Proposals due 5pm Friday, May 22, 2015.

Click here to apply.

#SDF2015

PHOTO BY TREVOR DYKSTRA

2015 DESIGN FOR EQUITY

2014 Design in Motion

2013 Design in Health

2012 Engage Your World

2011 Beneath the Surface of Design

Seattle Design FestivalEvery September, the Seattle Design Festival brings together designers, community members, experts, and city officials to celebrate and explore how design improves the quality of our lives and our community. Since 2011, the Seattle Design Festival has been presented by Design in Public and AIA Seattle in collaboration with dozens of partner organizations.

Every year the Festival grows. It is now the largest design-related event in the Pacific Northwest. In 2014, over 10,300 people attended Festival events citywide. The 2014 Festival included 80 programs hosted by 57 partner organizations.

#SDF2015: Design for EquityThis year, our theme is Design for Equity. It creates pause and reflection. What is equity? What is equitable design? Is it process or product or both? It stretches across sectors - social justice, urban planning, ecology, and finance to name a few - and brings up ideas of dialogue, form, transparency, access, inclusion and investment. Design for Equity challenges us to question our biases and assumptions and work toward ensuring that everyone in our society — from every background, ability, race, age, gender, location or economic status — can access the same opportunities and outcomes, both now and in the future.

Follow the conversation on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

HANDLES facebook.com/DiPSeattle @DiPSeattle @SeaDesignFest

HASHTAGS #SDF2015 #DesignInPublic #DesignForEquity #SeaDesignFest

A child plays at the SDF2014 block party.

Why Participate?The Seattle Design Festival is a vehicle for cross-disciplinary and inter-organizational exchange, drawing the public into the center of those interactions. We believe that the more we work together, learn from one another, share information, discover new processes, and remix solutions, the more Seattle will benefit as a whole.

Working together, we bridge disciplinary divides and learn to approach problems from new angles to address our needs more holistically. Together, under the banner of the Seattle Design Festival, we can more powerfully communicate the role design plays in equitable places. Festival partners have effectively used participation in the Festival to increase their event attendance, expand their audiences and amplify their messages.

SDF2014 Showcase14 PHOTO BY TAOMEISTER

Are we eligible to host a program?We welcome participants from all fields of design — and more. You don’t need to be a professional designer or architect to host a program! You can participate if you are one of the following:

+ Nonprofit organizations

+ Community groups and individuals

+ Cultural institutions

+ Public agencies

+ For-profit companies are eligible to host a program if they are also sponsors of the Festival at the level of $1,000 or higher. See Sponsorship Prospectus: http://bit.ly/SDF2015Sponsor

What kind of program can we propose?In years past, the Festival has offered a wide variety of programs. They have included: talks, tours, films, exhibitions, site-specific installations, performances, family- and child-oriented programs, parties, workshops, games, hands-on making, craft, and more. We are open to your ideas. All program types are open for inclusion in the Festival, provided they meet the minimum requirements as follows:

+ Programs must be open to, accessible by, and of interest to the general public;

+ Programs must take place in Seattle;

+ Programs must be scheduled during the Festival dates, September 12-25, 2015 (exhibitions may start and end on different dates, but should include the Festival dates);

+ Programs must relate to design;

+ Programs must demonstrate the festival theme Design for Equity in both the content and the planning process.

SDF2014 Pecha Kucha Night Vol 57: Designing Leadership PHOTO BY TAOMEISTER

What should we plan for between now and the festival?APRIL Wednesday April 15 Call for for Entries announced

MAY Thursday May 7 Program Rumpus event (optional)

Friday May 22 (5 pm) Deadline to submit program proposals

JUNE Friday June 5 Notification of acceptance/requests for revisions

Friday June 19 Deadline to submit detailed program information

JULY Wednesday July 1 Public launch and promotions; planning meetings continue

AUGUST Continued promotions; planning meetings continue.

SEPTEMBER Saturday September 15 - Friday September 25 Seattle Design Festival

What are you committing to?If you participate in the Festival, your organization agrees to:

+ Promote participation in the Festival as a whole, and in other Festival programs through your networks;

+ Promote your own program through your networks to drive attendance at your event;

+ Be responsible for organization and direct costs associated with your program;

+ Be responsible for your own venue arrangements (except those organized by the Festival as part of the Block Party and Conference);

+ Provide program details and organizational information and logos to Design in Public staff for inclusion on website and promotional materials in a timely manner;

+ Provide attendance estimates to Design in Public staff after completion of your program;

+ Participate in monthly Program Partner planning meetings with SDF2015 Festival Committee.

SDF2014 Active Design in the Bullitt Environment & Bullitt Center Tour PHOTO BY TAOMEISTER

Saturday 12 Seattle Design Festival Block Party, Day 1,

Occidental Park

Sunday 13 Seattle Design Festival Block Party, Day 2,

Occidental Park

WHAT Host an activity at the SDF Block Party to

engage with the public. Just as in years past, we will make space available for you to share your work. If you are organizing a tour, bike ride, activity, or other interactive event to engage the public, consider hosting it during the Block Party weekend. This year the Block Party will include both Occidental Mall and Occidental Park. Note: There is a separate process for the large-scale outdoor design/build installations. They will be created through the Design Rumble process. For more information, designinpublic.org/SDF2015Rumble.

WHEN September 12 and 13

WHERE Occidental Mall and Occidental Park, Pioneer Square. (If you have access to a nearby venue, consider hosting your program during the Block Party weekend.)

$ The Block Party will be FREE and open to the public, but Festival-goers will be able to contribute a suggested donation to the Festival to recoup permitting fees, security and equipment rental costs for the Block Party.

Please note We will do our best to let you know what else will be happening concurrent with your proposed program so that you can make an informed decision about other happenings that might compete for your intended audience.

15 1614 17

Friday 25 Closing Party

#SDF2015 Calendar: September

Where does our program fit?WHAT Host a Citywide Program to activate the

two weeks of the festival.

WHEN September 14-18, September 20-25

WHERE All over Seattle, from Youngstown to Northgate to everywhere in between! You should plan on making all necessary arrangements with the venue of your choice. The Festival Committee may be able to provide limited assistance with venue coordination, particularly at Friends of Waterfront Seattle’s indoor and outdoor event spaces. If you need help placing your program, please reach out to info@designinpublic.org.

$ Your program can be free or ticketed. We strongly encourage you to make events free, or sliding-scale. If you choose to require advance RSVP or Registration for a free program, you will be responsible for setting that up independently and sharing RSVP information and links with Design in Public. (We are happy to offer advice.) If you choose to charge a cover for your event, you will be asked to contribute 25% of ticket sales above the actual cost of hosting your program to Design in Public. This helps us recoup our own costs so the Festival can continue each year.

1. 2. WHAT Organize a lecture, panel event, skillshare,

workshop, screening, action, or other learning activity with an emphasis on audience engagement during the Conference.

WHEN Saturday, September 19

WHERE Seattle Public Library, Central Branch

$ The Conference will be sponsored by the Seattle Public Library, whose policies prohibit the collection of fees within the library. Therefore, if you choose to be a part of the Conference on September 19, please note that your program must be free and open to the public.

WHAT Design and Host a public

parklet. PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks. The Festival Committee is working with the Seattle Department of Transportation and WASLA to temporarily transform Seattle’s streets. If you are interested in hosting a PARK(ing) Day Installation, look out for our Call for Participants in August.

3.

4.

2320

Saturday 19 Seattle Design

Festival Conference,

Seattle Central Public Library

22 2421

Friday 18 PARK(ing) Day,

city-wide

1.

3.

2.

4.

AccessiblityThe Festival Committee hopes to create a festival environment that is accessible and inclusive to all attendees. Our Accessibility & Hospitality coordinator is available to help guide you through the process of arranging language or ASL interpretation, livecasting and remote attendance, and other venue logistics for your event. We also strongly encourage you to limit any ID checks to alcohol point-of-distribution, rather than at venue point-of-entry, with programs otherwise open and all-ages.

Festival CommunicationsThe Design in Public website, designinpublic.org (which houses all SDF pages) will promote all the events of the festival. Details of your program will be easily accessible to all site visitors who visit the site.

The Festival has been promoted locally through earned media (radio, online news, television, community calendar listings, neighborhood blogs, print publications), advertising (buses, radio sponsorship, online and print publications), social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and word of mouth. Internationally, Design in Public is expanding promotions on the World Design Festival and Design Week scene.

Letter to Seattle

Please note Design in Public and Seattle Design Festival can not provide or pay for accessibility arrangements for our partners, but we can advise you on how to make your venue as accessible as possible, and connect you with providers.

PHOTO BY TREVOR DYKSTRA

Save the dateThursday, May 7, 2015. 5:30-7:30pm

Cornish College of the Arts1000 Lenora Street, 7th Floor

Seattle, WA 98121

In the spirit of dialogue and gaining new perspective, this year we offer program partners an opportunity to connect and build programs together. On Thursday, May 7, we are hosting a Program Rumpus, where partners can explore the theme through conversations and facilitated activities. All potential partners considering proposing a Seattle Design Festival program are invited to participate. Whether you have an inkling of an idea for a program and need a partner to provide depth, or you have a defined program and would appreciate a new perspective to help revitalize it, the Program Rumpus will be an evening of active idea-generating and dialogue with people equally interested in design and equity. All ages are welcome to participate. RSVP online at http://sdf2015rumpus.bpt.me/

#SDF2015 Program

Rumpus

Design in Public believes in a future Seattle — recognized as an international design city — where citizens, designers and leaders work together to create their best shared city. Design in Public educates and inspires the public to recognize good design and participate in the making of their environment. We connect design professionals from different disciplines to exchange ideas on design practices and innovations; and we partner with design-interested organizations to invigorate their activities by leveraging the power of design thinking. Design in Public is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that was founded in 2011 as a strategic initiative of the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. More at designinpublic.org.

AIA Seattle is a 501(c)6 non-profit, professional association of architects, allied professionals, and laypeople. AIA Seattle is committed to excellence in architecture and service to the public. They provide the architecture community with resources and relationships to make a difference through design. AIA Seattle membership is open to anyone with a professional or personal interest in architectural practice, and in the creation or appreciation of the built environment. More at aiaseattle.org.

About Design in Public and AIA Seattle