The New Face of Arts Leadership in the West - westaf - The Western ...

Topic 2A: Perspectives on Diversity in
the Arts Today: Issues Related to Biracial
Individuals and Cross-Group Prejudice
Sarfaty Presentation
Sarfaty showed a Powerpoint presentation
with images of cultural festivals
in Seattle while she spoke.
Orit Sarfaty: In my biography, I mentioned that
I am also an urban planner. I work at the Seattle
Center. At the Center, one of the missions is to
present a series of community programs to the
public. One of the programs we are most proud
of is our series of cultural festivals that we have
called Festál. My presentation is about culture
as it is filtered through these cultural festivals.
What I find most interesting is that, as culture and
our idea of culture are evolving, I, as a member
of the festival executive committee, have to
grapple with how the festivals can accurately
and relevantly portray culture to the community.
First, some background. The Seattle Center is
a product of the 1962 World’s Fair. It is where
the Space Needle is located. As a community
member and a planner, my observation is that
the Center is the closest thing Seattle has to
a town square. It is where the naturalization
ceremony happens; it is where the running
marathon begins and ends; and it is where,
on 9-11, thousands of people spontaneously
gathered for a five-day vigil. That town-square
element is particularly relevant for the festáls,
the cultural festivals that come to this campus
under the backdrop of the Needle—the city’s
totem pole, if you will—and present their
wares to mainstream society, to anyone who
comes by. These are free, mostly outdoor
festivals that occur in tandem with the Sonics
basketball games, with the Wagner Ring
Cycle, with people walking their dogs.
The mission statement, “The Festál showcases
events that promote the cultural and ethnic
traditions of our heritages for the enjoyment
and enlightenment of all people in the larger
community,” points out two things. The first is
that, for a community to decide it wants to
show its wares in a very public setting, at Seattle
Center, that community has to think about what
it wants to represent to the outside community.
Depending on where that community is, as a
new immigrant culture, as an established culture,
as one that wants to dispel stereotypes, the
festivals reflect that lens. The festivals are born
out of the community. A leader of a community
comes to Seattle Center and says, “I want to
participate in this series. I am from the Pakistani
culture and I want to have a three-day festival.
Will you help me with labor, with cultural facilities,
with marketing?” That is what Seattle Center
does. It also performs a service in introducing
many people who aren’t familiar with the process
of grant writing and fundraising to that process,
and that has become very helpful as well.
The second point of the mission statement is
the community-education piece. The belief
at Seattle Center is that you don’t want to be
talked to. The word education is used very
sensitively because that word, in some circles
at Seattle Center, is seen as condescending.
If culture is presented at the Seattle
Center, then it should be on everyone’s own
terms. If you want to get something more
out of it, then it is your choice to get closer
to that culture, rather than you having to
take a seat, watch a presentation, and take
back what they want you to take back.
We currently host 19 festivals. In the coming
year, we are adding three more. Eventually,
the thought is that every single weekend is
going to have a discrete festival. To point
out a few: The Tet Festival celebrates the
Vietnamese New Year, the Seattle Cherry
Blossom Festival has been around for 30
years and has a very fascinating history, and
Bastille Day celebrates French culture.
A tremendous number of strengths has been
developed through the sponsorship of festivals.
One strength is that the community itself has
to decide how to present a culture to the
public. For the Vietnamese culture to move
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