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 experiences for visitors.

Timed entry is required for Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei. Tickets are available both onsite and online.

12-1 pm | Ladies Musical Club
Plestcheeff Auditorium
Founded in 1891, Ladies Musical Club (LMC) is Seattle’s oldest musical organization, dedicated to keeping classical music alive and accessible for everyone. Their mission is simple: foster a love of classical music through education, live performance, and recognition of emerging talent. Each season, LMC’s largely professional musician members present around 50 free public concerts across the greater Seattle area.

5–6 pm | Ai, Rebel Tour with Immigration Lawyer Adam Bennett
Exhibition entrance
Adam Bennett is a Seattle-based writer, curator, and immigration lawyer. His work explores the intersection of contemporary art, performance, and human rights. Adam will dive into Ai Weiwei’s commentary on human rights and immigration, offering insights that change the way you think about this important subject. Stick around after the tour for a brief Q &A.

5-8 pm | Actualize AiR Drop-in workshop: “Art for Activism” with Gabriel Bello Diaz
Brotman Forum
Actualize Artist in Residency (AiR) is a woman-run and woman seed-funded art organization. Their mission is to foster and accelerate the careers of emerging artists by creating space and opportunities, establishing an artist alliance in downtown Seattle.

5–8 pm | DJ Sets by SEA Vinyl Society
Brotman Forum
SEA Vinyl Society is a Seattle-based, AANHPI collective dedicated to uniting communities through the collection, preservation, and performance of music and stories from Asia and the Asian diaspora. Rooted in vinyl culture and community memory, they celebrate their shared heritage through sound.

5-8 pm | Write Postcards to Politicians
4th floor Galleries
In this activity inspired by Ai Weiwei’s political advocacy, write postcards to your elected officials about the issues that matter to you. Ai, Rebel: The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei inspires us to speak out about human rights, government corruption, surveillance, immigration, misinformation, and other topics. What issue do you want to see addressed by your representatives?

5:30–6:30 pm | SAM Gallery Artist Talk: Into the Light)
SAM Gallery**

6–7 pm | Public Tour: Highlights from SAM’s Collection
Meet at the top of the 3rd floor escalators
Enhance your visit to Seattle Art Museum with a guided gallery tour of SAM's global collection. Engage with other visitors and discover diverse personal connections while exploring creatively installed galleries and outstanding works of art.

6–8 pm | Tariqa Waters talk and book signing
*Plestcheeff Auditorium
Join Agent Tariqa Waters from 6-7 pm for this exclusive SAM talk/performance on Venus is Missing, where Tariqa draws from references like Reggie Watts and Reading Rainbow to create an out-of-this-world, one-night-only experience that turns a traditional artists' talk on its head. In an era dominated by convenience, Agent Waters observes a world saturated with vivid colors, preservatives, and synthetic tastes—all ensconced in capitalist dogma and unchecked excess. In response, she creates expansive worlds of joy and humor, where beauty is celebrated and misogyny and racism are trapped in used bubble gum. Tariqa’s first book Who Raised You? A Martyr Sauce Guide To Etiquette will be available for purchase after the talk. Stick around to meet Tariqa and get your copy signed!

Free First Thursday Evenings Presented by