Free First Thursday: Seattle Art Museum

Call your friends and bring the family, admission is FREE to everyone at the Seattle Art Museum on the first Thursday of every month.

In addition to our regular hours, Seattle Art Museum will be open for Free First Thursday evenings from 5–8 pm to provide more opportunities to visit the galleries for free! Evening hours will feature extra activities like live music, drop-in art making, and in-gallery entertainment.

Tickets are available both onsite and online.

5 pm
Poetry Reading with Artist Melany Bell
3rd floor galleries
Melany Bell (they/them) is a Seattle teacher and “a maker of inner, activated, ritual Spoken Word installations.” Join Melany for a conversation about artwork that explores themes of ascension, levitation, reclamation, and the divine, ideas that resonate with their Pentecostal upbringing and traditions of surrender.

5:30 pm
Art Activity with Imani Sims
Lessons from the Institute of Empathy
Imani Sims is an alchemist, artist, and author from Seattle, WA. Their shelves overflow with books delving into Afrofuturist realms, and their tarot deck, The Deck of NONE, embodies their deep connection to the genre. Join Imani for an interactive tarot-inspired art activity.

6–8 pm
Path With Art talent showcase
Plestcheeff Auditorium
Experience the uplifting power of the arts with a dynamic lineup of performances by Path with Art participant artists, including the PwA band, PwA singers, veterans choir, podcast, improv, and scene acting. This joyful community event is free and open to all and will also be live-streamed on YouTube with captioning. Since 2008, Path with Art has been at the forefront of a growing international movement that utilizes the power of art as a means to bring dignity, awareness, and healing to the complexities of the issues surrounding homelessness and recovery from trauma. Learn more.

6:30–7 pm
Curator Talk with Inye Wokoma
American Art: The Stories We Carry
Inye Wokoma is a Seattle-based visual artist, filmmaker, photographer, and community organizer. He is a founder of Wa Na Wari, a center for Black art and culture in Seattle’s Central District. In 2023, Inye curated a gallery in American Art: The Stories We Carry, offering a new framework for interpreting SAM’s collection. Hear about his curatorial process and reflections two years later.

Free First Thursday Evenings Presented by