New Cultural Arts Center Opening in West Seattle

Friday night, my partner and I attended the opening of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in West Seattle. We were invited by my friend Charly, who along with husband, has formed a performing arts troupe: "The Cabiri". Among their many talents, they do 'aerial dance' (trapeze), stiltwalking, fire-eating and fire juggling, and are a very talented group. Their performances are interpretations of myths and legends. On Friday, they performed an aerial dance piece - and did a fantastic job (as always).

The arts center is housed in a refurbished school -the building probably dates back to 1900's. It's a handsome brick 3-story building. The upper 2 floors are artist live-in studios. Some of those were open to tours - but only one that we went in was inhabited. The studios are the old classrooms, with old chalkboards left intact, as well as other unique architectural features: coat racks (the primary-school variety, with iron hooks about 3 feet up from the floor), closets, and gorgeous clear-story windows, that are bi-fold and open in. The windows extend from about waist-high up near the top of the loft-style ceilings. The main floor houses a theater, a dance studio, a workshop, media room, and classrooms, all of which are available for hourly or daily rental by the public. It is a testimony to the place the arts have in Seattle.

I wish we had a arts center like this in my neighborhood!