Every year, DNDA hosts the Arts in Nature Festival. This unique FREE festival features live musical performances, interactive art installations, creative nature-based activities and more, set in the lush 68-acre landscape of Camp Long, Seattle’s only campground. For more information, visit https://dnda.org/festival/.

The EcoArts Program hosts craft-making activities at Croft Place Townhomes on a weekly basis. Croft is one of the seven affordable housing units that DNDA owns and operates, and is home to dozens of kids.

Beyond crafts, our team also brings in Teaching Artists to Croft who teach cooking, beginning piano, and dance movement.

In collaboration with DNDA's Nature Consortium and other environmental organizations, we bring art into restoration spaces. EcoArts in the Woods is a unique opportunity for youth groups and restoration volunteers to make art about nature, from nature, and within nature.

The intertwining of Art, Nature, and Neighborhood is at the root of our annual EcoArts Fusion Spring Nature Camp at Camp Long. Around a dozen local youth from Seattle Housing Authority’s (SHA) High Point housing site, ranging from ages 7 to 12, spend a week at Camp Long learning from DNDA Teaching Artists and Seattle Parks and Recreation nature guides.

During this interdisciplinary day camp, kids are exposed to a range of artistic, recreational, and environmental science activities such as nature journaling, land art, photography, dance and rhythm, rock-climbing, forest restoration, and native species identification. We are proud to say that this high-quality, memorable camp is entirely free for participants.

Because of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, DNDA adapted its programming to include online classes. The hub for all Arts, Nature, and Neighborhood virtual content is known as the DNDA HeartSpace. The EcoArts Program led many programs for the general public and Delridge residents, including the DNDA Art Challenge, Movement Mondays, and Teaching Artist Educational Videos.

DNDA Art Challenge

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Teaching Artists Molly Duttry and Madison Rose Bristol post environmental-based art prompts for people to interpret and create from. The DNDA Art Challenge is for both the general public through DNDA's Instagram @delridgeneighborhoods and for youth of the Delridge Neighborhoods. There is a rewards system for Delridge youth, where if they complete 5 prompts, their family receives a FREE LARGE PIZZA. We also have delivered art supplies to several families.

See this blog post for more information about the DNDA Art Challenge.

Movement Mondays

Every Monday at 12pm, Teaching Artist Madison Rose Bristol taught a live-streamed movement class on DNDA's Instagram @delridgeneighborhoods. These classes are intended to spark joy at the beginning of each week. All classes were recorded to be viewed later, and can be found in this playlist on DNDA TV.

Teaching Artist Educational Videos

Several of DNDA's Teaching Artists produced a series of short educational EcoArts videos for students to follow along and learn from. All of these videos can be viewed on our YouTube playlist EcoArts with DNDA Teaching Artists.

Produced in partnership with Seattle Housing Authority (SHA), the EcoArts program coordinates the Summer Youth Program (SYP) in the NewHolly, High Point, and Rainier Vista neighborhoods of West and South Seattle. SYP is an expansive program that includes classes, community events, and art activities that activate community spaces.

Here are the most noteworthy activities that took place in each neighborhood in the Summer of 2021:

All Neighborhoods

• Community Mural Project -  Youth worked alongside teaching artist Amaranta Sandy’s to beautify a community space. Each neighborhood had its own vibrant mural youth designed and painted that activated public spaces. See the video below for more information.

• EcoArts - Local Teaching Artists facilitated an arts-based experiential learning class for youth in a local park.

• Soccer - Every week, around 30 kids attended soccer practice taught by coaches from the Intercity Soccer League.

• Leadership Workshop - High school girls attended a three-day workshop designed to help young girls develop the techniques for self-love, self-worth, and self-care.

High Point

• Cooking as Art - Local Teaching Artist and chef Mulu Abate guided kids through how to prepare and cook delicious meals through prepared meal kits and guided videos.

• Basketball - This program used a small-group approach to teach youth the essentials of playing basketball.

• Screen-Printing - Local Teaching Artist Alex Dopp worked with you to teach them the art of screen-printing and helped them design a community t-shirt.

• Dance - Local Teaching Artist Madison Bristol led youth through different dance exercises in the community park.

NewHolly

• Cooking as Art - Local Teaching Artist and chef Mulu Abate guided kids through how to prepare and cook delicious meals through prepared meal kits and guided videos.

• Basketball - This program used a small-group approach to teach youth the essentials of playing basketball.

• Self-Defense - This program taught high school girls how to learn to recognize “red flags,” plan safe exits, and try out physical self-defense moves.

Rainier Vista

• Self-Defense - This program taught high school girls how to learn to recognize “red flags,” plan safe exits, and try out physical self-defense moves.

Though most of our programs engage youth, we also help organize adult art classes at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. These classes are popular among the Youngstown community, and are repeatedly brought back due to popular demand. In the past, lessons have been facilitated by our Teaching Artists and by artists featured in the Youngstown Promenade Gallery.

Pictured right: Participants using pastels to sketch a projected image of a dancer during Rae Akino's adult art mixed media class.

Pictured left: Guest artist Selorm Tamakloe dances in front of participants, who capture her live movements and poses on upcycled canvases.