12th Avenue Arts Team and Details
Steering Committee
Our campaign is led by a widely respected team of community leaders, including campaign co-chairs Michael Malone and Ruth True. Malone, a Principal of northwest real estate development and management company Hunters Capital, LLC, has interests in several Seattle hotels and restaurants, including the Sorrento Hotel, and is widely recognized as a community leader on Capitol Hill. Ruth True, the owner of Capitol Hill retail store NuBe Green and co-founder of Western Bridge contemporary art space, is an avid supporter of the arts and is involved in a number of Seattle non-profits.
Michael Malone, Campaign Chair, Principal, Hunters Capital
Ruth True, Campaign Chair, Owner, NuBe Green and Founder, Western Bridge Art Museum
Shari Brown Weyerhaeuser
Sue Colition Vice President, Paul G.Allen Family Foundation
Jerry Everard Founder and Owner, Neumos
Melora Hiller Principal, Melora Hiller Consulting
Tim Keck Founding Publisher, The Stranger
Deborah Person Managing Director, Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)
Andy Read Partner, Deloitte LLP
Liz Weber Caffe Vita and Via Tribunali
About the project
Affordable Housing
12th Avenue Arts meets the community's most pressing needs. We know the need for affordable housing is real-a recent report tells us that a minimum wage earner would have to work 87 hours a week to afford a market-rate one bedroom apartment in the Seattle area.
Our newest project will provide 88 new, beautifully designed apartment homes for families and individuals that may otherwise be priced out of the neighborhood.
Arts and Cultural Space
12th Avenue Arts will create 6,200 square feet of new cultural space and arts-related commercial space. The building will include studio space, meeting rooms, and two theaters, all of which will be available for rental at rates affordable to even the smallest arts organizations. The newly created arts space will address the recent and rapid displacement of cultural organizations from Capitol Hill, long the cultural center for artists in Seattle. 12th Avenue Arts will ensure the availability of permanently affordable space, allowing the arts to thrive, enhancing the economic and cultural vitality of both Capitol Hill and Seattle.
The current vision is for two theaters of 149 and 80 seats, with green rooms and other amenities. The final design will be set fall 2011.
We have created an Arts Advisory Group of artists, organizational leaders and funders to help guide the process. 12th Avenue Arts will explicitly complement other arts anchors in the neighborhood: Northwest Film Forum, Velocity Dance Center, Richard Hugo House, Three Dollar Bill Cinema, and others. It is likely that these organizations could use 12th Avenue Arts one or more times a year for their larger, high profile festivals.
Locally Owned Retail Space
12th Avenue Arts will bring new life to the corner of 12th and Pine. In addition to the new theaters, two floors of new commercial space will include space for neighborhood retail, and permanent offices for non-profit organizations that have been leasing office spaces in the neighborhood.
12th Avenue Arts is an ideal home for neighborhood non-profit offices for organizations using the building facilities. This will likely include two or three smaller neighborhood-based non-profits, such as the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, as well as the arts groups that will use the building's theaters.
Community and Nonprofit Space
The building will provide new community meeting space for the public. The one or more publicly accessible rooms will serve as a focal point for community events, meetings, exhibits, celebrations, classes, design review sessions and recreational and educational activities. The rooms will be offered to the community for free or at low cost.
In exchange for contributing the land on which the project will be built, the Seattle Police Department will be provided with secure below-grade parking which will provide for the long-term infrastructure and parking needs of the SPD's East precinct.
Get involved with the Campaign for 12th Avenue Arts and invest in the future of Capitol Hill.