Traffic Box Application Office Hours - TODAY and Next Tuesday
Apply now to be considered for the 2026 Traffic Box Wrap public vote!
Artists of any age living within 30 miles of Olympia City Hall (601 4th Ave E, Olympia, WA 98501) are invited to submit one image of their artwork for consideration to Olympia's Traffic Box Wrap Project.
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Applications open now through April 29!
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Learn more
Questions about the project? Not sure how to format your artwork to meet specifications? Check in to the Traffic Box Application Office Hours!
REMEMBER: Olympia Spring Arts Walk on April 24 & 25
Mark your calendars for Friday, April 24, from 5-10PM, and Saturday, April 25, from 12-6PM, as Arts Walk lights up Downtown Olympia with a vibrant two-day celebration of community, culture, and the arts!
Celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month
The Asian Pacific Islanders Coalition of South Puget Sound, in partnership with the City of Olympia, South Puget Sound Community College, and local community organizations, invite all to join us in celebration of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American heritage and cultures. The event will feature vendors, performances, and activities that highlight Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American communities, cultures, traditions, and experiences. This event is free and open to all.
To register or for more information, please click the link after each class, call 360-753-8380 or stop by to see us at The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia Street NW, Olympia.
Performing Arts & Dance
Creative Contemporary Dance, Apr 13-Jun 8
Sensory Friendly Creative Dance Class, Apr 14-May 26
Discover Voice Overs!, May 2
Olympia Dance Squad, May 2-June 27
RakasaFit Core Fitness Belly Dance, May 4-Jun 29
Intermediate/Advanced Belly Dance, May 4-Jun 29
Hawaiian Dance, May 6-Jun 24
Advanced Hawaiian Dance, May 6-Jun 24
Guitar II, May 14-28
All About Guitar Chords, Jun 4
Ukulele Summer Songs, Jun 10-Jul 8
Yes, You Can Play the Ukulele! Part 1, Jun 20-Jul 25
Visual Arts, & Crafts
Painting People and Faces, Apr 11-May 23
Oil Painting II, Apr 14-May 26
Life Drawing, Apr 15-29
Color Your Canvas Painting - Spring Cactus, Apr 16
Watercolor Painting IV, Apr 16-May 25
Palette Knife Painting with Acrylics, Apr 18
Spring Celebration Cast Glass Art, Apr 18
Zen Ink Doodles, Apr 25
Alcohol Ink, May 2
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Downtown Olympia Creative District (DOCD) Website
The Downtown Olympia Creative District is excited to announce the launch of our new website! Beyond offering information about the district the website also features our new Creative District Directory and Community Calendar.
The Creative District Directory is a public repository of local businesses, artists, organizations, and clubs operating within the district. Envisioned as a place for community members to find and connect with other artists and creative resources, the directory is also a fantastic place to advertise your creative services and endeavors.
The Creative Calendar is a public, moderated, location to post and discover upcoming events in downtown Olympia.
We humbly request you take a look at the new website, advertise your work on the directory, and publish your events to the calendar!
The more our community contributes to and utilizes these resources the more helpful they will become. Please bear with us as we continue to work to fill out the directory and the calendar and as we work through the kinks associated with releasing these new services.
The Leonor R. Fuller Gallery Hosts 21st Annual Student Art Exhibition
The Leonor R. Fuller Gallery invites the community to its 21st Annual SPSCC Student Art Exhibition, showcasing the exceptional talent of its students in various artistic mediums. This exhibition features outstanding work created by SPSCC students in studio art classes during the 2025-26 year, selected by the college's art faculty. Works include ceramics, drawing, painting, printmaking, digital photography, mixed media, 2D and 3D design exercises, and sculpture. A continuous slide show of student work is also included in the exhibition.
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The exhibition will be open from May 18 to June 12, 2026, with an opening reception on Friday, May 22, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
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For more information about the 21st Annual SPSCC Student Art Exhibition, including gallery hours and location, please visit spscc.edu/art-gallery.
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The gallery extends its sincere gratitude to Olyphant Art Supply for its generous and continuous support of the exhibition.
Beyond Treaties: Native Stories of Survival and Strength
At the Olympia Timberland Library
Explore Native resilience through the personal journey of John Halliday (Coyote), a Muckleshoot artist, speaker, and former tribal leader. After surviving a near-death experience and losing much of his sight, Halliday turned to traditional Native values of endurance and adaptation to remake his life through art, music, and storytelling.Blending drumming, flute music, painting, and lived history, he shares how Native communities have survived beyond the signing of treaties. Audiences will gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous history, strength, and creativity today.
Speaker Bio:
John Halliday is a Muckleshoot artist and speaker with expertise in Native cultures and Washington history. Halliday retired from the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Deputy Regional Director for the Navajo Region after serving as CEO for both the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie tribes. He has shown his art at Lakewold Gardens, ANT Gallery, and the Sacred Circle Galleries of American Indian Art under the artist name "Coyote". This program is supported as part of the Humanities WA Speakers Bureau.
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Tuesday, May 19th, 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
April 18 Open House at Sparrow Studios for World Circus Day!
World Circus Day began as a way to generate public awareness for the circus arts. Join us at the studio for an afternoon of circus and community. Bring your friends and family! If you're a current student you're welcome to practice or showcase your skills for your family/friends. If you're a newcomer, you can request a small lesson in one of our disciplines to get a taste for what we have to offer in classes. Waivers available on our website!
The Vanguard Generation: African American Artists, 1880-1918 with Daniel E. Atkinson
At the Lacey Timberland Library
Discover the remarkable first generation of African American artists and performers whose contributions helped shape popular culture. Active after the Civil War and before World War I, many of these artists were the first in their families to be born out of bondage or to attend college-overcoming tremendous hardship in defiance of Jim Crow laws.
Using newly discovered documents from the era, this talk reveals the talent, ingenuity, conflicts, and solidarity of the "Vanguard Generation."
Made possible by the Friends of the Lacey Library and Humanities WA
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Friday, April 17, 2026 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
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Lacey Timberland Library, 500 College Street SE, Lacey WA 98503
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Learn more
The Mark Olympia is excited to announce the upcoming exhibit from Eric Johnson
These paintings were created in 2008 & 2009 onstage during a Neil Young world tour. While Neil played his set, Eric stood next to the drummer painting live with acrylic on large canvases. The paintings themselves are quick and rough creations that were inspired by what Neil and the band were playing at that moment and loaded onto set carts and sent on to the next city to be used to decorate the stage.
If the paintings hadn't already had long ride around the globe, upon return the US they were stored in Neil's warehouse where they were the only thing that survived a massive fire, leaving some of them covered in soot and even more suited to Neil Young's aesthetic. After a nearly eighteen-year journey, a handful of the paintings have finally made it to Olympia, where they are being shown for the first time since they were created onstage.
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Join us from April 24th 6-11pm to celebrate the opening of this exhibit. The exhibit will be open for the following two months.
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Located at 407 Columbia St SW, Olympia, WA, open Wednesday-Saturday from 6-11pm.
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This event is free to the public, drinks and food will be available for purchase from The Mark menu.
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For more information on The Mark, their menu and previous gallery exhibits visit us at https://www.themarkolympia.com/restaurant/ or call (360) 754-4414
Celebrating Vital Stories: Harlequin Stages Frank Henry Kaash Katasse's Where the Summit Meets the Stars
When a near-death experience derails her flight through Southeast Alaska, Rose awakens to find herself in the care of the kind man who pulled her to safety. But who is this mysterious stranger? And how is it possible that she survived? As they journey by boat through the darkness and fog, Rose untangles the mysteries of her past, questions the world around her, and comes to an inescapable crossroads. Driven by Tlingit song, dance, and ancestral wisdom, this heartfelt drama honors Indigenous voices and stories that echo across time. Some journeys don't end at the summit-they reach all the way to the stars.
As to how the play came to be in the 2026 Home/Land season, Director Josephine Keefe, an enrolled member of the Nez Perce Tribe, writes, "Where the Summit Meets the Stars emerged from a shared desire between Harlequin Productions and me not only to showcase and celebrate the vitality of contemporary Native American storytelling in the Pacific Northwest, but also to amplify the emerging poetic voice of playwright Frank Henry Kaash Katasse." The play unfolds largely aboard a tugboat drifting through the fog of Southeast Alaska, where Rose, a sharp-witted Alaska Native woman, grapples with questions of survival, identity, and belonging while her past and present play out in overlapping scenes around her. Keefe hopes that the play's vivid Tlingit language, live music and percussion, and Indigenous ceremony will draw audiences into a fully immersive world. "This play honors Indigenous storytelling, where origins and the human condition converge in a reflection of contemporary Alaska Native life," she explains. "I hope audiences come to see Native American and Alaska Native storytelling not as something of the past, but as a vital and living part of the present."
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Harlequin Productions presents Where the Summit Meets the Stars by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse. Directed by Josephine Keefe.
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May 1 - 17, 2026
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State Theater, 202 4th Ave East, Olympia, WA 98501
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Tickets are available online at harlequinproductions.org, by phone at 360-786-0151, or in person 12-5:30 pm, Tuesday-Saturday at the State Theater Box Office.
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Learn more
Olympia Poetry Network April events
April Dead Poets and Open Mic.
Featured dead poets: Hafez, Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Bly, Audre Lorde, Clem Starck, Lucia Perillo, Martha Silano, Sam Hamill
Open mic following the scheduled readers will give preference to those reading the work of dead poets.
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All are welcome.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2026 6:00-7:30 pm
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Reading live at New Traditions | the Gathering Place
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5th & Water Street, downtown Olympia
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Open mic sign up starts at 5:30
Poet Janée J. Baugher in Olympia Workshop & Poetry Reading
Generative Writing Workshop: Ekphrastic Writing, A Project of the Olympia Poet Laureate Program
Poet and writing instructor Janée J. Baugher, author of The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, will lead a creative workshop exploring how visual art can inspire poetry and storytelling. Baugher is currently touring for her newly released, award-winning poetry collection The Andrew Wyeth Chronicles (Tupelo Press, Feb. 2026).
In this class you'll learn techniques for deeply engaging with artwork and transforming those observations into poems or prose.
Artwork will be provided, though participants are welcome to bring their own. All experience levels welcome.
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The Olympia Center
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222 Columbia St NW
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Sat, Apr 18, 3:30-5:00 PM - no registration required
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Learn more: JaneeBaugher.com
Poetry Reading & Open Mic
Bring a poem to share during the open mic, or come listen, enjoy the readings, and grab a bite from Soul Cafe.
Featuring Janée J. Baugher and Olympia Poet Laureate Ocean
Hosted by the Olympia Poetry Network
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Traditions / Soul Café
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300 5th Ave SW
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Sat, Apr 18, 6:00-7:30 PM
For more information, contact [email protected]
To learn more about Olympia's Poet Laureate program, visit olympiawa.gov/poetlaureate
Casey McGill at The Eagles
Casey MacGill performs music that swings. Nat "King" Cole Trio meets the Mills Brothers. Fats Waller meets Fats Domino. Slim Galliard meets Fred Astaire. It is American music of many decades and no decade in particular, all happening at the same time, woven into a seamless, beautiful whole.
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Monday, April 13th, 7 - 9:30pm
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The Eagles Social Club,
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4th and Plum
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$15 - $35 suggested
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All ages welcome until 9pm
Eagles members and their guests are invited. Come and meet us, and OJC will count you as one of our guests -- we're all Eagles!
Shop Talk: Show & Tell with Mare Blocker at Community Print
Mare Blocker has been making books since 1976 and founded the MKimberly Press in 1984. Her work can be found in over 100 public collections around the world, including the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, The University of Washington, The Library of Congress, The Victoria and Albert and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Mare will bring a selection of books from her publication list for hands on viewing and will screen her short movie, Storytime With Mare, released in 2025 by Trial and Error Productions. The movie is 5 short stories that are the backbone of some of her newest artist's books, and provides insight into the autobiographical nature of her work.
Mare's website: https://www.presstidigitation.com/
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Saturday, April 18, 5- 7 PM
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at Community Print 414 Legion Way SE, Olympia WA, 98501
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(Front door faces 5th- look for the native plant mural!)
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No registration required. Part of Community Print's monthly Shop Talks series. These talks are free, but donations for the presenters are accepted.
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A community print shop in downtown Olympia. Learn more, On Instagram and Facebook
Newsletter Roundup
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LoveOly Music in the Park is Back-Now Booking Performers!
Grab your spot on the stage-and be part of one of Olympia's favorite summer traditions.
Good news, Olympia-Music in the Park is returning for its 45th year this July! Hosted by the Olympia Downtown Alliance, this free, all-ages concert series brings live music to downtown every Wednesday evening, with most shows at Sylvester Park and a fun finale at Port Plaza.
We're now accepting performer applications-and we'd love to hear from local talent across Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, and beyond. Crowds range from a few hundred to a few thousand, so it's a great chance to share your sound with the community.
We are looking for:
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Opening musical performers
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Main act musical performers
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Non-musical performers (i.e. jugglers, magicians, roving entertainers)
Apply by May 12, 2026
Umpqua Plein Air Registrations NOW LIVE!
Artists can now register for Douglas County's largest painting event and exhibition!
Artists from across the region and beyond can now register for the 2026 Umpqua Plein Air paint-out event. For five days, they get to capture the beauty and wonder of everything the Umpqua Valley has to offer ranging from forests and farmlands, to valleys and ocean views. At the end of the event, they submit their work to UVA's galleries for a special exhibition, considered for awards and accolades chosen by a Guest Juror, and participate in a demo hosted by UVA and the Guest Juror.
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Registration Deadline: July 24th
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Paint-Out Event: August 17th - 21st, 2025
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Opening Reception: August 22nd
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Exhibition Dates: August 22nd - October 23rd
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Learn more and register
Public Art Calls for Artists + April 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.
April LAW Starts 2/16
Legal Advice Week starts April 20th. 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.
*Legal issues involving patent, employment, criminal, tax, & family law are not apt for WLA LAW.
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Looking for Volunteers for 2026 Olympia Juneteenth Celebration
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Saturday, June 20, 2026
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Volunteer hours: 9am-6pm (split shifts are available). Set up and take down positions available as well.
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Contact Shawna Hawk at [email protected]. You can also call 360.352.8526 and leave a message with your contact information.
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Learn more
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Museum & Visitor Center Front Desk Docent
The Olympia Arts & Heritage Alliance is seeking volunteers to support the OlyAHA! Museum & Visitor Center. Volunteering at the Olympia AHA Museum is a chance to learn and share Olympia's stories, to build connections in the community, to gain museum and customer service experience, and to be a part of something local, vital and lasting. Our volunteers are the face of the Olympia AHA Museum. They greet guests, share stories, and connect visitors to the best of Olympia.
As a volunteer you will:
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Welcome and assist visitors
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Interpret exhibitions
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Sell merchandise
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Help visitors to discover Olympia's arts, heritage, and cultures
We're looking for committed volunteers who are enthusiastic about Olympia's arts, cultures and history.
Our volunteer team is:
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Friendly, welcoming, and professional
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Comfortable learning point-of-sale and scheduling tools
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Reliable, cooperative, and ready to assist visitors
Volunteer Experience
Volunteers work in pairs at our front desk for three- or four-hour shifts. Volunteers can expect seasonal appreciation events and ongoing learning opportunities!
Olympia Family Theater
Front of House Volunteers needed. No experience necessary!
Shifts available for ushering, selling concessions, and selling raffle tickets during performances.
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March 5-29, 2026 and/or May 14-June 7, 2026
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Time commitment is usually under 4 hours.
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Thursday/Friday at 6pm, Saturday/Sunday at 2pm
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Must pass a background check.
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Please contact Tracy at [email protected].
Olympia Historical Society
If you have an interest in local history, please consider becoming a volunteer with the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. We have a variety of roles to fill, including tour guides for the museum's Sunday afternoon open hours (1:00pm-4:00pm), groundskeeping at monthly Saturday morning work parties, and committee work for our Education, Bigelow House Operations, and Events (annual historic homes tour and spring fundraiser) committees.
To learn more, please email us at [email protected].
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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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