Consolidated Works was a "multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center" located successively in two former warehouses in the

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny ...

neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, USA, just west of what would be considered the

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neighborhood within South Lake Union. It incorporated an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...

, and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical inform ...

hall, as well as studio spaces for artists and a bar and lounge. The center was founded in 1997 by Matthew Richter. Richter had previously worked at Seattle's alternative newspaper '' The Stranger'' as theatre editor. Funding came from grants, donations, and corporate sponsorship, and ''The Stranger'' also agreed to provide advertising for events at ConWorks in exchange for storage space at its warehouse. Richter became the center's Executive Director, with Meg Shiffler becoming Director of Visual Art until 2003. The center opened in 1999, working from temporary premises on Terry Avenue for three years. ConWorks' renovated facility at 500 Boren Avenue North opened on 13 September 2002. The refit of the warehouse, built in 1948, cost almost half a million dollars. Consolidated Works' aim was to give all the art forms equal billing - to be "neither a theater with art in the lobby nor a gallery with a stage in back; it is neither a cinema that plays music nor a music hall that shows films

To this end, its presentations offered high-profile artists like

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

alongside emerging talent, primarily from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. This policy of encouraging young creative professionals also included an Artist-in-Residence program. As well as mounting its own productions and exhibitions, the center also hosted touring events - for example, the ''Curiously Strong'' contemporary art program (sponsored by

Altoids Altoids are a brand of mints, sold primarily in distinctive metal tins. The brand was created by the London-based Smith & Company in the 1780s, and became part of the Callard & Bowser company in the 19th century. Their advertising slogan is "The ...

) and the popular ''14/48'' theater show (where 14 short plays are written and produced in 48 hours, begun in 1997). Richter's vision was one of experimentalism, and he argued that "if the quality of the programming was always of a strong finished caliber, then we weren't doing our job right

Restructuring in 2005

On February 8, 2005, the board of Consolidated Works dismissed Richter, the co-founder and executive director. The president of the board, Robb Krieg, did not reveal the reasons for the firing. Richter's dismissal caused consternation in the Seattle arts community. A 36-signature petition was presented to the board, signed by senior figures in other local institution

and all of ConWorks' creative staff resigned. In September 2005 the board announced that Corey Pearlstein, a producer with a performing arts background had been named to the positio

At the time of this writing, the company was preparing to open a major world premiere by Seattle-based, internationally known kinetic sculpture, kinetic sculptor

Trimpin Trimpin (born Gerhard Trimpin)
FutureMusic.com, June 21, 2006. Accessed online 6 October 2007. (born 195 ...

. From ''The Stranger'', July 29: " onworksannounced that it would not renew its lease with Vulcan, Inc. because (a) the building requires seismic improvements and (b) Vulcan 'will require a nine-month exit clause to permit it to develop our South Lake Union lot if an opportunity arises.' ConWorks has begun looking for new accommodations."

Closure in 2006

On December 7, 2006, the ''Seattle Times'' reported that ConWorks would close by the end of the yea

References

Official site
[defunct
States of the site
from November 27, 1999, to October 4, 2006, are available on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
'Explanations differ in firing at ConWorks', ''The Seattle Times'', 10 March 2005

External links

Consolidated Works: the Teardown
Slog, November 10, 2008
Official site
efunctbr>States of the site
from November 27, 1999, to October 4, 2006, are available on the

. {{coord, 47, 37, 25, N, 122, 20, 07, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-WA 1997 establishments in Washington (state) 2006 disestablishments in Washington (state) Art galleries disestablished in 2006 Art galleries established in 1997 Art museums and galleries in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Seattle Defunct art museums and galleries in the United States Defunct museums in Washington (state)