The Creative Advantage: 2024 Reflections

Before we dig into the opportunities 2025 has to offer, The Creative Advantage would like to take a moment to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of 2024.

• Creative Advantage partnerships reached 15,539 students in the 23/24 school year.
• We completed 95 school day residencies - 60 out of 97 eligible schools had partnerships, or 61%.
• We gave $380,635 to individual teaching artists and organizations on our Community Arts Partner Roster.
• We created a brand-new website.
• We published A Creative Decade, our 10 year Report.
• We added 15 new partners to our Roster: Merri Ann Osborne + Chino Gonzalez / The Mahogany Project, Danielle Hayden, Michael Shantz, Lin Lucas / Earthseed Rising, Joanna Lynn Warren / Lift Hold Heal, Thistle Theatre, Painter Pals, Angela Flowers, Washington Capoeira Center, SilverKite Community Arts, NW Film Camp, Toka Valu, Steve Sneed / Arts Ed Solutions, Etienne Capko, Orquesta Northwest.
• We sponsored 14 educators to attend The Kennedy Center's Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) national conference which came to Seattle and hosted a special day just for educators on Tuesday, July 30.
• We collaborated with ARTS at King Street Station to pilot integrating Creative Advantage teaching artists into First Thursdays to lead all ages workshops in connection with exhibitions like Please Touch: Together, Breaking Barriers.

Together we launched…

• The Seattle Music Education Coalition with The Rhapsody Project and hosted an educator summit at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, March 6 and the first Professional Development Day at Seattle Opera Center April 27. Seattle Opera, Orquesta NW, The Rhapsody Project, and Jack Straw Cultural Center participated and over 60 educators attended.

• The Seattle Visual Arts Education Coalition with a Summit at Olympic Sculpture Park with Seattle Art Museum in Feb.
  
• The first ever Visual Arts Ed Coalition Professional Development Day at Seattle Asian Art Museum in March with SAM, Frye Art Museum, Gage Academy, and Wing Luke Museum, with over 70 educators in attendance.

We continued…

• The Seattle Theatre Education Coalition. 5^th Ave Theatre, Seattle Rep, Seattle Children's Theatre, Jet City Improv, and South End Stories/Intiman Theatre and over 50 educators attended in June.

• The Theatre of the Oppressed Project and TO Institute at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in May, with 30 educators.

We hosted…

• The Summer Institute at SAM Aug. 22 featuring Rainbow Research sharing our 10-year report and our goals for the next 5 years. The day included workshops with Arts Ed Coalition members as well a dance break with Creative Dance Center and stellar media coverage from Ground Zero Radio youth - 78 educators attended.
  
• The Fall Meet and Greet at the Seattle Asian Art Museum on November 14, an opportunity for Roster partners, teachers, and school leaders to network and seed or renew projects for the 24/25 year, with 75 in attendance.

Way to go Creative Advantage community!