Arts advocacy victories in Seattle, which substantially funded the Seattle Arts Commission, brought about the formation of a new group of highly motivated grassroots volunteers, representative of broad geographical and artistic diversity, and secured a first time appropriation for the State Arts Commission from the State legislature.

The Arts Alliance of Washington State was officially created as a non-profit organization with a mission to provide service and advocacy to all the arts, with emphasis on quality and accessibility to all citizens. The Arts Alliance developed “Artsource: A Citizen’s Guide to the Arts in Washington State” which became the basis for arts planning and advocacy work that continued throughout the 1980’s.

The Arts Alliance separated lobbying advocacy work from charitable and educational programs, creating Washington State Arts Alliance, a 501 (c)(4) to do the advocacy work while the 501 (c)(3) became the Washington State Arts Alliance Foundation.

The advocacy organization became increasingly active within the halls of the Washington State Legislature, hiring professional lobbyists Jean Leonard and Susie Tracy to be “our eyes and ears in Olympia” in 1989. WSAA successfully advocated for the elimination of property taxes, B&O taxes and certain sales taxes for non-profits cultural organizations and for passage of legislation that made tax-exempt financing available for non-profits undertaking capital projects. WSAA advocacy helped establish the Percent for Arts Program statewide, secured increases in the state biennial budgets earmarked for arts funding, and ensured eligibility for arts industry recipients of monies from local Hotel/Motel taxes. WSAAF became dormant around 1992.

Gretchen Johnston was hired as full-time Executive Director of WSAA/F, and the Alliance began to grow from a volunteer-driven effort into a professionally managed advocacy operation that successfully lobbied for an increase in funding to the Washington State Arts Commission (WSAC). WSAA programs now include Arts Day, candidates’ forums, and legislative candidates’ surveys to raise the stakes between candidates and the electorate during election cycles. In 2000,Ms. Johnston began her ongoing tenure as an officer of the State Arts Advocacy League of America, now a council under the umbrella of Americans for the Arts, bringing WSAA into a national leadership position in arts advocacy.

WSAA successfully lobbied for legislation that provided non-profit organizations flexibility when renting out their tax-exempt property, and sustained state funding for the Washington State Arts Commission. WSAA/F launched an extensive strategic planning process which yielded both short term and long range plans including plans for the development of “2020 Vision,” a long-term advocacy agenda for arts support into the year 2020. In 2003, WSAA began producing the Washington Cultural Congress at Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat.

WSAA’s advocacy efforts in the legislature and elsewhere helped protect the future of arts education in our state and helped to revive and invigorate the Washington Arts Alliance for Arts Education—now called ArtsEdWashington. WSAA began using CapWiz software in partnership with Americans for the Arts, that helps all WSAA/F constituents take immediate action to pressure (or congratulate) public officials for arts-sensitive legislation. Since 1997, membership in WSAA/F has grown from 49 organizations and individuals to more than 300.