Storefronts Auburn accepting applications from artists

The storefront gallery provides an opportunity for local artists. This heron – Mary Ellen Bowers’s clever mosaic of Starbucks cards – hung on the east wall of the art gallery at 113 E. Main St., last year. - Robert Whale/Auburn Reporter
Robert Whale/Auburn Reporter
The storefront gallery provides an opportunity for local artists. This heron – Mary Ellen Bowers’s clever mosaic of Starbucks cards – hung on the east wall of the art gallery at 113 E. Main St., last year.

February 15, 2013 · 12:14 PM

Storefronts Auburn is accepting applications.

Storefronts, a program of Shunpike, produced by the City of Auburn, is a streetscape activation program, supporting the health and vitality of our cities' walking neighborhoods through temporary pairings of artists and creative businesses with vacant storefronts spaces.

It presents pop-up arts activations that help make for walkable, vibrant, healthy neighborhoods.

The original Seattle program, which began in Chinatown and Pioneer Square in 2010, has expanded to Belltown, Capitol Hill, and South Lake Union in Seattle, and to the cities of Auburn, Bellevue and Mount Vernon.

Applicants may specify which specific sites they are interested in, or apply for all sites and/or neighborhoods.

Storefronts Auburn is now accepting applications for its two program tracks:

• Installations offer artists a temporary storefront space to display any two-dimensional, three-dimensional or new media artwork. The program offers artist fees of up to $1,000 to support the creation of new work, or the installation of existing work. Works in this track are viewed from outside the closed storefront only (through the windows). If you are interested in applying for the Installation track, please see the "Opportunities" tab at storefrontsauburn.com.

• Creative Enterprise provides a space to experiment and test out new ideas. Participants will have access to a space for three to six months, dependent on space availability and number of applicants. Creative Enterprise spaces are open to the public, and Creative Enterprise participants must hold appropriate city and state licenses and permits, as well as a general liability insurance policy.

Selected artists and/or artist teams will be required to hold set business hours.

Examples of possible Creative Enterprise uses: museums and galleries, businesses that exhibit a creative/innovative emphasis; retail space for hand-made items (jewelry, fashion, art, etc.); services (art classes, design advice, etc.); merchandising a creative product.

If you are interested in applying for the Creative Enterprise track, please see the "Opportunities" tab at storefrontsauburn.com.

Deadline for all applications is March 17 at 10:59 p.m.

For more information, call Shunpike at 206-905-1026 or email storefronts@shunpike.org.

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