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A conversation with Michael Greer, President & CEO of ArtsFund, and Eastside Culture Coalition
Friday, October 9, 2026 · 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM · Bellevue
The Eastside Culture Coalition invites you to The State of Arts & Culture on the Eastside, a conversation featuring Michael Greer, President & CEO of ArtsFund.
Join us as we bring the Eastside's arts and culture community into one room.
Over lunch, Michael Greer will share how ArtsFund supports our region and the challenges he sees across the sector. We'll then turn to a panel of Eastside arts leaders on the realities specific to the Eastside and the opportunities ahead for the regional solutions no single organization or city can build alone.
Staff from the King County Executive's Office will also join us to listen to what attendess share as a way to inform their approach for engaging with the Creative Economy sector on the Eastside. Please come prepared to share your candid feedback about any obstacles or barriers you are facing along with any input that Executive Zahilay's team should be aware of.
This is a chance to connect with the people making culture across our many Eastside cities, to show our collective impact, and to help shape how the region sees us. Come meet colleagues old and new and bring someone who should be part of this network!
Schedule
11:30 — Check-in, lunch, networking
12:00 — Presentation Begins
Welcome from Jonathan Cunningham, King County Office of the Executive
Remarks from Michael Greer, President & CEO of ArtsFund
Panel: "The State of Arts & Culture on the Eastside"
Open Q&A
1:15 — Closing remarks, networking
Featured Speaker: Michael Greer
President and CEO, ArtsFund
Michael Greer is a seasoned cross-sector leader with decades of experience in for-profit and nonprofit organizations across the United States, India, and China. A firm believer in the interconnectedness of public, private, and nonprofit sectors, Michael advocates for cross-sector collaboration to strengthen community health and drive positive outcomes.
As President and CEO of ArtsFund, Washington State's largest independent, unrestricted arts and culture funder, Michael leverages his diverse experience to create practical and inspiring community solutions through the arts. Beyond Washington State, he contributes to national and international conversations on the role of creativity in shaping more vibrant, inclusive societies.
About ArtsFund
ArtsFund supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grantmaking in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington. ArtsFund was originally founded to bring corporate and civic leaders together to help establish and sustain our region’s arts and cultural institutions. Over its grantmaking history, ArtsFund has granted more than $140MM to over 1,000 organizations in all 39 Washington counties. Through ArtsFund’s advocacy work, including its longstanding arts impact research reports, which provide essential research on the value of the arts; and its leadership programs, like Board Leadership Training, which grow skills and build capacity among arts and cultural organizations, ArtsFund supports the health and wellbeing of our communities. Learn more at www.artsfund.org.
About Eastside Culture Coalition
Eastside Culture Coalition brings together the organizations, artists, and advocates who present, produce, preserve, and propel culture across East King County.
The coalition exists to:
Build a network of mutual support and shared advocacy to uplift arts, culture, and heritage
Promote and facilitate regional solutions no single city can achieve alone
Establish the Eastside as a vibrant cultural community with an identity all its own.
The network is broad by design. If you serve East King County, you belong here.
Arts, culture, and heritage organizations across East King County (staff, leaders, and board members)
Individual artists and cultural workers
The people who support this work: funders, city and county cultural staff, educators, and advocates
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