Education and Culture of Seattle

( Seattle University )

Seattle is the educational and cultural center of the surrounding area and provides many fine institutions and opportunities.

In the city, The University of Washington, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, and The Seattle Community Colleges provide higher education to students.

In the Greater Seattle area, educational institutions include the University of Washington branch campuses in Tacoma and Bothell, Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and numerous community college systems.

The 23 branches of the Seattle Public Library and the 44 branches of the King County Library System encourage lifelong learning as residents choose from wide-ranging collections and participate in classes and programs.

The Seattle area offers a strong array of cultural opportunities in music, drama, and dance. Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts, founded in 1914, continues a rich tradition of training artists, actors, and playwrights, as does the University of Washington.

Seattle has numerous performance spaces, including the Seattle Center Opera House, Seattle Center Playhouse, and Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center, as well as the Broadway Performance Hall at Seattle Central Community College and many others.

( Benaroya Hall )
Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony, opened in 1998 in the downtown area. The city’s active theater scene includes the Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Intiman Theatre Company, and the Seattle Children’s Theatre, as well as several smaller companies.

Seattle is rich in museums of art, history, and science and technology. The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, which interprets the natural and human history of the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Rim, and the remodeled Henry Art Gallery are on the University of Washington campus.

The Museum of History and Industry is just south of the university, on the shore of Lake Washington. Other major city institutions include the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Seattle Children’s Museum, and the Frye Art Museum. (The Seattle Art Museum closed for renovation and expansion in 2006 and will reopen in 2007. The museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park overlooking Elliott Bay was to open in 2006.)

( The Wing Luke Asian Museum )
In the International District, the Wing Luke Asian Museum interprets the histories of Asian communities in Seattle. The Pacific Science Center, in Seattle Center, is an educational facility that seeks to promote public understanding and appreciation of science.

Experience Music Project, an interactive museum exploring creativity in American popular music, opened in 2000, also in Seattle Center. Seattle’s world-class Woodland Park Zoo is characterized by beautifully designed natural habitats. On the waterfront, the Seattle Aquarium provides information and exhibits about the wide variety of sea life in the area.

Seattle hosts a number of annual cultural and community festivals. Seafair is the city’s biggest summer festival. First held in 1950, it includes hydroplane races and a torchlight parade.


( Bumbershoot Arts Festival )
The Northwest Folklife Festival takes place over Memorial Day weekend, and the Bumbershoot Arts Festival is held each Labor Day weekend—both take place at Seattle Center and showcase a rich array of musical, literary, and artistic expression.

Each year many of the city’s communities celebrate their unique character with neighborhood fairs, such as the University District Street Fair and the Fremont Fair, that offer music, crafts, and food. Festival Sundiata, held in February, celebrates the city’s African American heritage, and in the summer Bon Odori is the city’s Japanese American celebration.