Seattle Co-Arts main objectives are, as follows:

1. To encourage community interest in the arts.
2. To encourage members to greater creativity and self-improvement.
3. To facilitate presentation of members’ work to the public.
4. To offer educational opportunities to deserving students and members through demonstrations, lectures and by inviting nationally known artists to instruct workshops.
5. To cooperate with other organizations in furtherance of art appreciation and in the improvement of creative standards.

Co-Arts accepts professional and non-professional artists for membership. There are two types of membership within the organization—Associate and Active. Associate membership is open to all artists who desire to join. Active membership, which includes a screening process, is a prerequisite for entry into all juried shows and for presentation of all work to the public.

The artists in the membership are diverse in their art interests, approaches and styles. All are encouraged to express themselves with complete artistic freedom. While many members are award winning artists represented in regional, national and international collections, Co-Arts recognizes the importance of nurturing all artists in the organization, hobbyist, novice and seasoned professional alike.

In keeping with Co-Arts’ objectives, there are many activities that involve members throughout the year:

• Our annual education program includes two local workshops, a weeklong Fort Worden workshop with a renowned artist, and monthly demonstrations by noted Puget Sound artists. Also, Co-Arts sponsors a Painting of the Month event open to all members and voted on by the membership.
• Each year Co-Arts presents a juried show. The annual exhibitions are open to all members who have Active membership status. These exhibitions are noted for their fine art and variety of artistic talents. Previous shows have been held at the Frye Art Museum, Washington State Convention Center, the Burien Art Center, Issaquah Art Gallery, Monte Cristo Hotel and numerous other excellent venues.

• Co-Arts provides free weekly plein air paint-outs during the summer months and a five-day paint-out in the fall that is held at various locations throughout the Northwest. The annual Fall paint-out is open to members and non-members alike. In addition, a plein air show is held in the fall in the Seattle area.
• Co-Arts provides an extensive library of books, videos and DVDs that are available to all members.
• To facilitate the presentation of artists’ work to the public, Co-Arts shows and sells members’ artwork at various locations in the Northwest area. At the present time, artists’ work is being shown at Northwest Hospital, Stevens Hospital in Edmonds and Valley Medical Centers.
• In 1988, Co-Arts honored its founding president by voting to award an annual art scholarship to a deserving student artist. This $1000 scholarship is one of the most generous of its kind in the Northwest.
• In addition to the organization’s efforts to promote the arts, the membership donates to groups in the Seattle area who are in need of our help. We have held drives for many diverse organizations including Clothes for Children, and the Sanctuary Art Center. Presently, the organization is raising money for an artist in New Orleans whose life was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Seattle Co-Arts continues to grow and to provide a meeting place for artists of all kinds to meet and share their love of painting. Thus, with vision and hard work, what began as a few friends meeting together to paint has grown into one of the fi nest art organizations in the Pacific Northwest.