How We're Funded

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture receives funding from two primary streams: the Admission Tax and 1% for Art.

The Admission Tax

When you attend certain cultural venues or events in Seattle, like a performance at the Seattle Symphony or riding the Big Wheel on the Waterfront, 5% of your ticket price goes towards the City’s Arts and Culture Fund.

We take this money and reinvest it back into Seattle’s arts and culture.

Some of our programs include:

• The Creative Advantage, which provides arts education to all students in Seattle Public Schools.
• Funding individual artists and organizations through grants that nurture creative expression and spur economic growth throughout Seattle.
• Operating the ARTS at King Street Station gallery, dedicated to increasing opportunities for people of color to generate and present their work, and the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, which stewards African American arts and culture in Seattle.

By enjoying hometown experiences like taking a trip up the Space Needle, cosplaying at Emerald City Comic Con, or going to the movies, residents and visitors help us to build and sustain Seattle’s creative sector, creating a cycle of artistic production and vibrancy.

The Admission Tax was introduced in 2010 by Ordinance 123155, which amended Section 5.40.120 of the Seattle Municipal Code. It states that we use this money to help:

• Keep artists living, working, and creatively challenged in Seattle
• Build community through the arts and create opportunities for the public to intersect with artists and their work
• Include art opportunities for youth in and out of school.

Check out the City Finance website as well as History Link to learn more. Nonprofit organizations are exempt from the Admission Tax.

To learn more about arts and culture experiences happening in Seattle right now, check out our calendar, Visit Seattle, and Downtown Seattle Association.

1% for Art

Seattle was one of the first cities in the United States to adopt a percent-for-art ordinance in 1973. Ordinance 20.32.010 requires capital construction departments like Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle City Light, and Seattle Public Utilities to set aside 1% of their construction project costs for art.

This money goes into the Municipal Art Fund, which supports our Public Art program. We commission, purchase, install, and maintain art all over Seattle. By providing opportunities for you to encounter art in parks, libraries, community centers, on roadways, bridges, and other public venues, we enrich residents and visitors’ daily lives while giving voice to artists.

We are stewards of this money and can only spend it on projects in departments where it came from.