Fest to showcase Eastside arts

By Kelly Kearsley
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

JAMES BRANAMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Pacific Sound Chorus, a group of 110 women singing a cappella, practices for its performance in the Eastside Arts Alive! festival this weekend.

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The first clue that the Eastside arts scene is thriving are the numerous blue words marking most every day of each month on Stephen Elliott's office calendar.

"Everything in blue is an arts performance," said Elliott, theater manager for the Meydenbauer Center. "It's been increasing every year."

The second is this weekend's Eastside Arts Alive!, a first-ever festival showcasing local dance, music, theater and visual-arts groups.

Organizers say the three-day festival, which begins tomorrow, will introduce Eastsiders to their own artists — and prove that the search for culture doesn't always lead to Seattle.

"People don't realize who is here and what they are doing," said Mary Pat Byrne, president of the Eastside Arts Coalition.

The festival program includes several choral groups, ballet, bits of musical theater and even an "Iron Chef"-like war between two pottery artists.

If you go Where: The Eastside Arts Alive! festival runs tomorrow through Sunday at The Theatre at Meydenbauer Center and the Kirkland Performance Center. Tickets can be purchased for one of the festival's eight programs, or buy a pass for the entire weekend. Cost: Ticket prices are $6 for youth and seniors and $8 for adults per program. A family pass, which covers the cost of two adults and two children, costs $25. A pass to attend all the festival's events costs $25. More information: Go to www.EastsideArts.org for program information. Tickets: Call the Kirkland Performance Center Box Office at 425-893-9900 or go to www.kpcenter.org Tickets are also available at the Ticket Window. Call 206-325-6500 or go to www.ticketwindowonline.com

The Eastside and the arts met decades ago. Organizations such as the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Bellevue Philharmonic have been cultural staples for more than 30 years.

For many artists and art seekers, though, the relationship was more acquaintance than serious commitment.

Elliott remembers his impression of the Eastside as a University of Washington graduate in 1973: "It was a cultural wasteland," he said.

Part of the problem in attracting and keeping arts groups was the lack of performance space this side of Seattle.

Local theater and dance groups performed mostly in churches and schools auditoriums.

But the completion of The Theatre at Meydenbauer Center and the Kirkland Performance Center in the late 1990s sparked the smoldering local arts scene.

And it has been getting hotter ever since.

The Eastside Arts Coalition has seen its membership more than double, now at 38 groups, in its five years of existence, Byrne said.

As the region has grown, other organizations have also recognized the Eastside's need for — and interest in — more arts.

The Pacific Northwest Ballet opened its Francia Russell Center in Bellevue two years ago.

Though the ballet has had a small school there for years, Artistic Director Kent Stowell said they chose to expand it because of the Eastside's burgeoning art scene.

"We have a great affection for the Eastside," he said. "[The arts community] is gathering momentum all the time."

For Elliott and Steve Lerian, executive director of the Kirkland Performance Center, the timing for the festival is perfect.

"We couldn't have done this 10 years ago or even five years ago," Elliott said.

The two hatched the idea for Eastside Arts Alive! a couple years ago over beers with Jim Kelly, executive director of King County's cultural-development authority.

The festival is divided into eight programs, each of which includes performances from four different arts groups.

Each program offers audience members small tastes of each group.

The idea, Byrne said, is to draw people in with names they know or types of performances they enjoy, and then introduce to other similar arts groups in the area.

"The need now is to develop audiences," she said. "By pulling together the strength of all these groups we're hoping to create a critical mass to catch the attention of the Eastside."

For that reason, the festival is also an invaluable opportunity for the smaller or lesser known organizations.

Kevin McQuade, executive director of the Washington Academy of Performing Arts, said he feels like the Redmond conservatory is the area's best-kept secret.

"But we don't want to be that much of a secret anymore," he said. Students from the academy will perform in two of the festival's programs.

The festival's creation has been a task, organizers said. Countless volunteer hours, donations and a shoestring budget of $14,000 launched it into being.

But the chance to show off the quantity and quality of Eastside Arts groups was too good to pass up.

"The arts go a long way in helping establish a community's identity," Elliott said. "This weekend is the opportunity to say, 'Hey, we are arriving.' "

Kelly Kearsley: 206-464-2112 or kkearsley@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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