Stephanie Ellis-Smith

Altering assumptions about African-American culture

Stephanie Ellis-Smith founded the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas in 1999 to "challenge assumptions about African-American culture," and since then the nonprofit has presented town-hall discussions, stage performances, a black science-fiction festival and a Food As Art event featuring local black chefs. But there's more to this free-spirited mother of two.

Q: You graduated from UCLA in 1992 with degrees in biochemistry and English. Are you a California girl?

A: "Born and raised there. Actually, in the suburbs, San Fernando Valley. This sounds really silly, but both sides of my family were asthmatics, and each side decided that they wanted to move to a drier climate — so they moved to California."

Q: By the way, what kind of child wants to study both biochemistry and English?

A: "I've always had an interest in reading, and I've always had an interest in science. For a while, I thought I was going to go into medicine."

Q: What was it like working with the group that published the late Jacob Lawrence's entire body of work in 1996, the first catalogue raisonné ever done for an African-American artist? You were a UW scientific researcher at the time, a newbie to Seattle's art world.

A: They had this stack, this printout, of all the community colleges, colleges and universities around the country that had any sort of an art gallery. My first chore was to call every single one to ask if they had any paintings or drawings by Jacob Lawrence. That was all I did for the first few months. They hired me as a full-time visual resources coordinator.

This is one of those examples I use to encourage people to volunteer. You have no idea where it will take you. At that point, I was reading, "When Harlem Was in Vogue" (David Levering Lewis, Penguin). It started to inform what I wanted to see happen in Seattle. I was thinking, maybe we can have a new 'Harlem Renaissance' in Seattle.

Q: Which assumptions about blacks are you trying to challenge?

A: "Any and all assumptions. Whatever you think you know about black people, there's something that may change your previously held view.

We're bringing (hip-hop violinist) Daniel Bernard Roumain in January. Those are the types of people that I want young people to be inspired by — very real people who are committed to their work and art — and who are just cool."