|
||||
|
||||
|
Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
|
||||
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
What's CHAC? |
||
.jpg) |
||
| What's CHAC? | ||
|
by Miryam Gordon -
SGN A&E Writer Maybe you've been there for Pilates class. Maybe you've eaten at the trendy, upscale Crave restaurant. Maybe you've gone down the long driveway to visit the bar at the bottom, which displays purchasable art on the walls. Maybe you've attended a musical event or a New Year's celebration. All these activities are housed in one building at 1621 12th Ave. on Capitol Hill. While you might have been in the building, you might not know exactly what these guys are trying to accomplish. So, SGN will try to give you a snapshot of what this is all about. The 1917 building was built as an auto showroom, and has had many incarnations including a school. In 2002, Matthew Kwatinetz and some associates were looking for a physical space to gather a community of artists, essentially harnessing energies to work for change in the world. (See, it's already hard to describe.) Most arts organizations in Seattle are non-profit, not making enough money on any productions to sustain themselves and having to get grant money to survive. Matthew's group wasn't mature enough to get grant monies but found a not-just-for-profit model that combined business with a dedication to sustaining community growth in the arts. When they found their building, they successfully managed to lease the whole building and work on physically creating their vision. Eventually, they chose Capitol Hill Arts Center as a name, which cutely collapses to CHAC (pronounced "shack"). The building is meant to become a "third place," the kind of place that people come to for a variety of wants and needs. A "hang out" community place. The best way to earn the money to sustain it is to fill the building with different services that operate almost around the clock. If you exercise there, you might then have a small meal at Crave, and later, a drink and possibly attend one of several shows. The term "not-just-for-profit" might be new to you. It refers to a pretty modern business model that tries to do "good," not just do "well." In the case of CHAC, they see themselves as incubators of cultural arts groups, as well as trying to profitably sustain their use of the building as a business center. A number of businesses, both profit and non-profit, have seen their births within that building. CHAC producers give these nascent businesses a place to grow and technical know-how on successful business practices and help them build infrastructure to succeed on their own. The building has three main performance spaces that they try to fill every day. The largest is on the main floor and usually has events like concerts or parties (CHAC is one of the very few remaining organizations that still has "all ages" parties) and sometimes theater events. The smaller venues have more intimate events. Each space often has both an early and late nite event. Earlier events, usually around 8:00 p.m. are considered "cultural," for lack of a better description, meaning seated events that people watch, perhaps? So, theater and dance performances predominate earlier. Later "entertainment" is more of a standing up variety with clear floors - club nights, participatory dances, or perhaps a showing of a film. But none of this is a hard-and-fast rule. Basically, each space can be built up and torn down in a matter of minutes. Even full-fledged theatrical sets are put up and removed every night. In order to keep the building full, CHAC both produces events and rents the building, and has third party relationships, and co-produces, and...well, let's just say, there's a lot going on there. In order to keep track of events you can participate in, they also have a free newsletter ("Live Wire") and a web site: www.capitolhillarts.com. In a conversation with Matthew Kwatinetz, it becomes clear that their mission is to keep a vibrant and thriving arts community on Capitol Hill. That struggle seems harder and harder as buildings like Odd Fellows Hall get sold, with future renovations tending toward condos and other non-arts-related business. Just finding a physical space large enough to perform in is becoming more and more challenging. Not to mention (of course, to mention) building some kind of set or costumes or props, rehearsal space, storage of any reasonable usage. Rental of these kinds of auxiliary spaces is going up at prohibitive rates. Since most artists and arts organizations don't have money and run mostly on volunteers' for-the-love-of-it labor, people end up resorting to rehearsing in someone's living room. Capitol Hill has become known for its "atmosphere" which includes the small coffee shops, the art galleries, the small clubs, the multitude of different theatrical companies. Seattle is said to have more performing artists than any other city, including New York and Los Angeles. The gentrification of the area, while allowing people to move in to enjoy that atmosphere, is threatening to dismantle the very cultural amenities the neighborhood provides. CHAC's importance as a performance space and cultural community is rising with each new teardown. However, since CHAC does not currently own the space, even its own future is in the hands of the Economic Development Gods. Maybe they will find a way to buy the building or another similar suitable space. There are ways to find out what is happening politically and economically in the Capitol Hill area, and opportunities to be involved in maintaining the arts here, if you are interested. The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is holding a special forum, January 16, 5:30 p.m. at CHAC. The title explains everything you need to know about the evening: "Call to Action! Is There Room for Culture & Entertainment on Capitol Hill?" You can also go to www.caphillchamber.org or to the City of Seattle's site for the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs at www.seattle.gov/arts. |
||
 |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
 New!! LGBT & LGBT friendly "What's Happening WA" |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 post your own information on the Seattle Gay Blog |
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2007