2023 Donor Spotlights
Donor Spotlights
IN MEMORY OF EUGENE H. USUI
ArtsFund celebrates the legacy of Eugene H. Usui, whose transformative bequest made a significant impact on ArtsFund’s programming in 2023. Eugene was an avid lover of the arts, regularly attending theater productions, listening to music, and supporting youth and literary arts organizations throughout Seattle and beyond. His passion for culture inspired a community of generosity and engagement in the arts that will make an impact on ArtsFund for years to come.
If you are interested in making a planned gift to ArtsFund, please visit www.artsfund.org/explore-planned-giving/.
COSTCO
Thanks to COSTCO’s significant partnership and annual support, ArtsFund’s Youth Arts Opportunity Fund (YAOF) continues to remove barriers and increase arts access for historically underserved youth. As a result of COSTCO’s significant increased support in 2023:
• 53 eligible applications were received (a 26% increase since 2021) and 28 groups were granted a record total in the program’s history;
• top awards increased by 25% and the average award increased by 12%; and,
• five groups were first-time awardees of YAOF funding, thus expanding the program’s reach and ability to impact historically underserved youth throughout the Puget Sound region.
YAOF provides flexible general operating funds to arts organizations who demonstrate an authentic, long‐term commitment to this work. Programs funded through YAOF have provided meaningful arts experiences to over 600,000 K-12 students and an estimated 64,000 hours of arts programming, a 27% increase since 2020, to 380,000 students in 2023 alone. Students take part in physically accessible and culturally relevant programming led by staff and artists who share racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds of student participants through in-school instruction, after-school enrichment, residencies, mentorship, performance opportunities, and workshops.
We continue to share COSTCO’s commitment to improving the lives of K-12 students in our community by providing life-changing experiences through the arts, enabling them to engage in and benefit from robust cultural programming throughout the region.
