ABOUT ART PARTY
MISSION
ART PARTY fosters creative experimentation, radical rest, and community through recurring low-barrier residencies for multidisciplinary artists and an outdoor summer festival of site-responsive work for PNW audiences. All leave encountering new artists and innovative work, set against the backdrop of an inspiring natural environment.
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VISION
A nourished community of artists and art lovers .
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FESTIVAL
An outdoor festival of site-responsive art, installation, dance, music, workshops, theatre, readings, and interactive opportunities featuring PNW artists. With programming that spans 24-hours and is set throughout a beautiful property, attendees have the chance to encounter new and experimental art, meet new people over a shared meal, float in the creek, explore the forest trails, and relax on the meadow. Attendees can opt to camp on site, stay locally, or come just for the day.
RESIDENCIES
We support artists from across disciplines through no-cost micro-residencies utilizing a nomination system which provide opportunities for artists to connect, experiment, refine, and be fed without an expectation of producing. Through light facilitation and shared meals, artists have the space and structure to both rest and create. Some artists choose to use this time to experiment beyond their expertise, others deepen their own craft, and many build new collaborative partnerships organically. Past residencies have featured readings, workshops, performances, and installations activating the natural environment. Artists leave fed, rested, inspired, and connected to a broader community.
HISTORY
In 2022, theatre artists Francesca Betancourt (aka Cessa) and Jess K Smith started dreaming of an outdoor art festival in the woods. One year later they gathered with ten artists from a range of disciplines (dance, rap, projection, comedy, installation, tabletop world building games, digital art, music, etc.) for a micro-residency and artistic think tank affectionately called ART PARTY. The goal was to move away from a culture of urgency, productivity, expectation, and burnout toward one of experimentation, connection, care, and invitation. Over one weekend and many shared meals, the artists developed a mini festival, a blueprint for low-barrier artist residencies, and an enduring mantra - “Big fan, love your work!”
Since that initial residency, Cessa and Jess have hosted quarterly ART PARTY residencies for a growing roster of regional artists, and will host the first ever annual ART PARTY FESTIVAL of new and exciting site responsive work this coming Summer of 2025.
COMMUNITY VALUES​​
Our ultimate goal is to nourish artists and audiences alike so that they may feel closer to their creative selves, to the natural world, and to each other as human beings. For that connection to flourish we ask that all artists and attendees to commit to the following values:
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CONSENT + AGENCY
​At Art Party Festival + Residencies, each participant determines how their bodies are interacted with and sets their own boundaries for touch and emotional intimacy. Always err on the side of asking before touching someone you don't know well and state your own boundaries with kindness.
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INVITATION OVER EXPECTATION
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We encourage folks to consider each event as a series of invitations rather than expectations. There's no way to do art incorrectly, so take rest or solitude when you need to, engage and attend when it feels right.
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​RECIPROCITY
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Whether audience or performance, give others the gift of your presence and support. If someone seems in need of help, let an Art Party volunteer know or lend a hand if it is within your capacity.
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​LEAVE NO TRACE + DO NO HARM
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Treat the land and all the living things on it with the utmost respect. Leave where you sleep, eat, and play the way you found it.
BIG FAN, LOVE YOUR WORK!
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When someone shares their creative work, or something about themselves, we say "Big fan, love your work!" Everyone deserves a judgement free, high support environment. Let's lift each other up!​
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LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Art Party Festival honors the first peoples of these lands by acknowledging that the area in which we gather is within the traditional territory of the Stillaguamish, Tulalip, Upper Skagit, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla people, who have stewarded the land and waters since time immemorial and continue to do so today. Art Party Festival invites artists and audiences alike to learn about and appreciate the rich history of this land and the people who care for it. We recognize that this land was stolen and that this land acknowledgement is one tiny step toward the sustained work of true allyship. We commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond.
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Art Party operates on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish and Duwamish people. We invite you to join us in participating in Real Rent Duwamish and signing the petition for Federal Recognition.
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