Over the last four months, the University District Arts & Heritage Committee has conducted an intensive planning process to identify and shape a cultural program called Museum Without Walls. Museum Without Walls' (MWW) mission is to celebrate and interpret important events, places and individuals in the civic life of the University District.
With exhibitions, walking tours, maps, guides and ephemera, billboards and performance events, MWW will both pay tribute to the neighborhood's past and illuminate the unique and dynamic contemporary cultural life of the University District community.
PUBLIC INPUT
Building upon the results of a widely-attended charrette in October 2006, the committee sought to refine a roster of projects that would be both feasible and exciting to produce on behalf of the community.
Drawing on funds provided by the city Department of Neighborhoods, the University District Chapter of Seattle Rotary and the Greater University Chamber of Commerce, the committee retained a professional project advisor to engage the community in a dialogue about which kinds of projects to undertake.
Two public meetings took place at the Watertown Hotel, first to outline the committee's direction and gather input, then to announce a final plan for a series of five interconnected projects that reflected community input and would best achieve the committee's program goals.
Additionally, the group conducted a wide series of individual meetings with potential funders, project partners, merchants, churches, service organizations and cultural specialists to share the committee's progress and obtain feedback and guidance.
Between July and November 2007, the committee worked with the community to construct an introductory schedule of five projects and lay groundwork for implementation.
SURVEY OF DISSENT, RECONCILIATION
The development of a multimedia exhibition to recognize and celebrate the University District's unique history of tolerance emerged as an early and consistent priority.
From anti-war protests and riots in the 1970s to the inclusion and embrace of street youths in the '80s and '90s, to the celebration of alternative lifestyles that continues today, the University District is a place where pluralism is fiercely defended, a place of reconciliation, a place where every voice can be heard.
The exhibition is planned for fall 2008. Julia Swan, a University of Washington graduate student with considerable curatorial experience, is developing the exhibition as a thesis project for completion of a master's degree in museology. It will be presented in one or more centrally located, accessible public spaces near the Ave.
At the opening of that exhibition, a year-long roster of scheduled events, activities, programs and commemorative materials will be distributed.
BILLBOARDS
A series of 12 changing billboards, introduced over 18 months, will introduce the MWW activities and will also announce the Centennial Celebration of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition (AYPE), to be observed throughout summer 2009.
Billboards will feature the remarkable vintage photography of Frank H. Nowell, the photographer of record for the 1909 Exposition; other billboards will feature a wide range of imagery and information related to MWW exhibitions and programs and pay tribute to key figures, past and present, who contributed significantly to the civic life of the U-District.
Ideally, the billboards will be designed and produced in partnership with UW design students.
The inaugural billboard will be unveiled in fall 2008.
AYPE SCULPTURAL TRIBUTE
The UW and the University District were shaped in large measure by the events of 1909, the year of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition. Building upon the community's priority of observing the 2009 AYPE centennial, MWW will work collaboratively with the University of Washington sculpture department to create a sculptural homage to the tradition of monumental statuary, which featured so prominently on the original 1909 fairgrounds.
Professor John T. Young, a sculptor and public-art specialist, has dedicated the entire spring 2009 quarter to the design and production of temporary statuary, made by UW students and informed in some way by elements that delighted and amused original fair-goers.
Installation of the entire menagerie is planned for the Campus Parkway. Sculptures will be unveiled at the onset of the centennial celebration and will remain on view throughout summer 2009.
A public vote (and the availability of funding) will determine whether one or more of the temporary sculptures can be made permanent.
COMMEMORATIVE TRADING CARDS
Commemorative trading cards will link all other project elements together. These collectible cards will highlight significant people, places and events, and introduce citizens to new ways to learn about and participate in the U-District's past, present and future.
Thirty-six introductory, commemorative trading cards - gradually introduced and distributed free-of-charge in packets of three over an 18-month period - will announce, document and reinforce the MWW's interdisciplinary exhibitions, events and programs.
Some cards will provide a concise history lesson about a significant moment in University District history, such as the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909.
Some will document an important artwork, musical composition or poem by a memorable neighborhood artist or provide space for a contemporary artist or writer to author a short poem or create a drawing of his or her own to trade.
Others will serve as pocket guides, helping the possessor to discover historic watering holes, architectural landmarks, public artworks and natural features unique to the University District.
Some cards will encourage physical exploration of the neighborhood by featuring contemporary bicycle routes, or kick off a campaign to nominate and protect important trees in cooperation with Seattle's Heritage Tree Program.
NEW MUSIC
MWW will prioritize the composition of a centennial anthem for the occasion of the AYPE centennial, but will also work with area composers and local musicians to produce and perform new works in various genres that document important moments or characteristics of life in the University District.
Such compositions would be performed at MWW events, or circulated as sheet music or on trading cards to ensure wide distribution and encourage personal performance.
WHAT'S AHEAD
In the coming months, MWW will continue to develop its project plans, building relationships with key individuals and organizations to realize its goal of producing a continuing series of cultural activities in the University District.
While producing its own programs, MWW will also work cooperatively to leverage and promote the work of other related entities, such as Jack Straw Productions, U-District merchants and the Greater University Chamber of Commerce.
For additional information, visit http://museumwithoutwalls.udistrict.org or contact Susan Coleman, of University District Arts & Heritage Committee, at 545-4544.
Peggy Weiss is the Museum Without Walls project advisor and serves on the University District Arts & Heritage Committee.
