PT Artscape News:

Art Wave earns state promotion honors

Art Wave, which highlights local student art in downtown stores, and the associated Chair Affair auction, which raises money for arts in the schools, has earned honors for the Port Townsend Main Street Program and Port Townsend Artscape.

Recognition for "Outstanding Achievement in Promotion" was awarded at the 22nd annual Downtown Revitalization Training Institute awards banquet on May 14 in Wenatchee. Port Townsend's work was among eight projects honored.

"We're delighted to recognize the exceptional achievements of these diverse groups in addressing the challenges and opportunities facing many of Washington's traditional downtown and neighborhood business districts," said Juli Wilkerson, director of Washington's Department of Community Trade and Economic Development.

This past year, the Art Wave - Children's Art in Stores event showcased more than 500 pieces of children's art in 50 commercial district businesses in Port Townsend. Downtown building owners provided space to organize the exhibits, and dozens of volunteers delivered the art, which created instant and original window displays. Participating businesses paid just $10 each to help pay for marketing materials. The displays were a big hit and brought substantial foot traffic into the district, according to Mari Mullen, executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street Program.

The Chair Affair, a fundraiser for children's art programs, kicked off the Art Wave event for the first time in 2007. Thirty artists creatively painted and adorned 35 donated chairs. The decorated chairs were displayed in businesses during Art Wave and added a fun, new element, explained Mullen. Auctioning the chairs raised more than $6,000.

"This type of promotion creates positive publicity for businesses and showcases art for all ages in a very visible way," said Mullen.

ARTWAVE 2008

PT Artscape along with Main Street program, PTSD, Washington State Arts Commission, P.T. Arts Commission, participating Port Townsend businesses, and numerous volunteers will be hosting ARTWAVE 2008. This marvelous showcase will display PTSD Student Art K-12th grade in many Port Townsend businesses for the month of May. Participating businesses will also be open for Gallery Walk on May 3rd, from 5:30-8:00pm to view student work.

Please look for our three dimensional clay Egyptian Sarcophaguses and Chinese
Ink Paintings in the community.

The Chair Affair

Our annual fundraiser, “The Chair Affair” will be held on Sunday, May 25, from 5:00-7:00 pm at the American Legion Building. Local Artists’ unique hand painted chairs will be auctioned off that evening. Get a sneak peek at the chairs by visiting the businesses that showcase student work. All proceeds will support Arts programming in the Port Townsend School District, K-12th grade. For Volunteer opportunities for either event, contact Anna Frank at
Volunteerblueheron@yahoo.com

Partnership with Main Street

PT Artscape deepened its partnership with the Port Townsend Main Street Program, which is now acting as the organization’s 501 c-3 sponsor. The Consortium’s former sponsor, the Youth Arts Council, disbanded this year, and our new alliance with Main Street will increase PT Artscape’s presence in the business community. Main Street’s Executive Director, Mari Mullen, has applied for an “Outstanding Special Project” award from Washington’s Trade & Economic Development Dept. for Art Wave.

PT Artscape Website

PT Artscape has been working to document curriculum and other resources developed over nine years of programming. There are two primary goals for this effort: locally we want to make sure that programs are prepared for staff transition at any level of leadership, and at the state level, we hope to share our experience and expertise. The biggest investment in this arena has been the organization’s new website,

We hope the website will inspire efforts to create a statewide curriculum bank, and ultimately become part of a larger online resource. Inquiries about the website have come from districts as close as Orcas Island and as far away as Nova Scotia.