Parallel to my time at Arts Corps (2000-2008), the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) was busy raising $100 million to renovate its downtown building, sculpture park by the waterfront and Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. I was invited to offer ideas to their campaign as part of a community outreach effort. When they finally completed the first set of renovations, they chose not to include some neighborhood studios and more investments in arts education and programming, because the capital investments were more of a priority. For a small percentage of that total, SAM had the opportunity to extend their accessibility and reach to support more young people to connect to their creativity. The op-ed I wrote at the time that encouraged them to do better didn’t make me very popular among the big donors but I said my peace and still feel good about it!
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/sculpture-park-museum-were-not-done-yet-seattle/