Seattle Arts & Lectures

Mission

Seattle Arts & Lectures cultivates transformative experiences through story and language with readers and writers of all generations.

Vision:
SAL envisions a future in which story and language continuously and courageously revitalize equity, justice, and belonging.



Values:
Belonging. We believe access is core to belonging, and we bring an intersectional lens to breaking down historical and societal forces that create and enforce racial, economic, access, and geographic barriers. We strive to foster spaces where all community members feel valued, invited, and welcomed in a spirit of mutual inspiration and exchange.
Racial Equity. We bring an anti-racist lens to all of our programmatic and budgetary decisions to work against the historical and present-day effects of white supremacy. We prioritize, amplify, and celebrate the voices, stories, and lived experiences of writers and readers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color in the community and beyond.
Transparency & Trust. We build trust through transparency in our processes, decision-making, follow-through, and accountability. We prioritize thoughtful, intentional action; responsiveness over reactivity; and regular, open, and honest communication centered on community feedback.
Curiosity. We cultivate curiosity—in our audiences, students, staff, and community members—by providing opportunities for wonder and learning that are rooted in humility and make visionary futures possible.
Joy. We value the joy forged through individual acts of reading and writing and the connection and community created through the sharing of stories.

Description

One of the nation’s leading literary arts organizations, Seattle Arts & Lectures was founded in 1987 and launched its first season in 1988. 
Our public series - Literary Arts, Poetry, SAL Presents, Encore, and our Community-Curated Series - transcend boundaries such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status to reach audiences that reflect our region's rich diversity. This year our season included authors and artists such as Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Connie Chung, C Pam Zhang, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and many others. SAL has a long history of bringing the leading writers and thinkers of our times to the stage and to the classroom. Through our public and education programs, SAL serves more than 45,000 children, youth, and adults in the Puget Sound region annually. All our public programs are also live-streamed and available digitally, reaching audience members in all 50 states, and all over the world.

Our award-winning literary arts education program, Writers in the Schools (WITS), places accomplished local creative writers in yearlong virtual and in-person classroom residencies at local public schools and Seattle Children's Hospital. WITS annually serves over 6,000 K-12 students. We are especially committed to reaching student communities with the highest need for arts opportunities by prioritizing schools who don't have access to them. Classroom teachers and students tell us that WITS makes a difference: 94% of teachers say that because of WITS their students improved their writing skills and 86% say that their students' overall self-confidence has increased. Among younger students, 86% say they are proud of their work at WITS and among older students, 82% felt moved to share their writing with other people.

We love GiveBIG and Washington Gives as a celebration of philanthropy in Washington State. However, donations on this platform incur a processing fee of 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction made on the Washington Gives platform (this fee will increase to 3.6% plus $0.30 for American Express donations). In addition, there is a platform fee of 2% for our technology partner Mightycause and 1.25% for 501 Commons as the program sponsor (total processing fee of 5.35% + $0.30)

You can choose to cover this fee so that it is not deducted from your intended donation. Or you can donate on our regular platform at lectures.org/donate.