought for wages and protections for working families
and held environmental violators accountable.
And in 2016, I became Councilmember
Kohl-Welles' appointment to the King County
Women's Advisory Board, and since that time,
I've been working with communities across King County
to secure funding in affordable housing, behavioral health,
services for survivors of gender-based violence.
I want to take that leadership and create tangible solutions
to address our homeless and behavioral health crisis,
to expand access to the arts and culture in King County,
and transit to ensure that we're connecting
all of our communities. I also want to make sure
we're getting a cultural access program over the finish line
to ensure we can connect all of our communities
to arts and culture and science in King County.
I am honored to be endorsed by A.G. Ferguson, Hilary Franz,
and many of the democratic organizations,
as well as Councilmember Kohl-Welles,
and I look forward to this conversation.
Thank you.
-Thank you, Candidate Reyneveld.
And next, Candidate Jorge Barón. Please introduce yourself.
-Thank you so much, Manny. Good evening, everyone.
My name is Jorge Barón. I use he/him pronouns.
And I'm honored to be a candidate for District 4
in the King County Council.
A little bit about me. I'm originally from Colombia.
My family came to the United States when I was 13.
I didn't speak English at the time,
and I was bullied in school because of that.
I'm also the proud parent of three children
who've all gone through the public school system
here in Seattle. One of them is a trans daughter,
and for me, that's really important.
And those experiences in my life have instilled in me
the importance of confronting injustice
and the experiences of centering
the experiences of marginalized communities.
And for the last 20 years,
I've been working on behalf of those communities
in the immigrant rights sector.
I was the director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
for the last 15 years, up until June.
And now I have this opportunity
to hopefully pursue local elected office
because I believe that we can do a better job here
in King County of improving the lives
of every resident of King County.
I'm honored to be here in this community
because the culture and the arts has touched me
in so many different ways growing up.
My father is a producer in Colombia
in the television industry and promoted the arts there.
I worked for five years in the film industry in Los Angeles
before I pursued a legal career.
And all of my children have been involved in the arts.
My daughter is now hopefully pursuing a career in theater.
She's very involved in musical theater,
and I'm hoping that she's going to be able to go to college
and pursue that soon.
So I'm excited to be with all of you.
I'm honored by the support that I've received in this campaign.
I have actually received the endorsements
from both the Seattle Times and Stranger.
But most importantly, I received
the majority of support of people in District 4
during the primary. So I'm honored to be here,
and I look forward to the conversation.
Thank you.
-Thank you, candidate.
Next up, we have King County Councilmember
and candidate Claudia Balducci. Thank you so much, Manny.
-Good evening, everyone. My name is Claudia Balducci.
I currently serve as the elected councilmember
for District 6 in King County.
That represents all our parts of Bellevue,
Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island,
and the points communities on the east side.
Prior to serving on the King County Council,
I served on the Bellevue City Council.
I think you know where I was going with that. Thank you.
You know, so I'm running unopposed for reelection.
It's going to show. I just want to tell you.
[ Laughter ]
Little out of practice at this campaign business.
But what I want to tell you most tonight
is I come by my sincere,
deep support for expanding access
to arts and culture very, very personally.
My husband and I adopted a kid
when I was on the Bellevue City Council,
and when we met Victor,
Victor was two and a half years old
and had a list of developmental delays and disabilities
as long as his baby arm.
And we didn't know how Victor was going to --
like what Victor's life trajectory
was going to look at age two and a half.
They were 16 pounds, couldn't walk, couldn't talk.
And so among many, many other things,
we put Victor right away into as many cultural opportunities
as we possibly could.
Victor went to Kids Quest Youth Museum.
We were there constantly.
Victor has been a lifelong participant
in Youth Theatre Northwest
and a variety of other opportunities.
And today, my junior in high school,
17 years old,
was telling me all about the new glass blowing class
they're doing in high school and concert choir.
And I just wish I could show you like a time lapse photography
of the look on this kid's face,
engaging with music and art and science and water
and the curiosity that grows and learning about people
and how to how to be with other people
and grow relationships to not just talk,
but sing and dance and love and all of that.
It was miraculous to us.
And what I want as an elected official
is for every kid to have those opportunities, every kid,
no matter where they come from,
no matter how much money their family has,
what language they grew up speaking,
what disabilities they may or may not have.
And we have a tremendous opportunity.
This fall -- sorry, the red flag's been up for a while.
You see, I'm telling you, out of practice.
We have a tremendous opportunity that we're going to talk
about later. Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
What's really wonderful about us hosting these type of events,
although sometimes people approach
it thinking we're going to disagree,
I actually believe that there's a lot of things we agree on.
Can we all agree? Every kid, right? Every kid.
All right. Moving on. Next, we have our candidate,
Teresa Mosqueda, to introduce herself, please.
-Thank you. Thank you very much.
And apologies for coming in late to my friends
and fellow co-workers who've been in this work
for a long time. It's great to see all of you,
and it's really good to see all of you,
though the lights are bright up here,
so I might be straining to look into the audience.
I'm Teresa Mosqueda, running for King County Council,
and I've had the privilege of serving in the City of Seattle
for the last six years.
Before that, worked at the Washington State
Labor Council, and before that,
worked on health care for all in many realms.
CMAR Community Health Center, Department of Health, Community
Health Network of Washington, Children's Alliance.
I see the investments in art and culture
in the very same vein that I approach public policymaking.
Every investment in art and culture
is an investment in our public's health.
It's an investment in community health and well-being.
It's an investment in the mental health
as well as the physical health of our community.
I'm really excited to be here.
I say the pleasure of working in Seattle over the last six years,
but really specifically during COVID
and the response to COVID,
I was pleased to be able to work with my colleagues
to put funding directly into the arts and cultural sector
to support the creative industry and specifically artists.
We know that in Washington State alone,
$35.6 million is the total amount
that Washingtonian artists and the art culture lost
due to the impact of COVID, and that was only in the first year.
We know just within the first year,
$35,000
was lost per organization within the first year,
and now here we are over three years later,
and the impact continues to spiral,
and we see ever more the importance
of investing in art and culture
because as we come out of our homes
and we come back into community
and we think about how to create a healthy community,
it starts with art and culture, cohesion, social cohesion,
and making sure people can connect again.
It's good for the mental health, the physical health,
and the economic health of our local economy
when we invest in workers and the creative industry.
Looking forward to chatting more.
-Thank you very much.
And our last introduction, Candidate Sofia Aragon.
-Thank you very much. Hi, everybody.
Good evening. I'm Sofia Aragon.
I'm the mayor of the city of Burien
and one of the candidates
for Council District 8 for King County.
And I'm a registered nurse and attorney by background,
and I'm running for the county
because I would want it to be a safer, healthier,
and more inclusive place than it is now.
And when I'm your council member,
I want to focus on proven commonsense solutions on crime,
homelessness, public health, and the environment.
So as an immigrant child in the Philippines,
I grew up in South Seattle,
and I've seen firsthand our community's biggest challenges.
I was fortunate to have access to quality health care,
affordable homes, and also music education,
all encouraged by my mom and inspired by her.
That's why I'm a nurse today.
But countywide, communities are struggling with public safety,
and it's especially true for our most vulnerable communities.
It saddens me to see the vandalism
that happened at the Wing Luke Museum,
and we deserve fast response
when something happens like that to our cultural treasures.
And so as mayor, I did work to increase law enforcement
that we need,
and representing communities is important.
There hasn't been a council member
with Asian descent for over 40 years.
But we have a lot to be optimistic about.
We do need to have
more equitable investment in the arts.
The value of the arts to the economic sector,
we can draw people to downtown and interact with each other.
If we make our cultural spaces safe,
we can engage with each other again
and regain that connection that we had before COVID.
And I'm also hopeful for a conversation about,
given the lessons we learned during the pandemic
on the different ways we can connect,
how could we turn that into more support for our arts community?
So looking forward to the conversation.
-Thank you very much for that.
So now I'd like to welcome our first district team
to the stage. We are starting with District 4,
which includes Seattle Center, parts of downtown,
Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard,
Green Lake, and Northwest Seattle.
I'd like to welcome Adrianna Wright
to the stage, who is a speaker for the District 4 team.
Adrianna is the Education Partnerships Manager
at Seattle Theatre Group,
as well as a board member for Inspire Washington.
She grew up in Tijuana, Mexico,
and graduated from Cornish College of the Arts
with a BFA in dance.
She is a choreographer, a dancer, and a teaching artist,
and has worked at the Seattle International Dance Festival
for On the Boards, Northwest New Works,
Velocity Dance Center's Bridge Project at Cornish,
and the Southwestern Community College.
As a teaching artist for various community education programs
in the greater Seattle area, she teaches creative movement
and adaptive dance for public school
students at early childhood centers
and for other enrichment programs.
Let's welcome Adrianna Wright.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you. All right, hello.
I'll be asking some questions for District 4.
Our first question is,
District 4 is home to the largest number
of cultural organizations in the county.
We are regional economic drivers,
creating revenue opportunities for neighborhood businesses,
rideshare drivers, hotels, restaurants, and bars,
and remain very committed
to the economic health of District 4.
If elected, what, if any, policy changes will you pursue
to help us continue to contribute
to the thriving District 4 community?
We'll start with Ms. Reyneveld.
-Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the excellent question.
So as I stated before, District 4 is really home
to one of the most nationally renowned and vibrant arts,
cultural, and creative communities in the nation.
And if elected, I'm going to be a champion
on the King County Council
for expanding access to the arts and culture in King County.
As we stated before,
I think our arts and cultural organizations
are really still struggling, and we need to do more to ensure
that they're recovering after the pandemic.
I've talked to so many arts organizations
that are even in Council District 4,
from the ballet to the opera,
science and cultural organizations,
and we need to do more to ensure
that they are not just in our communities,
but are thriving.
So I am going to be a champion for our cultural access program.
I'm hoping that I will have the opportunity
on the King County Council to actually implement that program.
And what that'll do is not just ensure
that operationally our cultural and scientific communities
in Council 4 are thriving,
but that we're also doing more to expand access
to those opportunities for everyone in our community,
for underserved communities, BIPOC communities,
elders, seniors, youth, to expand access to everyone.
I grew up as a ballerina, as a ballet dancer,
and the arts had such a transformative
impact on my life.
I think that we know that the arts and cultural community,
particularly in King County, creates hundreds
and thousands of good-paying jobs.
In King County alone,
the arts-related businesses account for 8,000 businesses,
and there's actually 3,400 jobs,
or 34,000 jobs that are generated
just from arts-related organizations alone.
We need to make sure that we're doing more
to not just sustain those cultural and arts businesses,
but to make sure we are ensuring that they can create
those good-paying jobs, union-wage jobs,
and also ensuring that we are ensuring
that our cultural economy,
which is made up of our restaurants
and businesses, is thriving.
So I think that's critically important.
In addition to that, I think that we have an opportunity
to connect more folks within King County Council
to our cultural and access organizations,
and I want to do more to ensure
that we are connecting everyone in our community.
So I think we need to absolutely pass
our cultural access program, make sure that it's funded,
and generate more revenue for great arts organizations
and the good-paying jobs that they create.
I think equitable access to those good-paying jobs
is going to make all the difference
in Council District 4.
[ Applause ]
-Thanks, Adrianna. Well, I think, you know,
as Sarah mentioned earlier,
both of us, I think, recognize the important role
that Council Member Kohl-Welles has had in supporting the arts
and being a champion for the arts,
and I think both of us
are committed to continuing that legacy
because we recognize the importance
that the cultural organizations
and the arts play in District 4 and throughout the region,
and that we have a special responsibility
to make sure that we're supporting that.
And I see that a lot of the issues
that all of us are working on,
as somebody who worked in the nonprofit sector
and led organizations there,
I've seen how the struggles of making sure
that we have access to a workforce that is supported.
And I think that's also true for the arts and culture
and making sure that those organizations are in a position
to be able to provide living wages
to the members of the arts community
and also to make sure they have other forms of support.
I was talking to one, and I can't see you right now,
but some of our colleagues here who are here
and talking about issues like,
for example, the lack of affordable child care
and the challenge that presents for people to be able to enter
and to be in work.
So the challenges of transportation,
making sure that we have a transportation network
that's going to make it accessible to us.
We're conscious, for example, that District 4, of course,
as a place that has those cultural institutions,
we need to make sure that we're building
an infrastructure that's going to allow people to enter
and access those locations from other parts in the county
who have special responsibility
to make sure that there's access so that people can get there.
And I appreciate that Council Member Balducci here
has been working very hard on the Sound Transit Board
to make sure that that happens.
I think we also need to make sure
that we are providing those investments
and that we build the future stable sources of revenue.
And one of the things that I've been articulating throughout
is that we need to work together
to make sure that we're identifying
in the long term progressive sources of revenue
to make sure that we can continue
making those investments in all of the important things,
all of the essential services,
including culture and arts funding,
to make sure that we have stability in the long term,
while at the same time making sure that we're doing so
in an equitable fashion that is not placing
disproportionate burden on low-income people.
I need to remind everybody,
we have the most regressive tax system in the state,
and we need to make sure that we are working
to make sure that the support for arts and culture
also is done in a way
that is not going to exacerbate those disparities,
and that when we use resources that might do that,
that we ensure that those resources are going to open up
access to marginalized communities
who have a more difficult time
accessing cultural and arts programming.
So that's something that I see as a responsibility
to make sure that not only the people in District 4,
that people around the region are going to be able to access
all of the wonderful work that happens within District 4.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you, and thank you for bringing up transportation,
because that's the next question.
District 4 cultural organizations
are excited for the expansion of Sound Transit,
and we look forward to patrons and employees
using public transportation to access our institutions.
At the same time,
the construction of the Downtown to Ballard line
will be incredibly disruptive for many of us.
If elected, how will you support District 4 organizations
and businesses during and after construction
of the ST3 stations and tunneling?
-Well, thank you.
I did get ahead of the question here.
Well, so this is an issue where I think we need
to find the right balance. This is a complicated issue,
and the way that I like to think about it
is to make sure that we're engaging with people
in the local communities and organizations
that are here locally that are going to be impacted,
because we need to balance the very understandable concerns
about short-term impacts --
and short-term, I think we're still talking about years
that construction may have -- with the very long-term.
And in that case, we're talking about decades
and a century of infrastructure that we're building
with our Sound Transit infrastructure.
And so it's not a simple answer
to be able to address that balancing.
And I appreciate, again,
my colleague here is working on those issues,
and that we hope to be in a position
to be able to inform that. And if I'm elected to the seat,
I plan to advocate on behalf of the organizations
and the people of the District 4
to make sure that we're finding the right balance,
that we're doing the engagement to identify the best balancing
of making sure that we address the short-term concerns.
But again, I also have to think, I think as an elected official,
that we have to be conscious of the future
and not just think about the people
who are going to be impacted today,
but how the ridership and all of the people
who are going to be moving literally decades from now.
And I think it's also important for us to consider the benefits
that it's going to bring to our region
and specifically to areas that are in District 4
and places like the Seattle Center, for example.
The ability, if you think about all the people
who might be able to take light rail from South King County
to be able to just easily make it to the Seattle Center,
for example, and be able to access
all of the richness of cultural institutions
from the east side as well,
the fact that we're getting close to that point
and that we're going to be able to make that access better,
that's going to have a huge benefit
to those institutions that are in that region.
And the important thing is that we try to find the right balance
through engagement, through meaningful engagement,
through the institutions being attentive
to the concerns of the organizations
that are going to be impacted,
and that we work together as a community
to find the right balance
between those short-term disruptions,
but the very important long-term benefits
that the Sound Transit expansion
is going to have for our district.
And I certainly hope that if I'm elected,
I would love to be part of the Sound Transit opportunity.
Obviously, we'll have to work that out
if I get the opportunity to serve,
because I want to make sure that I'm a voice in whatever role
I would be to be able to articulate
the concerns of our district residents into that process,
which is going to be really important for our community.
[ Applause ]
-Yeah, this is an excellent question,
and I am running to be a transit leader.
I am a transit rider,
and I think we need to do more throughout our light rail
to Ballard extension
to ensure that we are connecting all of our communities
to fast, safe, reliable, convenient transit.
And that means elevating community voices,
and as Jorge was saying,
really weighing the long-term benefits
of these transit opportunities to connect our communities
long-term versus the short-term disruptions.
And that means elevating community voices.
It means listening,
and it means engaging communities from day one.
So I think it's important to point out now
that unfortunately, we don't always have connectivity
to our arts and cultural hubs, either through our metro system
or obviously Sound Transit yet. Unfortunately, a lot of times
you'd get out of the opera or the ballet,
and you can't be connected to transit.
Maybe it's not safe.
Maybe it doesn't get you where you need to go.
And so when we're thinking about designing transit long-term,
we have to elevate the voices of transit writers
and ensure we're centering them in the discussions.
And my concern to date
and why I want to serve on the Sound Transit Board
is that the Sound Transit Board, I think Claudia and others
are doing a great job, Council Member Balducci,
but not everyone's doing a great job,
I think, of elevating community voices.
And so I think we need to ensure that as part of that process,
that we are engaging with community.
And what does that mean?
I would love to see a community member,
a transit rider on the Sound Transit Board.
I would like to see meetings on the set
that are more accessible to folks,
that center riders' voices, and that are more responsive.
And I think one of the instances
in which we can center community voices more,
even in the context of Council District 4,
is when we look at stations
and kind of weigh the benefits as well
as the maybe short-term construction impacts of stations
like our 7th and Harrison station.
I mean, that's potentially, right,
an opportunity to connect our community to hubs,
particularly cultural access hubs
like the opera and the ballet,
but it's going to have pretty serious short-term impacts.
So I think we need to have really robust community
conversations around what those short-term impacts are,
how we can mitigate those impacts,
and through an equity lens,
really make sure that Sound Transit
is involving those community voices
so that we can invest in long-term hubs
that connect our community and transform our transit system
to make it accessible to everyone.
I'm also interested in doing more to speed up
Sound Transit delivery, and I think my time's up,
but I think it's really an issue of involving community voices,
centering those conversations,
and moving towards a long-term vision
for Sound Transit access for King County.
[ Applause ]
-I just want to say one thing, and I apologize for jumping in.
Thank you. I am on the Sound Transit Board.
In fact, I chair the committee
that is making the recommendations
about the light rail expansion. So I just want you all to know,
if you want to have any conversation
about specific concerns or issues,
please approach me afterwards or email me at my office.
I'm happy to have those conversations.
I didn't mean to break the --
but I'm right in the middle of it, so please do contact me.
-And Councilmember Balducci has been a leader in that regard
and is doing an amazing job of centering community voices.
-Thank you. All right. I have one more question.
We very much appreciate governmental support
of our capital projects.
However, we could build the most beautiful, sustainable,
and accessible buildings in the state,
but it means nothing if we don't continue to activate them
with rich, mission-based programming,
which we have throughout King County,
not just in Seattle.
How do you envision a future where King County
is able to offer ongoing operating support
as well as capital?
-Yeah, this is an excellent question.
So as I stated before, I mean, there are a lot of sources,
including for culture and other sort of sources
of operational support in King County,
but we absolutely need to get a cultural access program
funded and over the finish line
to ensure ongoing operational support.
Unfortunately, you know, many of our arts organizations,
our science and cultural organizations took a hit
and are still recovering from the pandemic
throughout King County.
And we need to have their back at this moment in time.
And that means approving not just a cultural access program,
but making sure that we're really extending
that funding in an equitable way
so that everyone throughout King County
has access to cultural access programs.
And that means, you know, our school children,
that means our youth and elderly folks,
that means disproportionately impacted communities,
BIPOC communities.
That means, as Councilmember Balducci was saying, everyone.
So I want to stress that this is the opportunity we have now.
I have unequivocally been in support
of this cultural access fund, and I want to make sure
that we're getting it over the finish line.
I have talked to so many arts organizations,
including the ballet and, you know, the opera and others
about what this ongoing operational funding
would mean to them.
And it's critically important that anyone that is elected
to the King County Council not just support it,
but ensure that we are implementing it
in a way that is equitable and sustainable long-term.
I also want to point out
that I think it's critically important that King County
has provided access to the arts for our schools.
And there are several sustained sources of funding,
and organizations also provide that source of funding,
including STG Theater Group, and really engaging our kids.
And you know, I have two kids in the Seattle Public Schools.
My little guy just went into kindergarten.
My older daughter is nine.
And I was just at their Friday Sing,
and they love the arts,
you know, they're engaged in the arts.
I want every child throughout King County
and throughout our state to have access
to cultural and artistic programming.
It's so critically important from an equities perspective,
and from an anti-racism perspective
to ensure that we're engaging all of our youth.
And also, I think it's critically important
that many of our cultural access organizations,
as well as our theater houses, the opera, the ballet,
that sort of thing, provide those programs.
And so without the cultural access funding,
we're not going to be able to continue to provide
those programs for our communities,
including our youth that need them most.
[ Applause ]
-So as I said in the beginning,
I am committed to making sure that we have robust funding
for arts and cultural organizations.
For me, as I said earlier, my daughter had the opportunity
to be part of the Seattle Children's Theater Program,
and just have seen for her what an important institution
that was for her and her development.
And the way I think about it is, as we've been talking about,
I just want to make sure that every child
in King County has access to that,
regardless of where they live in the county,
regardless of their immigration situation,
regardless of where they're from,
that we have access for them the same way
that my children have been able to benefit
from those programs. And I completely agree
that we need to find the funding sources.
I think the issue that I'm concerned
about at the county right now is that, you know,
I think Councilmember Balducci can talk about more too,
is it's unsustainable the current way
that we're funding all of our services across the board.
And we're facing a $100 million shortfall
in the general fund that's affecting very critical programs
like public health.
So we need to be tackling those issues as well
to make sure that we're protecting all of the services,
because none of us, right, in this community,
including people, artists and people
who work in the arts and cultures,
are going to be better off if we're disinvesting
in those critical programs
that provide important support for us in the community.
So I want to make sure that we're thinking about
all of those issues and making sure that we work
together with our state legislative partners
to really long-term shift
the way that county services are funded to make sure
that we can not be in the situation
of having to disinvest from those services.
In the short-term, I recognize that right now the avenue
that we have to be able to provide critical support to arts
and cultural organizations is through a mechanism
that the legislature approved with the sales tax.
And as I've said, I'm concerned about the regressivity of that,
but I'm willing to support something if we can make sure
that the benefits of that regressive form of revenue
goes to support communities
that have more limited access to arts and culture.
And so for me, that's going to be really important
in considering that.
Obviously, I know the council is working on that right now,
and I'll respect the decision that the council makes.
But if for some reason this gets pushed over into next year,
for me, it's just going to be making sure
that we can justify the extra burden
that we put on low-income communities
with a regressive form of revenue
to make sure that we are providing
the bulk of the benefits to those communities
to make sure that they have access
to the same wonderful work
that our arts and cultural organizations
do throughout the county. Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you both, Candidate Reyneveld and Candidate Barón,
and I will be seeing you later, I'm sure.
[ Applause ]
-All right, yes. Thank you so much to Adrianna
and for her team for District 4.
[ Applause ]
You know, we do a lot of advocacy
for all of our great communities across the state,
and we know that our stories are authentic
when we tell lawmakers that these areas,
these districts are cultural capitals of the world
that do significant work.
So I'm so glad we're having this conversation today.
Before I move forward, I want to recognize
that there are audience members out
in the Zoom sphere that are watching today,
and we just recognize you're there.
Thank you for tuning in.
We got a lot of your emails asking for the link.
And we also are really thrilled with our partners
at Seattle Channel and with Town Hall
that will be sharing this link to people
who will watch this in the days and weeks to come.
Next spotlight is District 6, which includes Bellevue,
Mercer Island, parts of Kirkland, and Redmond.
I'd like to welcome Putter Bert, the captain for District 6.
She has been the CEO of the Kids Quest Museum in Bellevue
since 1999, which serves over 225,000 people,
many of them very little, every year.
Welcoming families from King County
as well as Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap Counties,
and visitors from across the country.
Putter has over 30 years of experience
serving in leadership roles
at a variety of children's museums across the country.
As a leader in the museum community,
she has partnered with the City of Bellevue,
Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft,
the Association of Children's Museums,
and the Northwest Association of Youth Museums.
Putter is active on the boards for ACM, East Side Pathways,
Bellevue Downtown Association, our Inspire Washington,
Washington State Leadership Board, and Visit Bellevue.
Let's welcome and warm up the stage for Putter.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you, Manny. I'm going to break this.
I'm just a little taller. All right. Here we go.
Our first question is about the creative economy.
Creative economy practices are activities or methods
using policy, research, programmatic, or funding spaces
that are designed to amplify and advance the inclusive
creative economy in local communities.
What steps have you taken or do you plan
to take to ensure geographic funding equity
for nonprofit art sectors on the East Side?
-Thank you so much, Putter.
It's really great to talk to you today.
Yeah, this is an important question.
So leading up to this year,
as part of COVID funding and a variety of other things,
we were able to help to keep doors open
at a number of organizations across the county
and including on the East Side during COVID.
But that was one-time money. That was federal money.
It's gone now.
We also invested some general fund money,
I want to say $1.9 million,
into an office of the creative economy
in the executive's office. That was very unusual.
And I'll tell you, I asked some questions about it
because general fund money is the only money we have
for many things that can't be funded another way.
But it seemed important to sort of kick off this initiative.
And it's focused on the film industry, the music industry,
and then generally creative spaces.
And so that's an interesting thing
that's just newly launched at King County.
But the big opportunity that we have,
and it's going to come over from the executive
as a proposal in the coming days,
is Cultural Access Washington.
I know many of you have probably worked
on getting us to the point where there's laughter,
where we can take this up, this proposal.
It's been a dream for almost two decades
to start a cultural district here in King County.
And this is the year we're going to do it.
We're going to do it.
[ Applause ]
Thank you. It's super exciting.
And we will be, as part of that debate,
talking about how do we make sure to sustain
this amazing cultural hub that we have,
largely in District 4, that is there for everybody?
And how do we provide the access to everybody to get to those
amazing big regional cultural places like was talked about?
But we also need to spread the wealth around
so that we can sustain cultural institutions
in South King County and East King County,
so that we can innovate, grow, and sustain smaller,
culturally diverse, all kinds of different experiences.
There's an opportunity in East King County
at the 130th Street Station at Sound Transit
to build a Bell Red Arts District.
That's in between Bellevue and Redmond.
Tons of small, little organizations out there
that you'd never know were there,
but it is an arts district,
a naturally occurring arts district.
How can we support that, publicize it?
These are real jobs, real experiences,
and they can help to support the economy,
not just the creative economy, but the capital E economy.
So I am delighted to have a chance to work on this here.
I hope we hear from all of you all in our offices saying,
please pass cultural access.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you.
The region's elected leaders are constantly debating
about the right amount of money and attention
to direct to homeless shelters versus housing.
Do you believe the region has found the right balance,
and if not, which side of this equation
do you think needs more emphasis?
-You know, thanks for that question.
I was asked that question for the first time
earlier last week,
I want to say, and there's really only one answer to it,
and there's not enough money for either.
Really, there isn't, and both are completely necessary.
Housing is a continuum, right? There are people who need a home
who do not have a stable home at all,
who are living on the streets or couch surfing
or living in a car or an RV. And then there are many people,
tens of thousands of people in all of these categories
who are housed, who have a roof over their head,
but are one missed paycheck, one broken down car,
one medical bill away from losing
that roof over their head.
And every time rent goes up, and I forget the numbers,
but I'm going to guess it, every time rent goes up,
I want to say by 10%, a certain, like,
fixed knowable number of people become homeless.
Like, it is predictable.
So these things are absolutely tied together.
And in my time on the council, I have worked very hard
to try to lift all of these issues up
and address them all in a variety of ways.
I'm very proud of a location-based thing
we've done in East King County.
We have opened the first ever men's homeless shelter.
Never been a permanent men's homeless shelter
in East King County. Think how big that area is.
We opened the first one after 10 years of work two weeks ago.
But it's not just a shelter.
Because the county was able to come into this project
with 10 acres of property,
we also could build permanent supportive housing
for people who are coming out of crisis
and stabilizing but still need supports.
And 323 units of affordable family
housing where people can live
who are able to work and make enough money,
just not enough to live in Bellevue.
And so this is the answer. The answer is all of the above.
It's about mixing people together in a community space,
but it's about scaling that solution up.
And there's a couple things we have to do.
All of our jurisdictions, all of our cities and the county
are going to be updating their comprehensive plans next year.
They need to make room in the comprehensive plans
for the private sector to build more housing.
This is hard for neighbors to accept.
They don't want their communities to change,
but they are changing.
They're changing in ways that isolate and exclude people.
And we need to say, no, we want to have inclusive communities.
And if that means that I've got to have a duplex next door,
great, more neighbors, right?
So everything from market rate housing and zoning,
subsidies are needed for housing,
and we need special homelessness
and low-income housing that's subsidized by government.
So it's kind of all of the above,
and we're working on every piece of it right now.
By the way, the state is being very helpful these days.
The state has passed a number of excellent pieces of legislation
that are pushing this issue forward
because it's become an issue
affecting the entire state's economy.
So lots of work to be done.
[ Applause ]
-Artificial intelligence, AI,
is changing value chains for creative content
from start to finish,
which is having positive and negative impacts on society.
Additionally, augmented and virtual reality, AR and VR,
can transform storytelling in a way that content is experienced,
but business incentives to do so are not fully aligned
with the individual's well-being.
Where do you fall on the AI, AR, VR debate right now?
-Well, I'm firmly on the side of the humans.
I just want to say that right up front.
When the machines become sentient,
I'll be with the humans. But seriously.
So absolutely technology can be beneficial, right?
Technology can be wonderful.
In East King County, we have a project
that I was part of helping to start to honor
the Japanese-American legacy in Bellevue.
And one of the people who was part of it
as an artist who made this incredible piece called
Emerging Radiance. It's a hut.
It's a farming hut, an actual farming hut
with paintings of farms and faces on the sides of people
who were real people who lived through incarceration.
And it had AR, VR elements
where you could put your smartphone up to it
and hear their voices from the Densho Memory Project.
You could hear their voices telling their stories.
It was powerful. It is powerful.
We're going to find a permanent space for it.
It's powerful.
However, we also know that technology runs
ahead of our ability to understand the ramifications
and certainly ahead of where the law is at.
And so we know that there is a need for regulation.
We know that we have to make sure
that the beneficial uses are encouraged
but that we get ahead of potential harmful --
fraud is one concern.
You know, people losing the ability
to earn their creative products is a very large concern.
It says something to me
that the big tech companies want regulation.
Like they're all out talking to congressional representatives
and the state saying, please regulate us
because they want a level playing field
and they want it to be predictable.
At King County, we've called out Council Member
Kohl-Welles a number of times. I'll call her out tonight
and say that she introduced a bill
that we passed that I voted for to say
that King County would not use facial recognition.
Because of, you know, there had been studies
showing that facial recognition can be very --
it misrecognizes people with darker skin tones
and it's been associated with a lot of inequity
in how it's used.
So we said we're not going to use it
and we're not going to allow our police department
to use it, the sheriff's office.
So we try to keep up with technology but it is --
I mean, that was two years ago,
facial recognition was the big thing.
And nobody's talking about it anymore
because now we're all talking about AI.
Tech moves fast so we have to move fast as well.
I don't have a great answer for King County
but I know that it's something that we need
to be very much on top of and look at
and talk to our state and federal partners about.
-Thank you very much, Council Member Balducci.
And I give it back to Manny.
[ Applause ]
-All right.
I really love that in this last segment
that we actually were able to highlight,
I hope I'm not wrong, the artist Michelle Kamada
and her beautiful artwork.
-Thank you. I should have said
Michelle Kamada. Thank you for doing that.
-Absolutely. I love Michelle Kamada.
I've had the opportunity to work with her a number of times.
Let's give this segment another round of applause.
[ Applause ]
All right. Our final district this evening is District 8.
This diverse community includes West Seattle, Vashon Island,
White Center, Georgetown, and Burien.
I'd like to welcome our District 8 captain, Ana Maria Campoy.
Ana Maria is a theater artist, an educator, an advocate.
She works as an educator, adapter, director,
and performer.
At the center of her work lives the driving desire
to create opportunities for artists of color,
to remove economic and geographical barriers
for audiences and students,
and to expand and deepen our American identity.
In addition to her work within the arts,
she founded and now -- oh, my eyesight --
runs the volunteer collective WashMasks,
mutual aid to provide PPE support,
and advocacy for migrant and seasonal farm workers
and their families in Washington State.
Let's please warm up the stage for my dear friend, Ana Maria.
[ Applause ]
-Hello. Good evening. This one's first.
We'll go first to Council Member Mosqueda
and then Candidate Aragon.
How do you think the creative economy
is connected to social services, housing, public health,
and public safety within District 8 in King County?
How do you drive deeper investment?
Where is arts and cultural funding
on your list of priorities? Where do you rank it,
especially in years where there are pushes for budget cuts?
-Oh, my goodness. I love that question,
and it includes everything.
Thank you for asking that question.
And I would note, I think we're in District 8 right now.
I've seen documentaries here. I've seen plays here.
I've seen people put on incredible performances here.
And I appreciate all the art
that Sarah mentioned in District 4.
But I want to note Georgetown with Equinox.
We have West Seattle with the arts.
Thank you.
Vashon Island, which just feels like it's year-round.
We have incredible artists' shows and opportunities
for youth engagement, as well in Pioneer Square
and with the youth art programming that occurs.
And in White Center and in Burien and in Tukwila.
It is an incredible opportunity to represent this district
and to lift up the investments in art.
I think that investments in art
are actually a preventative public
health intervention strategy.
We talked a little bit about public safety
and community health at the beginning.
When we invest more in programming
for youth and kiddos and young adults,
it's a strategy to get people more engaged in their community,
productive members of their community.
It creates an outlet and a channel.
And when funding is at risk
or there's other pressing priorities,
we should be prioritizing art.
That is what I did as budget chair in 2021 and 2022.
We said as part of our economic recovery, we will invest in art.
I put $6 million in the budget last year,
$3 million in the budget in 2021,
because it is a strategy for a more equitable economy.
We invested money directly in for a creative art wall
called the graffiti wall so that kiddos
and youth who are engaged in art, street art,
have a safe and legal place to go to use that creative outlet.
We created more opportunities
for programming with organizations
that are directly led by communities of color
and working with youth now
so that there was strategies to have more creative
and productive engagement with youth.
That is a really good way to ensure
that youth don't engage
with the criminal justice system to begin with.
We think about investments
in the most critical and pressing issue
that Claudia Balducci noted, housing.
Well, housing can be coupled with art opportunities,
small spaces on the first and second floors,
just like I did at the Filipino Community Center
and just like I included in the housing levy that's up
in November and in Jumpstart Progressive Payroll Tax.
Yes, funding is limited, absolutely,
but in every single aspect,
we should be looking through a public health lens.
And when we do so, art and the creative economy
and investment in the creators and artists,
that is where we should be putting funding
so that it fuels creative strategies throughout
and it creates ripple effects that benefit individual health
and economic well-being
as well as population health and the greater economy as well.
It is absolutely tied into every aspect of public policy
if we do it right and prioritize it.
[ Applause ]
-Well, and thank you very much.
I think this really highlights the geographic
and cultural diversity in District 8.
So this is an overlapping district
that has both unincorporated parts,
as we've mentioned, so that's White Center as well as Vashon.
We have the City of Seattle parts of it,
and then we also have a different city,
Burien, as well as Tukwila. And they all have
their different characteristics and highlights,
and as we grow, we want to be able to highlight all of those.
So in terms of Burien, though, a good example is being proud
to support a new creative district in the city,
and it is being embedded in our comprehensive plan
that's coming up, and it includes downtown,
and we were making sure that it includes
one of the areas of former unincorporated King County
that has historically faced some inequities.
And so just drawing that in and making sure
that that is going to be part of
how we build out the creative district is really important.
So in terms of social services,
we do have a higher poverty rate,
and this is for the City of Burien
and as well as White Center,
and we have local groups like Para Los Ninos who,
including social services, really want to engage our kids.
So when I'm going around talking with families,
they just want their kids to be really productive
in ways that they can learn,
and the arts is definitely one of those.
Public safety is really key for people
to feel that they can access the arts.
Burien is one of those towns that's highly walkable.
We want to make sure that people from Seattle,
so we have a new rapid ride installed,
that taking the bus, that hour-long ride,
however much more efficient than it used to be,
that they can feel safe coming back and forth
from Burien and Seattle and that we can be connected.
Public health is absolutely essential.
And what this will do now,
a lot of kids in the Highline District,
which covers a lot of the areas, they, as you know,
suffered a lot of inequities during the pandemic.
And this is a way to really address
some of the stressors that they've had
and find a way of self-expression and growth
and reconnection with others.
So that's what I'm excited about the arts to do for those kids.
So basic infrastructure, however, like broadband, right,
is absolutely necessary for kids to engage like that.
And then another thing about economic development,
it was a great opportunity, the Creative District,
to have partners like the Seattle Southside
Chamber of Commerce
to partner with our artists and our small businesses
to help our creative economy grow in the city.
-Thank you.
[ Applause ]
Beginning first time with Candidate Aragon
and then Council Member Mosqueda.
How do you define the arts and cultural sector
and why is it essential to District 8?
What organizations do you participate or experience arts
and culture within District 8?
-I mentioned there's a few cities in there.
-Yep. Yep.
-And the other thing, I'm glad I was able to follow up,
because King County is really key as an umbrella organization
to all the great cities that are in King County.
Right? And so we have this great opportunity
to really bind us together. We have more population
and with the transportation conversation is really critical.
And I must say for Vashon,
the ferry system is also very critical.
I know that that is mainly a state issue,
but King County, with its clout and its influence,
really also needs to support that community so people
can help it grow
and our populations can move back and forth.
So what organizations I've been engaged in?
Well, and I think about how mainly I've been a consumer,
Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony.
What's really been important with my family
is the West Seattle Community Orchestra.
So that's a local orchestra in West Seattle.
It was really mainly to get my stepdaughter --
she plays violin and she was privileged enough, unlike me --
I learned the violin in public school.
That was fine. And, you know, I'm proud to be,
you know, first chair, second violin.
That's my proud moment as being a kid.
And so I said, you know what,
you need to go beyond the soloist thing
and try an orchestra.
And that really laid the groundwork that, to my surprise,
I would have never known that she is now
in orchestra in college.
So it's really incredible. And I must say she and I,
they also recruited me to be her chair partner.
She and I were first chair, first violin in West Seattle.
And which was a moment, you know,
a proud statement in my life.
But for a week, because then COVID came
and we had to suspend all those things.
Yes, I know. I'm just really sad about that.
The other thing, Shakespeare in the park.
Okay, the other thing, a major thing King County does
is make sure that our parks remain healthy
and our green space. Right?
Which is really essential to the environment.
And parks are a huge place where we also experience art.
So Shakespeare in Park and the West Seattle Community Orchestra
also actually plays in the parks in the summertime,
like in Lincoln Park, which is really amazing.
And other things, too, is I just want to say
that I think King County being at the table,
just seeing how we can all elevate each other's uniqueness
geographically and culturally. And how can we do that?
So our largest population in the city of Burien,
for example, it's the Hispanic population.
I don't think that's elevated enough.
And this could be a huge draw
for the rest of King County to come,
if we can only elevate that with the assistance of the county.
And I had mentioned before Wing Luke,
the international district.
And they're prided in one of the oldest cultural districts.
Also, we have a lot of work to do in helping them elevate
what they have to offer.
[ Applause ]
-I heard the question about the names of orgs,
but do you mind repeating? -Yes.
How do you define the arts and cultural sector
and why it is essential to District 8?
And what organizations do you participate or experience arts
and culture within District 8?
-Excellent. Thank you so much.
Well, I feel like this might be a trick question
because I feel like the arts and cultural sector
is actually the heart of how we create a more equitable economy,
how we restart the economy.
And the way that I define arts and culture is pretty broadly.
When we put funding in from the American Rescue Plan Act
and the COVID local relief funds,
we put it in directly for artists as they defined it,
which could have been somebody who does painting,
somebody who does dancing, somebody who has an art studio.
It can be any form of art and creativity.
We called it specifically in the statute,
the creative sector, to try to reflect the language
that artists themselves were telling us
they needed broad language to broadly reflect
that there's many ways that people engage
in the creative economy
and they wanted additional assistance,
basically weathering the impact of COVID.
I mentioned the dollar impact within the first year,
but some of the other statistics that we know
from the U.S. Census Bureau is that the creative economy,
which also includes culinary art
and various forms of installation art,
it was hardest hit during the beginning of the pandemic,
and the U.S. Census Bureau is continuing to put out reports
to say it will take the longest to recover.
For me, that's why I said that it's at the heart
of economic recovery.
Investing in arts and culture and our creative economy
is how we invest in a more equitable
and thriving and inclusive economy for all.
The artists and the organizations
that I've worked with, I'll just name a few.
I had the chance to visit with Sam from Equinox.
If you haven't been to Equinox -- and Equinox,
yes, Equinox Studios down in Georgetown,
it is a growing and thriving area
that they've created more spaces,
studios for artists of all kinds,
whether it's welders or painters,
installation artists who are local and national.
And they are branching out to create housing,
housing for artists to be coupled with first-
and second-floor opportunities to create art on site.
I've worked for many years with Jake Prendez and Judy,
his wife, at Nepantla Arts Gallery.
Nepantla, yes. And I went to school with Jake.
We were machistas at the University of Washington.
And to see the national recognition for a Chicano artist
who was based right in District 8
makes me very proud of White Center.
I'm very excited as well about the work
that we've been able to do with Urban Artworks and Soto,
Pioneer Square, investments in youth artists,
folks of color, working on murals
and various creative ways to engage in art.
It's throughout District 8.
I think there's opportunities to do more by directly investing
in those who've been weathering this storm of COVID and frankly,
have been underinvested in for years prior.
It's an exciting opportunity to think
about how we could learn from the pandemic
because, again, this is how we get people out post --
I'm going to put that in quotes post, an ongoing pandemic,
to create greater social cohesion
and improve the health and well-being of everyone.
[ Applause ]
-For my final question,
what communities within District 8
do you wish to increase access, experiences,
and participation in arts and culture,
including youth, elders, global majority communities,
our unhoused neighbors,
and the diverse languages within District 8?
-Well, one night I was laying there
thinking about transportation in the middle of the night
and I was thinking, yes, as one does, and I was thinking,
we talk a lot about all ages and abilities.
And I laid there, it was about 2 in the morning,
and I thought, no, it's actually this word, alegra,
which in Spanish means happy.
All ages, languages, abilities, genders, race,
ethnicities, and ages. That's what I want to think of
when we think of inclusive creative sector
and how we can engage more
with getting more people into the arts.
Some folks today have talked about
how their kiddos or their family has engaged in art,
and I put this in my questionnaire.
I didn't have a TV until I was 15 at our house,
and I thought it was a real hardship, but you know what?
We did art, and just today I left my house
and my 4-year-old, we were doing art
to hang on the wall for Halloween.
Every month there was new art projects
that we would be engaged in in my home to try to integrate art
and not actually just sit in front of the television.
I would love for us to be able to think of the alegra model
when we think about how we engage folks,
whether it's youth or seniors.
My mom and I used to do pottery class
together when I was younger,
and I was thinking how wonderful would it be
to be able to do that with her now.
Intergenerational art activities
is something that I used to participate
in when I worked at CMAR Community Health Centers,
and I worked in the Latino Senior Program there.
We did art projects with kiddos in the Senior Center.
It is good for the mental health
to see that type of social interaction,
and it's good as well also for the creative element
of keeping people vibrant and engaged across the age spectrum.
And as my colleagues have noted,
it's about also making sure that it's inclusive.
Often when we engage in public policy,
the language that we use can be exclusionary.
You think about how we talk about housing or transportation,
it's alphabet soup. What I want to do
is create the opportunity for us to be really inclusive,
both culturally and linguistically inclusive,
but also broadening out the opportunities for us
to bring more people into the arts and culture,
to dispel it if you're not already involved
or haven't had familial connections
that have brought you in in the past.
These organizations, both that King County can fund
and local jurisdictions,
they have trusted relationships on the ground.
We need to be doing more to encourage investment
into those local organizations
because they already have the connection,
and we could be growing the arts and cultural programming
by direct investments
with those who already have relationships in our community.
[ Applause ]
-And as I mentioned, in the South County,
we often have communities that have less resources
than other parts of the county.
So while there's a special eye towards that population,
I really do think that all of the groups
that you mentioned have to have access to art.
Everybody does. It's just really foundational,
just as my parents have taught me.
And really, when we talk
about the different communities in the county,
they also need to be brought in and we need to ask them.
We need to be informed about what is it
that they bring to the table to their own community
in terms of arts and culture.
How can we help elevate that? What's the gaps?
What has happened to you since the pandemic
and how can help you rebuild? And another way of thinking,
so I think about the county is really providing
really four essential things.
And I think what's really important is how do we build in,
bake in the arts and culture into all of those four things?
And I think about the parks.
So I gave you an example about Shakespeare in the park,
that West Seattle Community Orchestra performs in the park.
I think about Marymoor Park, right,
that park over there that has really those wonderful shows.
And to me, it's like transportation.
So we want access to all of the uniqueness around King County.
So is our transportation accessible?
Does it get us to where we need to go?
How does that help support all of the cultural venues
and experiences and tie them together
so someone in Burien can enjoy easily something in Bellevue
or something even on the North Sound there?
And then public health, as we mentioned before,
we really need to build ways
that people can find expression in themselves
to really experience other cultures
that they may not be able to in their immediate neighborhood.
And also for our mental health crisis,
this essentially is a really key piece
and that we need to grow. And then finally, public safety,
which goes hand in hand with all of these things.
Do people feel safe everywhere they go
to access the cultural experiences?
Are actually cultural venues, restaurants, eateries, theaters,
do they feel like that the public safety situation
around them is keeping people away?
And if so, we need to address that.
-Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-All right. At this point,
it is your opportunity to ask questions of the candidates.
So thank you so much for bringing the lights up.
We have a short period of time for this section,
but we welcome anyone who has a question
for District 4 candidates.
Please come on up to the microphone.
-Hello. My name is Grace Liotti.
I'm a second-year graduate student at UW
in the museology program, so I'm thinking about museums,
the cultural sector all the time.
And I've worked in museums for a number of years,
mostly art museums.
And I think that there is still a sort of way
of thinking in the museum world,
particularly in art museums, that because staff have access,
this sort of close access to cultural treasures
that they sort of give up having livable wages,
having good benefits and support from their institutions.
And I've worked in tons of different museum departments,
all the way from curation to front line staff
as a security guard in an art museum.
So I care about this very deeply.
And you both touched on providing
more funding and more diverse
forms of funding to cultural institutions in District 4
so that they can continue providing access to the public.
But I'm also wondering about what is possible
at a policy level
to support the staff there directly so that turnover
isn't as high and people have the resources and support
they need to continue offering the arts and culture
to Seattle's community.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you.
Who would like to take that first? Candidate Barón?
-Oh, sure. Well, thank you for that question.
I think that is absolutely the way
that we need to be thinking about it
because we need to put people first, right?
I think in terms of every area of work
that we do in this community,
we need to make sure that people have a living wage
and that people who are providing services
in every sector can live in the community that they serve.
And I think that's really important.
And I do think that governments have an important responsibility
to make sure that we are creating a situation
where you provide incentives for organizations,
nonprofit organizations that are receiving government funding
to be able to do that.
I can tell you that I was, as I mentioned earlier,
I was working in the nonprofit sector
until recently where we have these pressures.
And it takes people who are committed
to making sure that the work is done
and that we engage with people in our workforce
to make sure we're providing livable wages for folks.
I can tell you, for example,
the work that I did in Northwest Minority Project,
when I entered my position,
our lowest paid employee was paid less than $15 an hour.
By the time I left, it was over $35 an hour.
And that takes work, but it also takes engagement.
It takes the fact that, you know,
I also want to acknowledge we're a unionized organization
and that was a significant factor in that,
in making sure that we're promoting that
as an opportunity for workers to advocate for themselves.
But the other thing is that I saw as a nonprofit leader
how sometimes we would get pressures
from government officials to lower our costs.
I literally had, for example,
at some point when we were applying for a government grant,
somebody tell me, you know, your cost per service is too high.
And my response to that was, yes, it is,
because we're trying to make sure
that people are compensated well for providing those services.
And I do think that sometimes the government relies
on the nonprofit sector to sort of be able to pay less
and create this sort of pressure among different nonprofits
who are competing for funding
and try to essentially cut corners.
And I think that's really problematic
and it requires all of us to push back
and it requires people on the public sector
and the funders to make sure that we're creating incentives
to make sure that we actually incentivize
and reward organizations
that are actually providing a livable wage,
that are providing strong benefits,
and that we provide also supports like I talked about
before in terms of like providing affordable housing
so that people, artists and other workers
at cultural institutions can live affordably,
providing affordable childcare so that those folks can also
make sure they have access to that.
So all of those need to be part of the equation
when we're talking about supporting
arts and cultural organizations
as well as the entire rest of the economy locally.
[ Applause ]
-Yeah, I think that's a really excellent question.
And thank you so much for your dedication
to the arts and culture
and everything you do to increase access
to the arts and museums in our community.
I think there's a misnomer,
particularly in the artistic community --
I wanted to grow up and be a dancer --
that if you work in the artistic community,
that it's a labor of love
and that you're not going to be making living wage,
and that you're not going to be afforded the same opportunities
as some others in our community.
That is wrong. That needs to change.
That is something that is distinct to the U.S.,
that is not something in Europe and other countries.
And we need to make sure that we're investing in the arts
with that ongoing institutional support
that we talked about before,
to ensure that everyone that works in the arts and culture,
including someone that works at, you know,
the Frye or the Seattle Art Museum
or whatever the museum is, has access to living wage jobs,
that you have access to housing and opportunities
to thrive in our communities.
So when I was an assistant attorney general,
I still am, and we were really struggling
with just having living wage jobs
and living in King County,
you know, we unionized our workforce.
And I absolutely think that unionization
and the power of collective bargaining
is so critically important in every sector of our economy.
And I know that there's parts
of the creative economy that are unionized,
but I think that we need more opportunities, really,
to ensure that we're unionizing the workforce
throughout our creative economies.
You know, and looking at really ensuring
that we are ensuring the institutional support.
So we talked a little bit about that,
and cultural access is critically important.
But also, I think we need more investment
from our private sectors as well in the arts community.
We need our technology community to step up.
We need our government,
both in King County through cultural access,
but also our federal government and our state government
to step up and truly fund cultural institutions
to make sure that those that are working
at every part of our cultural institutions
and are really providing our communities
with these opportunities to engage in the arts
and culture are elevated. And so having that conversation,
I think, countywide from a regional perspective,
what is it really going to take for us
to pay everyone that works in the arts
and culture a living wage
so that they don't have to sacrifice
for something that they love?
What is it going to take to expand access to housing,
as we were talking about before,
including more subsidized housing?
I mean, we have some great opportunities
through transit-oriented development
to create more artists' housing,
even in the 4th Council District.
And what is it going to take to provide
those vital social services?
The other thing I want to talk about
is healthcare and childcare, right?
So I want to be a partner in this work.
Thank you so much for what you're doing
for our cultural economy
and for communities throughout King County.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you. Thank you.
Next up, I welcome a question for District 6.
District 6, yes, please.
-Hi, my name is Cheryl Rountree.
You can see I have a problem walking.
I had a stroke a few years ago.
I had a big stroke, I almost died, but I didn't die.
I'm a poet, a legal writer,
and I sing very well, you know, I'm in a band called Skinks.
I'm a mother of twins, they're beautiful.
Hello, Miami, how's your day been?
I said, they're very tall. I'm 40 years old.
The question to all of you guys is, Miss Balducci, Claudia,
hey, Sue, and the doctor, nurse, legal person here in the yellow,
and this pink person, names, right,
and Mr. Cawaling, all of you.
When you say immersion, all the people, all the artists,
I sing very well. Thank you for the nurse.
So how do you mean, like, do you mean immersion for all people?
I'm a person, too. I laugh, I cry, I sing, I sing.
Anyway, so that's what I'm gonna talk about.
I'll sing my songs.
To you specifically, I'm from Miami.
No, I was born in Boston, went to Miami,
and then I came here.
My last talk was here. It was my very last talk.
I'm too old, I have nowhere here.
I'm an old lady. There you go. Anyways, my question to you is,
when you mean fully immersion, any public transit, even money,
homes, housing, medication for --
I have problems, you can tell.
I'm sorry, I had a seizure, but I don't have control.
I take medication, and I will take no CBD,
no bad to do this.
So to you, the question, Miss Balducci,
for seriously, Miss Balducci, to you particularly,
when you say immersion, of all people,
do you mean people like me?
I go to opera, I go to theater, I go to SAM,
I go to Frye Museum, I'm a member of VFW,
and I've seen the VFW Awards. My dad was a big Navy guy.
He died at home when he was 34 years old.
He had liver cancer. He was a very handsome man.
He had this crazy hair.
So, Miss Balducci, get down to the dirt.
Money talks, policy walks.
What I'm saying is -- I'll show you here.
Money over here. Money talks, policy walks.
Let's see, money over here.
So you mean inclusion, but I'm a person.
Y'all can be right, Miss Putter, I'm a person.
Some people are better than I am at speaking.
How do you mean inclusion?
Specifically, get down to the dirt.
I mean, the nitty-gritty of dirt, of inclusion.
They give me a van, access van to get me wherever I go.
And they'll get me right on time.
I happily wait. I go to Walmart,
I went to the museum, played at a concert.
They have Albanian singers, Croatian people.
I made four downtown friends. I'm not shy. I'm a bit talker.
It calms me down, as you can tell.
It's very good for anti-oxidants.
I'm very educated, I'm very intelligent. I am a paralegal.
Went to Miami Dade Community College.
But I haven't had much campaign to go on.
I haven't got a bachelor's degree yet.
My son, he's great. I love him, man.
Yeah, bachelor's degree, big deal.
He's very handsome. My son, Travis.
He's a Travis, too. But I'm divorced now.
The question to you is inclusion,
do you mean rides to people?
They have the fest. I've been down to the zone.
But yeah, I got one question specifically.
How do you mean inclusion?
Getting there, housing and medication.
Which I've taken, unfortunately, for a lifetime.
I have chronic stress problems,
as you can tell, as well as other chronic problems.
-Yeah.
-What do you mean, Ms. Balducci?
Speak to us, please. -Yeah, happy to. Thank you.
-And so I heard that was a very big question.
What is inclusion, right? Like it's a big question.
-Big, gigantic question, right?
-So to me, what it means to be inclusive
when we're talking about arts and culture
is that people can get from where they are,
where they live, to the experience,
to the facility, to the event, whatever it is.
You have a way to get there.
If you can't drive, if you take transit,
it should be readily available to you.
You should be able to afford to ride it.
It should get you where you need to go.
When you get to the place itself,
you should know about it. Inclusion means information
so that people know what's going on
and, hey, there's this thing and I could partake in it.
It means you can get in the door.
It means that prices aren't a barrier
to people coming in the door.
It means the event itself is, as much as possible,
done in a way that everybody can enjoy it.
That we've looped our chambers, for example,
that it's accessible to people with hearing needs
or different languages or whatever, right?
That there is a wide variety of experiences
that are in all different cultures.
I mean, we have hundreds of languages
spoken around King County
and we have all these different cultures
and so we want to have a -- not every single event
can be in every single language or culture,
but we want a system that brings everybody in
and binds us to each other.
So that's what I mean when I say inclusive,
is that the barriers to participating are overcome
and that you're invited and you know
you can come like you came tonight, right?
And that you can go to all types of different -- yeah.
-ABC fan, emotion.
Yeah, I'm running back into the base, burning by fire.
She's a very good poet, yeah.
Do you have a plan in motion, a plan?
-So yeah, is there a plan in motion?
-ABCD, yeah. -Yep, heard that.
So let me say that when we talk
about the cultural access district
and tax that we're talking about voting on this year
at the King County Council,
a large part of that is for access.
A large part of that is to make sure
that people all over King County can afford
to go to these great cultural institutions,
that there are free days, that there's reduced entry fees.
A large part of it is for transportation.
We're going to make sure kids are being bused into the city
to see things that are not available where they come from.
So, you know, it's very detailed and I could not quote it
all to you from memory, so I can't do ABCD.
I did A and B, but access is a really,
really key part of COWA, yeah.
-Thank you. My name's Cheryl Rountree.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you. We're going to move to the next district.
-Thank you so much. -Thank you so much.
And we look forward to talking more of this after the event.
And our last question for District 8.
Anyone have a question for District 8?
-I have a question for all of them.
-Oh, come on, yeah. Come on up, yeah.
-I'm shy, I'm sorry.
-And you live in District 8, I know that.
We've gone on walks. -Actually, I do.
-Because we've been talking for all of you,
I'm going to give you two minutes this time.
-I'll be quick. Thank you all for what you stated.
It's just, I have really a question.
How are you all going to address the perception
that especially the non-profit institutions are not business?
I went to an event of the Chamber of Commerce last week.
Was it this week or last week? I don't remember.
Too many things.
What absolutely infuriated me is that nobody,
other than the CEO of Starbucks,
mentioned symphony opera and arts in general.
Nobody else.
There was a big kind of rah-rah about how wonderful they did
and what all the businesses did, and isn't it great?
I actually walked up afterwards to Rachel Smith.
I think she must hate me, but it's okay.
And I very much frankly accosted her
and I said, this is not okay.
We're members of this organization. We are businesses.
Small organizations,
small arts organizations are as important as the large ones.
We all together are an ecosystem that need to exist,
that need to support, not only create access,
we first of all need to survive. And the business community here
doesn't even acknowledge that we are a business,
even if we are non-profit. So there's a perception
and also consequently by the general audience
that we're just asking for money for no good reason.
I mean, I'm the general director of the Seattle Opera
and we employ about 600 to 700 people
over the course of the year,
which is not Starbucks, it's not Amazon, I know that.
But put them all together, even the small organizations
that employ three to the ones that employ many, like symphony
and the opera and ballet, we are all needed.
How are you going to address the perception
in the business community, in the city,
and also among the citizens at large
that we are not a business?
Because frankly, this has to stop
because we provide too much business direct
and indirect to this community.
If we go away, good luck re-activating downtown Seattle.
[ Applause ]
-Who would like to start? Yes. Please.
-I can start that.
First of all, I'm a nonprofit director.
My day job is the executive director
of Washington Center for Nursing.
And under state statute,
we actually receive license fees from nurses to support us.
Now, because of what COVID did to wreak havoc in the system,
I didn't see funding for six months.
And it was my organization's diligent saving
and sticking to the gold standard of reserves
that nonprofits strive for that we were able to do that.
When Mr. Brown talked about in terms of pressures
when you're under a grant to spend,
I think sometimes those are unreasonable.
So I think of the county as an entity that may award grants
to really essential organizations.
And one of the things that I'd like to see
is that make sure it's not too administratively burdensome.
So here's an example from my part of the world
is like a federal HRSA grant is so burdensome
that I'm not even gonna bother to apply.
The other thing too is the King County,
I think overall there needs to be
a good business advisory presence in King County
and nonprofits definitely need to be a seat at the table.
So I think those are two really important ways
is making sure your electeds
have an appreciation of nonprofits,
better if they're parts of one and know how one's works.
And also with the many advisory bodies
that we have in King County so that we intentionally include
that sector along with the business community
to make sure that we know that
we all have a shared responsibility
to make sure that we uphold the culture and arts in the county.
-Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you so much for this question.
I love that you walked Rachel out.
I cannot wait to hear more about that
because I think that's a good first start.
-I'm in trouble with her. -I think that's great.
It's advocacy in all different forms
so that we can continue to change perception.
You know, the survey that I mentioned earlier
from the US Census Bureau, that actually came
from the US Census Bureau's small business pulse survey.
So the federal government is analyzing the impact
on the arts culture through the business component
of the Census Department.
And I think that that should be an indication for all of us
that we should be looking at arts
and culture and business investments altogether.
One of the things that I tried to do to make sure
that we saw both arts and culture and small business
and frankly, you know, activation of businesses
all in the same vein was through
the Jumpstart Progressive Payroll Tax that I championed.
We have over $250 million a year.
Of that we earmarked $20 million each year.
So last year's biennial budget, $40 million
and we said for economic resilience.
We didn't say just business or for-profit.
Economic resilience intentionally includes
activation of public spaces,
activation of storefronts, public art in our community
and making sure that we have restorative models
for making it possible for more people
to keep their businesses open whether it's a nonprofit or not.
So integrating them and seeing it through the same lens
is a good start.
Lastly, I would just say
that we need to continue to invest directly.
As we have this conversation to try to change the culture
and perception,
frankly, public art should be a public good
and an investment in all its forms.
And so we'll continue, I think, as government leaders
to make those direct investments
but we need to be changing the culture
and the narrative along with you.
My hope is that when we talk about economic resilience
and the creative industry and we use those terms,
it changes the norms and changes the perception
and then changes behavior. Thank you for your work.
-Thank you. Yes.
-So I'm going to abuse the privilege
and take the opportunity to answer both of the questions
I didn't get to answer. So with regard to workforce,
first of all, we traffic in this business
in catchy phrases and you inspired a new one.
I'm going to say, you can't eat antiquities, right?
But we encountered this exact problem
in the human services field. And it was especially poignant
because King County government employs
people who do the same work
as people who work in the nonprofit in that field.
And it was very obvious. We pay our employees quite well
and we give them really good benefits
and a retirement package.
I mean, like the nonprofit employees
got virtually none of that.
And so we're working on pay equity in that field.
And I think it's a new idea right here, right now,
but I want to think about what you said
as we adopt a new major funding source,
can we use that as leverage to also start
looking at funding and pay in this sector?
Because we used our funding in the human services sector
to drive better wages. So thank you for that.
I just want to say thank you for that concept.
And other big thinking ideas, like there are many studies,
I believe Seattle did one that show that arts and culture
are an economic multiplier,
that they're not only are you businesses,
you drive business to other businesses.
And I want to say that the city of Seattle studies
showed that it was like a three times multiplier.
Like for everybody who comes in and buys a ticket to the opera,
you see three times that value in other spending.
And I hope the business community is aware of this.
But again, all right, I will say,
I will say in my experience,
geographically-based business groups
are keenly aware of it.
The Bellevue Downtown Association
is keenly aware of the fact
that nonprofits and cultural organizations
are part of their economy.
And so I just want to suggest that maybe there are spaces
that are more open to that way of thinking than the one
that you mentioned that I won't name.
So, however, again, as government invests,
as you all fundraise and do your own investments,
which you do, we should use our economic power
to leverage business support as well,
because that's three legs of the stool
that makes something really viable.
And I'd be happy to be engaged in conversations like that.
-Well, as a nonprofit leader until recently,
I very much relate to that
because the conversations that I have with folks
in the for-profit sector definitely left me
discouraged in terms of like how they viewed those of us
that work in the nonprofit sector.
And for me, I think a couple of things that come to mind,
so first of all, is using the platform
of being in elected office to make the case
and to share some of the information.
And Manny, I'm trying to remember,
but I think the statistic is that
the creative economy in the state of Washington
is something like 11% of the GDP.
-10.8%.
-Okay, I got it off by 0.2, but I rounded up.
-Yeah.
-And I think that's for the state,
and I think if you think of a place like King County,
I'm sure the percentage is actually higher.
-Yes. -We live in Seattle.
-Thank you, there you go.
So we have like the expertise in the room here.
And so I think highlighting that,
because I think for most people in the community,
that's something that they might find surprising,
that that's the level. And I think folks
in the business community continue to raise those issues.
But again, going back to the point that we made earlier
about how then government
can treat the nonprofit institutions,
you know, the same way that it treats
and responds to the pressures from the private sector.
And how I see it, for example, I know, for example,
you see it with Sound Transit, right,
like the response that people are having to the demands
that entities like Amazon or Vulcan
are doing on Sound Transit.
Do they have the same level of responsiveness
to the nonprofit community and to those institutions
and to the pressures, right?
I think we need to balance that field
and need to have folks who have,
for my part, as somebody who comes from that sector,
from the nonprofit sector, I'm gonna try to use my platform
to raise that issue of the challenges
that those of us in that field have experienced
and the important role that it plays in our entire community
in addressing the both essential services,
including culture and arts, which I consider part
of our essential services in our community.
-Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Yeah, I think this is a great question.
When I was president of the Graduate
and Professional Student Senate, and we were having a hard time
communicating to the business community,
the value added of investing in graduate
and professional degrees to drive our economy,
we created and convened
a summit where we brought all of the business community.
And many of them, including Brad Smith at the time,
not Rachel Smith, but Brad Smith, to the table,
and we provided them with education on the value
added of graduate and professional degrees
in creating jobs and driving our economy across Washington State.
And if elected to the King County Council,
I want to do the same thing.
I want to convene a cultural and arts summit
where we bring not just the business communities,
but the communities across King County to the table
and really talk about these statistics
that we have been mentioning around how arts and culture
and how our nonprofit organizations generate jobs,
create equitable access to opportunity,
and drive our cultural economy in King County
and across Washington State.
And I think we need, at that point,
to really ensure that we are committing,
that we are having some commitments
from our private sector
to really partner with our creative economy
and the Seattle Museum and the Seattle Opera
and Pacific Northwest Ballet
in investing in the future of the arts and creative economy.
So I would love to convene that summit.
I also think we need an education campaign
across King County on the value of arts and culture
and driving the creative economy
and an equitable future for all our communities.
And I look forward to continuing this conversation.
But thank you so much for the excellent question
and the work you do.
[ Applause ]
-All right, what an amazing evening.
Inspire Washington is so grateful to all of you
for sharing your stories and your passions
and your perspectives on arts and cultural work.
We know that you're gonna be out in community
over the next couple months. When you're out in community,
survey the cultural businesses that are around.
Call them out. And also, please keep sharing more
about what you believe in and the policies
that you would like to push when you are elected into office.
And this is what we need from you, audience members.
We had a great conversation.
This link will be available for streaming.
Share it. Let's all work really hard to make sure
we share this conversation with the rest of our community.
10, 15, 20 people, post it on your social media.
Let's get lots of views. The cultural conversation
is a very important one in this upcoming election.
And let's all be partners in promoting that.
Inspire Washington is so grateful
to all of the organizations that invest in our work
and have provided this important
educational event for you tonight.
Let's give them a round of applause and thank you.
[ Applause ]