WALLACE FOUNDATION GIVES $7.7 MILLION TO SEATTLE GROUPS

Seattle arts organizations will receive a total of $7.7 million from the Wallace Foundation, based in New York. The Seattle Times_’ Misha Berson writes that the effort is part of the nationwide Wallace Excellence Awards, which uses a “city-based” approach to broaden the audiences and visibility of visual- and performing-arts groups. Past city recipients include Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, with arts institutions in Minneapolis–Saint Paul also receiving Wallace funds this year. The local groups’ grant amounts range from $500,000 to $750,000. Many of the Seattle grantees will use the audience-development money, allotted over a four-year period, to devise interactive technology and media schemes targeted at children and young adults. In addition, the Washington State Arts Commission will be awarded $1.6 million by Wallace to “coordinate a skill-development series of workshops and forums for leaders of arts organizations,” said Kris Tucker, the commission’s executive director. The state agency will redistribute some of its grant to smaller Puget Sound–area arts organizations. The Seattle Art Museum, one of the organizations benefiting from the grants, will receive $750,000 for social networking and “gateway” activities, among other things.