Writers Program

Jack Straw Writers at SoulFood Poetry

Thursday, December 21, 6pm

SoulFood Coffeehouse, 15748 Redmond Way, Redmond

For our final Jack Straw Writers event of 2023, Jack Straw Writers Jim Cantú, Brian Dang, David K. Rea, Carla Shafer, Sumu Tasib, and Julene Tripp Weaver will read their poetry in this long-running series presented by our friends at the Redmond Association of SPokenword.

Jack Straw Atrium Gallery

Cheryll Leo-Gwin | Larger than Life

Through January 5, 2024

Call 206-634-0919 or email [email protected] to schedule a visit

Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Larger than Life presents a series of oversized prints based on oral histories the artist recorded from Chinese women who survived turbulent times in the US and China. Leo-Gwin uses these oral histories as a point of departure for her oversized prints, sculpture, animation, and recordings.

Accompanying the exhibition is the release of Buried Alive, a pilot podcast produced by StoryBoards Northwest and Jack Straw Cultural Center.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery

Jeff Rice | Pando Suite

January 19-March 8, 2024

Call 206-634-0919 or email [email protected] to schedule a visit

Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Friday, January 19, 7pm: Opening Reception

In person at Jack Straw Cultural Center

Pando Suite is a series of audio works exploring the hidden and interconnected sounds of the Pando aspen grove in south-central Utah. Known as the "trembling giant," Pando is one of the world’s largest organisms, consisting of a sprawling forest of genetically identical trees, or "stems."

Jack Straw Writers and Bushwick Book Club Seattle

Jack Straw and the Bushwick Book Club Seattle are once again teaming up to create new music inspired by the work of the Jack Straw Writers!

The Bushwick Book Club and Jack Straw will share a new video every couple weeks featuring a reading and song. Follow along on YouTube or social media!

September 27: Garfield Hillson and Townsend's Solitaire

October 11: Geri Gale and Shelby Natasha

October25: David K. Rea and Kate Olson

November 15: Hana Choi and Intisaar

December 6: Stephen Reed Griggs and Shaun Crawford

December 20: Sumu Tasib and Levi Fuller

Help our programs for artists of all ages thrive!

This year, as always, our youth art and technology programs have helped students from elementary through high school express themselves and learn more about each other, and artists in our Artist Support Program, New Media Gallery, and Writers Program have worked with our artists and engineers to learn about sound and technology, create new work in our studios, and present it to the public.

Please consider a gift of any size to support this work in 2024!

Give Now

Join us on Social Media!

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to get regular doses of writing, art, and music from Jack Straw artists of all ages.

We recently shared this story by Kimball Elementary student Adah, telling us how her family celebrates Chanukah:

"This is how my family celebrates Chanukah at my house. To prepare we buy gifts for each other, buy Chanukah candles, colorful candles that fit perfectly in the menorah, but we need to take the menorah out of its shiny glass case before we put candles in it. And finally we need to buy all the ingredients for latkes, or potato pancakes . . ."

Jack Straw Podcasts

SoundPages, the Jack Straw Writers Program Podcast

The 2023 Jack Straw Writers SoundPages series continues with a conversation between Hana Choi and 2023 Writers Program Curator Priscilla Long, and a recording of Hana's live reading at Jack Straw.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery Podcast

Zack Bent talks with Jack Straw producer Carlos Nieto about his Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation The Charity Stripe.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts.

Jack Straw Artist of the Week

The current installment of our Artist of the Week podcast is a selection from Circus Contraption's Gallimaufry, produced through the 2001 Jack Straw Artist Support Program.

Listen at jackstraw.org, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts. 

Gratitude to the First People of Seattle

The staff, board, and artists of Jack Straw Cultural Center acknowledge that we are living, creating, working, and playing on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle and the Salish Sea - the Duwamish, Suquamish, and Muckleshoot nations and other Coast Salish peoples, past and present. We honor them and the land itself with deep gratitude.