The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience is in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, one of the city's poorest areas. Funding from ArtPlace supports The Wing’s year-round cultural programming, which uses arts and culture as an economic driver for the community.

Beth Takekawa, The Wing’s Executive Director, addresses how this programming has made and will continue to make a difference in a historically and culturally rich yet economically challenged neighborhood.

ARTPLACE: What will be different in your community as a result of your work?

TAKEKAWA: The purpose of our work in the community is to strengthen the neighborhood for the benefit of its residents and businesses. We’re trying to go for long-term change. It appears that we are on the right path, as the preliminary results of our spring 2012 visitor survey indicate over 77% of The Wing’s visitors will visit neighborhood shops in conjunction with a trip to our museum, and more than 82% will purchase food or beverage from neighborhood restaurants. Contrary to many patrons of the nearby sports stadiums, our visitors are not using the neighborhood as a parking spot and passthrough, but the larger neighborhood is part of their museum experience.

But statistics and visitor patterns don’t give the full story. All kinds of unexpected things are happening in the neighborhood, including a Harajuku fashion trio visiting Momo, a nearby Japanese-Hawai’ian boutique and one of our neighborhood partners. Each day brings new surprises.

What will be different as the result of our work? The best way to answer this question is to invite you to come see for yourselves. And you don’t have to time your trip to coincide with a single neighborhood festival – come any time of the year and enjoy a personal experience in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. We’d love to have you here.

PHOTO: Harajuku fashion designers 6%DokiDoki visit Momo, a boutique that is one of The Wing’s neighborhood partners.