Black Arts Legacies

Living out loud
The Black Tones
Watch the video
Photo by Meron Menghistab
A poetic revelation
Quenton Baker
Read the profile
Photo by Meron Menghistab
Bold and bright
Tariqa Waters
Read the profile
Photo by Meron Menghistab
The role model
Kabby Mitchell
Read the profile
Photo by Kurt Smith/Pacific Northwest Ballet
Rewriting rock history
Tina Bell
Read the profile
Photo by David Ledgerwood
Living out loud
The Black Tones
Watch the video
Photo by Meron Menghistab
A poetic revelation
Quenton Baker
Read the profile
Photo by Meron Menghistab

Thanks to our Title Sponsor

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities and grow businesses. Learn more ›

Black Arts Legacies recognizes an intergenerational group of local musicians, dancers, visual artists, poets, performers, curators and architects, whose creative expressions document the complexity of being a Black artist in Seattle. Theirs are stories of being the first, of contending with discrimination and breaking down barriers, of long careers and careers cut short, and of building community through the arts. Their stories help make sense of who we are — as a city and as a region — through songs, scripts, brush strokes, choreography, architecture and poetry. Learn more about the origins and aims of the project here.

Meet the artists

Bringing Black history and bold color to the cityscape

From intricate portraits to multistory murals, Al Doggett and Barry Johnson honor the history of Black art in Seattle and paint its future.

Aerial view of a neighborhood, students exiting a bus, man in front of a school, four children dancing

Conversations about Black arts venues in the neighborhood led to stories of creation, loss and preservation.

Listen here

Expression through movement

Person in organge suit performs dance move in front of black screen

Person in black suit in front of black screen, as dancers dance besides him

Person in tight dance leotards with hands up in the air in ballet pose

Person with arms outstretched in front of black screen

black and white photo fo a person singing in the mic

An overlooked Seattle rock singer

Bam Bam performed on stages across the city and along the West Coast. Kurt Cobain allegedly served as roadie for the band for a time. So why didn’t Tina Bell get the attention and acclaim of other proto-grunge bands in Seattle?

“Proper erasure” is how TJ Martin explains it.

Podcast: The afterlives of Seattle’s groundbreaking Black Arts/West theater

Though the Madrona theater closed in 1980, several artists trace their current work to its heyday.

Listen here

The soul of Northwest rock ‘n’ roll

Meet the Seattle music pioneer Dave Lewis and see how the contemporary band The Black Tones is carrying the DNA of Northwest rock forward.

Person in black and white photo on orange and yellow

blue background with drawing and text that says Sty of the Blind Pig

Three story building with square windows

Podcast: How James and Janie Washington sculpted a legacy

Three photos of a home and one of a sculptor

The late couple’s house in Seattle’s Central District is now a cultural center that inspires the next generation of creatives.

Listen here

Person in pink room with blue locks and pink balls floating around

The art of make believe

“Only thing I'm fighting for now is the land of make believe. Don't mess up my head. Do not take away the thing that I need in order to make this make sense and make this actually real. If I don't do it, it doesn't exist. If I don't create it, it doesn't exist.”

Pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance

For dancer-choreographers Donald Byrd and Jade Solomon Curtis, social engagement takes center stage.

artwork showing black papercut paper overlaid on colorful paper, like a stained glass window

detail of metal-cut artwork featuring heads and a cowrie pattern

Podcast: How Black arts took center stage at Seattle’s Langston institute

One old photo of a building exterior, three recent photos of its interior

Transformed by a 1960s urban relief program, a former synagogue has fostered generations of Black artists even as the neighborhood around it changes.

Listen here

Person in colorful hoodie sitting behind piano

Keeping memories of the Central District alive

“I feel like it's been a fight between us as Black people and the city, a fight for our own identity in a lot of ways. Because if we don't have our neighborhoods, we don't have our villages that we grew up in. Everyone's sort of dispersed. It makes it tough to continue to represent a city that you feel like is working avidly to wipe you out.”