Inspire Washington: 2024 WA State Legislative Session Recap!

Dear Cultural Advocates, Another state legislation session has come to a close and we are excited to share with you the wins our sector secured with your advocate support from across the state. This year was a supplemental budget year, which means the legislature was making small adjustments to the two-year budget they passed last year and therefore, there is less new funding to distribute. It is also a shorter session with less time to pass policy bills. Nevertheless, many of our partners were able to come out with wins that will have broad impacts for science, heritage, and arts programs. Here's a list of the budget allocations that were made to our sector during the session: Humanities WA: Prime Time Family Reading: $300k   ArtsWA: Arts in Education research: $100k Governor's Arts & Heritage Awards expansion & grants: $100k 8 Public Art Projects across the state: $735k WA Dept of Archeologist and Historic Preservation: New anthropologist staff position: $152k   WA State Historical Society: America 250: $385k Archivist: $174k Jewish oral history project: $320k First Flight Project: $186k Julia Butler House study: $30k   Eastern WA State Historical Society: New art and heritage acquisitions: $850k Parking lot rebuild: $1,4 million Bill update: Here's a recap on bills that had cultural sector impact. SB 5444: Adds zoos and aquariums to the list of designated places at which it is a gross misdemeanor for any person to enter while knowingly possessing a weapon - PASSED SB 5972: Concerning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides - PASSED HB 1648: Concerning ticket sales - DID NOT PASS

Arts, Heritage, and Science Week Recap

Thank You, Advocates! AHS Week 2024 was a big success! Supplemental budget years tend to be much quieter, but that did not stop our advocates from showing up and being loud for culture. 163 people participated in Arts, Heritage, & Science Week! They took over 95 meetings with lawmakers; at least 65 of those were in-person, and at least 30 were virtual. The legislative wins listed above are possible thanks to our advocates. AHS Week 2024 served as an opportunity to build and sustain lawmaker relationships while urging them to support our sector requests. Want to join our mighty coalition? SAVE THE DATE: AHS Day 2025 is on February 5th! 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for our sector, and we will need advocates from every corner of Washington State in order to accomplish our goals. Sign up for the Cultural Futures event in your community to learn more!

Federal Advocacy

Senator Cantwell needs to hear from you! If you want Congress to enact comprehensive ticketing reform to protect consumers, empower creative economic development, and restore trust in the ticketing experience for fans and artists, voice your support today. Click THIS LINK to sign our petition letter urging Senator Cantwell to champion comprehensive ticketing reform legislation NOW. To learn more about the Fans First Act, click here and visit the National Independent Venue Association's info page. This is new legislation that goes farther than previous bills to provide much needed ticketing reform.

Cultural Futures Tour!

Cultural Futures is our FREE funding, policy, and advocacy workshop for cultural businesses and supporters! This spring, we invite you to join your local partners for Cultural Futures! Cultural Futures is Inspire Washington’s annual post-State Legislative Session tour when we visit communities to share what happened during the 2024 Legislative Session. It's our job to alert you to new funding and policy opportunities. Why is this work important? The 2025 Legislative Session is ramping up to be a BIG one! We anticipate many new objectives for each of our sectors—science, heritage, and the arts. Without new advocates and active engagement across the state, these large funding requests will be very challenging to secure. If you have thought about getting involved in the past but haven't yet participated, now is the time! With Inspire Washington, cultural advocacy is easy, fun, collaborative, and inspiring! With eight new locations (looking at you, Coupeville, Bremerton, Goldendale, Vashon, Longview, Newport, Moses Lake, and Ellensburg!), 30 total to choose from, plus three virtual options— there is a Cultural Futures event for everyone in Washington!

On the agenda: New Funding & Policies - We will break down the wins and successes of the Legislative Session and the opportunities for your work. Overview of Washington's Cultural Access Program and next steps for your community. Coalition Building - The 2025 Legislative Session is going to be huge for our sector and we will need to double our coalition of advocates to secure our big requests for science, heritage, and arts programs. Grant opportunities - ArtsWA, Humanities WA, USDA, community projects, Capital Funding, Federal Opportunities, and much more! Listening - What do you need and what should we advocates for? How do you get involved? It will take a broad coalition to secure future funding. About Our Coalition - Do you want to be more involved in policy development and advocacy or learn about partnership? We'll plug you into future activities so that your community is represented.

In Person Tour Schedule

Thank you so much to our 30 venue partners. We couldn't do it without you! Click on the city to register for your community's event.

CITY DATE & TIME VENUE

Friday Harbor April 23 @ 7pm San Juan Island Library Eastsound April 24 @ 3pm Orcas Center Bellingham April 25 @ 12pm Mount Baker Theatre Coupeville April 25 @ 7pm Pacific NW Art School Longview April 30 @ 7pm Columbia Theatre Association Vancouver May 1 @ 6:30pm Clark County Historical Museum Kenmore May 2 @ 2:30pm Kenmore Hangar Tacoma May 7 @ 7pm Tacoma Little Theatre Olympia May 8 @ 7pm Olympia Family Theatre Aberdeen May 9 @ 7pm Driftwood Players Spokane May 14 @ 11am Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Chewelah May 14 @ 7pm Chewelah Center for the Arts Newport May 15 @ 6pm Pend Orielle Players Pullman May 16 @ 7pm Regional Theatre of the Palouse Winthrop May 21 @ 6pm Winthrop Library Wenatchee May 22 @ 12pm Historic Wells House Moses Lake May 22 @ 7pm Moses Lake Museum & Art Center Ellensburg May 23 @ 11am Gallery One Bremerton June 4 @ 7pm Admiral Theatre Port Townsend June 5 @ 1pm Fort Worden State Park Port Angeles June 5 @ 7pm Field Hall Yakima June 11 @ 11am Capitol Theatre Tri-Cities June 11 @ 7pm REACH Museum Walla Walla June 12 @ 3pm Fort Walla Walla Museum Goldendale June 13 @ 6pm Maryhill Museum of Art Everett June 17 @ 11am Schack Art Center Vashon June 17 @ 6:30pm Vashon Center for the Arts Seattle June 18 @ 3pm Seattle Rep Auburn June 20 @ 12pm White River Valley Musuem Bellevue June 21 @ 3pm Francia Russell Center, Pacific Northwest Ballet

Virtual Tour Schedule

Virtual 1 May 30 @ 9am Zoom Virtual 2 May 30 @ 7pm Zoom Virtual 3 May 31 @ 12:30pm Zoom

About Inspire Washington Inspire Washington nurtures the human spirit and strengthens communities by increasing access to science, heritage, and arts programming through advocacy, resource development, education, and coalition building. Inspire Washington info@inspirewashington.org P.O. Box 806, Seattle, WA 98111 InspireWashington.org Manuel R. Cawaling, Executive Director Jessi Wasson, Programs and Operations Manager Madeline Dalton, Outreach Coordinator

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