Over the weekend, my bestie and I finished a half marathon with the Seattle Marathon and it taught me something about resilience.

We need one another.

And not just because the new National Endowment for the Arts research on Arts Engagement reflecting on Spring/Summer 2024 arts activities deems social connectivity as critical to our health - and achievable through arts engagement. But because so much of our world these days centers on consumerism and comparisons; things that plague our mental health, bog down our senses of self, and encourage isolation.

Seattle, WA is known for claiming the top of national ranking lists for its rent prices, number of cranes in its downtown core, and minimum wage. Feelings of change, newness, and challenge have been compounding for decades and for the arts and cultural sector, this can be traced back to the World’s Fair in 1962.