Council approves transition of cultural events program from partnered to sponsored model

The Olympia City Council voted Feb. 25 to transition the city’s Cultural Events Program from a city-partnered model to a city-sponsored model, a change staff said will be implemented through a two-year transition in 2025–2026.

Olivia Salazar De Bro, Culture and Belonging Manager in Parks, Arts and Recreation, described the program’s origins in 2020 equity and belonging work and explained the partnered approach grew quickly after an initial Juneteenth collaboration. She said partners receive varying levels of city support under the partnered model — including funding, staffing and communications — and that the majority of the Cultural Events budget was spent on partnered events in 2024.

Paul Simmons, Parks, Arts & Recreation director, said the partnered model has been successful at increasing cultural representation but is not sustainable at current staffing levels. He said staff propose a sponsored model that provides $12,000 in funding and a toolkit of administrative resources to established partners, shifts operational responsibilities to event organizers, and gives community groups greater independence while the city remains a resource. Staff also proposed working during the transition to explore merging the Cultural Events Program with the Inspire Olympia grants program.

Councilmember Gilman moved to transition city support for cultural-event programming to a sponsored approach; the motion passed on a voice vote. Council discussion noted a soft handoff for communications and an intent to prioritize existing partners for 2025 while building capacity and exploring future funding paths.