About

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Seattle Center resides on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. This acknowledgement reminds us to strive for respectful partnerships with all people, as we search for collective healing.

ABOUT SEATTLE CENTER
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts and family gathering place in the core of our region. More than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations that reside on the grounds, together with a broad range of public and community programs, create thousands of events on the 74-acre campus and attract over 12 million visitors each year. At Seattle Center, part of Uptown Arts & Cultural District, our purpose is to create exceptional events, experiences and environments that delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities. Activities at the Center generate $1.864 billion in area business activity, 18,621 jobs and $631 million in labor income (2016 Economic Impact Study).

Seattle Center is operated by a city department that is also called Seattle Center. This department plays multiple roles as a business partner, financier, landlord, custodian, event producer and promoter. When the place, the programs and the operations are working together, a magic happens, a transformation occurs. We find that we are drawn to the Center as individuals with diverse interests, and we leave as a community, unified by our respect and appreciation for the human spirit.

Seattle Center employs 230+ full-time workers and many hundred more event-related intermittent staff in all aspects of campus operations—from maintenance, landscaping, security and event production to marketing, sales and finance.

The core organizational values guiding Seattle Center are:

Deliver uplifting and professional service to our guests, clients, partners and each other
Manage our business with accountability, integrity, and commitment to race & social justice
Foster a collaborative, trusting, and respectful workplace community
Provide opportunities for employee development
Model innovation, efficiency, and sustainability
Focus on operational excellence and fiscal strength
Steward a safe and welcoming place for all
Commit to shaping our future and telling our story

Seattle Center generates most of its revenue through commercial activities including long-term facility lease/rentals and continued efforts to attract business, community, charitable and private events. Single event rental facilities include: Broad Street Green, Exhibition Hall, Fisher Pavilion and Green/North Fountain Lawn, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Mural Amphitheatre, Artists at Play Plaza, Seattle Center Armory and Lofts and exterior parts of the grounds.

Seattle Center provides operational, maintenance and other support to 30+ cultural, educational and arts organizations residing on grounds.

Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and Pier 62. Seattle Center will support managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers a range of recreational and cultural programming to the community.

Millions of visitors flock to the 74-acre campus, with 40+ acres of open space, making it the top visitor and tourism destination in the region. Over 14,000 events take place on the grounds each year and the grounds feature the top attractions in the region.

Conducted in 2016, the study surveyed Seattle Center visitors and businesses to determine the overall economic impact of the campus. Visitors provided detailed information about their expenditures and activities, and businesses provided information on their revenues, expenditures and attendance.

Economic Impact Study

A complete list of all the resident organizations on campus.

List of Organizations

Since its adoption by Seattle City Council in 2008, the Seattle Center Century 21 Master Plan has served as a guide to physical renewal that effectively responds to the needs and desires of our diverse and evolving community. Several completed Master Plan projects have dramatically transformed spaces on the 74-acre campus, from Broad Street Green, Seattle Skatepark and the Armory Atrium and Lofts to Theater Commons, Artists at Play and the headquarters of KEXP 90.3FM. These initial Master Plan projects followed specific Planning and Design Principles developed by the Plan's creators, the Century 21 Committee, who understood the importance of unifying the physical space and the Center's purpose as an arts, recreational and civic center at the core of our community.

View Current Projects

Anti-racism, equity, social justice and inclusion support a key organizational value at Seattle Center to steward a safe and welcoming place for all. As a public-facing department of the City of Seattle, the Center plays an important role in the City’s efforts to expand its Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI).

Race & Social Justice Initiative

Learn more about the history of Seattle Center, from it's roots as the former 1962 World's Fair site, to its current position as the city's gathering place.

History

Answers to common questions

FAQS

The Seattle Center Advisory Commission represent the interests of the people of Seattle by advising the Seattle Center staff, the Mayor and the City Council on policy matters that may affect Seattle Center. The Advisory Commission also provides the Seattle Center staff, the Mayor and the City Council with an ongoing assessment of the operations, performances, plans and policies of the Seattle Center Department.

Advisory Commission Info