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Community Partners

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

SAM loves to work with community organizations. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with mission-aligned organizations to support one another's work. In order to best collaborate, we focus on partnerships and projects with a minimal lead time of four to six weeks. We are also focused primarily on building our long-standing relationships. 

If you're interested in connecting with SAM, please email us at communityprograms@seattleartmuseum.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

ADVISORY COMMITTEES

Working with members of our community in the planning of programming and exhibitions is part of SAM’s commitment to equity. We feel it is important that the voices and perspectives from across diverse communities are represented in the decisions that SAM makes. Learn more about SAM’s commitment to equity.

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The Education & Community Engagement Committee is charged by the Board of Trustees at the Seattle Art Museum to make the museum a more inclusive place that welcomes diversity and reflects this diversity in all aspects of its operations and programming. The committee works with staff to meet this challenge by developing and implementing plans that encourage heterogeneity among trustees, staff, and volunteers of the museum. It also works to increase diversity in programming, membership, and visitors to the museum.

The committee supports the goals and objectives of the museum’s education and public programs, including those related to special exhibitions, teens, families, schools, educators, films, community outreach, and academic activities.

The committee includes community representatives, members of the Board of Trustees, the Chairman of the Docent Committee and the Chairman of the Volunteers Executive Committee. From time to time, it receives and reviews reports from the staff on the museum’s education, public, academic, and outreach programs.

EXHIBITION ADVISORS

SAM work closely with paid community advisors on every special exhibition at the museum. Advisors represent diverse communities and provide vital input on the exhibition planning, programming, marketing, and outreach. We are grateful to all the advisors who help make the museum an inclusive and relevant space for all communities. 

GET INVOLVED

Get Involved

SAM loves to meet with community organizations to learn more about what others do, and how we might be able to connect across sectors to support one another’s work. Whether you’re planning a single visit or interested in developing ongoing interactions, SAM’s relationships with the community are vital to our mission of connecting art to life.

If you're interested in connecting with SAM, please email us! We'd love to hear from you.​

PARTNER PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Community Celebrations at SAM

Community Days & Nights

SAM’s Community Celebrations are active events, full of art-making activities, performances, and unexpected art experiences—all in collaboration with community partners! These events are free and open to all.

Día De Los Muertos

Community Days & Nights

Every year at SAM, Fulgencio Lazo and a team of local artists design a unique tapete (sand painting) to celebrate Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). The art and traditions of Día de los Muertos a​im to help us accept death as a part of life. Traditionally, people make beautiful altars called ofrendas (offerings), which are usually decorated with candles, flowers, water, bread, and fruit. During the free celebration, you will experience live music, performances, participate in art-making activities, and get moving on the dance floor!​

NARAMORE SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Naramore Seattle Public Schools

SAM is proud to partner with Seattle Public Schools to showcase the tremendously creative artwork of 150 middle​ and high school student artists in the first floor Community Gallery every year. A time-honored tradition, this student exhibition bears the last name of Floyd J. Naramore, an architect who designed local public schools from 1919 to 1941. SAM and Seattle Public Schools are very proud to honor these students’ creative achievements with them, their families, SPS art specialists, and all of our broader communities.​

COMMUNITY SPACES

Community Gallery

image of students looking at art in the Community Corridor

The Seattle Art Museum's first floor Community Gallery is a free public space dedicated to showcasing the visual art of youth (K–12), and community groups that use the arts to amplify their voices, perspectives, identities, and explore connections to other exhibitions represented at SAM. The Community Gallery is located on the first floor of the Seattle Art Museum and can be found off the 1st and University entrance.

SAM’s Community Gallery is currently closed and unavailable to the the public. We are not taking applications at this time.

Chen Community Meeting Room

A free meeting space for your community.

The Seattle Asian Art Museum welcomes community members looking for an accessible and free meeting space. Available for noncommercial use only during regular operating hours, this private room seats up to 12 people. Access includes projector use. Refreshments can be arranged through Shooby Doo Catering; no outside food or beverage is permitted.

Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. A minimum of three weeks’ notice is required to book the room. SAM’s Venue Experiences team will follow up with you.

Noncommercial means that the meeting room is available to groups or individuals such as

  • Nonprofit organizations

  • Neighborhood groups or alliances

  • Study groups

  • School, teacher, or educator meetups

  • Charity or sports clubs

Questions? Contact venues@seattleartmuseum.org

Request Reservation

IMAGES: Photo: Catherine Anstett. Photo: Catherine Anstett. Photo: Catherine Anstett. Photo: Catherine Anstett. Photo: Catherine Anstett. Photo: Natali Wiseman. Photo: Natali Wiseman.​​​


Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM