Cultivating Belonging
About Friends
Dedicated to a renewed place to connect— to the water, to the mountains, to our city, and to one another.
In deep collaboration with individuals, communities, and institutional partners, Friends of Waterfront Park’s aim is to create, care for, and activate a renewed place of connection on Seattle’s central shoreline. As the non-profit partner, Friends is continuing to raise $170M to support programming, construction, public safety and maintenance at Waterfront Park.
The Cultural Master Plan
Since 2020, Friends of Waterfront Park has been working with hundreds of community partners to develop public programming at Waterfront Park with the goal of ensuring that everyone who visits the Park feels like they belong. In a step forward in these efforts, Friends worked with their partners and the community that has coalesced around their programming and community engagement efforts to co-create a Cultural Master Plan—a guiding document that outlines the organization’s commitment to fostering inclusivity, equity, and cultural vibrancy throughout its work at Waterfront Park.
When the full park opens in 2025, this framework will position Friends alongside community and serve as a roadmap to a culturally revitalized waterfront for generations to come.
ERIK HOLSATHER
Cultural Master Plan Pillars
Belonging
Waterfront Park is a place for everyone
Land Stewardship
Waterfront Park should reflect the full breadth and diversity of the Seattle region and its rich cultures, a place where stories are shared, history is interrogated, and curiosity is explored.
A thriving ecosystem connects us to nature Connection to the land, water, and mountains is essential to the character of Waterfront Park, which nurtures and sustains the land as well as those who continue to care for it.
Healing & Sustenance
A clear understanding of history leads to a healthy future
Living Culturally
Diverse traditions and experiences uplift and connect us
Waterfront Park is a space that can bring people together across differences to reflect and address harms of both the recent and historic past.
Waterfront Park should feel like an immersive cultural experience, one that amplifies Seattle’s authentic stories to the city and the world.
The Cultural Master Plan in Action
Spotlight at Waterfront Park
A weekly performance showcase at Pier 62 that features local and regional artists and performers, ranging from music and dance to cultural expression.
Dancers with Northwest Tap Connection perform at Family Day at Pier 62 in 2022. SUNNY MARTINI
Movement, Wellness & Play
A series of dozens of different events, classes, and sessions that promote healthy individuals and communities, featuring a diverse array of practitioners of different modalities of mental and physical wellbeing.
| Zumba Master Class hosted by We Move To Give.
Clockwise
ADAM LU | Kickboxing with Indigo Movement. ROBERT WADE | Ren Xue Qigong with Heru TchaasAmen. JO COSME
Cultural Festivals and Gatherings
Friends hosts large-scale events each year by different community partners to ensure Waterfront Park is a place where every community in Seattle feels like they belong. Highlights from past years include: Salmon Homecoming, Waba Korea, Hip Hop’s 50th Anniversary, Xopantla Tianquitzli, and Indigiqueer.
Clockwise | Folklore Mexicano Tonantzin performing at Family Day at Pier 62 in 2022. SUNNY MARTINI | Waba Korea Festival in 2023. JESSICA LEA | Hip Hop 50 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop in 2023. CHLOE COLLYER
Friends of Waterfront Park will continue to collaborate park programming reflects our Cultural Master excited to build upon:
Stadium Plaza Art Exhibition
Friends installed nine art displays to activate the new public space at Stadium Plaza, currently displaying works by Kimberly Saladin (Muckleshoot).
Waterfront Park Programming Roster
Friends created an ever-growing directory of local artists, performers, and community organizations to collaborate on programming for Grand Opening Season and beyond, with the goal of cultivating inclusive spaces where all people—specifically Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and underserved communities—are invited to contribute to Waterfront Park.
collaborate with our partners to ensure event and Master Plan. Here are some newer initiatives we’re
Promenade Pop-ups Pilot Program
In partnership with Seattle Restored and El Centro de la Raza, Friends brought four vending kiosks to the new Promenade, hosting eight local BIPOC vendors. The kiosks proudly feature murals by Indigenous artists Sarah Folden (Cowlitz) and Bill Pfeifer Jr. (Tlingit).
Learn about these initiatives and more at: waterfrontparkseattle.org
Visitor Facts
Friends has welcomed over 1.3 million visitors to Pier 62 since it reopened to the public in 2020 as part of Waterfront Park.
Friends hosts free public programming all year long that reflects the rich cultural fabric of our community.
In 2023, over 70,000 people attended our free events at Pier 62, with 53% of attendees being People of Color, nearly one-third speaking languages other than English, and 15% were members of the disability community.