Reese Tanimura and Northwest Folklife: Uplifting creatives through workforce development

By Vaughn Williams

Today, on the Morning Update Show, we were visited by Reese Tanimura, the managing director of Northwest Folklife, a bastion of the Seattle community. Northwest Folklife is a nonprofit organization that has been a part of the Seattle community since 1972. This year is the 51st Annual Northwest Folklife Festival, and it is ready to bring enthusiasm and excitement all throughout the city. Storytelling and folk are the lifeblood of culture and human progression. Be a part of this progression. This year’s theme is metamorphosis; watch the transformation of art, culture, and folk at the Seattle Center from May 27-30.  

Northwest Folklife as an organization emphasizes the importance of community building and is a major advocate for the growth and prosperity of arts and culture within the Seattle area. “What is the day-to-day need out there to make sure that arts and culture is an essential part and matters to our community,” said Tanimura. This statement exemplifies what Northwest Folklife is about; they empower our community’s artists and culture bearers. 

Tanimura touched on the idea that art and culture are more important than ever. She acknowledged that communities worldwide relied on the arts for entertainment during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Now that we are in the latter stages of the pandemic, Tanimura wants to emphasize that Northwest Folklife is more than just an annual festival. It has a multitude of year-round programs that benefit young creatives.

These programs are used to embolden creators and communities. Northwest Folklife has many programs like the Unbroken Circle program, where people participate in arts grounded in heritage that help the youth get in touch with their roots.

Tanimura also put a spotlight on its Cultural and Creative Workforce Development program. This program partners with the city to provide opportunities for young people to get paid to experience cultural and creative workplaces. However, this program goes further than that. The Cultural and Creative Workforce Development program makes it possible for the youth to work with mentors and small businesses/organizations that usually would not be able to have interns.

“Northwest Folklife really wants to have that intergenerational connection and really wants to have that lineage of having programs that continually iterate and evolve around their cultural identity and expressions,” said Tanimura.

Tanimura goes on to explain the importance of these programs. “When we think about, like, young people, they should learn and pay their dues. [but] Some of these young people are supporting their families. They’re contributing. Some of them are out on their own. This is a very expensive city and region to live in; part of this is making it possible for them to do both, basically cultivate that ingenuity and nurture that ingenuity.” 

Cultivating art within our communities can often be a challenge. “In black and brown communities, the creative and innovative goods are extracted. And the products are extracted from our communities,” said Tanimura. Northwest Folklife’s goal is to fund these creatives within our community because they want our young people to be able to live and inspire us more than they already have. They want young people to be able to pursue not only a passion but also a passionate career.

Make sure to check out Northwest Folklife and try to catch their upcoming annual festival from May 27-30, 11 a.m to 10 p.m at the Seattle Center, learn more at, https://nwfolklife.org/festival/home.html 

Feel free to watch the full interview on the Youtube video above.