SEATTLE — The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas, or CD Forum, has mentored and celebrated black artists since its creation in 1999.
"The CD Forum has been a place where black artists and black thinkers can come in; they can explore what it means to be a black artist, a black thinker," Programming Curator Dani Tirrell says. "What we do there is, we produce black cultural programming."
The CD Forum features a host of different events- from the Sunday Dinner speaker series with renown artists like Donald Byrd, to comedy nights, to kitchen sessions, to a choreography event that Tirrell curates, called Showing Out.
Showing Out is both a performance and mentorship event, created in 2013 by Donald Byrd, Sharon William and Sandra Jackson-Dumont. Now, Tirrell curates and hosts the event.
"Let's place a festival, a content, a show, where black artists are at the forefront of their work,"Tirrell says.
Above all, the CD Forum mentors its artists through lasting relationships. As Tirrell says, artists don't simply participate in a show and then leave. The CD Forum helps guide the artists through all parts of the artist process, from business to networking to much more.
The next Showing Out is January 17th and 18th at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. Tickets are available online.
Programs like the CD Forum are made possible with the support of ArtsFund. The nonprofit is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It has helped build and strengthen the Puget Sound arts and cultural community through leadership, advocacy, and grant-making since 1969. A single donation to ArtsFund supports more than 120 organizations throughout King and Pierce Counties.
The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas | 104 17th Ave S
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