Hugo House is a non-profit community writing center in Seattle, Washington.
About
Hugo House was founded in 1997 by Linda Jaech, Frances McCue, and Andrea Lewis. These three writers believed Seattle needed a center for local writers and readers to find a community and create new work. In 1999, Laura Hirschfield described the nonprofit organization: "Richard Hugo House is a two-year-old literary arts center in Seattle named after the Seattle-born poet and creative writing teacher Richard Hugo who wrote squarely and poignantly about people and places often overlooked."[1]
Several new programs were created at Hugo House during the 2000s by Program Director Brian McGuigan, including Cheap Wine and Poetry (in 2005)[2] Cheap Beer and Prose (in 2008),[3] and the Made at Hugo House fellowship.[4] McGuigan left Hugo House in 2014.
Tree Swenson was the executive director of Hugo House from 2012 to 2020.[5] The current Interim Executive Director is Rob Arnold.
House
Hugo House first occupied a 16,206-square-foot (1,505.6 m2) Victorian house originally built in 1902. Previous occupants of the building included New City Theater and before that the Bonney-Watson mortuary and funeral home.
In addition to administrative offices, the House included:
- an 88/150 theater
- a cabaret stage and cafe
- three multipurpose rooms
- a conference room
- an art gallery
- private meeting spaces
In June 2016, the organization moved to a temporary space adjacent to the Frye Art Museum on First Hill when the original house on Capitol Hill was razed.[6][7] The property was redeveloped with a six-story mixed-use building which, starting in September 2018, serves as the permanent home for Hugo House.[8][9]
Programs
Hugo House presents a number of programs, including:
- Hugo Writing Classes
- Hugo Classes for Youth
- Stage Fright Teen Open Mic
- Hugo Works in Progress
- Hugo Literary Series
- Word Works: Writers on Writing
- Writers-in-Residence
- Made at Hugo House Fellowship
- Zine Archive and Publishing Project (formerly a program of Hugo House, now independent)
Articles
- A Study in Social Entrepreneurship: Richard Hugo House, Laura Hirschfield, Grantmakers in the Arts Newsletter, Volume 10, Number 2, Autumn 1999
- All eyes on a timely topic at Hugo House, John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/4/2002,
- Open House, Christopher Frizzelle, The Stranger, 7/24/2003,
- Making Things Better, Frances McCue, Community Arts, 10/2004
- Not With a Bang, But a Whimper, Paul Constant, The Stranger, 9/16/2008
- Hugo House names interim director, John Marshall, Seattle PI, 10/23/2008
References
- ↑ Hirschfield, Laura. "A Study in Social Entrepreneurship: Hugo House," GIA Newsletter, Vol 10, No 2 (Fall 1999) http://www.giarts.org/article/study-social-entrepreneurship
- ↑ Hugo House "Upcoming Events" https://hugohouse.org/upcoming-events/cheap-series/ Viewed June 6, 2016
- ↑ Richardson, Lissa. "Who Can Resist Cheap Beer and Prose?" Pif Magazine http://www.pifmagazine.com/2010/09/who-can-resist-cheap-beer-and-prose/
- ↑ Constant, Paul. "The Hell With Grants," The Stranger February 13, 2013 https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-hell-with-grants/Content?oid=15995166
- ↑ Richardson, Catherine "Q&A: Tree Swenson Leaves Academy," Publishers Weekly Magazine, May 1, 2012 http://www.pw.org/content/qa_tree_swenson_leaves_academy?cmnt_all=1
- ↑ "Hugo House Settling Into New Digs". The Capitol Hill Times. June 6, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
- ↑ Smith, Rick (January 6, 2016). "Hugo House Makes a Good Move—To First Hill, Temporarily". The Stranger. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
- ↑ Smith, Rich (2018-09-12). "Hugo House, Seattle's Premier Literary Center, Reopens on Capitol Hill". The Stranger. Seattle: Index Newspapers LLC. Archived from the original on 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
Everyone will get their first look on Saturday, September 22, at the grand reopening celebration.
- ↑ "The New Hugo House". The New Hugo House. 2018-01-01. Archived from the original on 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
...a new and permanent space...on the same ground where we began...