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The City of Seattle
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A resolution creating an Arts and Cultural District in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle.
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Recitals:
Resolution 31555 created a citywide program of Arts and Cultural Districts, to be managed by the Office of Arts and Culture.
The Seattle Comprehensive Plan at the time calls for the support of Arts and Cultural Districts as a means to “support arts and cultural uses and the economic benefits they provide,” and encourages the City to “allow regulations and incentives to be adopted specifically for designated cultural districts,” and to “allow adopted guidelines or regulations to modify, exempt, or supersede the standards of the underlying zone to encourage arts and cultural uses.”
According to the 2025 budget report issued by ArtsFund, the creative sector within the ZIP codes encompassing Georgetown generated more than $6 million in earned revenue and received just over $13 million in contributed revenue, underscoring the substantial economic and community impact of arts and cultural activity in the district.
Arts and entertainment-related businesses and organizations add cultural economic diversity to a city, enhance the lives of the city’s residents and visitors, and positively impact the city’s economy by generating jobs and revenue.
Georgetown is a vibrant and diverse creative district, home to six neighborhood associations, seven artist collectives, 11 design studios and centers, seven creative fabrication companies, seven galleries, two museums, eight creative schools, five performance and event venues, and 13 annual neighborhood festivals, collectively contributing to the cultural, economic, and community vitality of the neighborhood.
The Georgetown Association of Arts & Culture (GTAAC) has been highly successful in bringing the community together by uniting a wide range of multidisciplinary artists, organizations, and creative practices, fostering collaboration, shared identity, and inclusive cultural engagement across the neighborhood.
The GTAAC has demonstrated sustained success in raising funds and securing investments that support neighborhood activation, strengthen cultural identity, and amplify Georgetown's role as a thriving arts and culture district.
The GTAAC employs a variety of strategies to support the neighborhood, including coalition building; annual educational and creative skill-sharing workshops; networking opportunities for residents, artists, and creative businesses; and ongoing advocacy on behalf of the Georgetown community.
Georgetown has served as an unofficial last-chance safety net for artists and arts organizations, providing space and opportunity that has helped prevent displacement beyond the city limits and allowing creative communities to remain rooted within the city.
The arts and cultural community of Georgetown has played a vital role in the neighborhood’s evolution from a primarily commercial manufacturing area into a dynamic district that blends industrial work with creative practice, cultivating DIY character that reflects and embraces Seattle’s cultural identity. Therefore,
Be it resolved by the City Council of The City of Seattle, the Mayor concurring:
Section 1. The City of Seattle establishes an Arts and Culture District in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, to be known as the Georgetown Arts and Cultural District.
Section 2. The City of Seattle directs appropriate members of the City’s departmental staff to actively support and work with staff in the Office of Arts and Culture to develop and maintain the District, and to support the health and vitality of the artists, creative businesses, and artists residing in the District.
Section 3. The City of Seattle encourages all residents of Georgetown, and especially those who own property or businesses within the District, to support, promote, and help maintain artists, arts organizations, and arts events in Georgetown.
Adopted by the City Council and signed in open session in authentication of its adoption on
President of the City Council
Signed in concurrence on .
Katie B. Wilson, Mayor
Attested on .
Scheereen Dedman, City Clerk
Seal