Support Our Programs for Artists of All Ages

It's been a busy and rewarding spring at Jack Straw, between our arts programs for youth and our residencies helping professional musicians, artists, and writers to create and present their work. Visit the links below to see and hear some of what we've been up to.

The pandemic-related funding that has helped our programs thrive through these challenging times is ending, and a donation of any size would be a huge help to keep this work going.

Give Now!

Jack Straw Program Highlights: Spring 2023

May Reading Series

Spring Artist Showcase

Beans & Jeans, Springs & Sings: Lowell Elementary Poetry and Song

Nuestras Historias Contadas: Poesía de Denny

Todo es posible: Poesía de Chinook

Jack Straw New Media Gallery

Zack Bent | The Charity Stripe

June 5-July 21, 2023

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

Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

Friday, June 23, 7pm: Artist Talk

In person at Jack Straw and streaming on YouTube and Facebook

In The Charity Stripe, the audience is invited to honor 3 hapless mascots (brothers) performing rituals of celebration and camaraderie on the basketball court. Dance routines and confetti pours collide with crowd cheers and court sounds in an homage to the spectacle of the sport.

Saturday, July 8, 2pm: Youth and Family Workshop

E-mail [email protected] to sign up or for more information.

Audio described for the visually impaired by Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences (AVIA)

Join us in the gallery and studios at Jack Straw Cultural Center or via Zoom for a hands-on sound art workshop with artists Zack Bent in conjunction with The Charity Stripe. After an audio described tour of the exhibit, participants will recreate and explore sounds found in the installation to create an original soundscape.

Jack Straw Atrium Gallery

D.A. Navoti | O'otham Rhapsode

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

Jack Straw Cultural Center, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE

O'otham Rhapsode is a multimedia work by Jack Straw resident artist D.A. Navoti that depicts the lives and homelands of the Akimel O'otham, whose ancestral lands—named the Gila River Indian Community—are located south of Phoenix, Arizona. The word "O'otham" translates to people; the term "rhapsode" comes from Ancient Greece to describe an orator of epic poems. What orates these visual "poems"—a collection of three short videos—is atmospheric and symphonic music composed between 2022-2023.

Join us on Social Media!

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

We recently posted this poem by Roxhill Elementary student Hanah, written with help from teaching artist Vicky Edmonds.

Dear Daddy,

If my life was a sun,

you would be the sunset

keeping me safe

and tucking me in for bed.

Jack Straw New Media Gallery Podcast

Ching-In Chen and Cassie Mira talk with Jack Straw's producer Carlos Nieto about their Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation Breathing in a Time of Disaster.

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

SoundPages, the Jack Straw Writers Program Podcast

The 2022 Jack Straw Writers SoundPages series continues with a conversation between Carrie Beyer and 2022 Writers Program Curator Michael Schmeltzer, and a recording of Carrie's live reading at Jack Straw.

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 an audio excerpt from D.A. Navoti's multimedia work O'otham Rhapsode. Join us at Jack Straw tonight, June 16th, for the premiere of the full work.

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.

Support Jack Straw Cultural Center

Jack Straw Cultural Center relies on the support of individual contributors to make our programs possible. Please help us continue to support the work of artists working with sound and all our art and technology education programs. Donate any amount by clicking the button below, or sending a check directly to us at 4261 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.