Pratt Fine Arts Center

Printmaking shop at Pratt
Hot glass (glassblowing) facility at Pratt

Pratt Fine Arts Center is a non-profit arts education and resource center in the Squire Park area of Seattle's Central District. The center employs 155 teaching artists and conducts more than 600 classes annually.[1]

Pratt was founded in 1976 by the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation[2] and named in honor of slain civil rights leader Edwin T. Pratt.[3] In 1982 it was turned over to a newly created 501(c)(3) non-profit, City Art Works.[2] Since then, Pratt has grown into a nearly $3 million annual budget. With an average class size of 6.5 students, the school had 4,335 total class registrations in 2019.[1]

Pratt includes facilities for glassblowing, lampworking, glass beadmaking, flameworked glass, metal sculpture, bronze casting, stone carving, jewelry and metalsmithing, woodworking, printmaking, painting and drawing.[2] The Center has 14 studios across three buildings: the main building in Pratt Park (also named after Edwin Pratt) and two additional buildings in the block immediately south of the park.[4] The latter two were originally part of the adjacent now empty Wonder Bread bakery.[5]

Programs include adult and youth education (including free Saturday programs for youth), master artist intensives and visiting artist programs, and studio access programs for working artists.[6] In 2019, Pratt served 960 youth and teens through education programs and granted 139 new independent artists access to its studios.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Annual Report" (PDF). Pratt Fine Arts Center.
  2. ^ a b c "History", Pratt Fine Arts Center quarterly class schedule, Winter 2004, p.1.
  3. ^ "A Lasting Tribute", Pratt Fine Arts Center quarterly class schedule, Winter 2004, p. 1.
  4. ^ Location on the official Pratt website. Accessed 24 February 2007.
  5. ^ Lynn Porter, "Wonder Bread site back on the market", Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, June 6, 2006 (?).
  6. ^ "Education Programs", Pratt Fine Arts Center quarterly class schedule, Winter 2004, p.3.
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