Staying Power: The Cultural Space Agency and Equitable Arts Development

Session 3E | Thursday | 9:15 – 10:30 AM (PT)

About the Session

Join a panel discussion with the founders and directors of the Cultural Space Agency, Seattle’s municipally chartered, mission-driven cultural real estate development company. Find out how this new organization brought together dozens of community-based Black, Indigenous, and other POC organizations, raised over $23 million in two years, and acquired an initial portfolio of properties ranging from a 100-year-old vaudeville theater to the ground floor of a new affordable housing complex. The Cultural Space Agency represents nearly a decade of collaborative work between the City of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, its Office of Economic Development, its Mayor’s Office, and its Department of Neighborhoods, all led and coordinated by the Office of Arts & Culture. It is the first Public Development Authority chartered by the City of Seattle in nearly 40 years. It is entirely community-driven, its leadership and governance bodies intentionally structured to reflect the communities the organization is designed to serve.

About the Moderator

Matthew Richter

The Cultural Space Agency

Matthew is the originator and co-founder of the Cultural Space Agency, having served as its founding Interim Executive Director for the organization’s first two and a half years. He was the founding director of both the Consolidated Works Contemporary Arts Center and the Rm 608 gallery for visual and performing arts and spent two years building the internationally recognized Storefronts Seattle program. He spent nearly a decade as the Cultural Space Liaison at the City of Seattle, building a nationally unique body of work, including the publication of the CAP Report: 30 Ideas for the Creation, Activation, and Preservation of Cultural Space. He is a recipient of the Safeco Insurance RUDY Award for nonprofit director of the year, has been made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, received an Award of Merit from the American Planning Association Washington Chapter, and is the only two-time recipient of the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award.

About the Speakers

Quanlin Hu, AICP, LEED AP ND

Quanlin has 17 years of planning & development experience in public, private and non-profit sectors with work in real estate development and disposition, affordable commercial and cultural spaces, land use planning, community outreach and empowerment. Her current role is the Director of Real Estate with the Cultural Space Agency. She also provides planning and development services for lasting community impacts through her consulting practice PlanReal Partners. Quanlin received her Masters in City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University, and her Bachelors in Urban Planning from Wuhan University, China. She has obtained AICP, LEED AP ND, and PMP certifications.

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