Uptown Queen Anne is home to a number of arts venues, and on any given night, it can be fun guessing what people are headed for which happening.
There’s the Pacific Northwest Ballet crowd, the establishmentarian Seattle Repertory Theatre people, the Seattle Opera cognoscenti, the edgier On the Board’s folk and, easiest to guess, the Seattle Children’s Theatre people.
Some patrons attend a variety of venues, of course, while others stick to their tried-and-true paths to the arts.
The Arts Crush festival in October aims to break down the barriers between artistic disciplines — thus, the “Crush” — and more to the point, between the arts and people.
“We need to engage audiences in our do it yourself culture,” said Sam Read, deputy director of Theatre Puget Sound, which runs the festival. “The festival gets to the roots of art and creativity and community.”
Getting to the root of the community includes soliciting creative suggestions from the city’s neighborhoods, whether it means turning your front lawn into an art gallery or hosting a neighborhood story project. Ideas should be sent to community@artscrush.org; the deadline is Saturday, Sept. 15.
Arts Crush events unfolding throughout October include free nights, two-for-one date nights, discounts and some unusual occurrences.
On Oct. 22, for instance, the Maxwell Hotel, 300 Roy St., will feature a reception with wine and music in the lobby and three theater troupes performing on site — something one might not expect in a hotel.
Oct. 5, 12 and 19, the Seattle Repertory, 155 Mercer St., will kick off its 50th-anniversary season with a world premiere, “Pullman Porter Blues,” by local playwright Cheryl L. West.
Meanwhile, under the big top on Oct. 17, Teatro ZinZanni, 222 Mercer St., will host Revelation Film Project's free, one-night, film-theater-visual art production centered on the theme of “Revelation.” Free and open to the public, it includes a confessional video, roving artists, six short films and a peek behind the curtain.
Be prepared for the troupe’s inimitable knack for public interaction. The night is billed as being for the whole family.
And so it goes throughout the city.
“Last year, 62 percent of the people [engaged in Arts Crush] attended something by a new arts organization for the first time,” Read said.
Read, 37, won a Fringe Festival Award in 1999 and founded Burnt Studio Productions.
Headquartered in the Seattle Center Armory, Theatre of Puget Sound, an association for working actors that includes some 1,700 members and 140 organizational members, was founded in 1997 to serve the regional theater community.
The Arts Crush festival will kick off Sept. 23 at Fisher Pavilion, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in which some 70 to 80 arts organizations will participate.
The festival’s month-long calendar, which includes free and discounted nights, is at www.artscrush.org.