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When it was founded in 2020, North Pole Studio was an all-volunteer organization that served just 20 artists with autism and intellectual disabilities. Now, it hosts 275 artists and has a paid staff of 10. But it’s still in the same 1,200-square-foot studio in Industrial Northwest. Thanks to arts philanthropist and real estate investor Al Solheim, it’s about to get the space it needs.
Solheim, known around town as the “Father of the Pearl District,” is providing a building at a generous rent price with four times as much space at Northwest Glisan Street and 11th Avenue so that North Pole can go from cramped to (almost) colossal and serve more artists with special needs. In its new home, North Pole will be surrounded by commercial and nonprofit galleries, with Pacific Northwest College of Art just a few blocks away.
Artists with disabilities have often been segregated from those without, executive director Carissa Burkett says. Now, North Pole will be in the thick of things, where it belongs. “We hope that this location will allow us to bring more visibility to this population of artists,” Burkett says, “and continue to expand their representation within the local arts community.”
On First Thursday, especially, it will.