Annual Washington Cultural Congress April 28-30 Builds on Thirty-Year Bonding, Alliance of State Arts Advocacy

Almost thirty years ago between 1978-79 supporters of the arts from all around the State of Washington came together to found The Arts Alliance of Washington State as a non-profit organization with a mission, according to its website to provide service and advocacy to all the arts, with emphasis on quality and accessibility to all citizens.

During the late seventies and early eighties the alliance separated its charitable and educational programming thus creating the Washington State Arts Alliance Foundation a (501) (c) (3), and its advocacy efforts giving birth to the Washington State Arts Alliance a (501) (c) (4).

Since then the Washington State Arts Alliance has become increasingly active in the halls of the legislature, to increase funding to the Washington State Arts Commission, honoring advocates at the state level and bringing the organization into its now national recognized leadership position in the area of arts advocacy.

In 2001, the Arts Alliance reached out to join the Arts Network of Washington State in taking on the task of producing the only statewide multi-disciplinary arts conference, the annual Washington Cultural Congress which is slated to take place April 28-30, 2008 at Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in Leavenworth, WA.

The 2008 theme is Art Every Day - (Connect, Create, Exchange). This year's special speakers and guests will include a keynote addresses by Ellen Dissanayake, "The Deep Structures of the Arts"; Andrea Peterson, National Teacher of the Year, "Learning, Exploring, Interacting , Serving - Connections that Matter"; and readings by Washington State Poet Laureate Samuel Green. For full conference details and sign-up information click here.

According to their website, since 1997 the Washington State Arts Alliance has grown from a group of 49 organizations and individuals to a membership linking artists, arts educators, administrators, patrons, volunteers, students, parents, media and policy makers from Eastern and Western parts of the state which both enforces and underlines one of their main organizational tenets that no matter size, shape, color, or fabric of our urban, suburban or rural communities arts advocacy and education is something in which we all have a lasting stake.