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Last month, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution supporting a proposal to establish an official creative district in the Southeast Seattle neighborhood of Rainier Valley.
The Council voted unanimously to pass the resolution endorsing the state designation for the area stretching from John Muir Elementary School in the north to Rainier Beach High School in the south.
Afua Kouyate — Executive Director of ADEFUA Cultural Education Workshop — is leading the effort to apply for the state’s creative district designation.
“It’s about breathing energies into South Seattle,” she told the South Seattle Emerald. “I had so much dialogue with people [who were] like, ‘Oh, well we already have a business district in South Seattle. Oh, we already have our merchants association. We already —’ Yeah, but everybody is comfortably segregated. Nobody’s really doing things together.”
The state’s eight other creative districts are in Twisp, Tenino, Langley, Edmonds, Chewelah, Port Townsend, Issaquah and Olympia.
According to the Washington State Arts Commission, “A Creative District is a fun place to live, work, and visit. It’s a geographically defined area of cultural and economic activity. It’s the heart of a community. It is a place for people to gather and enjoy their community’s arts and culture.”
In addition to ADEFUA Cultural Education Workshop, a variety of other southeast Seattle arts organizations are leading the charge for the state’s designation, including:
- SEED Arts
- KVRU Radio
- Rainier Valley Rotary
- Rainier Beach Action Coalition
- Seattle World Percussion Society
- Urban Impact
- Seattle Office of Arts and Culture
- Communities Rise
- QueenCare
- Northwest Tap Connection
- The owners of the Black and Tan Hall
