From March 23 to March 26, On the Boards will present the UN-[TITLED] Project, a multi-site project at Wa Na Wari and Inscape Arts to immersively engage with gentrification, displacement, community meaning, cultural memory, and healing in the Central District and the Chinatown-International District (CID). The project was conceived, created, and curated by Berette S Macaulay, with the partnership of the Black Heritage Society of Washington State, Vanishing Seattle, The Sankofa Theater, and Arte Noir. Although her background includes places as diverse as her birthplace of Sierra Leone, the U.K., Jamaica, and Manhattan, Macaulay knew she wanted to create a piece deeply rooted in local Seattle stories.
This Saturday, May 14, Inscape Arts will host a Spring Open House highlighting some of the impressive artists and studios in residence at the former Immigration and Naturalization Services building at 815 Seattle Blvd. S. The event was organized by Friends of Inscape, a group dedicated to preserving the historic building after it was listed for sale in 2021 and put at risk of redevelopment. The Spring Open House is another way that Friends of Inscape hopes to showcase the history of the space and its current use as an artist enclave with strong roots in the Seattle community and deep personal and historical resonance for many. Inscape has been closed to the public for the past two years, and the Spring Open House will mark the first time since the start of the pandemic that the building has opened its doors to the public.
From 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m five days a week, Tori Shao works as a landscape architect. But after work and on weekends, Shao is creating artistically — whether that be making, bottling, and designing labels for small-batch hot sauce for friends, starring in a Vanity Fair video with her sister, or quite literally painting the town red as a local muralist. Since late 2019, Shao has also had a ceramics studio space as a tenant at Inscape Arts. Last year, the owners of the former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) building — which houses Inscape — listed the building on the market, putting Seattle’s largest artist enclave at risk for redevelopment into commercial or residential spaces.
The former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) Building in the CID has lived many lives: It was built in 1932 to detain and deport Chinese immigrants during the Chinese Exclusion Act era. It held Japanese American men before they were sent to local incarceration camps during World War II. It deported thousands of immigrants and refugees throughout the 20th century, and naturalized others. And after it was vacated as an INS building in 2004, it lived again as the home of Inscape Arts. With over 125 tenants, Inscape offers the largest working arts and creative space in Seattle.
