2015 WRAP REPORT

Poster art by Mike King

The Northwest Folklife Festival is a

tradition that has enriched the cultural landscape

of the Northwest for more than four decades.

Though iconic in stature, it is made of thousands

of individual stories, and it is ever evolving to

reflect the traditional, ethnic, artistic, cultural

practices of the region.

In 2015, Northwest Folklife produced the 44th

Northwest Folklife Festival - a memorable

addition to this series of annual civic, cultural

events. More than 235,000 attendees witnessed

performances, participated in dances and

workshops and otherwise experienced more than

800 scheduled events. Generous sponsors,

funders and donors provided access to attendees

and opportunities to the more than 5,000

performers who shared their time and talents in

showcasing their cultures and traditions for all to

enjoy.

The combined efforts of our board, staff,

volunteers, donors, sponsors, vendors and

funders provide attendees and participants with

access to arts & cultural participation that is

unparalleled in our region and, perhaps,

nationally. Participation in Northwest Folklife’s

annual Festival provides avenues of self-

expression that would otherwise be dimmed;

enlightens and informs people about cultures

new to them; enriches our region in countless

ways through the communal experience of

sharing arts and cultures together on common

ground and with no financial barriers.

What follows is a glimpse of the Festival that

unfolded from May 22 – 25, 2015 at Seattle

Center.

2015 Cultural Focus:

Beats, Rhymes and Rhythms:

Traditional Roots of Today’s Branches

The 2015 Cultural Focus, Beats, Rhymes and Rhythms: Traditional Roots of Today’s

Branches explored the cross-cultural roots of arts expressions that have evolved

into contemporary cultures today, specifically examining the traditional roots of

Hip Hop.

African and Latin traditional dance, the

blues, gospel songs and spirituals, scat-

singing of the early jazz days, African-

American street culture, word battles,

socially conscious songwriting—these

are just some of the seeds we explored

for this year’s Cultural Focus. Hip Hop

serves as an umbrella for this program,

tying together many communities from

around the Pacific Northwest—some of

those that have been representing their

cultures and traditions for decades at

the Festival. The goal was to present a

multi-generational, multi-cultural, inter-

disciplinary program to educate the

Pacific Northwest about the cross-

cultural roots of local communities

while highlighting Hip Hop’s traditional

folk roots.

Festival Programming in Numbers:

815 Scheduled

Performances

133 Showcases

4,859 Total

Performers 90 Hours of

Participatory Dance 27 Hours Contra

Dancing

Media Coverage

Print/Digital:

The Seattle Times

ParentMap

SeattleMet.com

Kithfolk Magazine

The Stranger

Seattle Magazine

City Arts Magazine

Seattle Weekly

King5.com

SeattleGlobalist.com

Seattlepi.com

Stackeddmagazine.com

AmericanStandardTime.com

Crosscut.com

WHERE Magazine Seattle

NorthwestMusicScene.com

SeattleRefined.com

CityArtsOnline.com

TheSeattleLesbian.com

Ballard News Tribune

SassyCityGirl.com

Visit Seattle

Broadcast:

Q13 Fox

King 5 News

KOMO 4 News

KIRO 7 News

KOMO Newsradio

KKNW “On the Town”

KBCS

KUOW NPR

“Northwest Folklife Festival is one of

Seattle's most amazing (and affordable)

family events. Featuring thousands of

performers from 60-plus cultural

communities, as well as art, film, instrument

shows, buskers, dance performances,

workshops and more, it's an opportunity to

introduce your children to the world in the

most accessible way possible: through

music, art and dance.” -ParentMap

“In an age of increasingly corporate

festivals, there’s something refreshingly

anachronistic about Northwest Folklife. The

Seattle Center comes to life over Memorial

Day weekend as this street fair on steroids

bustles with the energy of world music,

vendors, crafts, buskers, food, and family

entertainment.”

-SeattleMet

“At the Folklife Festival, people embrace their own cultures and share

others — an approach we should take all year. The festival is a

celebration of the many cultural roots that nurture our community, and it’s

organized in a way that encourages everyone to get at least a little taste of

something outside their usual world… Seattle is changing by the minute, but

Folklife remains a moment of something essential and

hopeful.” Jerry Large – The Seattle Times

-Jerry Large, The Seattle Times

2015 Media Partners:

The Seattle Times

Seattle Weekly

ParentMap

City Arts

Comcast Xfinity

91.3 KBCS

KEXP

ReignCity

Seattle PI

Stackedd Magazine

Epoch Times

Northwest Asian Weekly

Seattle Pipeline

KCTS9

KUOW

Seattle Channel

The Seattle Globalist

Visit Seattle

105,227 views of the

online Festival Schedule,

April 1-May31

97,267 views of the

Festival website, April

1 –May 31

1,525 new “likes” to NW

Folklife Facebook page in

May

23,451 total

“likes” on Facebook

211,689 total

reach of Facebook

posts, May 2015

Thank You to our

Sponsors:

Western Washington Toyota Dealers Bath Fitter

American Music Blue Moon

Caffe Ladro Deschutes Brewery

car2go Crispin Cider

The Naked Grape Trumer Pils

The Mediterranean Inn Bridgeport Brewery

Belltown Inn Geico

MarQueen Hotel Renewal by Andersen

Inn at Queen Anne NRG Insurance

Ben & Jerry’s Pacific Continental Bank

The Franksfurter Champion Windows

Click Heat Value Village

Hostelling International AANR Northwest

Helios Heaters

We Couldn’t Do It Without You…

2015 Folklife Donors and Volunteers

As a community powered event,

the Folklife Festival relies on

the generosity of donors and

volunteers. In 2015 we filled

over 1,000 volunteer shifts for a

total of 3,789 volunteer hours.

Community groups that

volunteered this year include

Cascade Bicycle Club, CHEER

Seattle, National Wildlife

Federation, Skate Like a Girl and

the Spokane Falls International

Student Program

2015 In-Kind Sponsors:

KIND snacks

Pepsi

Central Co-op

Choice Organic Tea

Einstein Brothers Bagels

Field Roast

Finn River Cider

Fresh Breeze Organic Dairy

Greek Gods Yogurt

Mamma Chia

Mighty-O

Mt. Townsend Creamery

Nielsen's Pastries

Partner's Crackers

Seattle Fudge

The Bread Garden

Turtle Island Foods

Veggie Grill

Windward Communications

Seattle Gourmet Foods

Metropolitan Market

QFC

Thank You for another Wonderful Festival!

Come join us next year for the 45th annual

Northwest Folklife Festival May 27 – 20, 2016 at Seattle Center

All photos courtesy of Piper Hanson Photography