2018 State of the Arts

By Billy Thomas and Lydia Boss, special contributor

Artist Trust is a nonprofit dedicated to helping Washington State artists of all disciplines thrive. Its mission is to support and encourage artists working in all disciplines to enrich community life throughout Washington State.

Founded in 1986, it was formed by a group of artists and arts lovers who came together to create support for art at its source—the artist. Since then, Artist Trust has invested over $11 million in Washington State artists through funding, trainings, and resources and has provided programs that meet the changing needs of artists.

The organization approaches its work through a lens of racial equity and helps artists establish and maintain careers through direct support, connections, and advocacy.

Lydia Boss, Artist Trust program manager, said the survey “was first launched in 2016 to allow us to better understand the artists we serve and share information from responding artists with other artist-serving organizations.” Although new to the organization, having started last January, Boss says she is proud of the traction that the survey has gained. “Over the past three years, Artist Trust has implemented programing, facilitated community-wide conversations, and worked directly with artists and arts organizations to respond to the information gathered from our Annual Survey.”

Read the full Artist Trust survey and State of the Arts under News -> State of the Arts, or by clicking here.

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