In Arts News: 619 Western Fallout

In the days following the ugly surprise announcement of eviction, the tenants of the 619 Western Building are still in shock over the sudden nature of it all. This would be especially true for tenants like Alex Matthews, one of the founding members of The Satori Group -- a young experimental theater company that has made the 619 its home. "All we got was a notice of eviction from the building owner saying that after Aug 1, we could no longer 'publicly assemble.' You can imagine what that does to a theatre company," Matthews wrote in a letter sent to Seattlest on Thursday detailing his company's plight.

"Basically, this letter means that we have 10 days to terminate our scheduled programming." The programming, it should be noted, centered around having performances of some sort five days out of the week. This is an entirely different business model than the one most of the other tenants have. While the majority of the artists within the building have normal business operating hours, a lot of energy and focus goes into planning for the monthly Art Walks the building was host to. Companies like The Satori Group are dependent on a steadier stream of clientele.

Regardless of the business model, the timeline still seems arbitrarily abrupt, especially considering that the decision to bump up the move-out date by six months (and to cease and desist public assembly by eight months) will have such an adverse effect on so many.

"10 Days. Without a word of notice from the city before today," Matthews writes. "That is not good policy. I understand that the building is unsafe, but 10 days?"

Indeed, and it is hard to imagine a similar thing happening to a big business entity. One could argue that big businesses would not be housed in a run down edifice, which is true, but given the circumstances, if big businesses were at the center of this problem, wouldn't the various governmental agencies involved work harder to work something out?

Tangentially, we can go back to the old saw that goes: "There is a run down neighborhood. Artists move into the neighborhood and makes it vibrant. People flock to the neighborhood, driving up property values. Business moves in and kicks the artists out. Artists move to another run down neighborhood."

Ever notice that the only party that doesn't really benefit from their hard work in this circle is the artist?

In related news, the artists within the 619 have just announced the Last Thursday Art Walk at the 619 on their Facebook page, quite frankly a brilliant idea. Considering this will be the last Art Walk the building will host, conducted in the manner with which it is accustomed, it is only fitting to close things out this way.

If you've never been, this is truly your last chance to see a genuine Arts coral reef of an event in action. If you're a long time fan, go say goodbye to the old girl.