The Seattle Symphony Invites Local Organizations to Apply for Its Community Stages Fund

The Symphony is accepting applications now through November 1, 2022.

Celebrating its second year, Community Stages Fund (CSF) is accepting applications now through November 1, 2022, welcoming local organizations to perform on Benaroya Hall stages. CSF is an initiative focused on serving organizations, groups and artists within the Puget Sound region that do not have access to streaming technology or performance spaces of their own. Selected grantees will receive access to the resources and performance space(s) they need to produce and present their art online and to connect with their community. CSF grantees will also receivefully sponsored or highly subsidized use of the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital HallandOctave 9: Raisbeck Music Center, along with in-house digital streaming equipment and production crew support.

The Seattle Symphony created CSF to help combat the systemic inequities that impact ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab or Native American) communities, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these preexisting challenges. As part of the Seattle Symphony’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan,the goal of the CSF initiative is to invest in greater support for underrepresented artists, including those who identify as ALAANA, LGBTQ+ or female, whether on Benaroya Hall stages or through the Seattle Symphony Live streaming service. Through the support it offers, CSF continues to amplify voices throughout the Puget Sound region and give back to the organizations, groups and artists who have helped shape and grow this region’s unique musical and cultural landscape.

The first year of CSF made many successful performances from grantee organizations possible, and the Symphony was thrilled to share its venue and streaming platform with several new partners, including Key to Change, which used the grant to hold masterclasses and give local youth in underserved areas the opportunity to perform at Benaroya Hall. Other selected organizations like ARC Dance Productions, Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Marysville, Evergreen City Ballet and Puget Sound Company applied the grant in a number of resourceful ways, from fundraising efforts to live and streamed performances. This year, the program is again being supported by the Tagney Jones Family Fund at the Seattle Foundation. Thanks to this generous gift, the Seattle Symphony is able to continue CSF for another year and provide additional support mechanisms for organizations of diverse backgrounds in the Pacific Northwest.

Applications for Community Stages Fund grants opened on July 28, 2022. The selection committee consists of Seattle Symphony leadership in addition to representation from partners and leaders within the community. The committee prioritizes selections based on each organization’s demonstrated level of need as well as service to racially diverse communities. Interested organizations can find all application information and submission details at seattlesymphony.org/communitystages. Applications are due by November 1, 2022, and initial participants will be announced by December 1, 2022.

“The Community Stages Fund helps ensure that our city’s diverse communities gain equitable access to the Seattle Symphony’s performance venues,” says Krishna Thiagarajan, President & CEO of the Seattle Symphony. “We are eager to further share the stages at Benaroya Hall and welcome new people to the beautiful arts center our Symphony calls home. We hope this next year of funding for the Community Stages Fund helps more artists and organizations utilize our community space to connect with their audiences, and hopefully reach new audiences, in Seattle and beyond.”

“We are thrilled to have the continued support of Maryanne Tagney, whose commitment to the Community Stages Fund has gifted Seattle’s cultural and artistic scene another year of this impactful program,” shares Maria Kanakis Yang, the Seattle Symphony’s Vice President of Development. “We look forward to fulfilling this gift to invite more of the community to Benaroya Hall’s stages, and we are excited to see the many possibilities of this initiative as we further develop invaluable collaborations throughout our community.”

The Seattle Symphony is excited to celebrate the multitudes of genres, performance styles and voices of the Pacific Northwest.

For questions about application process, please contact community.stages@seattlesymphony.org.

Krishna Thiagarajan's position is generously underwritten as the Leslie Jackson Chihuly President & CEO.
The Seattle Symphony’s Community Stages Fund is generously supported by the Tagney Jones Family Fund at Seattle Foundation.
The Seattle Symphony’s Family, School & Community programs are supported by 4Culture, Arakawa Foundation, Marco Argenti, The Klorfine Foundation, Merriman-Ross Family, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Maryanne Tagney, the Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation and individual contributions to the Seattle Symphony Annual Fund.