THE COLLECTIVE

We're excited to partner with the Seattle Opera for another holiday season of the popular Black Artists Market . This free market features an array of crafts, gifts, and treats from over two dozen Black artists, artisans, and Black-owned small businesses. And for the first time, this year’s market is expanding to two full days: 4–8:30 PM on Friday, December 5, at Midtown Square in the Central District (2301 E Union St.) during the First Fridays CD Art Walk, and again on Satur

The ACES gallery will feature work from 50 local artists, each sharing stories of identity, culture, and perspective through their art.

WALK THE BLOCK: ART + CULTURE FESTIVAL   Saturday, September 27th Main event: 1 PM to 7 PM, Square Activation: 1 PM to 5 PM Central...

Collage art by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, a founding member of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party Prison Chapter. https://rashidmod.com Since 1979, August has been observed as Black August , a time of reflection, resistance, and recommitment to the struggle for Black liberation. Originating within California’s prison system, Black August honors the lives and sacrifices of Black freedom fighters, while also marking key moments in the global fight for Black libera

Now on view at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Many Hats, One Spirit is a retrospective exhibition that highlights the life and work of Dr. James W. Washington, Jr. (1908 – 2000).

In filmmaking, “fade to black” is a visual transition where the screen gradually darkens to black—a signal that a story has come to an end. But for us, it's not the end. It’s a return. That’s why we chose Fade to Black  as the title of our anniversary celebration. For us, it symbolizes a slow but powerful shift back to Black—back to the Central District. This neighborhood, once the heart of Seattle’s African diaspora, was all but erased by gentrification. But now, the picture

Depending on where you are in your perusal of this month's editorial content, you may or may not have read our spotlight feature on Yusef Seevers. Yusef is a treasured ARTE NOIR collaborator, having worked with us on projects around the community, including with the Seattle Opera, and teaching West African Dance during our Summer in the Square series over the past few years. Besides hosting our upcoming anniversary celebration, Yusef will be on the stage once more at the 5th

Returning for its third edition on July 19th, BLASTFEST is the premier Afrobeats music festival in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Center will be taken over by top Afrobeats performers, including headliners, Omah Lay, Fireboy DML, and Odumodublvck, with a solid lineup on the site and more artists to be announced! Do YOU have your tickets yet?! BLASTFEST tickets, lineup and all the info here !

In 1971, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On were released within six months of each other, two sonically different takes on the same socially and politically divided landscape. Both albums are revolutionary statements, but There's a Riot Goin' On chose the grittier approach, reflecting the fear, paranoia, and disenchantment felt at the time by both Black America as a whole and by Sly Stone himself, who withdrew into isolati

FADE TO BLACK ARTE NOIR's 3rd Anniversary Celebration Celebrating the Spirit of Collaboration We are celebrating our 3rd year of operation in Seattle’s Central District by lifting up the spirit of collaboration! Help us honor the partners and collaborators who have made our work and existence possible while enjoying live musical performances, an acclaimed guest speaker, delectable food and drinks, and so much more. Featuring ARTE NOIR collaborators: The Residency Black Artist

p.y.t. by Amber Flame i want my joy a bouncy-bottomed young thing, with more energy than I can comprehend for that which will bring me pleasure. i want debaucherous joy, sweet, slippery joy, a joy that can come again and again and again unceasing. i want to hit joy's freak button. to get all the way down & nasty with joy, walk around smelling like joy just came all over my face and i couldn't get drunk on joy fast enough to catch it all. i want joy so delicious i mourn

TAKING CARE: EMBRACE WITH TENDERNESS Featuring Kamari Bright, Le’Ecia Farmer, and Annie Marie Musselman Curated by Arielle Simmons   Hedreen Gallery April 10 - June 14, 2025 Artists  Kamari Bright, Le’Ecia Farmer , and  Annie Marie Musselman  demonstrate a nurturing care for others and our one precious world in the works of this group exhibition,  Taking Care: Embrace with Tenderness . Bright viscerally reminds us of the deeply human need for another’s touch with the video po

Legendary music producer Sylvia Robinson is best known for her role in releasing the first rap song to air nationwide, Rapper's Delight, by the Sugarhill Gang. This may be considered one of her most significant contributions to the music world, but there is another considerable credit due her. Sylvia Robinson is responsible for signing the female group Sequence, comprised of Cheryl Cook, Gwendolyn Chisholm, and Angie Stone. While Sequence released three albums and enjoyed s

KCLS recently announced the release of a brand new set of custom cards designed by local artists, including our friend barry johnson. With funding cuts looming for the American Library Association, there couldn't be a more urgent time to show up and support the King County Library System. This is the first new set of designs to be released in a decade.10,000 copies of each card will be distributed through the library system for pickup. Library members can replace their curren

"Yours, in much distress." These are the sign-off words from a pleading letter for help to President McKinley by an anonymous Black woman living in Wilmington, North Carolina. They were written in 1898, shortly after the Wilmington Massacre, when a group of white supremacists overtook the state government in a coup, destroying Black businesses and murdering an unknown number of Black residents. In the PBS documentary, American Coup: Wilmington 1898 , scholars and distant rel

This past September, the Central District launched its first art walk, joining the ranks of long-spanning monthly walks in other major Seattle neighborhoods like Pioneer Square, Belltown, and Capitol Hill. Stephanie Morales, our neighbor at Made Space, connected with Seattle Art Commissioner and painter Rodney H. King and Belltown Art Walk organizer Amy Tipton to jumpstart the initiative of bringing the arts community to the CD, and we are so grateful for their forethought! H

“Some years there exists a wanting to escape...” from Citizen By Claudia Rankine Some years there exists a wanting to escape— you, floating above your certain ache—   still the ache coexists. Call that the immanent you— You are you even before you grow into understanding you are not anyone, worthless, not worth you. Even as your own weight insists you are here, fighting off the weight of nonexistence. And still, this life parts your lids, you see you seeing your extending ha

We've got our tickets and are excited to check out the first in a series of literary events created and hosted by our friend and previous ARTE NOIR editorial contributor, Jodi-Ann Burey ! Lit Lounge: The People’s Art is a new prose and poetry salon that brings culture and community together through the literary arts. Created and hosted by Jodi-Ann Burey , each monthly installment features three writers reading from their published works or works-in-progress alongside DJ Top

TASWIRA Gallery relaunched in their new Pioneer Square space with a vivid display of original artworks from Cristina Martinez.

"I’m a big fan of Black women because in our blood is space travel. We’ve come from a known, through an unknown to an unknown."  -Nikki Giovanni in Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project Nikki Giovanni. Image credit © Nikki Giovanni On December 9th, the poet, author, activist, intellectual, and one of the world's great iconoclasts, Nikki Giovanni, became an ancestor. When she was starting out as a writer, she formed her own company and self-published her first book of poet