Community Videos

Square Feet 2019 features keynote speaker Dr. Eugene "Gus" Newport, who is a social justice activist and a national leader in the areas of community and economic development, public policy, and community organizing. Following his two terms as mayor of Berkeley, California in the early 1980's, Gus taught and lectured as the MLK Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was there that he first engaged with community organizers from Boston's south side, a relationship that ultimately made Dr. Newport the director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, the first (and only) nonprofit in the United States to be granted the right of Eminent Domain. He is the former director of the Institute of Community Economics (The National Community Land Trust technical assistance organization), directed the community Building Support center for the Urban Strategies Council (USC), served on two United Nations committees, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by his alma mater, Heidelberg University. He has effectively navigated the worlds of commercial property development, local politics, banking and financing, and community organizing, all in pursuit of large-scale equitable development.

Seattle Office of Arts & Culture's Square Feet brings together artists, nonprofit professionals, cultural workers, developers, designers, public administrators, funders, and financiers to discuss strategies for combating the growing cultural affordability crisis in Seattle. Explore innovative models, and present new ideas. Hear from local and national cultural space and community leaders.