Benefit concerts tend to be one-time events, but a Seattle group wants to use performances in a new way to unite music and philanthropy.

MARIANGELA ABEO

Ryan Abeo, a.k.a. Ra Scion of the local hip hop duo Common Market, has a new solo project named for superhero Victor Shade and will perform in the inaugural Gigs4Good show.

Team Up for Nonprofits aims to support Seattle philanthropy by producing "Gigs4Good," a series of concerts, each one benefiting a different non-profit. Producer Ryan Hodgson and a group of friends and colleagues started Team Up last year with the goal of giving people of any age a chance to meet and network with like-minded people, enjoy performances and contribute to a meaningful cause for the cost of a concert ticket.

Team Up for Nonprofits will kick off its fund raising efforts tonight with a concert at the Hard Rock Cafe that will benefit Seattle Against Slavery (SAS), a grassroots group working to fight human trafficking. Tickets are $25 at the door.

Ryan Abeo (Ra Scion) along with Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi (Sabzi) formed Common Market, a duo that describes its music as "a critical, unapologetic world view that change is not only necessary, it is inevitable, and can only come about through having love for and serving the people."

Tonight Ra Scion headlines as Victor Shade, along with DJ B-Mello, Project Lionheart, Sol and Dice.

Next month, another interesting benefit concert will feature Starbucks General Counsel Paula Boggs, who is also a singer and songwriter, celebrating her debut CD "A Buddha State of Mind." She's donating all proceeds from the June 26 concert at EMP Sky Church to radio station KEXP.

At the Seattle Asian Art Museum on a Saturday morning, traditional culture meets modern fitness -- a group of people splayed out on the marble floor practice yoga in a gallery surrounded by statues of Indian gods.

COURTESY OF RDI

Attorney Renee Giovarelli works to improve rights of women in Kyrgyzstan through the Rural Development Institute.

Later they gather inside the auditorium to hear Seattle attorney Renee Giovarelli describe the status of women's property rights in various parts of Asia, and its connection to hunger and poverty.

The scene represents the kind of engaging community salon that the "Saturday University" aims to create. Local universities, nonprofits and other institutions have deep expertise in Asia, but they don't always have a way to share it with the public.

"It should be a sense of pride for Seattle that those organizations are here," said former Seattle Art Museum director Mimi Gardner Gates, who conceived the series. Through the Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas, she hopes to introduce topics related to Asia, encourage community discussion and do it in a way that is fun.

GREG GILBERT/SEATTLE TIMES

Mimi Gardner Gates returns to her roots in Chinese art with a center focused on Asia at SAAM.

Continuing this month, the lectures explore "Health, Sex and Women's Rights in Contemporary Asia," accompanied by a series of films that were hits in their home countries but relatively unknown outside.

The series, "Guilty Pleasures," includes popular films from India, Japan, the Philippines and China. Each one is introduced by a film expert from the University of Washington.

Tomorrow speakers from the Gates Foundation and PATH will talk about Asia as a frontier in the battle for health equity. Each of the Saturday programs, which are co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council, starts with an optional yoga session by 8 Limbs Yoga.

In the spring, the Saturday University will explore the ways Asian religions are expressed in contemporary society, politics and the arts.

While the programs are held in the museum, the approach "appeals to people who aren't necessarily the art crowd," Gates said. "I love the idea of it being a center for people who are curious about Asia."

Earlier this week I wrote about Paul Allen's involvement in a new PBS series "This Emotional Life," which wrapped up last night (but can still be watched on the Web site).

It takes a fascinating look at the latest research into human emotion, combined with real-life stories of people coping with emotional issues. Based on comments I've received and a look at some of the conversations on Facebook, the topic resonated deeply with a public searching for more meaning in life.

Some suggested it should be a weekly show. At this point there are no plans to re-broadcast the series, but it is available on iTunes and here on the PBS Web site.

Allen said he intended the TV series to be just the starting point of the project. Now a two-year outreach program begins, both online and in communities around the country.

The PBS Web site can be searched by topic or location to find resources such as Meetup groups and other organizations, and anyone can register and contribute new resources to the database.

COURTESY OF THIS EMOTIONAL LIFE

Dr. Michael Maddaus talked about his path from a troubled youth with alcoholic parents, time in jail and little education, to a successful surgeon with a happy family, thanks to a single mentor.

In an unusual effort for a film company, Vulcan Productions is spearheading the project, developing kits to address early attachment for parents, and emotional challenges for members of the military and their families. Both will combine online resources with booklets to be distributed through partner organizations such as Blue Star Families and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

"Early Moments Matter" is aimed at high birthrate hospitals, offices and clinics, targeting expecting and new parents, while "The Family Guide to Military Deployment" will go to government organizations and branches of the armed forces.

Two local researchers were involved in the series, Dr. John Gottman, a psychologist who specializes in conflict resolution and is founder of the Gottman Institute in Seattle, and Dr. Andrew Meltzoff, a psychology professor at the University of Washington who specializes in infant development and connection to parents.

Meltzoff and his team at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences won a $4 million grant from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund. Later this year they plan to set up the first machine that can measure emotional development in babies using a new technology called magnetoecephalography (MEG).

Washington state Rep. Ruth Kagi, who chairs the House Early Learning & Children's Services Committee, said she is studying implications of the science on policy.

If, as Meltzoff's research shows, humans develop the emotional circuitry for their entire lifetimes in the first three years, making the most of that time would seem a critical task not only for parents but for all of society.

Randy Engstrom, founding director of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Seattle and an important voice in the arts community, received the 2009 Emerging Leader Award from Americans for the Arts, the country's leading non-profit for advancing the arts.

The award honors new and young leaders for extraordinary work in the field of arts administration, demonstrating innovative thinking, a commitment to the advancement of the arts, exemplary leadership qualities and impact on their communities. Engstrom is also a member of the Seattle Arts Commission.
Americans for the Arts honored another Seattle artist, Buster Simpson, with the 2009 Public Art Network Award for helping define contemporary and environmental art.

The awards come at a time when arts funding has come under increasing pressure from shrinking budgets of local governments, foundations and corporations hit by the economic downturn.

Youngstown is an example of how arts can benefit the community in a variety of ways. It's a multi-purpose arts education, meeting and performance space that includes 36 affordable live/work studios for rent to artists of all disciplines. The Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), a private nonprofit based in West Seattle, rescued the historic school house turned boarded-up high school, raised $12 million and redeveloped it into what is now a vibrant cultural center, with Engstrom at the helm.

This story followed Engstrom just before he took that post, back in 2005 when he and Chris Airola helped build The Machine, a five-story wood-and-steel structure incorporating motion, sound, lights, smells and performance into what was to be the most elaborate art piece in the 20-year history of the desert festival known as Burning Man.

Engstrom's work at the festival caught the attention of Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, who brought him to San Francisco to talk to the organization about Seattle and how they could use their experience to spawn businesses and community organizations.

"Truth is," Harvey said of Engstrom and his Seattle group Static Factory Media, "they're doing something radical. They're doing something innovative."

Indeed.

George F. Russell, Jr., who built the Frank Russell Company over 40 years from a single part-time employee to one of the world's top investment advisory firms, is one of two local philanthropists receiving an award this year from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, part of the Smithsonian Institution.

George Russell Jr., chairman emeritus of Russell Investment Group, headquartered in Tacoma.

Now, among the diverse causes that Russell advocates are bridging the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in the U.S. and the destruction of nuclear waste. He is chairman of the East West Institute, One Nation and The National Bureau of Asian Research. The Russell Family Foundation, which he started with his late wife, Jane, is the eighth largest foundation in the state, according to the Foundation Center. The Russells helped fund the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

Bruce R. McCaw, co-chair of the Apex Foundation, is one of the founders of McCaw Cable Television, which became McCaw Cellular Communications and later AT&T Wireless. He co-founded Horizon Air, which was later sold to Alaska Airlines. McCaw also worked in the aircraft industry and has been a pilot for more than 40 years.

McCaw and his wife, Jolene, are co-chairs of Apex, which focuses on helping people in poverty or with disabilities. It is the seventh largest foundation in the state, according to the Foundation Center. The Talaris Institute, a non-profit based in Seattle, focuses on early childhood development.

COURTESY OF SEATTLE CENTER FOUNDATION

Bruce McCaw, at far left, stands with his family members (left to right) brother Keith McCaw, mother Marion McCaw Garrison, and brothers Craig McCaw and John McCaw.

Russell will receive the award for public service, and McCaw will receive the award for corporate citizenship during a dinner tomorrow in Seattle.

The award winners were chosen by the Wilson Center's board, made up of nine private citizens, appointed by the president, and seven currently serving federal government officials.

The private board members were nominated by George W. Bush, including Barry S. Jackson, the former assistant to the president in charge of Strategic Initiatives; former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; and Susan Hutchison, a former KIRO-TV news anchor who now directs the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

The public board members are all from the Obama Administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Board meetings must be lively, to say the least.

The current recession is hitting Puget Sound arts and cultural organizations hard, calling for bold steps to manage through the crisis, a study of more than two dozen local arts groups found.

Endowments and contributions are down anywhere from 5 to 50 percent. Corporate contributions have fallen 20 to 50 percent overall, and in several cases dropped completely. But foundations and individuals are continuing to give, so those contributions have declined less -- 10 to 25 percent.

ROZARII LYNCH

Malgorzata Walewska (Judith) and John Relyea (Bluebeard) in Seattle Opera's "Bluebeard's Castle."

The 24-page report, commissioned by the Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Seattle Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and 4Culture, was done by Helicon Collaborative, based on confidential interviews with representatives of 28 cultural organization leaders in January. The report cost $20,000, shared among the four sponsors.

While some organizations are actively addressing the crisis, others are responding cautiously and still others "seem to be in denial," the report said. Most are reducing programming schedules over the next 18 months and shifting to more "popular" and less experimental material.

The report identified ways donors could collaborate to help the arts sector, such as setting up a revolving loan fund and collectively investing in technology.

Funders could also help support the arts without spending any money, by cutting application paperwork or extending current grants another year; offering loan guarantees or lines of credit; and encouraging arts groups to share resources and to work with nonprofits outside the arts.

Arts groups could do a better job of communicating and collaborating on both programs and resources, according to the report. "Most are too busy managing their own institutions to think about how they might work with others" in a strategic response.

The groups surveyed include Intiman Theater, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Symphony, SIFF, On the Boards and Town Hall Association,

"This study provides valuable insight for both cultural groups and funders about how we can work together to emerge stronger, be more nimble and be better equipped to address these economic challenges moving forward," said Susan M. Coliton, vice president of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Many arts organizations are still evaluating the findings. At the Seattle Opera, corporations contribute 2 to 3 percent of the budget, and those contributions have fallen. It takes 10 to 15 individual donors to make up for just one corporate gift, said Kelly Tweedale, the non-profit's executive director.

Still attendance is holding up. And the story isn't all about money and efficiency.

"The arts are unique in giving hope and perspective to the human condition," Tweedale said. "The report wasn't hopeful and didn't talk about that unique aspect of what we do that could be leveraged."

In a dismal economy, that suggests the arts are a good investment in sustaining public spirit.