Smoke Farm is a place where artists, thinkers, and cultural adventurers exchange diverse ideas and educate the next generation. Purchased 19 years ago by the Rubicon Foundation and restored from a family-run dairy farm, Smoke Farm is a reclaimed 360-acre habitat for fish, birds, and people.
The growth in summer programming at Smoke Farm is beginning to tax the small, rustic buildings purchased along with the farm 19 years ago. The most pressing need is a new kitchen and indoor dining area that can meet current and future demands and allow us to extend our programming into the winter months. We have already designed the kitchen, laid drainage pipes, and poured a foundation slab.
To complete this project and open it in time for our spring and summer programming in 2013, we plan to raise $75,000 by December 31. Please join us by making a contribution in any amount.
Your help will contribute to the farm's three main areas of programming--arts, education, and ecological restoration--the Rubicon Foundation offers many opportunities to engage the public each year, including:
The Lo-Fi performance and installation festival, three days when some of Seattle's most daring artists work with the medium of the natural environment (400 people attended last year).
Burning Beast, a culinary event in which award-winning Northwest chefs create an outdoor feast (450 attended last year).
The Fortnight Summer Carpentry Camp for inner-city youth.
The Symposium lecture series.
A three-day hiphop/poetry retreat for high-school students.
Seasonal camps and nature outings for youth with Asperger's syndrome and their families.
Printmaking classes for students and adults in the farm's print shop.
Camp Zero, an annual philosophy camp.
The Farm's "un-farming" projects, which include restoration of salmon habitats along the Stillaguamish River, tree-planting, and more.
Smoke Farm summer programs have been supported by the Tulalip Charitable Trust, the City of Seattle's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Norcliffe Foundation, the River Styx Foundation, the Raynier Foundation, and the Loyal Bigelow and Jedediah Dewey Foundation.
As a donor and friend of Smoke Farm, you'll become part of an expanding movement of artists, thinkers, educators, and students of all ages exploring new ideas in a unique setting, sharing them with thousands of people every year, and investing in the enrichment of the next generation. We hope you'll join us and make a contribution to the building fund--and to the future of Smoke Farm.
Thank you,
Smoke Farm and the Rubicon Foundation
