By JASMINE MAHMOUD
Published online: November 4, 2009

Issue 2 Sneak Peak. Despite our best efforts, The Arts Politic Issue 2: Bias is not yet published. It *soon* will be. (*A few weeks, fingers crossed). In this interim, we intend to sustain arts political dialogue with sneak peaks of content from the upcoming issue. Thank you for your engagement, and please let us know your thoughts.

Issue 2’s election-themed Dialogue section includes interviews with local political candidates from across the nation. One candidate was Sally Bagshaw, 58, a public service professional and former chief of the Civil Division for the King County Prosecuting Attorney. Last night, Bagshaw won Seattle City Council’s Position #4 seat with an impressive, and decisive 69 to 31 percent victory. Last month, I interviewed Bagshaw about her arts policies, her ideas on arts funding cuts and her thoughts on how the arts define Seattle’s city landscape.

Seattle's newest Councilmember (elect), Sally Bagshaw

One thing I found fascinating in this interview—and in interviews with other political candidates and policymakers—is that good local arts policies often happen in conjunction with non-arts policies (on transportation, economic incentives, housing, etc)–when an artist,  policymaker, or citizen recognizes how non-arts policies can also fuel needed, local arts development.

Here’s a sneak peak.

JASMINE: When I first met you in August, I was impressed by how much you value the arts as crucial to thriving cities such as Seattle.  What led you value the arts in the public sector, and what arts policy work did you do prior to your City Council bid?

SALLY: I was chair of Allied Arts [of Seattle] Waterfront for All Committee. Allied Arts has been around for over 50 years. It has been known as the organization that has done some great urban thinking: saving Pike Place Market, and helping to make Pioneer Square a historic area, the place to go to for music.

Allied Arts decided to take on the waterfront. We called for a connected green space for people all the way along the waterfront, that was premised on the idea that when policymakers made a decision about removing the viaduct [the freeway that covers the waterfront and will likely be removed due to structural damage] we would have all of this space downtown.

This was my heart, this is really what got me into deciding go to into public office because I wanted to be the steward of this vision to make sure for the next generations to come that we preserved our waterfront in a way that was second to none. We wanted to reconnect the waterfront with our neighborhoods. It is so often that the neighborhoods are left out. There’s a “us versus them” mentality with neighborhoods versus downtown. We wanted to connect the neighborhoods and make some great places for activities for people.

JASMINE: The Arts Politic’s next issue is about Bias. Often artists think that policymakers have bias against them because in our society the arts are not well incorporated into our civic policies. What sort of advice would you give artists who want to engage the public sector and their public officials?

SALLY: First, just to not be afraid. Don’t be afraid to call me. Call me and tell me what you need and want. What your vision is. The way we get our community moving forward is to have communication with each other. I would honor the fact that someone would call and say “I have a good idea.”