[0:05] Uh, colleagues, I

[0:06] m going to

[0:09] call to order the JUNE 23rd,

[0:10] 2026 committee of the whole

[0:12] meeting. I have the pleasure of

[0:12] serving as chair of the

[0:14] committee this year. My name is

[0:15] George Baron. I represent

[0:16] district four. On today

[0:16] s

[0:18] agenda, we will have a briefing

[0:19] on the state of the district

[0:20] court, and then we

[0:21] ll take

[0:22] action on three appointments to

[0:24] the four Culture Board and

[0:26] close with a briefing from four

[0:27] culture. With that

[0:28] introduction. Clerk Wells,

[0:29] could I ask you to please call

[0:30] the roll?

[0:32] Certainly, chair. Thank you

[0:34] very much. Councilmember

[0:36] Balducci.

[0:38] Councilmember Dembowski here.

[0:40] Councilmember Dunn here.

[0:44] Councilmember Fain. Here.

[0:45] Councilmember Louis.

[0:47] Here.

[0:51] Councilmember Mosqueda.

[0:53] Councilmember Perry here.

[0:55] Councilmember von Reichbauer.

[0:56] Here.

[0:57] Chair.

[0:59] Baron here. And I believe Vice

[1:00] Chair Balducci is with us as

[1:01] well.

[1:02] I was just going to say here,

[1:03] thank you.

[1:04] All right. Thank you.

[1:06] Colleagues, we do have a quorum

[1:07] of the committee. Uh, thank you

[1:09] all for joining us. Uh, Vice

[1:11] Chair Balducci, MAY I please

[1:12] have a motion for approval of

[1:14] the minutes of JUNE 8th, 2026?

[1:15] Thank you. Chair. I move

[1:16] approval of the JUNE 20th eight

[1:17] minutes or JUNE 8th minutes.

[1:18] Sorry. JUNE 8th.

[1:20] Thank you very much. Uh, are

[1:22] there any questions or

[1:24] comments? Uh, regarding the

[1:27] minutes, seeing none, all those

[1:28] in favor of approving the

[1:29] minutes, please say aye.

[1:30] Aye, aye.

[1:32] Any opposed? Say nay. The

[1:34] minutes are approved. Uh,

[1:35] clerks, do we have anybody

[1:37] signed up for public comment?

[1:39] Either online or in person?

[1:42] Uh, I believe there is no way

[1:43] in person. We do have a couple

[1:44] people online, but no one has

[1:45] raised their hand. I just want

[1:47] to give them a moment. If they

[1:48] do want to make a public

[1:50] comment, to raise their hand.

[1:51] Thank you. If you are here to

[1:53] provide public comment online,

[1:55] please use the raise hand

[1:57] function and the zoom platform

[2:00] or use up star nine if you have

[2:02] joined by phone. Are we seeing

[2:03] in a request for public

[2:03] comment?

[2:06] No, no, not at this time.

[2:08] All right. Uh, seeing no

[2:09] requests for public comment, we

[2:10] will close public comment and

[2:12] move forward with our agenda.

[2:14] Uh, the first item on today

[2:14] s

[2:15] agenda is a briefing on the

[2:17] state of the district court.

[2:17] Uh, we

[2:19] re joined today online

[2:20] by the Honorable Rebecca

[2:21] Robertson, who

[2:21] s the chief

[2:23] presiding judge of King County

[2:24] District Court. Thank you for

[2:25] joining us today, Judge

[2:27] Robertson. And I understand

[2:27] that you

[2:28] ve also extended an

[2:29] invitation to the district

[2:30] court judges to view today

[2:30] s

[2:31] presentation at their schedules

[2:33] allow. Uh, so I want to say

[2:34] thank you for doing that. And

[2:35] to any of the district court

[2:37] judges watching through this

[2:38] presentation. You

[2:39] re welcome.

[2:40] Uh, and thank you for making

[2:42] time to tune in. And with that,

[2:42] I

[2:44] ll invite Judge Robertson to

[2:45] begin. Whenever you

[2:45] re ready.

[2:47] Well, thank you so much. I

[2:47] m

[2:48] going to go ahead and share my

[2:53] screen. There we go. So again,

[2:54] I

[2:55] m judge Rebecca Robertson.

[2:56] Can you give me a thumbs up if

[2:57] you can see that?

[2:59] I definitely see that.

[3:00] Awesome. Judge Rebecca

[3:01] Robertson I

[3:01] m the chief

[3:02] presiding judge of King County

[3:03] district court. I wanted to

[3:06] give you a brief overview of

[3:07] the district court today. I

[3:08] know there are a couple of new

[3:09] members, so I

[3:11] m going to, um,

[3:13] go over some of the things that

[3:15] other members MAY know, but I

[3:15] think it

[3:16] s important for

[3:17] everybody to understand about

[3:20] our district court. We are the

[3:22] largest, uh, court of limited

[3:23] jurisdiction in the state of

[3:25] Washington. And we are actually

[3:26] the second largest court in the

[3:28] state, second only to King

[3:31] County Superior Court. Or as

[3:33] you can see here, we have a

[3:34] mission statement. We want to

[3:36] provide an accessible forum for

[3:37] the fair and efficient and

[3:39] understandable resolution of

[3:40] the civil and criminal cases,

[3:42] and maintain an atmosphere of

[3:43] respect and dignity for all

[3:46] individuals. Seven out of eight

[3:48] cases in the entire state are

[3:49] handled by the courts of

[3:51] limited jurisdiction. So you

[3:53] can imagine how many cases and

[3:54] how many folks come through the

[3:56] King County District Court. If

[3:58] we are the largest district

[4:02] court in the entire state. The

[4:03] district courts and the

[4:05] municipal courts are called the

[4:05] people

[4:06] s courts. It

[4:06] s where

[4:08] people will likely encounter

[4:10] not only the judiciary, but

[4:12] their entire government. Most

[4:13] people are going to have any

[4:15] contact with their government

[4:16] through the district and

[4:18] municipal courts. King County

[4:20] District Court has 25

[4:22] separately elected judges. We

[4:25] are all, uh, we all are elected

[4:26] from our district. And I

[4:26] m

[4:27] going to circle our brand new

[4:29] judges that you just appointed,

[4:30] Judge Barney Martin and Judge

[4:32] Yvonne Chin. We are really

[4:37] happy to have them. We are a

[4:38] large and complicated

[4:40] structure, so we have an

[4:41] executive leadership team. We

[4:43] have myself on the presiding

[4:45] judge. Judge Hahn is the

[4:47] assistant presiding judge, and

[4:48] we have three division

[4:50] providing presiding judges for

[4:52] our three divisions. The

[4:53] presiding judge in the chief

[4:54] and the I

[4:55] m sorry, assistant

[4:56] presiding judge are actually

[4:59] elected by all the judges and

[5:01] the divisions elect their own

[5:03] presiding judges. So we operate

[5:06] as a democratic republic.

[5:07] Essentially, you have

[5:08] representatives from all of

[5:11] your divisions. The executive

[5:12] committee handles all the

[5:14] policies, procedures, rules,

[5:19] projects, etc. We also have 250

[5:21] staff. We have the Chief

[5:22] administrative officer or

[5:23] deputy chief administrative

[5:25] officer, and all of our

[5:27] directors. They do the bulk of

[5:28] the work for King County

[5:30] District Court. King County

[5:32] District Court has five

[5:35] electoral districts. So if you

[5:36] are elected out of the

[5:38] Southwest district, you have to

[5:38] live there and you

[5:38] ll be

[5:40] serving most of the time in the

[5:41] Southwest District. Same for

[5:43] the west and shoreline.

[5:45] Northeast, southeast, etc. Our

[5:48] administrative divisions are

[5:50] separated into West, east and

[5:53] south. King County District

[5:55] Court contracts with 13 cities

[5:58] to handle their municipal court

[5:59] services. They

[6:01] re covered by an

[6:03] interlocal agreement. They are

[6:04] the cities that contract with

[6:06] us, get the same services as

[6:07] King County does, as the state

[6:09] does. This is operating on a

[6:12] full cost recovery model. We

[6:13] currently have 13 cities, but

[6:15] Auburn is no longer going to be

[6:18] contracting with us as of

[6:21] JANUARY 2027. So we also have

[6:23] strategic court look courthouse

[6:24] locations for the convenience

[6:26] of the public. County and city

[6:28] residents can easily access

[6:29] their local courts to obtain

[6:31] services such as small claims,

[6:34] protection orders, etc. And the

[6:36] hearings will take place where,

[6:37] uh, close to where the crime

[6:39] occurred. So if someone is

[6:40] charged with a crime in

[6:42] shoreline, they do not need to

[6:43] go to the emergency to have

[6:46] their cases heard. A lot of

[6:47] people think that district and

[6:49] municipal courts do mostly

[6:50] traffic tickets. Most of our

[6:51] job is actually handling the

[6:54] criminal cases, and for that,

[6:55] we have to make sure that

[6:55] we

[6:59] re, uh, honoring and abiding

[7:01] by the Constitution and

[7:01] protecting people

[7:01] s

[7:04] constitutional rights. So

[7:05] criminal takes priority over

[7:08] any of our civil cases because

[7:10] there is the loss of liberty

[7:12] attached to any criminal case.

[7:14] We have to make sure that

[7:15] evidence has been lawfully

[7:17] gathered. And if it has not, we

[7:18] suppress that evidence. We have

[7:20] to guarantee everyone the right

[7:22] to an attorney. Uh, we do not

[7:24] allow forced confessions. We

[7:25] have motions all the time

[7:26] regarding people

[7:27] s Fifth

[7:29] Amendment rights, and we have

[7:32] jury trial in every courthouse.

[7:34] So at every point in time,

[7:34] we

[7:35] re protecting people

[7:35] s

[7:38] constitutional rights. Just to

[7:39] give you a brief overview of

[7:41] the difference between superior

[7:42] and district courts, superior,

[7:44] does the felonies real property

[7:47] rights, divorce, estate, and

[7:49] commitment, civil cases over

[7:52] $100,000. The juvenile cases

[7:54] protection orders which we

[7:55] share with them and appeals

[7:57] from our level of court, the

[7:58] district court does the gross

[8:00] and simple misdemeanors. That

[8:02] means that you can that has

[8:03] punishment up to a year in jail

[8:06] and a $5,000 fine, or 90 days

[8:08] in jail, and the $1,000 fine.

[8:10] We do civil cases under

[8:12] $100,000, small claims

[8:13] protection orders, name

[8:16] changes, infractions and other

[8:18] civil and other civil cases

[8:23] such as tow hearings, etc. Most

[8:25] of the cases that we handle are

[8:26] and take the most time are

[8:27] domestic violence and driving

[8:30] under the influences cases, the

[8:31] they take the most, they

[8:32] re the

[8:32] most serious. They take the

[8:34] most time of the attorneys as

[8:36] well as the court. They

[8:36] re

[8:38] getting more complex as the law

[8:39] changes. And certainly body

[8:41] cameras make every case that we

[8:42] handle more complex because we

[8:44] have all that evidence to

[8:47] review. And we are also

[8:49] increasingly handling domestic

[8:50] violence cases in other cases

[8:51] that could be filed as

[8:53] felonies, but are instead filed

[8:54] in the district and municipal

[8:55] courts. So we

[8:56] re working really

[8:58] hard on all those cases.

[8:59] District court also handles the

[9:02] felony first appearances. So if

[9:03] anyone is arrested on a felony,

[9:04] they

[9:04] re going to be appearing

[9:06] before a district court judge,

[9:07] usually the next day or the day

[9:11] after. And we also handle all

[9:12] of the most of the protection

[9:14] orders and to harassment,

[9:16] stalking, domestic violence. So

[9:18] we play a large role in

[9:21] enforcing the rules of law to

[9:23] protect the public safety in

[9:27] district court. We also have a

[9:31] very large civil, uh, civil

[9:33] unit at this time. Our cases in

[9:36] 2025 were almost 25,000. That

[9:37] s

[9:40] an 88% increase since 2023.

[9:42] Right now we have two dedicated

[9:44] civil judges and two who do.

[9:46] About a quarter of their job is

[9:48] civil cases. So we have

[9:50] personal injury, breach of

[9:51] contract, medical and consumer

[9:54] debt, etc. Most people think,

[9:54] oh, that

[9:55] s a civil case is just

[9:56] about money. But these are

[9:59] cases that have real effect on

[9:59] people

[10:01] s lives. We deal with a

[10:03] significant amount of

[10:04] garnishment cases where folks

[10:06] who are on the edge of being

[10:07] able to survive or having their

[10:09] wages garnished. We, in fact,

[10:11] there was a very large company

[10:13] in Seattle that was garnishing

[10:16] wages due to a programming

[10:19] error on their end. For years

[10:20] they were garnishing wages in

[10:21] amounts that were way too

[10:23] large. And it was not until one

[10:24] of our civil judges noticed

[10:26] this pattern and summonsed them

[10:27] to court, that this was

[10:29] corrected and people got their

[10:30] money back. Some of the types

[10:32] of cases are, of course,

[10:34] medical debt, which is one of

[10:36] the most heartbreaking things

[10:37] that you can see in court. We

[10:39] had a case where a woman came

[10:41] in in huge debt to Bank of

[10:42] America, and she got to court

[10:43] and said she had done it to pay

[10:45] for the medical care for her

[10:46] fiance, who was dying, and she

[10:48] extended his ear for his life

[10:50] for a year by using that credit

[10:51] card. But that put her into

[10:55] significant medical debt. So

[10:57] these are the kind of cases

[10:59] that are handled by our civil

[11:00] judges, because they are so

[11:02] important and because we have

[11:04] had such an increase in our

[11:08] civil cases, the positions that

[11:09] were in Auburn Municipal Court

[11:10] are currently are there are

[11:12] going to be added to our civil

[11:13] department and we will have

[11:15] five full time civil judges as

[11:19] of 2027 handling these cases.

[11:19] So we

[11:22] re also handling, um,

[11:24] other civil cases, small claims

[11:26] suits for the recovery of

[11:28] money. The Dispute Resolution

[11:29] Center of King County helps us

[11:30] with that. A lot of them are

[11:32] tenant claims for return of

[11:35] deposits. These are cases that

[11:37] are under $10,000, but that

[11:37] s

[11:38] real money to a lot of people.

[11:40] And so those are very

[11:43] important. Uh, we also have all

[11:44] the other civil matters, such

[11:45] as the vehicle impound

[11:48] hearings, post judgment

[11:49] executions, petitions for

[11:51] seized animals, etc., that we

[11:52] handle, and King County

[11:53] District Court. In fact, there

[11:55] was just a movie about a tow

[11:56] hearing that took place in King

[11:57] County District Court. The

[11:58] movie tow. I don

[11:58] t know if any

[12:00] of you have seen that, but two

[12:01] of our district court judges

[12:02] were the ones that released the

[12:04] car. Uh, for this, for this

[12:07] woman. So these are civil cases

[12:09] have significant impact on

[12:09] people

[12:11] s lives. We also have

[12:13] our therapeutic courts, both

[12:14] regional mental health court

[12:16] and regional veterans court, a

[12:18] regional mental health court is

[12:20] funded by the mid budget, as is

[12:23] the Veterans Court, that any of

[12:25] the cases in our therapeutic

[12:26] courts are referred by the

[12:28] prosecutor and defense and our

[12:29] regional Mental Health Court is

[12:31] celebrating 25 years. That was

[12:33] the second in the nation and

[12:33] it

[12:36] s still going strong. The

[12:40] data shows that participating

[12:41] in rental, um, regional mental

[12:43] health court reduces

[12:45] recidivism. There, increases

[12:47] participation in treatment. We

[12:49] also have three therapeutic

[12:52] community courts and, uh,

[12:55] shoreline, Kenmore, Bellevue

[12:56] and Redmond. There are

[12:58] intensive court involvement

[13:00] with folks to get them to

[13:01] resources. We have peer

[13:03] membership. They usually come

[13:04] to court once a week and check

[13:04] in. It

[13:06] s a very different model

[13:08] than our, uh, what we normally

[13:11] have in court. And it works for

[13:12] a lot of people who are

[13:14] struggling with issues that

[13:15] keep them in the criminal

[13:17] justice system. We have some

[13:18] statistics. Statistics from

[13:20] Spokane Community Court about

[13:22] recidivism that shows

[13:24] recidivism is reduced by

[13:26] participation in community

[13:27] court. We are actually working

[13:28] on our own data now that we

[13:28] ve

[13:29] had community courts for at

[13:31] least eight years, where we can

[13:33] compare apples to apples. So a

[13:34] city that has a community court

[13:35] versus a city that doesn

[13:36] t,

[13:37] comparing similar cases and

[13:39] what the recidivism rate is,

[13:39] and we

[13:40] re working on that data

[13:44] right now for those who are in

[13:45] community court and not in

[13:46] community court, in a regular

[13:47] court, we have several tools

[13:50] and resources to try and stop

[13:52] their downward spiral, prevent

[13:54] felonies and escalation of any

[13:56] criminal behavior. So if people

[13:59] go to probation for doing so

[14:01] normally for treatment such as

[14:03] alcohol and drug, mental

[14:04] health, anger management,

[14:07] sexual deviancy, various

[14:09] educational classes, consumer

[14:12] awareness, etc., our mission is

[14:14] to stop people

[14:15] s behavior that

[14:18] causes them to commit crime. Of

[14:19] course, we are also very

[14:20] mindful of public safety and if

[14:22] some people have to, we have to

[14:23] resort to punishment. We do. We

[14:25] have, uh, contracts with

[14:26] several jails as well as the

[14:27] King County Jail. We use

[14:29] electronic monitoring,

[14:30] community service and

[14:33] restitution, etc. As I said,

[14:34] the gross and simple

[14:36] misdemeanors carry up to a year

[14:38] in jail. And so you do often

[14:40] find fairly violent offenders

[14:42] in custody on their gross and

[14:44] simple misdemeanors. Our

[14:47] probation department is very

[14:49] active. We have ten probation

[14:50] officers, separate assignments

[14:51] to domestic violence court,

[14:53] five locations where they are

[14:55] located. They help people with

[14:56] their problems. That led them

[14:57] to the interaction with the

[14:59] criminal justice system. Almost

[15:02] all of our cases on probation

[15:04] are domestic violence and dui.

[15:04] We don

[15:06] t have folks with theft

[15:08] charges or criminal trespasses

[15:10] on probation. What they are on

[15:13] or for our most serious crime.

[15:15] We are actually starting our

[15:16] own domestic violence moral

[15:17] recognition therapy classes

[15:19] beginning in AUGUST, which is

[15:21] almost cost free for folks who

[15:23] are participating in as an

[15:24] alternative to the traditional

[15:25] domestic violence barriers

[15:28] treatment, which is going to be

[15:30] not as effective for a large

[15:32] population of our domestic

[15:34] violence offenders. So we are

[15:35] going to have a fairly low cost

[15:39] alternative in-house with Ccdc.

[15:42] Here is our 2025 caseload. It

[15:43] s

[15:46] 277,000 plus cases. What you

[15:48] see here is parking. That is

[15:50] photo enforcement tickets. We

[15:51] have a huge increase in our

[15:53] photo enforcement tickets also

[15:55] have a huge, uh, infraction

[15:57] caseload. And here is where

[15:58] most of the judges spend their

[16:00] time on the civil protection

[16:03] orders. Criminals. Et cetera.

[16:06] Our judicial workload looks a

[16:07] little different. We spend most

[16:09] of our time on our criminal

[16:12] cases. So here is, um, county

[16:14] and state criminal. The felony

[16:16] first appearances, domestic

[16:18] violence court. This is our

[16:20] civil portion. These are our

[16:22] city contracts. So a slight

[16:23] portion of this will be the

[16:24] infractions. But most of it is

[16:26] criminal. So while most of our

[16:28] cases are infraction, most of

[16:30] the time we spent with spend

[16:32] with people is actually in our

[16:36] criminal courts. And as you can

[16:39] see, since 2019 plummeted

[16:41] during Covid, but it is rising

[16:43] again. We are over our Covid

[16:46] numbers. Uh, and so we are

[16:49] essentially doing more cases

[16:50] with the same amount of

[16:52] resources. We are seeing a huge

[16:55] uptick in litigation in all of

[16:57] our criminal cases, huge

[16:59] increases in our civil, uh,

[17:00] civil cases. And they are

[17:02] getting more complex due to

[17:03] statutory changes and other

[17:07] changes. Our trials are also

[17:08] increasing as you can. These

[17:10] are the purple is our state

[17:12] trials. The lighter purple the

[17:14] lavender is our city trials.

[17:16] Our our trials are increasing

[17:17] and trials take a lot of

[17:21] resources. Department of Public

[17:23] Defense right now for the state

[17:26] is is staffed at levels that

[17:27] are recommended by the

[17:28] Washington State Bar

[17:29] Association. They are fully

[17:31] staffed for what was just

[17:33] adopted as the Public defender

[17:35] standards. What we

[17:35] re

[17:36] anecdotally seeing is that

[17:37] means there

[17:38] s more litigation

[17:39] with more attorneys, there

[17:39] s

[17:40] more litigation in court

[17:41] because there are more

[17:42] attorneys to do that, to comb

[17:43] through their cases, to have

[17:45] motions, to have trials. And we

[17:45] think that

[17:47] s why we have a

[17:49] greater increase in trials in

[17:50] our state courts rather than

[17:51] our city courts, even though

[17:53] the numbers for each quarter

[17:55] are pretty much the same. So

[17:55] what we

[17:57] re expecting as the

[17:59] cities start to hire more

[18:00] public defenders, as they

[18:01] re

[18:03] going to be mandated to do

[18:03] that, we

[18:04] re going to be getting

[18:05] more litigation in our cities

[18:08] as well. So I wanted to talk a

[18:10] little bit about our staff and

[18:11] our service data. We

[18:11] ve taken

[18:14] over 200,000 calls last year.

[18:18] Uh, summonsed almost 73,000

[18:20] jurors and scheduled almost

[18:23] 13,000 interpreter jobs in 95

[18:25] languages and dialects for King

[18:27] County District Court. So our

[18:29] staff is really busy making

[18:30] sure that we can provide access

[18:32] to all folks in King County.

[18:33] Our average call time has been

[18:37] reduced from almost an hour to

[18:38] four minutes. We

[18:39] re using live

[18:40] chat and we

[18:41] re working on ai

[18:44] translation services so that

[18:45] when someone calls and they

[18:47] speak another language, we

[18:47] don

[18:48] t have to call it an

[18:49] interpreter. We can use some ai

[18:51] translation tools so they can

[18:52] get better service when they

[18:54] call in. Our live chat has also

[18:56] been really popular for folks

[18:56] who don

[18:57] t want to wait, and

[18:59] they just live chat. Someone in

[19:02] our call center. We also had

[19:03] some initiatives and projects

[19:05] this year, including, uh,

[19:06] capital improvements for

[19:08] security at our eight

[19:10] locations. One of the most

[19:12] important ones that we have

[19:13] been working on are Lean or

[19:17] Kaizen processes for all of our

[19:19] operations and process

[19:20] improvements. We

[19:21] re going to go

[19:22] through every single one of

[19:24] these processes, and we

[19:25] ve to

[19:26] give you an example, we went

[19:27] through our infractions and we

[19:29] reduced the time that we took

[19:32] to process infractions in court

[19:35] by 50%. At least. This is just

[19:35] time that we

[19:36] re dealing with

[19:37] paperwork, not actually

[19:38] interacting with litigants. So

[19:39] we

[19:41] ve reduced our paperwork

[19:42] time and increased the time we

[19:44] can actually spend interacting

[19:45] with folks, which is what we

[19:45] re

[19:47] here to do. It increases our

[19:50] ability to ensure due process.

[19:50] We

[19:51] re going through every

[19:53] single process in this lean

[19:56] operation, lean process to get

[19:57] more efficient and as efficient

[19:59] as we possibly can. We also

[20:01] introduced an online management

[20:04] system for evidence that helps,

[20:05] especially pro se litigants,

[20:05] when they

[20:07] re, uh, submitting

[20:09] digital evidence. And we

[20:10] ve

[20:11] made language translation

[20:13] service improvements, including

[20:16] simultaneous zoom, simultaneous

[20:18] interpretation in every single

[20:20] court. And we have pocket talks,

[20:23] the like ai translators at all

[20:25] our front counters. And with

[20:27] probation so that they can

[20:28] better interact with folks and

[20:30] not have to wait for our scarce

[20:32] resources of actual

[20:32] interpreters. So we

[20:32] re

[20:34] providing better language

[20:36] access. Our Dei committee has

[20:38] continued with its community

[20:40] outreach. We they created an

[20:43] unsecured bond procedure for

[20:44] folks who did not have the

[20:45] collateral to engage with a

[20:47] bond agency. They can now have

[20:48] the alternative of posting cash

[20:51] bond in the 10% amount that

[20:52] they would have been given to

[20:54] the bond company, and they just

[20:55] give that to the court and they

[20:56] get it back when they appear in

[20:57] court. We

[20:59] ve included continue

[21:00] with their education and

[21:01] awareness cities. We

[21:02] ve made

[21:04] sure all our documents are

[21:06] compliant with the Ada

[21:07] recommendations, and we have

[21:08] our web page that

[21:09] s a central

[21:11] source of Di information for

[21:13] the public. And when I talk

[21:14] about community engagements, we

[21:16] go out into the community with

[21:18] our tent with information about

[21:19] the district court. We have a

[21:21] giant gavel and robes that the

[21:22] kids love to take pictures of,

[21:24] and we educate the public about

[21:26] what we are doing in district

[21:27] court. One of the biggest

[21:28] things that

[21:28] s happening in

[21:30] district court is our retiring

[21:32] judges. We have eight retiring

[21:35] judges this year, so Judge

[21:37] Hirakawa and Judge Pagel have

[21:39] already retired. Judge

[21:41] Stevenson is retiring in

[21:43] several days, and the rest of

[21:45] our eight judges are retiring

[21:46] at the end of the year. That

[21:46] s

[21:48] eight judges in one year.

[21:48] That

[21:50] s a third of our bench. So

[21:51] we are losing. And I did the

[21:52] math on my little Star Trek

[21:56] calculator. About 320 years of.

[21:57] It.

[21:59] Legal experience with the loss

[22:00] of these judges, it

[22:01] s a big

[22:06] deal. We are have some

[22:07] challenges coming.

[22:08] Up.

[22:10] Um, one is the increased civil

[22:12] caseload. As we talked about,

[22:13] we are diverting to judicial

[22:14] positions to that civil

[22:16] caseload to try and get through

[22:17] our backlog. It

[22:18] s now more

[22:19] complicated than ever because

[22:22] of debt buyer requirements that

[22:24] were affected. Effective in

[22:27] 2020. Video court is an added

[22:30] complication, and we have some

[22:31] concerns about how it affects

[22:33] due process. If people are on a

[22:35] tiny little screen or on their

[22:35] cell phone, they can

[22:36] t really

[22:39] see us. Uh, we have increased

[22:42] some access, but there are

[22:45] some, uh, downsides to video

[22:47] participation. So we are

[22:49] considering, uh, limiting some

[22:51] access, certainly limiting the

[22:53] chat ability and determining

[22:54] what kind of hearings is

[22:56] appropriate to have these all

[22:58] zoom hearings and some that MAY

[23:01] not be interpreters, continues

[23:03] to be a huge issue for district

[23:04] court. And being able to

[23:07] provide language access,

[23:08] interpreter cases have three

[23:10] times the number of of

[23:12] continuances, which clogs the

[23:14] court system, because folks are

[23:16] trying to get interpreters to

[23:18] court. And also the attorneys

[23:19] are trying to get interpreters

[23:21] to, uh, assist them with

[23:22] communicating with their

[23:23] clients. And there

[23:23] s an

[23:25] interpreter shortage. We also

[23:29] have interpreters, mostly on

[23:29] zoom, and it

[23:30] s sometimes very

[23:31] difficult to get them to come

[23:33] into court when we have

[23:34] evidentiary hearings or trials

[23:35] where we are required to have

[23:38] in-person interpreters. At this

[23:38] time, they

[23:39] re independent

[23:42] contractors, so they can say, I

[23:46] want $250 an hour and an eight

[23:47] hour minimum for this motion

[23:48] hearing. And if we can

[23:49] t find

[23:50] another alternative, that

[23:50] s

[23:51] what we have to do to guarantee

[23:53] language access. Can county

[23:56] District court led a.

[23:56] Um.

[23:58] An effort with the state, the

[23:59] Board of Judicial

[24:01] Administration to create a task

[24:02] force on language access, which

[24:04] was just done earlier this

[24:06] month. So hopefully we can

[24:09] create some, uh, new methods of

[24:11] providing interpreters,

[24:16] including ai. In translation

[24:17] for our hearings, where we

[24:17] re

[24:19] just setting court dates again

[24:21] and again. So maybe we can use

[24:22] ai interpreters. That

[24:22] s going

[24:23] to require actual court and

[24:25] statutory changes, but we

[24:25] re

[24:28] working on it. We continue with

[24:29] attorney staffing challenges.

[24:29] I

[24:29] m sure you

[24:30] ve heard from dpd,

[24:32] as well as the state, that

[24:33] there are fewer attorneys who

[24:34] want to go into the criminal

[24:36] justice system, fewer attorneys

[24:38] means longer delays. They have

[24:40] less experience, less folks to

[24:41] supervise them. We are working

[24:43] with the prosecutor and defense

[24:45] on how to best deploy their

[24:47] attorneys going into law

[24:48] schools, going into the

[24:51] communities, encouraging folks

[24:53] to join, uh, to go to law

[24:54] school and go into criminal,

[24:56] uh, criminal justice. The

[24:58] public defender staffing

[25:00] increase in public defenders

[25:01] means more litigation. So we

[25:01] re

[25:03] handling more cases, more

[25:04] litigate, not more cases, but

[25:06] more litigation due to there

[25:08] being more attorneys. As

[25:09] always, the budget is.

[25:10] Um.

[25:12] A challenge for everybody, I

[25:12] m

[25:13] sure for you guys to most of

[25:15] our budget and salary is our

[25:17] benefits for our 250 employees

[25:18] who are doing the bulk of the

[25:20] work serving the public. Um,

[25:23] budget cuts means we have to

[25:24] cut people and that means less

[25:26] services. As I said, we also

[25:27] have judicial turnover.

[25:29] Issues, but.

[25:30] We have created a really

[25:32] comprehensive onboarding

[25:34] program as well as judicial.

[25:35] College takes about a month for

[25:37] our new judges, so we can

[25:38] really get them to hit the

[25:40] ground running in court. Uh,

[25:41] one of the things that we

[25:44] worked on is our judicial.

[25:45] Needs.

[25:47] Uh, Administrative Office of

[25:48] the court had not done a

[25:50] judicial need study in three

[25:53] decades. And so the judicial

[25:55] needs estimates are 30 years

[25:57] old, and it has not accounted

[25:59] for the complexity of the cases

[26:00] that we see. So the

[26:01] administrative office of the

[26:02] courts, as well as the National

[26:04] Center for State Courts, just

[26:06] completed a study where we all

[26:07] had to record our time for

[26:09] about three weeks on everything

[26:11] we did to determine what the

[26:14] more appropriate, uh, judicial

[26:16] needs were. And those results

[26:18] are going to be pending, etc..

[26:21] So that is the overview and

[26:22] what has been happening with

[26:24] King County District Court in

[26:28] 2025. I am more than happy to

[26:29] answer any questions that you.

[26:30] Have.

[26:31] Thank you so much, Judge

[26:32] Robertson. I really appreciate

[26:34] the update. I

[26:34] m going to open

[26:35] it up for questions from my

[26:37] colleagues. Uh, colleagues,

[26:38] feel free to raise your hand.

[26:38] And I

[26:39] m going to call on the

[26:40] chair of our law Justice

[26:42] committee. Councilmember Lewis

[26:43] first. Go ahead. Councilmember

[26:44] Lewis.

[26:45] Thank you, chair. And thank

[26:47] you, Judge Robinson. This this,

[26:50] um, presentation was very

[26:52] informative. Um, I have a

[26:54] question about the debt buyers.

[26:58] Um, uh, requirements. How has

[27:00] what are those and how has that

[27:02] changed the, the workload?

[27:04] I will have to defer to one of

[27:08] my civil judges to really

[27:09] elaborate. Those cases are so

[27:11] complicated, I could not do

[27:12] them justice here. What I will

[27:14] do is have our civil judge, uh,

[27:16] Judge Shotwell, email you about

[27:16] what the debt buyer

[27:18] requirements are and what has

[27:19] changed to make things more

[27:21] complicated. But as I

[27:22] m sure

[27:23] you know, if you have a

[27:24] mortgage or a student loan,

[27:26] debt is sold between companies

[27:28] all the time. And, uh, that

[27:32] makes enforcement of collection

[27:34] really difficult. So I will

[27:36] have Judge Scott will follow up

[27:37] with you. Thank you for the

[27:38] question.

[27:40] That would be great. Thank you.

[27:43] Uh Councilmember Dembowski.

[27:44] Thanks so much. Chair. Judge

[27:46] Robertson, great presentation,

[27:47] really comprehensive and

[27:48] informative. Thank you so much

[27:50] for putting it together. Uh,

[27:52] you had mentioned the home

[27:55] monitoring, uh, function, and I

[27:57] brought back our memory of a

[27:58] few years ago. We had some

[28:00] challenges with the technology

[28:01] and the 24 hour monitoring, and

[28:03] I wondered if you could just

[28:05] give us a status update. Is

[28:07] that system now working

[28:09] satisfactorily of issues? Are

[28:10] they largely resolved?

[28:12] Those issues are resolved. Uh,

[28:13] there

[28:14] s a lot of companies that

[28:15] do the electronic home

[28:17] monitoring as well as, uh,

[28:18] government entities that can

[28:20] handle it on their own. So we

[28:21] have had no technological

[28:23] issues recently for the

[28:24] electronic monitoring. That

[28:24] s

[28:25] working really well.

[28:26] All right. Thanks so much.

[28:29] Thank you.

[28:32] Uh Councilmember Fain.

[28:35] Thank you. Thank you again. Uh,

[28:36] Judge Robertson, um, for your

[28:37] presentation, I have a couple

[28:38] of questions, and I

[28:39] ll just try

[28:41] and narrow it down. One is

[28:44] related to the debt buyer. Um,

[28:45] legislation, the effect of

[28:45] that, and I won

[28:46] t ask you to

[28:48] explain it, but I wonder if you

[28:58] know, if the. Legislation. The

[29:01] volume of cars stand with the

[29:03] driver is behind the 88%

[29:05] increase in civil filings over

[29:06] two years. That

[29:07] s pretty

[29:08] extraordinary.

[29:11] It is pretty extraordinary. Um,

[29:15] the driver is the difference.

[29:17] We in standards, we. It used to

[29:19] be 50,000. We took under

[29:20] 50,000. Now it

[29:23] s 100,000. And

[29:23] we

[29:24] re getting a lot of the

[29:29] during Covid kind of, um,

[29:30] people defaulting on their

[29:30] loans because they couldn

[29:31] t

[29:33] work, uh, anything. If people

[29:34] defaulting on their debts

[29:35] because they couldn

[29:35] t work the

[29:37] Covid related things. But there

[29:42] has been a real, um, uptick in

[29:46] people filing for, uh, you

[29:48] know, landlord tenant issues

[29:48] that wouldn

[29:50] t necessarily go to

[29:51] superior court because of the

[29:53] monetary amount or it doesn

[29:53] t

[29:55] actually fit squarely within

[29:57] landlord tenant. So there are

[29:59] just a lot of different factors

[30:00] that go into that increase. And

[30:02] so I can follow up with you and

[30:04] give you a list of all the

[30:05] factors that do that. I

[30:05] m happy

[30:07] to do that.

[30:09] Thank you so much, chair. Can I

[30:10] ask one more?

[30:11] Yeah. Go for it.

[30:14] Thank you. Um, the other number

[30:16] that struck out or stuck out

[30:20] for me was, um, the parking

[30:22] matters on the spreadsheet with

[30:29] Kenmore having, um, 61,600

[30:32] filings out of, you know, um, a

[30:35] fairly small number overall. So

[30:37] just curious as to how much

[30:39] judicial and clerk time is

[30:41] consumed by parking matters.

[30:44] I can get you the percentages

[30:44] later. It

[30:45] s a small amount of

[30:47] time for the judges because

[30:48] most people pay the tickets.

[30:51] However, any of those 61,000

[30:53] cases come through the court.

[30:54] The clerk has to receive it.

[30:55] They have to file it. They have

[30:58] to create a case. They have to

[31:00] receive the money. Are whole

[31:03] budget. Department has to, you

[31:05] know, deal with the money

[31:07] portion. So the clerks are

[31:08] actually spending a significant

[31:09] amount of time in our budget

[31:11] team is spending a significant

[31:12] amount of time. The judges are

[31:13] spending a small amount of time

[31:15] because most people don

[31:15] t ask

[31:17] for a hearing. And I

[31:17] m happy to

[31:19] give you more detailed numbers

[31:20] on how much our staff spends on

[31:22] that.

[31:23] Okay. Thank you so much.

[31:25] Um.

[31:27] Uh, thank you, Judge Robertson.

[31:27] I

[31:29] ll ask a quick question here,

[31:30] because I had the same, uh, one

[31:32] of my questions was asked by

[31:33] Councilmember Fain about the

[31:35] 80% increase on the civil

[31:36] filing. So thank you for

[31:39] clarifying on that. Um, perhaps

[31:41] relatedly, you had a slide that

[31:44] showed the the trials numbers.

[31:45] Uh, and you mentioned about the

[31:48] increase is, was that both

[31:51] civil and criminal cases or is

[31:52] that just focus on the criminal

[31:54] cases? I was I was not clear on

[31:54] that one.

[31:55] Oh thank you. I

[31:56] m happy to

[31:57] clarify. That was just the

[32:00] criminal cases. So far we have

[32:02] not seen civil cases. The

[32:04] trials going up. Um, I can get

[32:05] you the statistics on that if

[32:05] you

[32:06] d like, but those were just

[32:07] the criminal cases that we

[32:08] counted.

[32:08] They

[32:10] re great. No, I, I just

[32:11] want to make sure that we were

[32:12] focusing. I understood that it

[32:14] probably was criminal cases.

[32:15] Either way. You spoke about it,

[32:16] but I wasn

[32:17] t sure. So, um, uh,

[32:20] that is helpful to understand.

[32:22] And, uh, you know, we

[32:22] ve

[32:23] obviously been dealing both

[32:24] here and in the, in the law

[32:25] Justice Committee with the,

[32:27] with the public defender issue.

[32:28] And, you know, we took up

[32:29] legislation here to try to

[32:32] clarify what our standards are

[32:34] on that. Uh, but I appreciate

[32:36] your reference. And I think the

[32:38] note of the the challenge that

[32:39] we will have if those numbers

[32:40] continue to increase, I think

[32:40] it

[32:42] s going to be a challenge

[32:43] for all of us to deal with in

[32:45] terms of the additional costs

[32:47] on multiple fronts. So thank

[32:48] you for highlighting that and

[32:49] keeping us abreast of those

[32:51] issues. Uh, and I see

[32:52] Councilmember Lewis, I

[32:52] ll call

[32:54] you for probably the last

[32:55] question.

[32:58] Thank you. Uh, Judge Robertson,

[32:59] we tend to think about virtual

[33:01] hearings and virtual meetings

[33:05] as being, um, uh, productivity

[33:06] increases and that kind of

[33:09] thing. But you said that, um,

[33:11] zoom hearings cause more time

[33:13] for the in court clerks, uh, to

[33:15] respond to attorney requests.

[33:17] Can you give us some examples

[33:18] of what that looks like?

[33:21] Sure. So before Covid, our

[33:22] clerks would be doing their

[33:22] clerk work. They

[33:23] re making sure

[33:24] the record is complete. They

[33:25] re

[33:26] taking the evidence. They

[33:26] re

[33:27] making sure that they

[33:27] re not

[33:29] getting everything we have

[33:32] added on managing zoom. So we

[33:34] have people in court, and now

[33:35] we have people on zoom. So they

[33:37] have to, you know, open up the

[33:38] zoom, let everyone in, make

[33:39] sure everyone

[33:41] s named, um, make

[33:45] sure people are not moving

[33:47] around. And the judges do this

[33:50] to muting themselves, etc. What

[33:51] we have found is that the chat

[33:53] function we have it on, and

[33:56] that people, both litigants and

[33:58] attorneys, are constantly

[33:59] peppering the clerk with

[34:01] questions that would never

[34:02] happen in open court. While

[34:03] court was happening, you would

[34:05] not approach the clerk and ask,

[34:06] you know, start asking

[34:07] questions. Can I go first? Can

[34:09] I submit this via zoom, etc.?

[34:09] That

[34:11] s happening a lot in our

[34:12] chat. And we realized how much

[34:15] time it was taking our clerks

[34:17] to handle that. And it also led

[34:18] to a lot of inappropriate

[34:21] ex-parte contact with with, um,

[34:23] folks just saying things in the

[34:24] chat that the judge shouldn

[34:25] t

[34:26] consider. The clerk shouldn

[34:26] t

[34:27] consider the other party wasn

[34:27] t

[34:29] aware of, etc. So it

[34:29] s all a

[34:31] learning experience from Covid.

[34:32] We all just tried to survive

[34:33] and now we

[34:33] re figuring out,

[34:35] okay, how do we how do we

[34:37] normalize this? How do we make

[34:37] sure we

[34:38] re following all the

[34:40] rules? So we are actually

[34:41] considering limiting the chat

[34:43] significantly so those things

[34:43] don

[34:44] t happen.

[34:47] Sounds very complicated.

[34:51] Yeah, it is very complicated.

[34:53] All right. Colleagues. Uh,

[34:54] well, Judge Robertson, thank

[34:56] you so much for, uh, the

[34:57] presentation today and for

[34:59] keeping us abreast of the work

[35:00] of District Court. We

[35:01] appreciate the work of you and

[35:03] your colleagues, and look

[35:04] forward to continuing the

[35:05] engagement. And, please, if

[35:06] there

[35:07] s any additional

[35:08] information to some of the

[35:09] questions that were posed, we

[35:11] would welcome that.

[35:13] I will get you more information

[35:14] on the questions that you had

[35:15] today. Thank you.

[35:16] Thank you so much, MR.

[35:18] Robertson. Appreciate it.

[35:18] Colleagues, we

[35:19] re going to move

[35:21] on to our next items on the

[35:23] agenda. We have three items

[35:25] that would confirm appointments

[35:26] to the King County Cultural

[35:28] Development Authority, better

[35:31] known as for Culture Board. Uh,

[35:32] for culture, of course,

[35:33] administers King County

[35:33] s arts

[35:36] and heritage programs for

[35:37] culture is governed by a 15

[35:38] member board of directors that

[35:40] have a demonstrated commitment

[35:42] to a knowledge of cultural

[35:44] resources. Uh, to give you a

[35:45] quick review of the process, we

[35:46] will be briefed on this item by

[35:48] Jean Paul. Then I will ask for

[35:50] an input from four culture

[35:52] staff. Uh, Claire McHugh is

[35:53] here with us from Fort Culture.

[35:56] Uh, then we will hear from our

[35:58] appointees. Uh, it is my

[35:59] understanding that one of the

[36:01] appointees is unable to attend

[36:02] today. So we are going to ask

[36:03] Claire to provide a few

[36:05] comments about that particular

[36:07] appointee. And then we will

[36:09] provide time for all of you to

[36:11] ask questions of the people who

[36:13] are up for appointment, uh,

[36:14] with that, Jean, I

[36:15] m going to

[36:17] call on you to please provide a

[36:18] briefing.

[36:20] Thank you, chair Baroni. Good

[36:20] morning, Council members. I

[36:21] m

[36:23] Jean Paul from council staff.

[36:24] The materials for the three

[36:26] appointments begin on page 39

[36:28] of your packet. Proposed

[36:35] motions 2020 six, 01060123 and

[36:37] 0127 would confirm the

[36:39] appointments of Ellen Walker,

[36:41] Nancy Salgueiro McKay and

[36:43] Teofilo Cruz Uribe as Executive

[36:45] At-Large. Appointments to the

[36:46] four Culture Board for the

[36:47] remainder of their three year

[36:49] terms, expiring on DECEMBER

[36:51] 31st, 2028. For background on

[36:52] the board, please refer to page

[36:54] 40 of your packet as the chair

[36:56] indicated, four cultures

[36:57] governed by a 15 member board

[36:59] of Directors and directors are

[37:00] to have a demonstrated

[37:02] commitment to, and knowledge of

[37:04] cultural resources. Be active

[37:06] and experienced in community

[37:08] and civic issues and concerns,

[37:09] and have the ability to

[37:11] evaluate the needs of cultural

[37:12] constituencies in the region as

[37:13] a whole. They are also to

[37:15] represent a range of talents,

[37:18] experiences and viewpoints. The

[37:19] Council is responsible for

[37:21] appointing board positions one

[37:22] through nine, while the

[37:23] executive appoints positions

[37:25] ten through 15. All

[37:26] appointments are subject to

[37:29] confirmation by the Council.

[37:30] Background on the appointees

[37:32] begins on page 42 of the staff

[37:35] report. Ellen Walker is an arts

[37:37] administrator who has worked

[37:38] for the Pacific Northwest

[37:41] Ballet since 2003, and has

[37:42] served as their executive

[37:44] director since 2014. According

[37:45] to her staff profile on the

[37:46] ballet

[37:47] s website, she oversees

[37:49] an operating budget of $30

[37:51] million and a staff of more

[37:53] than 600 full and part time

[37:55] employees. That profile also

[37:56] indicates that under her

[37:58] leadership, pnb has become

[37:59] known as an industry leader in

[38:01] making ballet a more inclusive,

[38:03] diverse and welcoming art form.

[38:05] MISS Walker has also served as

[38:06] an adjunct faculty member in

[38:07] Seattle University

[38:09] s mfa Arts

[38:10] Leadership Program, and she

[38:12] recently completed service as

[38:13] vice PRESIDENT Of the Inspire

[38:15] Washington Board and as Board

[38:16] Secretary and Council Chair for

[38:20] dance usa. The second

[38:21] appointee, Nancy Salguero

[38:22] McKay, has served as the

[38:23] Executive Director of the

[38:25] Highland Heritage Museum since

[38:28] 2019, in that role, she helped

[38:29] design, open and sustain the

[38:31] new museum, which focuses on

[38:32] preserving and telling the

[38:34] stories of the people in the

[38:35] Highline area through heritage,

[38:37] arts and culture. According to

[38:39] her application materials, she

[38:40] is the first Mexican born and

[38:41] raised museum executive

[38:43] director in Washington State.

[38:45] MISS Salguero McKay previously

[38:47] served as an exhibit design

[38:48] instructor for the University

[38:49] of Washington

[38:50] s Museum Studies

[38:52] Certificate program. She has

[38:53] also worked on several for

[38:55] cultural advisory boards, the

[38:57] Washington Museum Association

[38:58] Board, and is a past board

[39:00] chair of the Seattle South Side

[39:03] Chamber of Commerce. The final

[39:05] appointee, Teofilo Ortega Cruz

[39:07] Uribe, is both a clinic manager

[39:08] for Seymour Community Health

[39:10] Centers first Adolescent

[39:12] Specialty Clinic, and the

[39:13] director of the Pacific

[39:15] Northwest first Chicano,

[39:16] Chicano, Latino, Latina focused

[39:18] history museum. Prior to her

[39:20] current roles, MRS. Cruz Uribe

[39:22] served as a consulting grant

[39:23] writer whose duties included

[39:24] collecting and reporting on

[39:27] grant program. She participated

[39:28] as a culture grant review

[39:32] panelist in 2019 and 2021, and

[39:33] has been a member of Four

[39:34] Cultures Heritage Advisory

[39:37] Committee since 2021. Staff has

[39:39] not identified any issues with

[39:41] the proposed appointments. Two

[39:43] of the appointees, MISS Walker

[39:44] and MISS McKay, are with us

[39:46] today. And Brian Carter for

[39:47] culture is the executive

[39:48] director and Claire Michaud,

[39:50] the senior government relations

[39:51] manager with For culture are

[39:52] here as well. And that

[39:55] concludes my remarks.

[39:56] Thank you, Jean, appreciate

[39:58] that. Colleagues. Any questions

[40:00] for Jean on the staff report

[40:03] before we move forward? All

[40:04] right. Seeing no questions, I

[40:04] m

[40:07] going to call on Claire Michaud

[40:09] from For culture to give us

[40:12] some comments from the For

[40:14] Culture staff.

[40:16] Sure. I have Brian here as

[40:17] well. Um, hi. Council members,

[40:18] this is Claire. No, that

[40:18] s

[40:19] okay.

[40:20] How do you have my notes?

[40:21] Claire. So Brian or Claire,

[40:23] feel free to jump in. Whoever.

[40:24] Um, does it, does it can it be

[40:26] all three of them or. Because I

[40:26] know Ellen

[40:27] s here and Nancy

[40:28] s

[40:29] here as well, so I wonder if,

[40:30] um. Ellen, I

[40:31] m actually going

[40:32] to have Ellen and Nancy speak

[40:33] for themselves to start,

[40:33] because they

[40:34] re just fantastic

[40:35] people. And then, um, Brian or

[40:36] I can talk about Thea, who

[40:36] s

[40:38] fantastic as well. So I

[40:38] ll

[40:39] start with Ellen. Do you mind

[40:40] introducing yourself and

[40:40] sharing a little bit about your

[40:43] time working with for culture?

[40:43] Um, sure.

[40:45] Thank you Claire. Good morning

[40:46] everybody. Um, I

[40:48] m. Oh, frozen

[40:48] camera. I

[40:50] m Ellen Walker and

[40:51] hey. And I

[40:52] m executive director

[40:54] of Pacific Northwest ballet. I

[40:58] am I was born in district one.

[41:00] I still live in district one.

[41:00] That

[41:03] s right. But I have also

[41:05] worked in district four for my

[41:09] entire career. Since 1988. I

[41:10] have always worked in the

[41:12] cultural sector, and we also

[41:14] have a very important asset in

[41:16] Bellevue. Thank you. Claudia.

[41:17] I

[41:18] m sorry. Councilmember

[41:19] Balducci. It

[41:21] s, um, our Francis

[41:22] Russell Center is there in

[41:23] Bellevue, and it

[41:24] s a ballet

[41:27] school with about 600 young

[41:29] people over on the East side.

[41:29] And we

[41:31] re also opening a new

[41:34] school. Truly thanks to doors

[41:36] open, King County in the south

[41:39] end of Seattle. Um, I am a

[41:42] especially as I sort of get

[41:44] into my fourth decade of of

[41:45] work for the sector. I really

[41:47] think about the sustainability

[41:49] of our sector, and in my

[41:51] career, I have never seen

[41:54] anything that has guaranteed

[41:56] that for our future, as much as

[41:57] doors open King County, it

[41:57] s

[41:59] just incredibly important in

[42:02] the the in what my view is

[42:04] large, diverse and

[42:05] interdependent. Uh, cultural

[42:07] ecosystem here in the county.

[42:09] So, um, really, really an honor

[42:12] to be included as a nominee for

[42:14] the for Culture board. And I

[42:14] ll

[42:15] pause there.

[42:18] Well, thank you, Ellen. We

[42:20] appreciate your, uh, being

[42:21] willing to serve in this role

[42:22] and appreciate it, obviously,

[42:23] as, uh, district 40

[42:25] representative, uh, grateful

[42:27] that pub is, uh, in the

[42:28] district, but obviously think

[42:31] of it as a regional, um, entity

[42:34] that provides, uh, you know,

[42:36] wonderful service to the entire

[42:37] county. Um, I, I

[42:38] m going to

[42:41] then call on our next, uh,

[42:42] appointee, Nancy Salguero

[42:44] McKay, to, uh, to share a

[42:46] little bit about yourself and

[42:46] the reasons you want to serve

[42:50] on the Fort Culture board. Uh.

[42:51] Hi, everyone.

[42:52] Thank you. Thank you so much

[42:54] for this opportunity to share

[42:56] who I am and who we are as an

[42:58] institution. So the Highland

[43:01] Heritage Museum is the is

[43:02] representing the school

[43:04] district, which is covers the

[43:06] areas of white Center, Burien,

[43:07] SeaTac, Normandy Park and a

[43:08] little bit of the Moines. And

[43:10] so right now after Tukwila, we

[43:12] are number two of the most

[43:14] diverse, um, and low income

[43:15] families in the county. And so

[43:17] the idea of representing

[43:19] identity, heritage, history,

[43:21] the idea of seeing each other

[43:22] in honoring people

[43:23] s stories is

[43:25] extremely basic and

[43:27] fundamental. And so we are not

[43:28] just committed with just a

[43:30] statement. We are committed

[43:31] through actions and making sure

[43:32] that we are bringing the best

[43:33] opportunities for us to

[43:35] actually acknowledge and see

[43:36] each other in many different

[43:38] levels. And so I started to

[43:40] work with folk culture as the

[43:41] Heritage Advisory Committee in

[43:44] 20 2012. And so there

[43:44] s been a

[43:45] few years that I

[43:45] ve been

[43:47] involved with folk culture in

[43:48] many different capacities, and

[43:49] has always been a joy to be

[43:53] able to, to not only represent

[43:54] the diversity voice in many

[43:55] different ways, but I mean,

[43:57] diversity is not just me being

[43:58] Mexican, but also my gender, my

[44:00] sexual orientation, my

[44:01] disabilities, I

[44:02] m 80% deaf and

[44:03] so on. And so all of us bring

[44:05] in many different elements of

[44:06] who we are as a human beings.

[44:09] And so to be able to bring, um,

[44:11] diverse and inclusion values

[44:12] into the table, it

[44:12] s been my

[44:15] passion. Um, as a board member

[44:16] of the Washington Museum

[44:17] Association, that was also the

[44:19] same idea as to reflect more

[44:21] than just headliners reflect

[44:22] all of us in the state. And so

[44:23] now with King County, I

[44:24] m more

[44:25] than happy to have the

[44:27] opportunity to to represent

[44:29] those voices, especially the

[44:30] ones that are struggling the

[44:31] most when it comes to

[44:33] representation. And so we might

[44:34] work with folk culture is all

[44:36] about making sure that we are

[44:38] doing this as a team, as a

[44:39] community, as it takes a

[44:41] village to make things happen.

[44:42] And so I know that it

[44:42] s not

[44:44] just one person is all of us to

[44:45] truly make sure that that we

[44:47] bring in the in representing

[44:48] and honoring and seeing

[44:49] people

[44:52] s, um, stories in, in

[44:53] presence in our communities.

[44:55] And so with that in mind, I

[44:56] just want to say thank you

[44:57] again for the opportunity to to

[45:00] serve and represent and to

[45:02] vocalize those repressed voices

[45:04] in the area. So thank you.

[45:06] Thank you so much for your

[45:07] willingness to, uh, to serve

[45:08] and for all of the work that

[45:09] you

[45:10] re doing. Uh, at the

[45:12] Highline Heritage Museum. Thank

[45:14] you. Um, uh, colleagues, as I

[45:15] mentioned, one of our

[45:18] appointees, Teofilo Cruz Uribe,

[45:20] is unable to join us today for

[45:21] this meeting. So I was going to

[45:23] have a call, a call back, and

[45:25] Claire to share a little bit

[45:27] about, uh, that appointee, uh,

[45:30] for our, um, uh, knowledge.

[45:31] Sure. So, Brian, I

[45:32] ll start and

[45:33] then if you want to follow up,

[45:33] that

[45:34] d be great. Um, Brian

[45:34] s

[45:36] known Tia longer than me, but

[45:37] Tia has a really interesting

[45:39] job that is both clinical

[45:41] administrator at a at at a cmr

[45:44] clinic and basically running a

[45:46] museum that is co-located with

[45:47] that. Um, that has to do with

[45:50] Chicano. Chicano American

[45:52] culture. And when I first met

[45:53] Tia, also, Tia has incredible

[45:54] energy. You guys get to meet

[45:56] her when you do, um, you can

[45:57] understand how she can hold

[45:59] pretty much two full time jobs

[46:01] at once. But Tia, the first

[46:02] time I talked to her about I

[46:02] couldn

[46:03] t like. It was

[46:04] interesting to me to think of

[46:05] these things as sort of being

[46:08] different. And she actually, in

[46:09] getting to know her and getting

[46:10] to see the kind of work she

[46:11] does, they

[46:12] re absolutely

[46:14] integrated in her mind of

[46:16] heritage and how we treat our

[46:18] bodies and what goes on in our

[46:20] social world. Um, and so it

[46:20] s

[46:21] been interesting getting to

[46:22] know her and learn just how

[46:24] much these things all work

[46:25] together in creating healthy

[46:27] communities and healthy

[46:28] societies. Um, so I

[46:29] ll pass

[46:31] that to Brian, since Brian can

[46:32] probably speak to more about

[46:32] Tia

[46:33] s work with the Heritage

[46:34] Department.

[46:35] Sure. Thanks, Claire. Brian

[46:37] Carter, executive director for

[46:38] culture. For the record. And

[46:39] thanks, Chair Brown for the

[46:41] opportunity to speak to these

[46:42] candidates. Um, thank you to

[46:44] Ellen and Nancy. They both

[46:46] bring deep experience within

[46:49] arts, heritage and culture, and

[46:50] not just at their own

[46:51] organizations, but I think as

[46:52] regional leaders. And I think

[46:53] that

[46:54] s really critical at this

[46:56] moment when doors open is, is

[46:58] is growing both who for culture

[46:59] is but the complexity and the

[47:01] depth of our sector over. Well

[47:03] so the perspectives that they

[47:04] bring in, the insights that

[47:05] they will provide. And those

[47:06] are going to be crucial to us

[47:08] and really excited as well

[47:10] about Teo Fila joining us, I

[47:10] m

[47:12] unknown for a number of years.

[47:13] She came up through the ranks

[47:14] for culture and the advisory

[47:16] committee, which is a great

[47:17] opportunity to see the

[47:19] methodology of our grant

[47:21] process in practice. So she had

[47:23] a seat at that table and then,

[47:25] as Claire described, um, it was

[47:26] so exciting to me when the cmr

[47:29] museum came online. That is a

[47:30] leading edge museum. We

[47:30] re

[47:31] going to see so many more

[47:33] Latina, Chicano, Chicano

[47:35] museums and cultural centers

[47:36] coming online across the United

[47:38] States. And just really proud

[47:39] of our region for being one of

[47:41] the early ones. And as Claire

[47:41] said, there

[47:43] s an evolution

[47:45] within museums specifically

[47:46] where you

[47:47] re seeing these

[47:49] cultural institutions become

[47:52] really vital, civic, but also

[47:55] social service hubs for the

[47:56] community. Um, we

[47:56] re seeing

[47:57] that within our applications

[47:59] that are coming in where you

[48:00] see, right, the arts and the

[48:02] culture and the heritage mixed

[48:04] with work around mental health,

[48:06] around basic family

[48:08] necessities, around food

[48:08] security. And we

[48:09] re seeing an

[48:11] increasing number of those

[48:12] within our work. So having

[48:13] somebody at the table who has

[48:15] starred in an institution like

[48:16] that, that is serving a

[48:17] particular community, we

[48:17] re

[48:19] really excited about. Beyond

[48:19] that, she

[48:20] s just a fantastic,

[48:23] fantastic practitioner within

[48:24] the field. So really look

[48:26] forward to welcoming, welcoming

[48:27] her to the board. And as

[48:29] always, just appreciate the

[48:29] executive

[48:30] s consideration of

[48:32] what we were looking for in

[48:34] board members. Um, as we move

[48:36] forward as an institution and

[48:36] also the council

[48:37] s willingness

[48:39] to look at those as well. So

[48:40] with that, I

[48:41] ll stop. Thank

[48:42] you.

[48:44] Thank you so much, Brian. I

[48:45] appreciate that. Uh,

[48:46] colleagues, I

[48:46] m going to open

[48:49] it up for questions or comments

[48:51] on these appointees. I saw Vice

[48:54] Chair Balducci go off mute. Is

[48:55] that a sign?

[48:56] Yes. I was going to raise my.

[48:56] Thank you.

[48:58] Bye. Sure. Go ahead.

[48:58] Uh.

[48:59] I well, I

[49:01] d be happy to move.

[49:03] All three, uh, if that

[49:03] s in

[49:06] order. And then, um, speak to

[49:08] all of them. I just had the,

[49:09] uh, had the opportunity to

[49:11] spend time at all of these

[49:13] institutions run by these

[49:16] amazing nominees. And we are so

[49:18] lucky to have people with the

[49:20] breadth of experience, the the

[49:22] closeness to the communities

[49:24] that they serve. Uh, and, and

[49:25] the willingness to help us

[49:27] continue to grow and improve

[49:29] our cultural arts sector. And

[49:29] I

[49:31] m just delighted with all

[49:33] three nominees and happy to

[49:35] move to approve them, if you

[49:36] would like me to do so, chair.

[49:37] Please go ahead. Unless there

[49:39] are any objections from my

[49:40] colleagues to taking up all

[49:41] three at the same time. Seeing

[49:43] no objections, go ahead, vice

[49:44] chair.

[49:45] Move. Approval of proposed

[49:53] motion 2026 01060123 and 0127

[49:54] with a due pass recommendation.

[49:56] Thank you very much. Those

[49:57] three items are before us. Are

[50:00] there any further questions or

[50:01] comments from colleagues for

[50:03] appointees? All right. Seeing

[50:05] none, I want to thank the, uh,

[50:06] the appointees for being with

[50:07] us today and for your

[50:09] willingness to serve. And with

[50:11] that, I am going to ask the

[50:12] clerk to please call the roll

[50:13] on these items.

[50:15] Thank you. Chair Councilmember

[50:15] Balducci.

[50:16] I.

[50:18] Council Member Dembowski.

[50:19] i.

[50:20] Councilmember Dunn.

[50:22] I.

[50:24] Councilmember Fain.

[50:26] I.

[50:27] Councilmember Lewis.

[50:29] I.

[50:31] Councilmember Mosqueda.

[50:33] Councilmember Perry.

[50:35] I.

[50:38] Councilmember von Reichbauer.

[50:41] And chair Baron. Hi chair. You

[50:43] have 780 noes Councilmember

[50:45] Mosqueda and von Reichbauer

[50:46] Arts.

[50:48] Thank you very much. Uh, by our

[50:49] vote, we have approved proposed

[50:55] motions 2026 0106, 2026, 0123

[50:58] and 2026 0127 with a dubious

[50:59] recommendation. We will send

[51:01] these motions with that

[51:02] recommendation for the consent

[51:04] agenda on the regular course.

[51:07] Uh, and, um, MISS Walker and

[51:08] MISS McKay, thank you so much

[51:10] for being with us today. You,

[51:11] uh, these will be sent to full,

[51:13] full council. Uh, but you do

[51:14] not need to attend the meeting.

[51:15] Although you

[51:15] re welcome always

[51:18] to to, uh, listen in. And we

[51:19] really appreciate your

[51:21] willingness to serve, uh, the,

[51:23] the county in this role. And

[51:24] for your current service to the

[51:26] community in both of your

[51:27] roles. So thank you so much for

[51:28] being here.

[51:30] Thank you.

[51:32] All right. All right,

[51:33] colleagues, with that, we

[51:33] re

[51:35] going to move to our last item,

[51:37] which is a related item which

[51:39] is the For Culture annual

[51:42] report. Um, and on the briefing

[51:43] on that annual report, the

[51:45] county code requires a full

[51:46] culture, provide an annual

[51:48] report each year, and meet with

[51:49] the committee of the whole to

[51:50] discuss the the report. The

[51:52] annual report contains the

[51:53] prior year, significant

[51:55] accomplishments, estimated

[51:56] financial data, and a summary

[51:58] of the cultural programs to be

[52:00] undertaken during the year. Uh,

[52:02] we are joined by people we just

[52:03] heard from Brian Carter, our

[52:04] executive director for For

[52:06] culture. Uh, Claire McHugh, who

[52:07] is the senior government

[52:09] relations manager, and Calandra

[52:10] Childress, who

[52:10] s the director

[52:12] of program strategy and Impact.

[52:14] Thank you all for joining us.

[52:15] And, uh, Brian, I

[52:15] m going to

[52:17] turn it over to you.

[52:18] All right. Thank you. Chair.

[52:19] Um, it

[52:20] s always a great moment,

[52:21] I think, for for culture to be

[52:22] able to come in front of the

[52:24] council and share what occurred

[52:25] in the past year through our

[52:27] annual report. And I know

[52:29] Claire is going to be bringing

[52:34] up some slides for you here.

[52:38] Um, so to begin with, uh, we

[52:38] re

[52:39] going to be covering three

[52:42] items in this briefing. They

[52:43] include what I think is really

[52:46] the core of four culture, um,

[52:47] which is the trust I believe,

[52:47] that

[52:49] s required of our

[52:50] organization, within our

[52:52] community, within this

[52:54] authorizing body. Um, will then

[52:55] move on to highlights and key

[52:59] issues that we saw in 2025. And

[53:00] then we

[53:02] ll conclude with a

[53:02] section about what we

[53:03] ve

[53:04] learned and what we

[53:04] re seeing

[53:06] coming down the pike. And to

[53:07] begin with, here you have the

[53:08] Seattle Youth Symphony. And I

[53:09] thought it was just a great

[53:11] start. This has been an amazing

[53:13] year. 2025 was an incredible,

[53:15] full implementation of the

[53:17] Doors Open program, as well as

[53:19] the continuation of our

[53:20] lodging, tax funded programs

[53:22] and our 1% for public Art

[53:24] Commission program. So really

[53:26] exciting time. And I believe to

[53:28] me, the the key message is that

[53:28] it

[53:30] s working. Doors open is

[53:30] working. It

[53:31] s supporting the

[53:32] sector. It

[53:34] s pushing growth and

[53:35] strengthening around

[53:37] accessibility and inclusion and

[53:38] those public benefits, I think,

[53:40] that are so key to a healthy

[53:42] society and a real deepening of

[53:43] the work that

[53:43] s happening

[53:45] across institutions and at the

[53:47] individual level. So to begin

[53:49] with, um, this idea of trust,

[53:51] which is just really vital to

[53:53] me, um, for culture, has a lot

[53:55] of pride in our long history as

[53:57] an organization. Um, from a

[53:59] commission to a proper

[54:01] department within the county to

[54:03] our current role as a public

[54:06] development authority. In 2021,

[54:07] there was a return to lodging

[54:10] tax. And then as the pandemic

[54:11] hit, um, we were very fortunate,

[54:13] with support of the council to

[54:15] distribute and administer cares

[54:16] and Arpa funding, that really

[54:18] helped the sector weather the

[54:20] challenges of the pandemic and

[54:22] post-pandemic world. And now

[54:22] we

[54:24] re stepping into our second

[54:26] year of Doors Open

[54:27] implementation, and it

[54:27] s a

[54:30] really exciting time. And for

[54:32] me, the good that goes along

[54:33] with the additional funds that

[54:34] are able to go out and support

[54:35] the great work that

[54:36] s

[54:38] happening, is a responsibility

[54:40] that we have to maintain. What

[54:42] I believe is transparency,

[54:44] accountability, and also like a

[54:45] crucial element, which is

[54:46] humility. And I think that

[54:48] leads to effectiveness. And

[54:49] when we talk about good

[54:50] governance and we talk about

[54:52] accountability, I just the

[54:53] slide in front of you is just

[54:55] to show what those, um, what

[54:57] those kind of Guideposts and

[54:58] structures are. So obviously

[55:01] your role for oversight, um,

[55:03] policy oversight. Um, and

[55:05] watching us and making sure,

[55:06] hey, our legislative intent

[55:08] with for culture is this are

[55:10] they achieving that? And I

[55:11] always appreciate the fact that

[55:14] we get between 2 and 3

[55:15] ex-officio council members. So

[55:16] just a special thank you to

[55:18] council members Fain and Lewis

[55:20] and also Baron for you guys

[55:21] showing up. It

[55:22] s once a month

[55:23] that you come and you get to

[55:24] hear the great work that

[55:24] s

[55:25] happening, the challenges that

[55:26] we

[55:27] re finding our way through,

[55:28] and you get great insight into

[55:30] who we are as an organization,

[55:31] what our mission is and how

[55:32] we

[55:33] re delivering on that. Um,

[55:33] there

[55:34] s in the four culture

[55:35] board of directors, the 15

[55:37] member board of directors. We

[55:38] then have three standing

[55:40] subcommittees, and then each

[55:42] discipline at four cultures.

[55:42] That

[55:43] s arts heritage, historic

[55:45] preservation, public art, and

[55:47] now science and technology each

[55:48] have their own advisory

[55:49] committees composed of

[55:52] practitioners and leaders and

[55:54] community. Um, tradition

[55:56] bearers who help guide the work

[55:58] at all levels. And so we always

[55:59] appreciate the work they do,

[56:02] especially their role in

[56:04] overseeing the review and

[56:05] approval of funding

[56:06] recommendations that come

[56:07] through in addition to those

[56:10] or, excuse me, those committees

[56:11] and groups. There

[56:12] s the annual

[56:14] report that we submit. There

[56:14] s

[56:16] the biennial budget review and

[56:18] approval process by the county

[56:18] council. There

[56:19] s also an

[56:20] assessment reporting

[56:22] requirement for Doors Open, and

[56:22] we

[56:23] ll talk more about that

[56:24] today. And then there

[56:25] s an

[56:27] annual audit by the Washington

[56:28] State Auditor that

[56:29] s conducted.

[56:29] So that

[56:30] s just kind of a high

[56:32] level overview of how seriously

[56:33] we take the issue of

[56:35] accountability and good

[56:36] governance. These are public

[56:37] dollars. And we want to make

[56:38] sure they go out and they

[56:40] achieve the maximum impact as

[56:47] intended by legislation. So at

[56:49] a glance, and this is really

[56:51] high level. And again I say

[56:53] 2025 is an exciting year. And

[56:55] 2026 continues to prove that

[56:58] there was 94, almost $95

[57:01] million in funding awarded in

[57:02] 2025. Um, we

[57:03] ll talk more about

[57:06] the number of organizations

[57:07] that now exist within King

[57:10] County, but over 1000 cultural

[57:12] organizations were awarded. In

[57:13] addition, you have individual

[57:14] artists. You have individual

[57:16] cultural practitioners. So

[57:17] there you have writers and you

[57:19] have poets, and you have

[57:20] historians and historic

[57:23] preservation folks. And 345

[57:25] individuals were awarded

[57:26] support. And again, it was our

[57:28] first year of full doors, open

[57:30] implementation. There were a

[57:31] number of new grant programs

[57:33] that were implemented and got

[57:34] off to a great start. And then

[57:35] one of the things that we

[57:40] talked about. During the

[57:41] ordinance creation, was what

[57:43] the economic impact of Doors

[57:45] Open Support would be. So it is

[57:47] fantastic, right? The

[57:48] expressions that we get to see,

[57:49] the interpretation that happens

[57:50] on the heritage side, the

[57:51] preservation. But there

[57:52] s also

[57:53] a real kind of economic

[57:55] benefit. So there are 12,000

[57:56] jobs that are supported through

[57:58] for culture funding, creating a

[58:00] really, I think, thriving and

[58:01] vibrant moment within arts and

[58:06] culture. And King County. And

[58:08] here you see just our financial

[58:10] snapshot there. Uh, additional

[58:11] details within the annual

[58:12] report. But we give you the

[58:16] three years 2023, 2024 and 2025

[58:18] of our total revenues, our

[58:19] total expenditures and our

[58:22] total fund balances. And as

[58:24] always, the total fund balances

[58:25] tend to to gain a little bit of

[58:27] attention. And why are those

[58:28] high against the expenditures?

[58:30] And again, it is the fact that

[58:31] there are competitive grant

[58:33] programs for the most part,

[58:35] that award the funds, those

[58:37] those award funds are then

[58:39] encumbered. But depending on

[58:41] the length of the grant terms,

[58:43] those funds might go out, uh,

[58:45] over a two year grant period or

[58:47] over a three year grant period.

[58:49] So the fund balances are

[58:50] encumbered and they will

[58:53] support the projects and

[58:55] operations and facilities and

[58:57] renovations over a number of

[59:01] years. And with that, I will

[59:02] turn it over to Claire, who

[59:02] s

[59:03] going to share some of the kind

[59:06] of exciting projects that we

[59:08] have been able to to support in

[59:09] 2025.

[59:12] Yeah. So I, I get the fun job

[59:14] here of sharing some of the

[59:15] highlights from our

[59:17] disciplines. So, um, for

[59:19] culture covers arts heritage,

[59:21] historic preservation and now

[59:23] science and technology. Um, and

[59:24] so with Arts, I just wanted to

[59:26] share a story from Auburn

[59:28] Theater, which was, uh, Auburn

[59:30] Theater was a recipient of our

[59:31] building for Equity Anchoring

[59:32] Community Award. So those are

[59:34] projects of greater than 10

[59:36] million. Um, and they got to do

[59:37] a groundbreaking for that, um,

[59:39] theater, really just recently.

[59:40] And I got to attend it, and

[59:40] it

[59:41] s great. They

[59:42] re going to

[59:43] part of this money is going to

[59:45] go to support 300 seat theater

[59:47] in downtown Auburn. There was a

[59:49] theater in this spot. Um, it

[59:49] s

[59:50] a vacant it

[59:50] s been a vacant

[59:52] spot for nearly actually

[59:54] probably 5 or 6 years now. Um,

[59:56] it was it had a bunch of damage

[59:58] and it had to be demolished.

[59:58] It

[1:00:01] s revitalizing this site in

[1:00:02] downtown Auburn. Right next to

[1:00:03] it is the Postmark Center for

[1:00:05] the Arts, which is a facility

[1:00:06] that, for culture has been

[1:00:08] supporting over many years. Um,

[1:00:09] that does community programming

[1:00:10] for the arts. And it

[1:00:10] s in a

[1:00:12] historic building. Um, but it

[1:00:12] s

[1:00:14] really activating this site of

[1:00:15] downtown Auburn. That

[1:00:15] s really

[1:00:16] wonderful. And it

[1:00:16] s kind of a

[1:00:18] part of, um, what arts and

[1:00:20] culture can do for economic

[1:00:21] revitalization. And it

[1:00:21] s a part

[1:00:23] of a strategic initiative of

[1:00:24] the city. And I have to say,

[1:00:25] the folks in Auburn that I

[1:00:26] ve

[1:00:28] worked with in the parks arts,

[1:00:29] um, and then in the city

[1:00:29] government, they

[1:00:30] re just one of

[1:00:31] the hardest working people

[1:00:32] figuring out how to do, like,

[1:00:34] make this vision a reality.

[1:00:35] Over time. Um, and I

[1:00:36] m really

[1:00:37] excited to see how much it

[1:00:40] positively impacts the

[1:00:41] commercial businesses all along

[1:00:42] there and just makes it a

[1:00:43] really active part

[1:00:46] Out of their town. On the

[1:00:48] heritage side, we had several

[1:00:50] fairs and festivals this year

[1:00:51] that ended up applying, or it

[1:00:52] would have been last year, but

[1:00:56] for 2025 that applied for

[1:00:57] heritage projects and received

[1:00:58] funding. And so I just wanted

[1:01:00] to highlight some of these. Um,

[1:01:02] city and community festivals,

[1:01:04] which so there was the Dia de

[1:01:05] Los Muertos celebration at City

[1:01:06] of Shoreline and City of

[1:01:08] Shoreline has been producing

[1:01:09] the celebration, I think, since

[1:01:11] 2021. And it used to be a

[1:01:12] partnership with Shaw Lake

[1:01:13] Arts. Um, and then they

[1:01:13] ve kind

[1:01:15] of taken it on and they receive

[1:01:17] funding for that last year, and

[1:01:17] we

[1:01:18] re able to have a really

[1:01:20] good celebration. Uh

[1:01:21] Snoqualmie. Valley

[1:01:23] International Block Party, um,

[1:01:24] that was run by the Snow Valley

[1:01:26] Regional Chamber of Commerce.

[1:01:27] This brought together lots of

[1:01:29] different vendors and

[1:01:30] performances to serve the

[1:01:32] Snoqualmie area. And it was

[1:01:33] just I heard it was a really

[1:01:34] good time. Uh, East Side

[1:01:35] overall had a honoring

[1:01:37] Juneteenth, uh, fair or it was

[1:01:39] like a kind of like a festival

[1:01:40] party. And then, um, the Irish

[1:01:42] Heritage Club has Irish Week,

[1:01:45] which has several, uh, um,

[1:01:47] events, uh, over time, uh,

[1:01:48] including like an Irish or a

[1:01:50] soda, soda, bread baking

[1:01:51] competition. But that was a

[1:01:53] some cool story of that of the

[1:01:55] heritage projects from last

[1:01:57] year on the preservation side.

[1:01:59] Um, we were really happy to see

[1:02:00] that the Enumclaw Plateau

[1:02:02] Historical Society received a

[1:02:02] landmark

[1:02:03] s capital award last

[1:02:05] year that was part of sort of a

[1:02:05] longer they

[1:02:06] ve been doing long

[1:02:07] term renovation in different

[1:02:11] parts, but this is a 116 year

[1:02:12] old Masonic lodge. I don

[1:02:12] t know

[1:02:12] if you

[1:02:13] ve ever been to this

[1:02:15] museum in Enumclaw, but, um,

[1:02:15] it

[1:02:16] s a really incredible

[1:02:17] property and they

[1:02:17] ve been

[1:02:19] making changes to it over time

[1:02:20] to be able to do different

[1:02:22] things. And part of this sort

[1:02:23] of part two, that they receive

[1:02:26] funding for was to change the

[1:02:27] the front of it so that they

[1:02:28] could add more programming

[1:02:30] space, which allows them to run

[1:02:32] more community events, more,

[1:02:35] more, um, uh, uh, just more

[1:02:38] public access to the museum.

[1:02:38] Um, so it

[1:02:39] s really exciting for

[1:02:41] them to be able to do this and

[1:02:42] receive that Landmark

[1:02:42] s Capital

[1:02:45] Award. And then in science and

[1:02:47] technology, I wanted to share

[1:02:49] about some, which is acute

[1:02:50] acute acronym. It

[1:02:50] s Seattle

[1:02:52] Universal Math Museum. Um, and

[1:02:52] it

[1:02:53] s actually it

[1:02:53] s located in

[1:02:55] Kent Station. They just opened

[1:02:56] up their first, like kind of

[1:02:58] central location, but the

[1:02:59] majority of their programming

[1:03:02] actually happens around its

[1:03:03] mobile. It happens in South

[1:03:04] Kane County schools and

[1:03:06] libraries, but they have this

[1:03:08] part of their award. They got

[1:03:09] multiple awards through for

[1:03:10] culture in 2025, one of which

[1:03:12] was public free access. That

[1:03:14] which allows the the museum to

[1:03:16] offer free admission. Um, which

[1:03:18] is really exciting and allows

[1:03:19] kids and families to go there

[1:03:22] free of charge. Um, and uh, do

[1:03:24] hands on math programming. And

[1:03:25] they had a really big party,

[1:03:27] um, they opened on Pi Day. And

[1:03:31] so it was MARCH 14th, and, uh,

[1:03:32] they had a great time and we

[1:03:33] had full for culture staff

[1:03:35] there. Um, just to welcome to

[1:03:35] the space. And we

[1:03:35] re really

[1:03:36] excited to see how this

[1:03:38] organization grows and

[1:03:40] continues to serve, uh, most of

[1:03:42] South King County in doing, uh,

[1:03:45] hands on math activities. And

[1:03:47] then finally in our public art

[1:03:49] department, um, we have in King

[1:03:51] County for culture gets to

[1:03:53] manage and store and install,

[1:03:56] uh, the King County, uh, art

[1:03:57] collection. And there are about

[1:03:58] a little over 2000 works in

[1:04:00] this collection, and they are

[1:04:02] up all around the county and

[1:04:04] all of our institutional

[1:04:06] spaces. And in 2025, there are

[1:04:09] 170 installations. Things move

[1:04:10] all around. The county is

[1:04:11] offices are changing or coming

[1:04:13] back to work or or moving to

[1:04:14] different places. And we have a

[1:04:17] staff that works on that. Uh,

[1:04:18] and I, I just I have to say

[1:04:18] that it

[1:04:19] s really, um, it

[1:04:20] s a

[1:04:21] really amazing thing that King

[1:04:22] County can do this because it

[1:04:23] really does impact the public

[1:04:24] s

[1:04:26] experiences with institutional

[1:04:27] space. So many things happen,

[1:04:28] as you all know, like so many

[1:04:30] things happen in the county.

[1:04:31] Um, from the worst day of

[1:04:31] someone

[1:04:32] s life all the way to,

[1:04:33] you know, maybe when they get

[1:04:35] married or they do these things

[1:04:37] that are great. And, um, all

[1:04:38] along the way, we can shape how

[1:04:41] they remember those times with

[1:04:42] the sort of the things that are

[1:04:43] around them. And I think public

[1:04:46] art has that power. And then,

[1:04:47] um, for those that are actually

[1:04:48] really interested in this, um,

[1:04:50] last year we were able to get,

[1:04:52] uh, the majority of the public

[1:04:55] art catalog online. Um, so our

[1:04:56] temporary permanent artworks

[1:04:58] that the county owns and make

[1:04:59] it so that the public can learn

[1:05:01] about what are the artists that

[1:05:03] are there, where is that

[1:05:04] artwork? What are the spaces

[1:05:04] that they

[1:05:05] re in? And I

[1:05:05] ve heard

[1:05:07] some really good feedback from

[1:05:08] just people on the community

[1:05:09] that have reached out to say

[1:05:11] just how much, um, getting to

[1:05:13] browse this and go go on their

[1:05:14] own little free art expedition

[1:05:15] has been. So that

[1:05:16] s been a cool

[1:05:18] element of what we were able to

[1:05:20] do in 2025. And our public art

[1:05:23] department. So I

[1:05:23] m going to

[1:05:24] pass it over to my colleague

[1:05:25] Calandra, who

[1:05:25] s going to talk

[1:05:28] more about doors open.

[1:05:29] Thank you Claire.

[1:05:31] Um, yeah. So I am going to jump

[1:05:33] into some of our learnings and

[1:05:34] observations. After the first

[1:05:36] full year of Doors Open,

[1:05:38] funding distribution, uh, and

[1:05:40] one of our, uh, goals as we

[1:05:42] move into sort of integration

[1:05:44] of doors, open funding into the

[1:05:46] historic for culture work was

[1:05:48] to really retain our ability to

[1:05:50] be responsive to the field. So

[1:05:51] we have rolled out these new

[1:05:53] programs, but at the same time,

[1:05:56] we know that, um, things happen

[1:05:57] and we need to be responsive to

[1:05:59] that. So the majority of our

[1:06:01] funding does roll through our

[1:06:03] regular grant cycles, but

[1:06:05] sometimes emergencies happen.

[1:06:06] Sometimes pipes break, trees

[1:06:08] fall, and those can really be

[1:06:09] make or break kind of

[1:06:10] situations. For cultural

[1:06:11] organizations that don

[1:06:11] t

[1:06:13] typically carry a fund balance,

[1:06:14] that can address those

[1:06:16] unexpected events. So I wanted

[1:06:17] to talk about our emergency and

[1:06:19] unforeseen grant, um, this is a

[1:06:21] program that runs year round.

[1:06:23] It addresses situations that

[1:06:24] could not be predicted ahead of

[1:06:26] time. And as you all will

[1:06:28] remember, last year we

[1:06:30] experienced two atmospheric

[1:06:32] rivers and that resulted in

[1:06:34] flooding in south and east King

[1:06:36] County, which was really quite

[1:06:38] devastating. So while this was

[1:06:39] happening, we proactively

[1:06:41] reached out to the cultural

[1:06:42] organizations that were in

[1:06:44] those impacted areas to let

[1:06:46] them know about this program,

[1:06:46] make sure that they were

[1:06:48] tracking their expenses such

[1:06:49] that they could come back to us

[1:06:50] and and we could work through

[1:06:53] this application process. And I

[1:06:54] wanted to highlight one of

[1:06:55] those organizations. You

[1:06:55] re

[1:06:57] seeing a photo here from the

[1:06:58] Oxbow Farm and Conservation

[1:07:02] Center. They experienced a 16

[1:07:04] year high of flood waters. The

[1:07:06] flood was a stage five

[1:07:07] emergency on their flood

[1:07:09] warning system and resulted in

[1:07:11] really quite significant flood,

[1:07:13] uh, site damage. So what you

[1:07:13] re

[1:07:15] looking at here is the, um, the

[1:07:17] native plant nursery, and you

[1:07:19] can see the water is quite high

[1:07:20] in that facility. That

[1:07:21] s

[1:07:22] actually a facility that was

[1:07:23] specifically built, you know,

[1:07:25] that this is an organization

[1:07:25] that

[1:07:27] s located on a floodplain.

[1:07:28] This is not, um, new

[1:07:30] information that that the area

[1:07:32] is, is prone to flooding. So a

[1:07:33] lot of their facilities have

[1:07:34] been built with this in mind.

[1:07:37] And yet this flood, even, um,

[1:07:39] superseded the the ability to

[1:07:40] withstand those, um,

[1:07:42] precautionary measures that had

[1:07:44] been taken. So we were really

[1:07:45] pleased to, to be able to work

[1:07:47] with them and provide some

[1:07:48] support so that they could get

[1:07:49] their operations back up and

[1:07:51] running. Um, so I know they

[1:07:52] were one of the organizations

[1:07:53] that were particularly hard

[1:07:55] hit. And the Northwest Railway

[1:07:56] Museum was also particularly

[1:07:57] hard hit, and they also

[1:08:00] received an emergency grant to

[1:08:03] support their recovery. Uh, and

[1:08:05] this need for responsiveness

[1:08:06] is, um, it

[1:08:07] s not just about the

[1:08:08] physical environment. I think

[1:08:09] one of one of our other

[1:08:11] learnings that we have found is

[1:08:12] that about 50% of our

[1:08:13] organizations do not

[1:08:15] necessarily have a facility

[1:08:16] that they are running out of on

[1:08:18] a daily basis. They are maybe

[1:08:19] popping up in schools or

[1:08:21] working with other cultural

[1:08:22] organizations to provide that

[1:08:23] programming. So we

[1:08:24] re also, of

[1:08:27] course, very focused on how to

[1:08:28] build organizational strength

[1:08:30] across the entire sector. Uh,

[1:08:31] so Doors Open really creates

[1:08:33] that opportunity to deepen and

[1:08:35] expand operational work while

[1:08:37] creating that organizational

[1:08:39] stability. So one of the ways

[1:08:39] that we

[1:08:40] re really focused on

[1:08:42] doing this is creating pathways

[1:08:44] to technical assistance that

[1:08:45] can build that kind of

[1:08:47] perseverance and strength. We

[1:08:49] have a system to connect our

[1:08:50] cultural organizations directly

[1:08:52] to a roster of coaches and

[1:08:54] consultants that support all

[1:08:56] kinds of organizational work.

[1:08:57] Um, and then we underwrite

[1:09:00] those contracts directly. The

[1:09:02] benefit of this sort of system

[1:09:04] is that the consultants have

[1:09:05] all been reviewed and vetted by

[1:09:07] peers. So that saves

[1:09:09] organizations a lot of time and

[1:09:10] energy seeking out that kind of

[1:09:12] help. It can be very

[1:09:12] overwhelming if you

[1:09:13] re not sure

[1:09:15] where to start on finding, um,

[1:09:16] a particular kind of support

[1:09:18] within your community. We also

[1:09:20] have the ability to underwrite,

[1:09:22] um, existing relationships. So

[1:09:24] if an organization already has

[1:09:25] a relationship with a

[1:09:25] consultant that they

[1:09:26] re really

[1:09:26] pleased with, we

[1:09:27] re able to to

[1:09:28] bring them into the fold as

[1:09:31] well. And one, one of the

[1:09:33] findings that we found is that,

[1:09:34] uh, that some of the top

[1:09:35] services that have been

[1:09:37] requested have really been

[1:09:38] around financial and strategic

[1:09:40] planning, in addition to grant

[1:09:41] writing and fundraising

[1:09:43] development. So kind of really

[1:09:44] building that internal

[1:09:45] operational strength and then

[1:09:47] also finding ways to expand,

[1:09:48] uh, the, the funding that

[1:09:48] s

[1:09:50] coming in the door and two

[1:09:52] examples that I wanted to share

[1:09:55] out are the Spotlight Repertory

[1:09:57] Northwest, which is a live

[1:09:58] music and performing arts

[1:10:00] organization in Samammish. They

[1:10:02] used their consulting hours to

[1:10:03] work with a financial

[1:10:05] consultant on preparing their

[1:10:06] 1990s and updating their

[1:10:07] QuickBooks. So again, those

[1:10:10] kind of internal systems, um.

[1:10:12] Similarly, the Maple Valley

[1:10:14] Historical Society used their

[1:10:16] consulting hours to work with a

[1:10:17] financial consultant to develop

[1:10:19] stronger internal controls. So

[1:10:21] they have built a new gift

[1:10:23] acceptance policy. They

[1:10:23] ve also

[1:10:25] worked on producing

[1:10:26] documentation required by the

[1:10:29] irs. So again, just really kind

[1:10:30] of strengthening those internal

[1:10:32] systems to make sure that these

[1:10:34] organizations can remain strong

[1:10:36] and stable in the long term. So

[1:10:37] we

[1:10:38] ll continue to track those

[1:10:40] needs over time and build out

[1:10:42] our roster and build out our

[1:10:43] consultant directory in

[1:10:45] response to those needs. Um,

[1:10:48] excuse me. So thinking about,

[1:10:49] um, kind of the bigger picture

[1:10:50] here, what have we learned

[1:10:52] about the sector? Where have we

[1:10:55] where have we seen that growth?

[1:10:55] Um, I

[1:10:56] m really excited about

[1:10:58] this first bullet point here.

[1:11:00] 23% of doors open. Awardees

[1:11:01] were first time applicants to

[1:11:03] For culture. I want to point

[1:11:05] out that that is not just

[1:11:06] applicants, but applicants that

[1:11:08] were successful and ended up

[1:11:10] being awarded a grant. So even

[1:11:11] higher number of first time

[1:11:13] applicants that came through

[1:11:14] the system. But we

[1:11:15] re seeing a

[1:11:17] really high success rate. And

[1:11:19] what this tells us is that, um,

[1:11:19] we

[1:11:20] re continuing to to make

[1:11:22] headway in reaching new

[1:11:23] organizations, organizations

[1:11:23] that haven

[1:11:24] t historically

[1:11:26] worked with us, um, and that

[1:11:26] we

[1:11:27] re really able to provide

[1:11:29] that, that assistance, that

[1:11:30] technical assistance, the

[1:11:32] support during our workshops

[1:11:32] when we

[1:11:33] re building those

[1:11:35] relationships with folks to be

[1:11:36] able to navigate our systems

[1:11:37] and make sure that they

[1:11:38] re able

[1:11:40] to, um, you know, build their

[1:11:42] portfolio, bring in the

[1:11:44] applications and all the

[1:11:45] materials required for, uh, the

[1:11:48] grant programs. The next, uh,

[1:11:49] bullet point on here is about

[1:11:52] our new science and technology,

[1:11:55] um, disciplines. So $3.3

[1:11:58] million were awarded in 2025.

[1:11:58] That

[1:12:00] s actually in addition to

[1:12:03] the approximately $3.5 million

[1:12:04] that were awarded the previous

[1:12:06] year for our general operating

[1:12:09] funds. So closer to $7 million

[1:12:10] was awarded to science and

[1:12:13] technology for 2026. That was

[1:12:15] so awarded. Versus distributed

[1:12:18] is the is the nuance there? And

[1:12:18] then of course, we

[1:12:19] re also

[1:12:20] investing in our new

[1:12:22] organizations. So the launch

[1:12:24] program is our grant that is

[1:12:26] very specifically focused on

[1:12:27] organizations that are brand

[1:12:29] new. They might be hiring their

[1:12:30] first staff member. They

[1:12:30] re

[1:12:31] just getting off the ground.

[1:12:33] And this requires a lot of

[1:12:35] dedicated, focused support to

[1:12:36] make sure they have the

[1:12:38] resources that they need to be

[1:12:40] sustainable in the long term.

[1:12:44] All right. Now moving on to,

[1:12:47] uh, accessibility. So, um, we

[1:12:49] really we know that, uh, as we

[1:12:51] build out these programs for

[1:12:53] cultural organizations, that we

[1:12:55] also need to be thinking about

[1:12:56] how the general public is

[1:12:57] actually accessing these

[1:12:58] cultural, um, these new

[1:12:59] cultural events that are

[1:13:02] happening across the county. So

[1:13:04] this is a great opportunity to

[1:13:05] give a little preview of

[1:13:06] something that

[1:13:07] s coming out in

[1:13:09] two days. We are just about to

[1:13:11] share the results of a survey

[1:13:13] that we did of King County

[1:13:14] residents to better understand

[1:13:16] cultural attendance by the

[1:13:19] general public, and this was a

[1:13:21] rigorous study of cultural

[1:13:22] participation that

[1:13:22] s

[1:13:23] demographically matched to the

[1:13:25] King County census. So we

[1:13:26] really believe these metrics

[1:13:28] are are quite valid. Um, we

[1:13:30] found some great news about

[1:13:31] King County participation. King

[1:13:34] County is actually, um,

[1:13:36] significantly higher than than

[1:13:37] the us national average in

[1:13:40] terms of participation. But we

[1:13:41] also identified some barriers

[1:13:43] to access. And you all will not

[1:13:45] be surprised to hear that cost

[1:13:46] is the number one barrier that

[1:13:48] was named. Um, so that

[1:13:48] s where

[1:13:50] a program like public free

[1:13:52] access comes in. In 2025, we

[1:13:55] were able to underwrite 1.76

[1:13:57] million, uh, free and reduced

[1:13:59] cost tickets to cultural

[1:14:00] activities. So that

[1:14:01] s really

[1:14:03] creating a whole lot of access

[1:14:04] that would not have been there

[1:14:05] previously. Um, we

[1:14:05] re also

[1:14:07] seeing a trend in organizations

[1:14:09] shifting their their ticketing

[1:14:11] model. So moving into pay what

[1:14:12] you can and sliding scale

[1:14:13] models, which is kind of

[1:14:15] interesting. So um, there

[1:14:15] s

[1:14:18] both free, uh, free admissions.

[1:14:19] So Claire was previously

[1:14:20] talking about the new Seattle

[1:14:22] Universal Math Museum, um, the

[1:14:24] Henry Art Gallery has been

[1:14:25] around for a really long time,

[1:14:26] but they, with the public free

[1:14:27] access grant that they

[1:14:28] received, have been able to

[1:14:30] move to a completely free

[1:14:32] admission. Same with the Summer

[1:14:34] Asian Arts Fest. Um, I know

[1:14:37] that the the feast is a

[1:14:38] theatrical production company

[1:14:39] that has moved to a sliding

[1:14:41] scale model. So lots of

[1:14:42] organizations are kind of

[1:14:44] playing with how they create

[1:14:45] that access within the sector

[1:14:47] and make sure that cost is not

[1:14:48] the reason why folks are not

[1:14:51] able to get in the front door.

[1:14:53] And then continuing on that

[1:14:54] theme of access, I

[1:14:54] ll just call

[1:14:56] your attention to that last

[1:14:57] photo that you saw. It was

[1:14:59] Youth in Focus. That

[1:14:59] s a great

[1:15:00] program. That

[1:15:00] s that

[1:15:01] s

[1:15:02] educating students in

[1:15:04] photography. And they have

[1:15:05] actually moved to make their

[1:15:07] summer programs completely

[1:15:07] free. So what you

[1:15:08] re seeing

[1:15:09] here is a summer camp program

[1:15:12] from 2025. That camp used to be

[1:15:13] a paid camp. They

[1:15:13] re now able

[1:15:15] to offer that completely free

[1:15:17] for for youth. And then

[1:15:18] continuing on that cultural

[1:15:20] education theme, just thinking

[1:15:22] about how we are serving

[1:15:24] students and youth across the

[1:15:27] county. So a couple examples.

[1:15:28] Um, so excited to have Nancy

[1:15:30] joining our board, the Highline

[1:15:32] Heritage Museum in Burien has

[1:15:33] really dramatically expanded

[1:15:35] their school partnerships, and

[1:15:35] they

[1:15:36] re actually in the process

[1:15:38] of hiring an education staff

[1:15:40] member to oversee that new

[1:15:41] program. Or I

[1:15:41] m sorry, that

[1:15:43] expanded program, um, Art

[1:15:45] Commons and Issaquah is, uh,

[1:15:45] they

[1:15:46] re doing a really

[1:15:47] interesting program with

[1:15:48] Issaquah Schools where they

[1:15:49] have artists in residence in

[1:15:51] the schools. So these are more

[1:15:53] than just sort of one touch

[1:15:54] programs. They

[1:15:54] re really

[1:15:55] building deep relationships

[1:15:57] between those artists and the

[1:15:58] students to build those skills

[1:16:01] within the student population.

[1:16:01] So they

[1:16:02] re hiring teaching

[1:16:04] artists right now. Um, I also

[1:16:05] wanted to point out that we are

[1:16:07] under contract with Auburn

[1:16:10] Highline, Renton, Kent, Tukwila

[1:16:11] and Federal Way school

[1:16:12] districts for transportation

[1:16:14] subsidies. So, uh, we

[1:16:15] ve made

[1:16:16] quite a lot of progress there

[1:16:17] to make sure that students are

[1:16:18] able to move back and forth

[1:16:20] between cultural spaces and

[1:16:22] their schools. Uh, we

[1:16:23] re also

[1:16:24] in conversation with the

[1:16:26] Muckleshoot Tribal School and

[1:16:26] working through that

[1:16:28] partnership conversation right

[1:16:30] now. And then we also have

[1:16:31] conversations going with

[1:16:32] Skykomish and Seattle Public

[1:16:34] Schools. Both of those

[1:16:35] districts needed to create some

[1:16:37] internal, um, logistical

[1:16:38] controls around accepting the

[1:16:39] funding. So we

[1:16:39] re just kind of

[1:16:40] working through those

[1:16:42] logistics, but we are well on

[1:16:44] our way to expanding that

[1:16:46] access for students. And I

[1:16:48] think with that, I will hand it

[1:16:50] back over to Brian.

[1:16:52] Sure. So as we look ahead in

[1:16:55] 2026 and beyond, just a few,

[1:16:56] um, issue areas and

[1:16:58] opportunities that we see one

[1:17:00] again is the increase in the

[1:17:01] number of cultural

[1:17:03] organizations. When I got to

[1:17:07] for culture, this was 2014, um,

[1:17:09] we estimated about 500 cultural

[1:17:11] organizations. And again, now

[1:17:11] we

[1:17:12] re looking at serving over

[1:17:14] 1000 cultural organizations.

[1:17:16] Um, there are consequences to

[1:17:17] the carrying capacity of any

[1:17:18] ecosystem. So that

[1:17:18] s something

[1:17:20] that we watch carefully. There

[1:17:20] are going to be more

[1:17:23] applications, um, seeking the

[1:17:24] dollars that we have available,

[1:17:25] but it also presents some

[1:17:27] interesting opportunities. I

[1:17:27] m

[1:17:28] sure that you guys are well

[1:17:30] aware of the number of

[1:17:32] collaborative, um, operating

[1:17:34] models that are being

[1:17:37] undertaken. You saw a merger of

[1:17:40] Seattle Shakespeare with the,

[1:17:42] um, Got Act theater, which is

[1:17:44] now Union Center, a

[1:17:45] collaborative relationship

[1:17:47] between the Seattle Rep and

[1:17:47] Seattle Children

[1:17:49] s Theater. Um,

[1:17:49] and we

[1:17:51] ve seen more recently a

[1:17:52] merger between the Washington

[1:17:53] State Jewish Historical Society

[1:17:55] and the Jewish Federation of

[1:17:56] Seattle. So I think

[1:17:59] organizations are looking for

[1:18:01] efficiencies among this kind of

[1:18:02] increased competition within

[1:18:03] the cultural sector and

[1:18:04] increasing number of

[1:18:06] organizations. And a lot of

[1:18:08] this is happening with back end

[1:18:09] administrative support. There

[1:18:10] s

[1:18:12] always been a long history of

[1:18:15] programmatic relationships and

[1:18:15] partnerships, and I think

[1:18:17] people are now exploring more

[1:18:19] of those from an administrative

[1:18:21] side. Um, as Calandra shared,

[1:18:22] um, one of the things that we

[1:18:24] like everybody, um, are

[1:18:26] watching, the impacts that

[1:18:27] climate change is having on the

[1:18:29] cultural sector, um, with the

[1:18:31] increase in unpredictable and

[1:18:32] volatile weather events, we

[1:18:32] re

[1:18:34] seeing more facility support

[1:18:36] being needed on an emergency

[1:18:38] basis, and we just see that

[1:18:40] increasing every single year

[1:18:43] and will continue to do so. And

[1:18:45] then lastly is that, um, we had

[1:18:47] shared during our last briefing

[1:18:48] with this committee about our

[1:18:50] evaluation framework, and

[1:18:50] there

[1:18:52] s a lot of data that

[1:18:52] we

[1:18:53] re gathering. And that is

[1:18:54] only as valuable as the

[1:18:56] information you can take from

[1:18:58] it through synthesis. Um, so

[1:18:58] we

[1:18:59] re really undertaking that

[1:19:00] because there

[1:19:01] s a lot of

[1:19:03] differentiation within those

[1:19:04] thousand organizations that we

[1:19:06] serve to, that we strive to

[1:19:08] serve, um, by geography, by the

[1:19:10] discipline that they represent,

[1:19:12] by the size of the organization

[1:19:13] themselves and the communities

[1:19:15] that they want to serve. So

[1:19:17] adaptation and evolution within

[1:19:18] not only doors open, but us as

[1:19:20] an organization, I think is key

[1:19:22] to continuing to to serve this

[1:19:24] growing number of organizations

[1:19:25] and make sure that they

[1:19:26] re

[1:19:28] strengthened. So, as Calandra

[1:19:28] shared, one of the things we

[1:19:29] re

[1:19:30] really proud of is the ability

[1:19:32] to help a lot of these new and

[1:19:34] emerging organizations, which

[1:19:35] are typically smaller budget

[1:19:38] size, typically, um, $200,000

[1:19:40] annual operating budget or

[1:19:42] below. Who need support, um,

[1:19:43] technical assistance, capacity

[1:19:44] building to make sure that

[1:19:46] their internal operations are

[1:19:48] strong. So we see that as a

[1:19:50] continuing area of focus for us

[1:19:51] as well. And then lastly, i

[1:19:52] ll

[1:19:54] just say outreach and

[1:19:56] engagement. Um, we have got to

[1:19:56] make sure that people

[1:19:58] throughout this really large

[1:20:00] county are aware of the

[1:20:02] offerings of, for culture, um,

[1:20:04] not just doors open, but all of

[1:20:05] the support mechanisms that we

[1:20:08] offer. So we are communications

[1:20:10] department has really stepped

[1:20:11] up their efforts when it comes

[1:20:12] to outreach and engagement.

[1:20:13] We

[1:20:13] re doing a lot of work

[1:20:15] around language justice and

[1:20:16] accessibility, making sure that

[1:20:19] we have translation services

[1:20:20] that the any kind of collateral

[1:20:22] marketing materials we have

[1:20:23] have various languages on

[1:20:25] those. So people can know who

[1:20:27] we are and come to us. And I

[1:20:27] think what

[1:20:28] s really vital to

[1:20:30] that is the people power that

[1:20:31] we have here at the

[1:20:33] organization. Everyone at For

[1:20:34] culture, that came from a

[1:20:36] museum or a theater or a dance

[1:20:38] group or a choral group. So

[1:20:39] when one picks up the phone or

[1:20:40] they send the email, there

[1:20:41] s

[1:20:42] somebody there who can help

[1:20:44] welcome them into who for

[1:20:46] culture is and also guide them

[1:20:48] to the appropriate resources.

[1:20:49] And so much of that is us

[1:20:51] getting outside the four walls

[1:20:52] of this office and being there

[1:20:54] in community at events, um,

[1:20:56] getting to know folks because

[1:20:56] there

[1:20:57] s so many people on our

[1:20:58] radar, there

[1:20:59] s so many

[1:21:01] organizations that we already

[1:21:02] know and have known for years.

[1:21:03] But being out in community

[1:21:04] allows us to make those

[1:21:06] connections to the folks who

[1:21:07] maybe have never came to us for

[1:21:09] funding. And as you saw from

[1:21:10] the number of new applicants to

[1:21:12] For culture, I think that

[1:21:12] s

[1:21:13] really successful. And a part

[1:21:15] of that is and this is just so

[1:21:17] much gratitude to the council

[1:21:17] when there

[1:21:18] s a new individual,

[1:21:19] whether that

[1:21:19] s an artist or a

[1:21:21] new organization or just a

[1:21:22] cultural group that

[1:21:22] s kind of

[1:21:24] nascent and forming. Um, when

[1:21:26] you write, put us in contact

[1:21:27] with them or anybody makes that

[1:21:28] recommendation, we

[1:21:29] re going to

[1:21:29] get out there and we

[1:21:29] re going

[1:21:30] to talk to them. We

[1:21:30] re going to

[1:21:32] figure out what their mission

[1:21:32] is, and if there

[1:21:33] s an alignment

[1:21:34] with the funding opportunities

[1:21:35] that we have. And I think that

[1:21:38] is going to be increasingly

[1:21:39] important. That kind of boots

[1:21:42] on the ground, um, engagement

[1:21:43] with the cultural sectors, um,

[1:21:45] throughout the county. So, um,

[1:21:47] with that, I will conclude and

[1:21:49] just say thank you. Um, on

[1:21:51] behalf of all the staff of the

[1:21:52] four culture Board of

[1:21:53] directors, we love our working

[1:21:55] relationship with all the

[1:21:56] council members. Um, really

[1:21:58] appreciate the ex-officio and

[1:22:00] what they do and how they serve

[1:22:01] on our board. And with that,

[1:22:02] I

[1:22:03] ll conclude and happy to take

[1:22:05] any questions.

[1:22:07] Thank you so much, Brian

[1:22:09] Calandra and Clare for that

[1:22:10] presentation. Thank you for

[1:22:12] including their photo. I saw

[1:22:13] the background of the Pacific

[1:22:15] Science Center, which is now

[1:22:16] that that area is now newly

[1:22:18] open to the to the community. I

[1:22:19] should say I finally got to see

[1:22:21] that recently. Thank you all

[1:22:23] for that presentation. Um,

[1:22:23] colleagues, I

[1:22:24] m gonna open it

[1:22:26] up for questions from you about

[1:22:28] the report. Uh Councilmember

[1:22:30] Perry. Vice. Uh, well, Chair

[1:22:31] Perry of the Council.

[1:22:32] Thank you.

[1:22:36] Thank you very much. Uh, Chair

[1:22:38] Barron. And thank you very

[1:22:39] much. Also to Executive

[1:22:41] Director Carter, uh, government

[1:22:42] relations manager, Clare

[1:22:44] Riccio, director Calandra

[1:22:45] Childers, for taking the time

[1:22:46] to provide us with this great

[1:22:48] update on the report and the

[1:22:49] great work you

[1:22:50] re doing and the

[1:22:50] and the folks who are

[1:22:52] interested in nominating them

[1:22:53] and bringing them on board and

[1:22:54] making sure everybody is

[1:22:55] successful on behalf of

[1:22:57] everyone. And in King County,

[1:22:59] this is really exciting. And

[1:23:01] and I have a few questions. So,

[1:23:01] chair, I

[1:23:02] ll check in with you

[1:23:04] to see if I need to, if we need

[1:23:05] to go online for that or go to

[1:23:07] the next person for Robert

[1:23:07] s

[1:23:09] Rules. Um.

[1:23:11] You can keep going until until

[1:23:11] you

[1:23:11] re done.

[1:23:12] Okay?

[1:23:13] Okay. Wow. That

[1:23:14] s great. Okay.

[1:23:16] Um, as you mentioned, when

[1:23:17] council originally adopted

[1:23:19] doors open, the implementation

[1:23:21] plan required for culture to

[1:23:24] distribute at least 25% to

[1:23:25] communities outside of the

[1:23:27] Seattle area. And, uh, you

[1:23:29] know, that was something that

[1:23:30] was important to me in that

[1:23:32] final vote. And in your report,

[1:23:33] you mentioned pork culture

[1:23:35] exceeded the 25% minimum

[1:23:37] funding for organizations

[1:23:39] outside of the Seattle area and

[1:23:41] the 10% minimum for communities

[1:23:43] of opportunity for

[1:23:45] organizations serving

[1:23:46] vulnerable populations. I

[1:23:47] m

[1:23:48] interested to know if you have

[1:23:49] a dollar value for the total

[1:23:51] amount of funds distributed to

[1:23:52] jurisdictions outside of

[1:23:55] Seattle. Um, and the staff

[1:23:56] report notes the number of

[1:23:59] funds distributed uh, in each

[1:24:00] district. But I

[1:24:00] d like to

[1:24:02] understand this. The full, uh,

[1:24:05] sum sum total that was that

[1:24:05] s

[1:24:06] one question. And we can get

[1:24:07] this information offline

[1:24:08] because numbers on the dais,

[1:24:09] they

[1:24:09] re not it

[1:24:11] s not great. Uh,

[1:24:13] so I would be happy to receive

[1:24:14] that. Um, I

[1:24:16] m also interested

[1:24:17] to know how our culture

[1:24:18] approached meeting that

[1:24:20] requirement and the steps of

[1:24:22] strategies you took together to

[1:24:23] reach communities that haven

[1:24:23] t

[1:24:25] traditionally been engaged or

[1:24:26] had access to these

[1:24:27] opportunities. I

[1:24:28] m especially

[1:24:29] interested in hearing about

[1:24:30] efforts to reach first time

[1:24:32] applicants in rural

[1:24:32] communities, so I

[1:24:33] ll stop there

[1:24:34] and see if there

[1:24:35] s a response

[1:24:36] to that.

[1:24:38] Sure. Thanks for the questions,

[1:24:39] Councilmember Perry. We

[1:24:40] ll get

[1:24:41] back to you with the exact

[1:24:42] details about the funds that

[1:24:43] went outside the city of

[1:24:44] Seattle. We can do that

[1:24:44] quickly. We

[1:24:45] ll get it to you

[1:24:47] today. As far as how we

[1:24:47] re

[1:24:49] reaching, um, folks that are

[1:24:51] either first time applicants or

[1:24:52] awardees or just have been

[1:24:53] historically underserved by

[1:24:55] funding sources, including

[1:24:57] governmental services. It

[1:24:57] s,

[1:24:59] um, there are quite a few

[1:25:01] efforts that we undertake. We

[1:25:03] partner with a lot of different

[1:25:07] media organizations in a lot of

[1:25:08] different languages that are

[1:25:09] really commonly used throughout

[1:25:11] King County. That is one of the

[1:25:12] ways in which we spread the

[1:25:13] good word about what we

[1:25:14] re

[1:25:15] doing. We also have a really

[1:25:17] robust outreach and engagement

[1:25:19] program called hello. And I

[1:25:19] think what

[1:25:20] s fantastic about

[1:25:21] this program, it isn

[1:25:21] t simply

[1:25:23] that we set up the table at the

[1:25:24] fair. It

[1:25:25] s a really intentional

[1:25:27] partnership with community

[1:25:29] groups on the ground, um, at

[1:25:31] their organizations. And we ask

[1:25:32] them to help us identify

[1:25:34] artists or creatives or

[1:25:36] cultural groups that can come

[1:25:38] to these gatherings and get to

[1:25:39] know us and our staff and the

[1:25:42] offerings that we have. Um, we

[1:25:44] also really rely on the folks

[1:25:44] that are affiliated with the

[1:25:46] organization so that staff

[1:25:47] members being out in the field

[1:25:49] and I mean all over rural

[1:25:50] areas, unincorporated areas,

[1:25:52] suburban areas, um, South King

[1:25:54] County northeast, we try and be

[1:25:56] out as much as we can, but we

[1:25:57] have staff members doing that

[1:25:59] and carrying the, um, the For

[1:26:00] Culture banner and its

[1:26:02] offerings. We also have all our

[1:26:04] five, um, advisory committees,

[1:26:05] all the members that are part

[1:26:07] of that. We give them training

[1:26:09] and orientation and ask them to

[1:26:11] also like tap into their

[1:26:12] networks and be constantly

[1:26:13] telling people that we are

[1:26:15] there. And then lastly, our

[1:26:17] board members who also fill

[1:26:19] that role. So those are just

[1:26:20] some of the efforts that we

[1:26:22] undertake. But there are also a

[1:26:24] lot of, um, partnerships that

[1:26:27] occur with individual awardees

[1:26:28] where they might have an event

[1:26:29] or they have a fair, or they

[1:26:31] have a festival and they ask

[1:26:32] us, hey, will you come and will

[1:26:33] you share what you

[1:26:33] re doing,

[1:26:33] whether that

[1:26:34] s, you know, me

[1:26:36] showing up and letting people

[1:26:37] know about the offerings that

[1:26:39] we have or is a table. So we

[1:26:39] re

[1:26:41] trying to be responsive as

[1:26:42] well. But the critical part is

[1:26:44] we need those community members

[1:26:46] that are from that geographic

[1:26:48] area to tell us, hey, here

[1:26:48] s

[1:26:49] who you

[1:26:49] re missing, here

[1:26:50] s who

[1:26:50] you

[1:26:51] re not seeing. I think

[1:26:51] we

[1:26:52] re very fortunate that our

[1:26:53] network has those great

[1:26:54] ambassadors, and that

[1:26:54] s how so

[1:26:56] many new folks come to us and

[1:26:58] how we get out. The word about

[1:26:58] for culture.

[1:27:02] I appreciate that. Um, uh, and,

[1:27:06] and, um, one of the things that

[1:27:08] the exec has been doing, it

[1:27:09] s

[1:27:10] actually pretty close to my

[1:27:11] heart, is the community

[1:27:13] building element. One of his

[1:27:13] four b

[1:27:15] s. And it was formally

[1:27:16] boots on the ground, it

[1:27:16] s now

[1:27:18] building connecting or better.

[1:27:18] I

[1:27:19] m going to have to figure

[1:27:21] that one out. Sorry, sorry.

[1:27:24] Exact. Uh, but but I have a pal

[1:27:26] in his office, Angela, who is

[1:27:28] our Eastside person. Right? Who

[1:27:30] is the person who is

[1:27:31] representing him on the east

[1:27:33] side between Angela and, um,

[1:27:36] Department of Local Services.

[1:27:36] Uh, Leon Richardson

[1:27:37] s team.

[1:27:38] They

[1:27:40] re everywhere. So in my

[1:27:42] district, Issaquah, Samammish,

[1:27:43] Redmond, Woodinville. The

[1:27:45] Snoqualmie Valley is festival

[1:27:46] time. There

[1:27:47] s everything at

[1:27:49] Skykomish tunnel day Saturday.

[1:27:50] There

[1:27:51] s there. Everything is

[1:27:52] happening right now. It

[1:27:52] s very

[1:27:53] visible. Art ministry, all

[1:27:55] these different things. You

[1:27:58] have a smaller team to be able

[1:27:59] to reach all of those areas. I

[1:28:01] would love to send you my, uh,

[1:28:04] my, um, uh, connections for

[1:28:06] those nonprofits, which I

[1:28:06] m

[1:28:07] sure that you have already, but

[1:28:09] specifically the festivals and

[1:28:11] the and the outreach, um,

[1:28:12] because it would be really

[1:28:13] wonderful to have you at the

[1:28:16] nonprofit festival at Carnation

[1:28:19] Farms incarnation, where

[1:28:19] everybody

[1:28:20] s highlighted those

[1:28:21] kinds of things, where where

[1:28:21] there

[1:28:22] s just terrific

[1:28:24] opportunity for visibility. We

[1:28:26] send people to you all the

[1:28:28] time. And I was really thrilled

[1:28:29] to see in the report all of the

[1:28:30] efforts that you

[1:28:31] re making to

[1:28:32] reach out to our folks, Oxbow

[1:28:34] and the emergency areas as

[1:28:35] well. But there is a really,

[1:28:36] really strong interest, and I

[1:28:38] want to make sure that you that

[1:28:38] we

[1:28:39] re all blooming where we

[1:28:39] re

[1:28:41] planted and then we can cross

[1:28:43] pollinate, you know, and so

[1:28:45] having that, having that

[1:28:47] opportunity to really invest in

[1:28:50] these areas will create those

[1:28:51] thriving communities that

[1:28:52] you

[1:28:53] re trying to do everywhere.

[1:28:54] And I appreciate that. And I

[1:28:57] appreciate your, um, continued

[1:29:01] vigilance on, uh, your finances

[1:29:03] and how you are appropriating

[1:29:04] these things. It is something

[1:29:04] I

[1:29:07] m keenly aware of right now.

[1:29:09] And, um, and, and the diligence

[1:29:15] is with which you, um, conduct,

[1:29:17] uh, your team, your business,

[1:29:20] um, is very much appreciated.

[1:29:21] And I just want to take a

[1:29:23] moment to say that one final

[1:29:25] thing you had in your slides,

[1:29:27] some crazy amount of 156

[1:29:30] million not yet spent. And, uh,

[1:29:32] the point that you made was

[1:29:32] that it

[1:29:34] s encumbered by some of

[1:29:35] these grants. It would be great

[1:29:38] to have a visual or a line that

[1:29:42] shows encumbered by year out.

[1:29:43] So if I

[1:29:46] m looking 156 million

[1:29:47] not spent and we know it

[1:29:48] s 100

[1:29:49] million a year coming and

[1:29:49] coming, right, that

[1:29:50] s going to

[1:29:52] grow, uh, and dissipate, but

[1:29:54] also substantially grow. And so

[1:29:55] it would be very helpful to

[1:29:57] have a third column, uh, third

[1:29:59] row that shows encumbered in

[1:30:01] 26, encumbered and 27

[1:30:03] encumbered in 20 and so forth

[1:30:05] as we go along so that we can

[1:30:06] get to what hasn

[1:30:08] t been awarded.

[1:30:10] And what is encumbered. Is it

[1:30:12] entirely encumbered? Is there

[1:30:13] something else going on in

[1:30:15] those, in those numbers that we

[1:30:16] should know about? Uh, for

[1:30:18] transparency and visibility?

[1:30:19] Okay. Happy to do that and

[1:30:20] would welcome any list of

[1:30:21] events. And we

[1:30:21] ll do our best

[1:30:22] to get out there.

[1:30:24] Okay. Thank you very much to

[1:30:25] you and the entire team for all

[1:30:26] that you

[1:30:27] re doing.

[1:30:30] Thank you, Councilmember Perry.

[1:30:31] Uh, colleagues, other questions

[1:30:33] from colleagues on the for the

[1:30:35] for Culture team. Councilmember

[1:30:36] Fain.

[1:30:40] So much. Um, thanks, Brian. I

[1:30:42] appreciate the framing of your

[1:30:43] presentation and the

[1:30:44] acknowledgement of the

[1:30:45] importance of accountability

[1:30:47] and and good governance. Um,

[1:30:49] Chair Perry or Councilmember

[1:30:54] Perry touched on, um, a topic

[1:30:54] that I

[1:30:56] m sensitive to, and

[1:30:57] that

[1:31:00] s the amount of funding

[1:31:03] that goes, um, around the

[1:31:06] entire county. And so I was

[1:31:08] while we were chatting, um,

[1:31:12] here looked and so 38 million,

[1:31:14] over 38 million, um, was

[1:31:16] awarded last year in your

[1:31:19] report. And I the report also

[1:31:22] says that, um, around 30% was

[1:31:25] awarded outside of Seattle. So

[1:31:25] that

[1:31:27] s over 11 million outside

[1:31:30] of Seattle. And so, um, when I

[1:31:32] was looking at the data, it

[1:31:36] looked like funding is largely

[1:31:39] concentrated in a small number

[1:31:43] of, uh, council districts. And

[1:31:45] some districts aren

[1:31:48] t, um, even

[1:31:49] competitive. They are. They

[1:31:49] re

[1:31:50] receiving few awards and some

[1:31:51] aren

[1:31:52] t even applying for

[1:31:58] awards. And, um. Within those

[1:32:00] that are outside of Seattle, a

[1:32:02] large share appears

[1:32:03] concentrated in certain

[1:32:06] communities that already have a

[1:32:07] well-established cultural

[1:32:09] infrastructure like Bellevue

[1:32:13] and, um, Vachon and Redmond.

[1:32:15] Um, and so I wanted to kind of

[1:32:18] ask you a question, backing up

[1:32:20] and looking at this at a high

[1:32:22] level, what do we think about

[1:32:23] or what is your culture? Think

[1:32:25] about the balance between

[1:32:31] funding existing, um, strong

[1:32:34] organizations versus or and

[1:32:37] building cultural capacity in

[1:32:38] these communities that don

[1:32:38] t

[1:32:41] have those organizations or

[1:32:43] infrastructure and is the goal

[1:32:47] to really create or expect that

[1:32:51] every part of King County will

[1:32:53] develop that capacity to

[1:32:55] compete? Or are we going to

[1:32:57] acknowledge that some areas

[1:32:57] just don

[1:33:00] t have that capacity?

[1:33:01] Um, and we find a way to

[1:33:05] support in other ways.

[1:33:05] Yeah, that

[1:33:06] s a that

[1:33:07] s a it

[1:33:07] s a

[1:33:09] big topic. I appreciate you

[1:33:13] surfacing it. Um, well, I would

[1:33:15] say that the geographic

[1:33:18] distribution of funds, um, the,

[1:33:19] the floor of it right through

[1:33:21] the ordinance is $1 million to

[1:33:23] each county council district

[1:33:25] and then 25% outside the city

[1:33:27] of Seattle. And those marks

[1:33:29] have been hit or exceeded. Um,

[1:33:31] but again, that was the floor

[1:33:32] for me. Um, one of the reasons

[1:33:33] that I came to for culture,

[1:33:35] because I believe in a more

[1:33:37] equitable distribution of funds

[1:33:39] to communities and individuals

[1:33:40] that have been historically

[1:33:42] marginalized from those

[1:33:44] opportunities. So that, to me,

[1:33:46] is the the value that I hold,

[1:33:48] that the organization holds and

[1:33:48] something that we

[1:33:50] re constantly

[1:33:51] working towards. I think it

[1:33:52] s

[1:33:52] it

[1:33:54] s complicated in that each

[1:33:56] particular city within King

[1:33:59] County has a different level of

[1:34:00] call it cultural health. How

[1:34:03] many organizations in which

[1:34:05] disciplines, their sizes, what

[1:34:06] are their service areas, and

[1:34:07] what are their programmatic

[1:34:07] offerings? It

[1:34:08] s really

[1:34:11] variable, I will say, outside

[1:34:12] the city of Seattle. And I

[1:34:13] mean, we

[1:34:13] re not talking about

[1:34:15] specific cities, but there is a

[1:34:18] really high success rate of

[1:34:21] organizations in some of these.

[1:34:22] In some of these, both council

[1:34:24] districts and cities outside

[1:34:25] the city of Seattle. So it

[1:34:26] might end up being a lower

[1:34:28] number of applications that are

[1:34:29] submitted, but tends to be a

[1:34:31] higher success rate, I think,

[1:34:33] towards your larger question of

[1:34:34] does your culture prioritize

[1:34:36] right funding that what that

[1:34:38] which exists that

[1:34:39] s strong and

[1:34:40] supported through other funding

[1:34:42] mechanisms or growing. Right.

[1:34:45] The cultural ecosystem and

[1:34:47] strengthening small burgeoning

[1:34:49] new organizations? I think it

[1:34:49] s

[1:34:50] always a balance of both. For

[1:34:53] me, it is a really complicated

[1:34:55] web of different size

[1:34:56] organizations that have

[1:34:57] different financial positions

[1:34:58] and strengths, and we

[1:34:59] re always

[1:35:01] trying to find ways through our

[1:35:03] different programs that address

[1:35:04] the different needs. So the

[1:35:05] sustained support program,

[1:35:07] which provides operating

[1:35:09] support, which is 50% of doors

[1:35:10] open, helps a lot of

[1:35:11] organizations across the board

[1:35:13] of different sizes throughout

[1:35:14] King County. I think some of

[1:35:15] the more particular programs

[1:35:17] like launch, are designed to do

[1:35:19] exactly what you say to

[1:35:20] Councilmember Fain, which is, i

[1:35:22] think the borrow Councilmember

[1:35:24] Perry is like helping folks

[1:35:25] right grow where they

[1:35:25] re

[1:35:27] planted. The goal there was, if

[1:35:27] you are new and you

[1:35:28] re tending

[1:35:29] to see a lot of new

[1:35:30] organizations, um, kind of

[1:35:32] popping up outside the city of

[1:35:32] Seattle, let

[1:35:34] s focus on their

[1:35:35] early years, give them

[1:35:36] dedicated funding such that

[1:35:39] they actually can right develop

[1:35:40] into those larger organizations

[1:35:42] and cultural cultural centers

[1:35:43] and some of those areas that

[1:35:44] might be a little a little

[1:35:46] weaker. Um, so I think that

[1:35:46] s

[1:35:46] one there

[1:35:47] s also the open

[1:35:48] program, which is the first

[1:35:50] time applicant program at For

[1:35:51] culture, where we

[1:35:51] re always

[1:35:53] kind of harvesting those kind

[1:35:55] of just brand new. The really

[1:35:56] cultural groups, they

[1:35:56] re not

[1:35:57] 501 c3, they

[1:35:58] re just getting

[1:35:59] started. And we want them to

[1:36:00] get to know us, and we want to

[1:36:01] support some of their early

[1:36:03] efforts, which are often one

[1:36:03] program, or it

[1:36:04] s a fair or it

[1:36:05] s

[1:36:06] one event. But we believe that

[1:36:08] kind of early seed funding to

[1:36:09] those types of cultural groups

[1:36:11] allows them to start dreaming

[1:36:12] about what a kind of more

[1:36:14] robust organizational

[1:36:16] structuring might look like.

[1:36:17] Um, and then lastly, I would

[1:36:19] just just to complicate this a

[1:36:21] little bit more, the eventual

[1:36:25] kind of growth or size of any

[1:36:26] particular cultural center,

[1:36:30] right? A hub is influenced by

[1:36:32] four cultures funding, but also

[1:36:34] deeply influenced by the

[1:36:37] ability of that community to

[1:36:39] get resources from itself, but

[1:36:42] also attract resources from

[1:36:45] foundations, from corporations,

[1:36:47] from their own local municipal

[1:36:48] government. So there

[1:36:48] s that

[1:36:50] kind of complex revenue pie

[1:36:51] that I think determines the

[1:36:53] likelihood of any one

[1:36:54] individual organization

[1:36:55] growing. So for us, it

[1:36:56] s

[1:36:57] something we definitely believe

[1:36:58] in, a value that we hold. And I

[1:37:00] think so many of our efforts

[1:37:03] are designed to uncover who is

[1:37:04] just starting up, what is it

[1:37:05] that they need. And I believe

[1:37:06] the kind of programmatic

[1:37:08] framework that we have allows

[1:37:10] us to do that. Um, based on the

[1:37:11] needs of where those

[1:37:13] organizations are and hopefully

[1:37:15] that, that that spoke, spoke to

[1:37:18] to your question.

[1:37:21] Here. Can I just ask one more?

[1:37:22] I just I should have started

[1:37:24] with a thank you because you

[1:37:27] really have been so receptive

[1:37:29] and helpful when we are doing

[1:37:31] our our is to try and refer as

[1:37:33] many. Thank you. Existing

[1:37:36] cultural organizations and um,

[1:37:38] folks that are really trying to

[1:37:42] enter the arena and I know that

[1:37:44] launch is, you know, a small

[1:37:46] percentage of the budget. So I

[1:37:48] wonder if that could be an

[1:37:52] opportunity to, um, reevaluate

[1:37:54] how much we are dedicating to

[1:37:56] that. Um, but really, my

[1:37:57] questions were around, what can

[1:38:00] we do to help increase the

[1:38:03] overall participation? So, um,

[1:38:05] i would encourage, as we think

[1:38:08] about this balance, um, areas

[1:38:10] that we can help or if it

[1:38:11] s

[1:38:12] just a fact that if we

[1:38:15] establish an organization and

[1:38:15] there

[1:38:17] s no sustainable funding

[1:38:20] around it or participation,

[1:38:24] then it might not be a good use

[1:38:28] of our investment to try and

[1:38:29] help this organization get

[1:38:32] started and then let it go and

[1:38:33] have it struggle. So what can

[1:38:37] we do to, um, encourage that

[1:38:38] support in the in the

[1:38:39] surrounding community? And that

[1:38:40] would be something that I would

[1:38:42] be interested in helping with.

[1:38:44] But a longer conversation. But

[1:38:46] always appreciate your

[1:38:47] engagement. Thank you.

[1:38:48] Absolutely.

[1:38:49] Thank you very much.

[1:38:51] Councilmember Fain sc

[1:38:52] Councilmember Lewis. And then

[1:38:52] we

[1:38:52] ll go to Vice Chair

[1:38:53] Balducci.

[1:38:56] Thank you chair. And thank you,

[1:38:59] Brian and your team for your

[1:38:59] presentation today. It

[1:39:00] s been

[1:39:02] quite informative. Uh, my

[1:39:05] questions really relate a lot

[1:39:07] to what Councilmember Fain was

[1:39:09] just asking about. And, um, and

[1:39:11] just want to fine tune what I

[1:39:13] heard a little bit, which is,

[1:39:15] um, I heard you talk about

[1:39:17] getting acquainted with new

[1:39:19] organizations that, you know,

[1:39:20] maybe they MAY be a club or

[1:39:22] they meet maybe just forming.

[1:39:22] Um, they

[1:39:24] re not quite an arts

[1:39:28] organization yet. Um, you also

[1:39:31] said that we are providing, um,

[1:39:32] consulting support to

[1:39:33] organizations, and i

[1:39:33] m

[1:39:35] wondering if that consulting

[1:39:38] support is that available to,

[1:39:41] um, you know, pre-application

[1:39:43] during applications, you know,

[1:39:44] is it technical assistance

[1:39:47] after money is awarded? Um,

[1:39:49] what kind of, um, consulting or

[1:39:51] technical assistance could be

[1:39:55] available to these new and, um,

[1:39:57] up and coming organizations?

[1:39:59] Thank you for the questions.

[1:40:00] Councilmember Lewis. I

[1:40:00] ll, I

[1:40:00] ll

[1:40:01] turn to my colleague Calandra

[1:40:03] Childress and let her speak a

[1:40:05] little bit more to the, um,

[1:40:07] that that technical assistance

[1:40:07] that we

[1:40:08] re able to offer

[1:40:09] organizations.

[1:40:10] Yeah. Thanks, Brian. And thanks

[1:40:12] for the question, Council. Um,

[1:40:12] it

[1:40:14] s a great point that, um,

[1:40:16] organizations, especially as

[1:40:17] they are getting off the

[1:40:18] ground, need a little bit more

[1:40:19] support in their grant

[1:40:21] applications. And that is

[1:40:22] definitely what we found is

[1:40:24] that that is one of the highest

[1:40:27] requested supports. So we do

[1:40:28] have technical assistance

[1:40:30] available both for the launch

[1:40:31] program. So knowing that those

[1:40:33] organizations MAY not have that

[1:40:34] internal capacity to to have

[1:40:36] grant writers on staff or to be

[1:40:38] familiar with just the the

[1:40:40] processes of going through that

[1:40:42] kind of work. So, um, we

[1:40:42] ve

[1:40:44] built into our, um, structure

[1:40:45] and our budget specifically for

[1:40:47] the launch program, and then

[1:40:49] also knowing that our building

[1:40:50] for equity program. So the work

[1:40:52] that we do with facilities to

[1:40:54] buy, build, renovate, and also

[1:40:56] the, the project development

[1:40:58] within facilities. So

[1:41:00] organizations who have the idea

[1:41:02] that they they want to move

[1:41:03] towards a facility but maybe

[1:41:03] don

[1:41:04] t have a facility picked

[1:41:05] out, they don

[1:41:06] t quite know

[1:41:08] exactly the structure, the

[1:41:09] location, how they would go

[1:41:11] about moving from an itinerant

[1:41:12] organization to a grounded

[1:41:14] organization. Those are ones

[1:41:16] where we really focus that

[1:41:17] technical assistance, because

[1:41:18] we know that those are the

[1:41:19] organizations that most need

[1:41:21] that capacity building. So, um,

[1:41:24] this is a new program for us.

[1:41:26] So, um, as we mentioned, we

[1:41:26] re

[1:41:29] really tracking the requested

[1:41:30] consultant support and really

[1:41:32] trying to understand where, you

[1:41:33] know, where do we have

[1:41:34] consultants already on our

[1:41:35] roster, where do we need to

[1:41:36] continue to build that depth?

[1:41:38] How do we actually really make

[1:41:39] sure that those consultants are

[1:41:41] from the communities where

[1:41:42] those requests are coming from?

[1:41:43] We know that different

[1:41:45] communities across King County

[1:41:47] have different needs, different

[1:41:49] familiarity, different comfort

[1:41:51] levels. And so we

[1:41:51] re really

[1:41:52] we

[1:41:54] ve done a really, um, a

[1:41:57] detailed inventory of where all

[1:41:59] of our consultants are coming

[1:41:59] from, where they

[1:42:00] re located,

[1:42:02] languages spoken, all of that

[1:42:03] kind of thing, and are

[1:42:04] continuing to build out the

[1:42:05] roster to make sure it reflects

[1:42:07] the the needs and the requests

[1:42:07] that we

[1:42:08] re getting.

[1:42:10] Great. Thank you.

[1:42:13] Thank you, Vice Chair Baldacci.

[1:42:15] Thank you. Chair. And, uh, I

[1:42:17] add my thanks to all the folks

[1:42:19] at Fork Culture, the leadership

[1:42:21] and all the staff. What a big

[1:42:22] year. I mean, just reflecting

[1:42:25] back on the early discussions

[1:42:27] about what became Doors Open

[1:42:29] was, uh, Access Washington. I

[1:42:31] believe in initially and just

[1:42:34] kind of thinking forward to the

[1:42:36] massive effort that was going

[1:42:38] to be needed to staff up,

[1:42:40] create all these new programs,

[1:42:41] create all of the processes

[1:42:42] from scratch. I mean, this has

[1:42:44] been a startup, a huge startup,

[1:42:46] and I just want to say, you

[1:42:48] know, sort of as you look back

[1:42:51] to the results and the, uh, the

[1:42:53] feedback that you got in that

[1:42:55] survey, you know,

[1:42:57] congratulations, it has been a

[1:43:00] really amazing success story

[1:43:02] and just has helped so many

[1:43:04] people. And I hope you all feel

[1:43:06] very justifiably proud of the

[1:43:07] work that you have done.

[1:43:08] Because it I mean, I don

[1:43:09] t know

[1:43:09] anywhere else in the country

[1:43:11] that has done anything quite

[1:43:12] this big, quite this fast. So,

[1:43:15] uh, congratulations and thank

[1:43:17] you. Uh, on the, the discussion

[1:43:18] that

[1:43:19] s sort of starting up with

[1:43:21] the last two, uh, commenters,

[1:43:22] Councilmember Lewis and

[1:43:24] Councilmember Fain. I want you,

[1:43:26] my colleagues, to know that the

[1:43:28] big picture questions and

[1:43:30] topics that you are raising

[1:43:32] have been on our radar screen

[1:43:34] radar screen the entire time.

[1:43:36] Uh, from the initial, uh,

[1:43:40] unsuccessful launch of, uh, the

[1:43:41] access was the first time where

[1:43:43] these were the underlying

[1:43:44] questions about how do you

[1:43:46] strike that balance between

[1:43:48] supporting the pillars, really

[1:43:50] the pillars of the the large

[1:43:51] organizations that have been

[1:43:52] the pillars of a very

[1:43:54] successful arts and culture and

[1:43:56] history and science community

[1:43:58] here in the northwest, while

[1:43:59] also making sure that you are

[1:44:01] supporting geographic areas

[1:44:03] that want to have centers that

[1:44:05] want to have hubs of activity

[1:44:06] that grow the future

[1:44:07] generations of all of the, you

[1:44:09] know, sectors there that

[1:44:11] creates vibrant spaces

[1:44:13] throughout King County where

[1:44:14] people will go and spend their

[1:44:16] money and, and, um, you know,

[1:44:18] and also to make sure we

[1:44:18] re

[1:44:19] balancing with smaller

[1:44:20] organizations, newer

[1:44:22] organizations, more diverse,

[1:44:24] uh, organizations that

[1:44:25] represent their, you know, have

[1:44:26] deep roots in their communities

[1:44:28] that are community based. It is

[1:44:30] an incredible balancing act.

[1:44:32] And I will say that, um, I do

[1:44:34] have a little bit of a flashing

[1:44:35] red button when people name

[1:44:36] Bellevue as a as a cultural

[1:44:37] hub. That is very successful,

[1:44:38] because I would invite you to

[1:44:39] come visit the empty

[1:44:40] storefronts of the places that

[1:44:40] don

[1:44:42] t survive in Bellevue. Uh,

[1:44:44] the the poster child for that

[1:44:45] was the Bellevue Arts Museum,

[1:44:47] and I have to say, was past

[1:44:49] tense because it finally did go

[1:44:50] out of business after many

[1:44:52] years of teetering on the edge.

[1:44:56] Um, every community has got its

[1:44:58] arts and culture, dreams and

[1:45:01] needs and and our balance is to

[1:45:02] try to create a floor

[1:45:04] underneath all of them. We

[1:45:04] can

[1:45:05] t make them all succeed. We

[1:45:05] can

[1:45:07] t make them all, uh, like,

[1:45:09] even with the massive funding

[1:45:10] of Doors Open, you could not

[1:45:12] fund the the hundreds of

[1:45:14] institutions. And in the new

[1:45:15] ones that happen every day to

[1:45:16] the level that would keep them

[1:45:19] all healthy, we provide a

[1:45:20] cushion, if you will. We

[1:45:22] provide an opportunity to do

[1:45:24] things that maybe organizations

[1:45:24] wouldn

[1:45:26] t have done before. Uh,

[1:45:27] we provide an opportunity to

[1:45:30] grow and thrive, but we don

[1:45:30] t.

[1:45:30] We

[1:45:33] re not ongoing, sustaining

[1:45:35] funding at a at the level that

[1:45:36] every organization needs. We

[1:45:38] are we are a pedestal, if you

[1:45:39] will. I

[1:45:39] ve tried three

[1:45:40] different metaphors. I think

[1:45:43] they all fail anyway. Um, so

[1:45:43] what I

[1:45:45] m interested in, and I

[1:45:45] don

[1:45:46] t want to discuss it today

[1:45:46] because we

[1:45:47] ve been at this a

[1:45:48] while, but I want to discuss it

[1:45:50] in the future. Please. To the

[1:45:51] for culture folks. Now, as we

[1:45:54] are starting to do the early

[1:45:56] evaluation of Doors Open, all

[1:45:57] of these questions should be

[1:45:58] framed up. Many of them were in

[1:46:00] the implementation plan that we

[1:46:01] passed, but we should frame up

[1:46:02] these questions that the

[1:46:04] members are asking and be

[1:46:06] providing data and information

[1:46:09] to help us see that full and

[1:46:10] complex and beautiful map of

[1:46:12] all the ways in which, for

[1:46:13] culture is supporting the

[1:46:14] community. Those examples we

[1:46:16] brought today were just lovely

[1:46:18] and very inspiring. But like

[1:46:18] now we

[1:46:19] re going to need to see

[1:46:22] the whole map and where we can

[1:46:25] do better as we inevitably

[1:46:27] start to move towards re

[1:46:28] reauthorization, which will

[1:46:30] come up faster than you can

[1:46:32] possibly imagine. So that is it

[1:46:34] that I just wanted to really

[1:46:35] say congratulations and honor

[1:46:38] the incredible and historic

[1:46:40] effort that went into where we

[1:46:41] are today. And those numbers

[1:46:44] from your survey about, um, how

[1:46:45] the very high percentage of

[1:46:46] people who engage in arts and

[1:46:48] culture, uh, is a testament to

[1:46:49] that success, and of course,

[1:46:52] always more to do. But really,

[1:46:53] congratulations to you all.

[1:46:55] Well, thank you, Councilmember

[1:46:57] Balducci. And also thank you

[1:46:58] for all your support along the

[1:46:59] way and all the council members

[1:47:01] to get us here. This was a team

[1:47:03] effort. It was a group effort.

[1:47:04] And I totally agree. There are

[1:47:06] things that are working. This

[1:47:06] thing is working. It

[1:47:07] s doing

[1:47:08] what it was intended to do. But

[1:47:10] we are not afraid of iteration

[1:47:12] or evolution or adaptation as

[1:47:13] necessary. And I think the data

[1:47:14] we

[1:47:15] re gathering will help frame

[1:47:16] those conversations. So totally

[1:47:17] agree. Thank you for that

[1:47:19] comment.

[1:47:21] Thank you all. Um, well, I

[1:47:22] ll

[1:47:24] call myself just to say that I

[1:47:26] want to echo the thanks from

[1:47:29] the vice chair on all of the

[1:47:30] work that has been done over

[1:47:32] the last couple of years in

[1:47:33] getting this program going.

[1:47:34] Just in my conversations with

[1:47:36] community, uh, I hear

[1:47:38] frequently about how vital this

[1:47:40] has been in terms of, uh,

[1:47:42] supporting the cultural sector.

[1:47:45] So and I think it, uh, there

[1:47:45] s

[1:47:47] been a lot of positive feedback

[1:47:47] that I

[1:47:48] ve received about how

[1:47:50] things have been implemented.

[1:47:52] And so, uh, very grateful to

[1:47:54] the team for that work. Um, I

[1:47:55] also want to sort of post a

[1:47:57] question more for like future,

[1:47:58] not for right now, but just

[1:47:59] echoing a little bit some of

[1:48:00] the questions that

[1:48:01] Councilmember Perry mentioned

[1:48:03] about the, uh, financial

[1:48:06] picture. I do want to note for,

[1:48:06] for colleagues, there

[1:48:07] s some,

[1:48:08] you know, pretty detailed

[1:48:10] information. And in our packet

[1:48:13] around pages starting at around

[1:48:15] 102 with a little bit more

[1:48:16] detail, financials that were on

[1:48:18] the slides. If you all want to

[1:48:20] take a look at that. Um, but I

[1:48:21] do think that that question

[1:48:23] about how we are planning on

[1:48:25] spending the money and the kind

[1:48:26] of future years, I think, would

[1:48:28] be helpful for us to see

[1:48:29] especially, uh, you know, I

[1:48:30] think I remember when we

[1:48:31] discussed implementation plan

[1:48:33] that we had the concerns about

[1:48:34] the volatility of the of the

[1:48:37] sales tax revenue. Uh, and just

[1:48:38] thinking ahead about how that

[1:48:40] money is being used. So I think

[1:48:41] the, the, the ending, the

[1:48:43] ending balances, I realize I

[1:48:43] m

[1:48:43] Brian, I

[1:48:44] m glad that you also

[1:48:45] kind of flagged that. But like

[1:48:47] that that gets attention. Uh,

[1:48:48] but I think for that reason, I

[1:48:50] think it would be helpful to

[1:48:51] have that kind of detail of

[1:48:54] like, how do we, uh, project

[1:48:56] the money to be used in future

[1:48:59] years, in the future? Um, and

[1:49:00] so I look forward to kind of

[1:49:01] continuing those conversations,

[1:49:03] and I appreciate all the work

[1:49:03] that

[1:49:03] s that

[1:49:06] s been done. Um,

[1:49:07] all right. I don

[1:49:08] t see any

[1:49:10] further questions. So I

[1:49:10] m going

[1:49:11] to say thank you again to

[1:49:13] Brian, Claire and Calandra for

[1:49:15] the presentation and for all of

[1:49:16] the work. Uh, colleagues, we

[1:49:17] re

[1:49:18] closing out today. This

[1:49:20] concludes the action items on

[1:49:22] our agenda. Uh, before we

[1:49:24] adjourn, I want to make sure

[1:49:25] that technical difficulties

[1:49:25] didn

[1:49:26] t stop council members

[1:49:28] from voting. Any items. Uh,

[1:49:29] Blake, did we have anybody who

[1:49:30] are excused from the vote that

[1:49:31] might be able to cast their

[1:49:33] votes? Now?

[1:49:34] Yeah. Yes, chair. Thank you

[1:49:35] very much. Council members

[1:49:37] Mosqueda and von Reichbauer

[1:49:41] were excused from 2026 0106,

[1:49:44] 2026, 0123 and 2020. Arden MAY

[1:49:47] 20th 26012.

[1:49:48] All right, I know Councilmember

[1:49:51] Mosqueda is absent today, but I

[1:49:52] see Councilmember von

[1:49:54] Reichbauer on the line. Uh

[1:49:56] Councilmember von Reichbauer.

[1:49:57] Would you like to record a vote

[1:49:59] on that? All right. There may

[1:50:01] be technical difficulties

[1:50:04] there, so we will, uh. Um, ask,

[1:50:05] uh, remind folks that if a

[1:50:07] member is excused, they MAY

[1:50:08] email the committee clerk with

[1:50:09] their vote by the end of the

[1:50:10] day. If they were present for

[1:50:12] earlier part of the meeting.

[1:50:14] All right. With that? Uh, thank

[1:50:15] you to everybody who

[1:50:16] participated into the today

[1:50:17] s

[1:50:18] meeting. If there is no further

[1:50:19] business to come before the

Committee of the Whole

Agenda

Transcript