Conversations about arts venues in Seattle's Central District neighborhood led to stories of creation, loss and preservation.

The first season of the Black Arts Legacies podcast started as a story about arts spaces. Specifically, in four episodes, listeners have explored the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, the James and Janie Washington Cultural Center, the Northwest African American Museum and Black Arts/West. Connecting these places is the Central District, a neighborhood that needs its own episode.

For this episode, host Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers revisits interviews from the first four episodes and reflects on her own observations to tell the story of the neighborhood’s past, present and future.

It is a journey that begins with the vibrant music scene of the ’60s and the activism of the ’70s, then continues into the rapid process of gentrification, continued activism and arts of the ’80s and hip-hop in the ’90s.

The journey ends with the continued effort to preserve Black arts spaces and build new ones because there is room for so many more. It is an effort she invites listeners to join.

See the full Black Arts Legacies project, featuring profiles, photography and videos.

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Credit

Host/producer: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers

Story editor: Sara Bernard

Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Audio support: Jonah Cohen

Though the Madrona theater closed in 1980, several artists trace their current work to its heyday.

Black Arts/West had slow beginnings. When Douglas Barnett opened the theater in 1969, there was nothing else like it. Its mission to "Educate, Enlighten, and Entertain" by making accessible theater for and about Black people first required appealing to the Black people living in the neighborhood. Eventually, Black Arts/West would bring professional actors, directors and dancers to Seattle to hold workshops and help community members of all ages hone their craft.

Black Arts/West closed in 1980 after operating for about 10years in Madrona, at 3406 East Union Street. Those leading the theater when it closed say its decline was due to both a loss of interest in Black theater in the community and a subsequent loss of federal funding.

Yet, over 40 years later, the theater’s legacy of bringing professional Black theater to Seattle lives on, largely through several artists who were uplifted by the work of Black Arts/West.

For this episode of the Black Arts Legacies Podcast, host Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers talks to several artists who were involved with Black Arts/West and who have been dancing, acting and making art ever since.

See the full Black Arts Legacies project, featuring profiles, photography and videos.

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Credit

Host/producer: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers

Story editor: Sara Bernard

Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Audio support: Jonah Cohen

The Central District institution has a complicated backstory and an important role to play for Seattle's Black arts community.

The historic Colman School building at 23rd and Madison in Seattle’s Central District has lived many lives. It has been a school, the site of the longest occupation of a public building in U.S. history and the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center. And since 2008, it has been home to 36 housing units and the Northwest African American Museum.

Today, the Colman Building is owned and operated by the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, with the Northwest African American Museum as a first-floor tenant. And, since it was decades of activism and passion in the making, the museum holds many hopes.

NAAM is a site of dreams fulfilled and dreams deferred. A lot of that comes from so many people wanting this space to be the very best it can be.

For this episode of the Black Arts Legacies podcast, host Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers examines some of NAAM’s controversial history, while also talking with some of those involved in bringing the museum to life, as well as artists with ties to it. There’s a lot to untangle along the way, but those who invested in the space or have been uplifted by it insist that the Northwest African American Museum deserves its due.

See the full Black Arts Legacies project, featuring profiles, photography and videos.

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Credit

Host/producer: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers

Story editor: Sara Bernard

Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Audio support: Jonah Cohen