4th Annual Arts Crush Comes to Seattle Today

Expect over 100 organizations with almost 200 events and more than 10,000 patrons for this fourth year of ARTS CRUSH. Over 1000 people are expected between 11am and 2pm at the Arts Crush Kickoff Fair at Seattle Center on September 22, 2013. Ten days later the annual ARTS CRUSH festival begins and runs all over the Puget Sound region from today, October 1-31. It features unique creative arts adventures developed to reawaken the senses and engage people through community, collaboration and innovation. These once-a-year arts events blow the lid off standard gallery shows, theatre performances or dance recitals. AllFEATURED ARTS CRUSH EVENTS are FREE or Pay-What-You-Will.

In addition to the KICKOFF, FEATURED EVENTS and CRUSH CREW (an interactive online scrapbook for Arts Crush artists and audiences), ARTS CRUSH will work in partnership with the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (OAC) on their new program, The Creative Advantage. Together ARTS CRUSH and OAC will bring artists into select Seattle Central Pathway Public Schools (Grades K-12) for engaging once-in-a-lifetime creative adventures.

A complete list of the hundreds of arts participants and free activities will be posted on http://artscrush.org on September 4, 2013.ARTS CRUSH programs include:

Kickoff Event: September 22 - Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion; Browse the arts booths and experience free live performances from 11am - 2pm.

Crush Crew: Throughout October. Artists and audiences log their adventures in the online scrapbook at http://blog.artscrush.org/

Free Nights: Throughout October. Registration runs September 10 - 25

Pay-What-You-Will: Throughout October. Check the website for availability.

Kid Crush: Throughout October. Check the website for dozens of special youth/family oriented programs.

ARTS CRUSH FEATURED EVENTS engage the audience in a more creative way than sitting and watching a performance. They areFREE or Pay-What-You-Will and run throughout the month at locations all over Puget Sound. Some of those events include:

10/5/2013 8pm

Secret speakeasy location to be revealed upon RSVP - Seattle

Atypical love poems are adapted on site into love songs. Audience members use their own random word pile on the interactive poetry wall to assemble a strange poem about love -quirky love, desperate love, single love, homo love, sick love or even grammatically incorrect love. Word sharing and trading is encouraged. The poetry wall will be judged by professional editors and the winning poet wins a subscription to Copper Canyon poetry books ($400+ value). This winning poem will be transformed into lyrics for the evening's musical finale.

10/2/2013 5:30pm

Teatro ZinZanni and across the street at Seattle Repertory Theatre - Seattle

A free evening of cirque and comedy! ZinZanni's Caesar and Cleo host Happy Hour that includes appetizers and a no host bar. Participants mingle with ZinZanni artists then head across the street for Opening Night of The Servant of Two Masters, a classic tale of mistaken identity. RSVP Required. Space is limited.

10/4/2013 - 10/6/2013 various times - Seattle location TBA

Join comedians from around the city to create a hilarious, possibly bizarre and maybe even a terrifyingly funny show out of thin air. You have 48 hours. The clock starts Friday at 7pm at Pitchstorm -let the writing begin! Saturday is all about edits and cold reads andSunday afternoon is a long rehearsal followed by a 6pm performance. Start as a Level 1 sketch comedian - Finish the weekend a level 11.

10/5/2013 8:00am - 11:30am

Sammamish River Trail & VALA Arts Center - Redmond

Novice digital photographers are invited to bring their camera to a 1.5 hour walk and shoot with professional photographer Debbie Donaway along the Sammamish River Trail. Learn how to capture the beauty and diversity of landscapes and wildlife along the trail. Afterwards enjoy a 1.5 hour session at the VALA Art Center where participants upload photos and discover techniques to create unique digital art pieces.

10/5 10am - 2pm

PNTA - 2414 SW Andover Street - West Seattle

Rob teaches participants ages 10+ to transform friends into Ghouls, Goblins, Witches and Clowns. This hands-on exploration will give participants the tools they need to take Halloween to a new level of fun!

10/21/2013 5:30pm - 9pm

The Maxwell Hotel 300 Roy St - Seattle

3 hotel rooms. 3 new performances: a play, an opera and a dance piece. Each piece is created specifically for hotel room and beginning at 6pm, hourly performance tours lead patrons on a dramatic journey through the hotel, peeking in on the secret lives of its guests. Attendees arrive at 5:30pm to sign-up for a tour while enjoying food, wine, and entertainment in The Maxwell Hotel lobby throughout the evening.

10/11/2013 5pm - 8pm

ArtXchange Gallery 512 1st Avenue - Seattle

This is a participatory Peruvian Celebration featuring dance, food and music. Balorico Dance takes the lead with a traditional Peruvian dance performance. Then they teach the audience various dance steps from Peru's hybrid contemporary culture that includes highland, coastal and jungle region dance steps. Portland-based Peruvian artist William Hernandez will have his Milagro exhibit on display at the gallery and bring a photo or note for the Milagro altar that represents the miracle you want to manifest.

10/19/2013 5pm - 7pm

The Wing Luke Museum 719 South King Street - Seattle

A collaborative performance art event addressing the themes of marriage and love that includes South Asian artists: Humaira Abid (Sculpture); Nitya Venkateswaran (Classical Indian Dance); Sheeba Jacob (Music); Tasveer (film); and Activists from Trikone (Spoken Word and Poetry). Attendees can roam the museum and explore each medium with the artists.

10/20/2013 2pm

Massive Monkees Beacon Dance Studio 664 S. King Street - Seattle

Participate in an open rehearsal and video shoot. Together , the audience and artists will try out some dance moves and explore the roots of hip hop in traditional African dance, Brazilian Capoeira, and Asian (Shaolin) Kung Fu.

10/4/2013 - 10/25/2013 .

The actress moves among the audience, conversing as some of Shakespeare's most famous women.

October 4th- 7pm C&P Coffee Co. 5612 California Ave SW, Seattle

October 11th - 6:30pm - Victrola Roastery and Cafe 310 E Pike Street, Seattle

October 12th- 8pm - Victrola Coffee and Art 411 15th Avenue E, Seattle

October 13th- 6pm - Elliott Bay Book Company 1521 10th Ave Seattle

October 18th- 7:30pm - Couth Buzzard Books 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle

October 25th- 7:30pm - Richard Hugo House 1634 11th Ave, Seattle

All ages are welcome at these 3 free events

10/5/2013 1pm - 2:30pm Crossroads Mall - Bellevue

Learn and sing songs from The Great American Songbook led by Adam Burdick

10/12/2013 10am - 9:30pm St. Mark's Cathedral - Seattle

Four Community Sing-alongs at set times throughout the day as part of the Choral Festival featuring over two dozen of Seattle's finest choral ensembles.

10/27/2013 3pm Plymouth Congregational Church - Seattle

Celebrate Benjamin Britten's centenary with some of his most loved choral works as well as new works by American composers.

ARTS CRUSH is a month-long festival connecting artists and audiences with invigorating new experiences at hundreds of events across the Puget Sound region. It reaches people in unique ways; through hands-on participation, once-a-year glimpses behind the scenes, surprise arts experiences in unexpected places, and more. In addition, ARTS CRUSH extends an open invitation to sample the abundance of arts and culture in our region by offering free or discounted admission to more traditional arts experiences. The goals ofARTS CRUSH are to:

ARTS CRUSH is made possible by generous support from Amazon.com, Washington State Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture and PNTA. The ARTS CRUSH Kick-Off Fair is co-sponsored by Seattle Center

Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) is a leadership and service organization founded in 1997 to advocate for the region's growing theatre community's causes and administer much-needed services. TPS is now one of the Northwest's leading arts advocacy and leadership organizations, providing programming and services that benefit both the theatre community and the larger regional arts community.TPS has a two-fold mission: To promote the spiritual and economic necessity of theatre to the public, and to unify and strengthen the theatre community through programs, resources, and services. TPS membership includes more than 1,700 individual artists and 140 performing arts organizations. Furthermore, their Space for the Arts program, Arts Crush and educational programming serves more than 200 non-theatre arts organizations and innumerable individual artists annually. In addition to ARTS CRUSH, TPS sponsors workshops and seminars, regional auditions, manages affordable rehearsal and performance space in the Seattle Center House, produces the annual Gregory Awards, and coordinates and promotes other events which strengthen and celebrate our local community.