Introducing the "Volunteer Match" Section of the ARCH Digest
Got an upcoming event, activity or project that you need an extra hand with?
Looking to help out in Oly's ARCH community, meet folks and learn?
This section is for you!
Same as typical ARCH postings, if you have an upcoming need for volunteers, send them to [email protected] with contact information, and they'll get posted in the Volunteer Match section where folks can find them and reach out! This list is just shy of 2,500 people passionate about Arts, Cultures & Heritage, so let's get some community going!
Join National Day of Racial Healing community conversation January 17
You're invited to a City-hosted community conversation on racial healing from 1:30 - 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. The event includes light refreshments, activities and speakers; including a welcome by Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne.
The National Day of Racial Healing is an annual observance held the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day that brings people together to acknowledge our common humanity and inspire collective action for a more just and equitable world.
The City of Olympia began observing the day in 2023 in recognition of how racial healing restores individuals and communities to wholeness, repairs damage caused by racism and transforms societal structures into ones that affirm the inherent value of all people.
Upcoming Samba Olywa Workshops and Practice Sessions
Samba Olywa kicks of a new year, and the 2026 Procession season, with two dance workshop presented by Donna DonnaMation Pongetti.
All dancers, returning and first-timers, are invited on February 8th, for a Samba fusion workshop. Doors to Eagles Ballroom open at 4:30pm -- plan to be in your place and ready to start promptly at 5pm. Tuition is $10 - 20, on a sliding scale. We are able to keep costs low, thanks to a grant from Inspire Olympia. Eagles is located at 4th & Plum Streets in downtown Olympia. Hope to see you there!
Practice Schedule:
Join us for Samba Olywa Rehearsals throughout the year! Most Sundays, 5 to 7pm at the Eagles Ballroom. All are welcome! No experience necessary. A $5 - $10 donation for each session is requested. No one turned away for lack of funds thanks to a grant from Inspire Olympia.
Spring Arts Walk 2026 Registration Continues Through January 31
Spring Arts Walk April 24 & 25, 2026 (4th Friday and Saturday in April)
Don't wait-register online at artswalkoly.com and join the celebration that makes Olympia a hub for creativity and the arts!
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Author Talk | Jon Klassen in Conversation with Nikki McClure
At Olympia Timberland Library
Join us for a special event with two award-winning children's book authors! Jon Klassen will be in conversation with Olympia's own Nikki McClure. They will explore the art of illustration, Klassen's newest board book Your Truck, and visual storytelling for our youngest readers.This event is geared towards adults, and may not be much fun for the littler ones -- even if they love his books! This event is presented in collaboration with our friends at Browsers Bookshop. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
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Thursday, January 22nd, 6:30-8:00pm
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Olympia Timberland Library - 313 8th Ave SE
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Free
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Learn more
Author Talk | David Guterson in Conversation with Nikki McClure
At Olympia Timberland Library
In collaboration with Browsers Bookshop, we are thrilled to welcome David Guterson to discuss his latest book Evelyn in Transit. David will be in conversation with Olympia's own Nikki McClure -- a true meeting of PNW literary heavyweights! Books will be available for purchase and signing.
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Monday, January 26th, 6:30-7:45pm
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Olympia Timberland Library - 313 8th Ave SE
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Free
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Learn more
Discovery Speaker Series
At Olympia Timberland Library
Join Puget Sound Estuarium at the Olympia Timberland Library for our Discovery Speaker Series. Every 1st Thursday of the month we invite you to learn and stay informed about current environmental research or sustainability projects. You'll hear from Scientists, Educators, Artists, and Earth Advocates about their current work, research, or organization. Plus get your questions answered live after the talk!
About the presentation:
The Nisqually Delta is one of the country's last unspoiled estuaries. Janine Gates, author of Saving the Nisqually Delta, will present a slide show and discussion about the historical pressures applied by ports, counties, cities, and corporations to industrialize the Nisqually Delta. Citizen activism saved it from those threats, but today, the Nisqually Delta is still at risk. Janine will discuss key moments in Washington State environmental history and ongoing issues related to the ecological integrity of the Nisqually Delta.
Who will step up and save the Nisqually Delta now?
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Thursday, February 5th, 6:30-7:45pm
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Olympia Timberland Library - 313 8th Ave SE
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Free
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Learn more
Can you Hear the Trees Talking? Listening to the Wisdom of Old Growth Forests
Walk surrounded by legacy and old growth trees in Squaxin Park only 2 minutes north of downtown Olympia, WA. After a welcome to the land and guided meditation, we'll stroll in silence, and tune into the sights and sounds of towering 100 to 500 year-old trees. Explore 2 miles of trails at a comfortable pace under the canopy of a living forest that is a thriving ecosystem, a network of soil fungi, called the "Wood Wide Web." Marvel at the discovery that trees are social, they communicate and nurture each other. Listen to a tree sing using my device that converts the tree's electric signals into notes.
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Pick your session: Sat Jan 24th, Sat Feb 14th, or Thurs March 19th
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10-11:30 am at Squaxin Park
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$19
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Register
Heartsparkle Players 'For the Love of Forests' Fundraiser
Come to an evening of creativity and laughter with Olympia's own Playback Theatre Ensemble, Heartsparkle Players. We welcome stories on the theme "For the Love of the Forests". Fundraiser for the next Dance to the Music of the Forest.
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Sat Feb 7th 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
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Traditions on 5th downtown
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$25 donation appreciated - no one turned away
Mediumship with Heidi Connolly, the Down-to-Earth Medium
Communicate with your loved ones on the Other Side!
Although I don't make New Years "resolutions," I realized on January 1, 2026 that every year I make the same choice: To evolve. Through my own evolving conscious awareness, I am shining my own light to contribute to the evolution of the planet toward ease, peace, and joy. Sharing messages from the Other Side makes me happier than most anything else because communications from your loved ones are so unconditionally loving and meet all the criteria for exactly that: ease, peace, and joy...with a liberal sprinkle of humor and healing to top it all off!
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Thursday, Jan 29, 2026, 6-7:30 PM
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Traditions Fair Trade - 300 5th Ave SW, Olympia WA 98502
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heidiconnolly.com for tickets and information
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$25
Olympia Poetry Network January featured poet and open mic
January featured poet: Ryler Dustin
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Ryler Dustin has represented Seattle on the final stage of the Individual World Poetry Slam, and his poems appear in outlets like Gulf Coast, The Slowdown, The Southern Review, Verse Daily, The Best of Button Poetry, and The Best of Iron Horse. He's the author of Trailer Park Psalms, selected by Jeffrey McDaniel for the University of Pittsburgh's 2022 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize and Heavy Lead Birdsong, published by Write Bloody in 2010.
A passionate educator, he led an award-winning youth writing program at Project Row Houses in Houston, visited classrooms through Writers in the Schools, and has taught writing, spoken word, and literature at Western Washington University, Albion College, and elsewhere. He received an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and has lived and held residencies in Spain, Michigan, Jack Kerouac's former home, and an off-grid cabin in the Oregon wilderness. He now lives in his hometown of Bellingham, Washington, with his wife and anxious dog he met while hiking.
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Wednesday, Jan 21, 2026 6:00-8:00 pm
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Reading live at Traditions, the Gathering Place
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5th & Water Street, downtown Olympia
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Open mic sign up starts 5:30
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Learn more
OPN Poetry Spoken Word Poetry Workshop with Ryler Dustin
In this workshop, we'll explore the power of poetry as spoken word. Drawing on the slam poetry tradition, we'll develop strategies to enhance our poetry's impact on a live audience, explore performance choices as writerly tools, and practice "writing for the mic." Like all poetic forms, slam and spoken word offer insights that can heighten our craft, expand our toolbox, and deepen our writing more broadly. Whether you're hoping to push your writing into new territory, help your quieter poems connect with an audience, or increase your awareness of the choices available on the mic - and, through comparative analysis, the page - our workshop will offer insights derived from poetry's most ancient context: time, air, and human memory.
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Preregister by sending an e-mail to Terri Cohlene via OPN's e-mail address at [email protected] and tell her to reserve you a spot. The workshop is free to OPN subscribers, $20 to others, but includes a year's subscription. We only have 20 seats available, so you will need to preregister soon.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2026 1-3:00 pm
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Olympia Community Center, 222 Columbia Street NW, Room 103
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Masks optional
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Learn more
Monday at the Eagles -- the Jack Radsliff Trio
Jack Radsliff is a guitarist/composer living in Portland, Oregon. As a bandleader, Jack's group is a fixture at clubs and festivals throughout the region including The 1905, Seattle Jazz Fellowship, PDX Jazz Fest, Mt Hood Jazz Fest, Little Big Fest, and Anacortes Arts. His records, Migration Patterns (2017), Barefoot (2024), and Living/Live (2025), have all been well received; the first two making it onto critics' "best of" lists and the latter being called "one of the best albums to come out of Portland's jazz scene so far this year" (Willamette Week). His trio consists of himself on guitar, Joe Bagg on organ, and Michael Raynor on drums.
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Monday, January 12th, 7 - 9:30pm
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The Eagles Social Room, 4th and Plum
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$15 - $35 suggested
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All ages until 9pm
Newsletter Roundup
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Artist Trust 2026 Arts Innovator Award
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Guidelines for the Arts Innovator Award go live next Friday, January 16! The Arts Innovator Award recognizes artists who demonstrate innovation in their art practice. These unrestricted awards of $25,000 are given annually to two Washington State artists of any discipline who are originating new work, experimenting with new ideas, taking risks, and pushing the boundaries of their fields. Funding for this award is generously donated by the Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation.
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Application open: Monday, February 16 - Monday, March 16
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Guidelines available: Friday, January 16
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Learn More
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Artist Trust Twining Humber & SOLA Awards
Guidelines for the Twining Humber and SOLA Awards go live on Friday, January 23! The Twining Humber and SOLA Awards are given annually to a Washington State female visual artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated 25 years or more to creating art. The Twining Humber Award is an unrestricted award of $10,000 made possible by a generous gift from the painter Yvonne Twining Humber. The SOLA Awards are five unrestricted awards of $5,000 created and sustained by artist Ginny Ruffner and her friends.
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Application open: Monday, February 23 - Monday, March 23
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Guidelines available: Friday, January 23
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Learn More
4Culture Public Art Calls for Artists + January 2026
Each month we send out artist calls managed by 4Culture, as well as a selection of calls submitted to us by organizations around the world. Visit our website to see all open calls, grants, jobs, and other opportunities.
2026 LAW Clinics Start 1/19
A new solar year has begun! And WLA will continue with Legal Advice Week. In January, it starts on the 19th. Join this monthly opportunity for artists and arts organizations in WA State to get free advice on specific legal issues. Sign up today for a 30-minute consultation with an attorney.
WLA LAW is open to artists and arts organizations throughout Washington State. LAW Clinics address and support legal issues* related to an artistic discipline and can cover a wide range of areas, such as: Copyright, Trademark, Publicity Rights, Licensing, Fair Use, Business Formation, Contract Review.
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*Legal issues involving patent, employment, criminal, tax, & family law are not apt for WLA LAW.
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ARTISTS and ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE
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Your volunteer posting here!
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The ARCH Digest is a summary of Arts, Culture and History happenings in the greater Olympia area, submitted by the community. Please turn in ArCH Digest listings to [email protected].
Deadline Monday morning, 8 a.m.
If you know of anyone who would like to receive the City of Olympia Arts & Culture news, which includes a weekly ArCH Digest, direct them here and have them mark the Arts & Culture box.
Disclaimer: Information in the Arts Digest is not vetted through the City, nor is it endorsed by the City. The reader is solely responsible for checking background on any opportunity listed above.
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Contact
Stephanie Johnson, Arts Program Manager
Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation
360.709.2678
[email protected]
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