What a treat to welcome back director Olivia Newman on the premiere date for the @netflixfilm #remakablybrightcreatures at @centrumfoundation This was a collaboration with @ptmarinescictr with residency director, @libpratt Bravo
@qdjazz is one of our amazing drum faculty members at this year’s Jazz Port Townsend!
Don’t miss your opportunity to learn from Quincy and all of our amazing teaching artists. Auditions are due by May 11!
#jazz #jazzcamp #jazzmusician #jazzstudent #musiccamp
Next week, we are thrilled to welcome back 2024 artist in residence, director and screenwriter Olivia Newman @livinewman ! Olivia came to Centrum in February of 2024 to work on the adaptation of the novel Remarkably Bright Creatures, written by Shelby Van Pelt @shelbyvanpeltwrites . She got to meet the giant pacific octopus, Kakantu, at the aquarium at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center @ptmarinescictr and spent a week wandering the woods and beaches at Fort Worden and Port Townsend.
Since working on the screenplay, Olivia directed the feature length film adaptation of the novel for Netflix, staring Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Alfred Molina as the voice of the octopus. On May 8th, the day the film comes out on Netflix, Olivia will be here at Centrum for a screening of the movie at the Wheeler Theater! We will have a brief Q&A after the screening. The event is free and open to the public (film is rated PG-13), and there are just a few tickets left. Link in bio for more details, we hope to see you there!
📸:
1 - Olivia Newman at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center aquarium at Fort Worden
2 - Kakantu, @ptmarinescictr ’s giant pacific octopus in 2024, that has since been released back into the Salish sea
3 - Remarkably Bright Creatures novel, with new Netflix cover featuring Sally Field
4 - Film still from Remarkably Bright Creatures feature film
#olivianewman #artistresidency #centrumfoundation
We’re super duper excited to announce the completion of the renovations on our 5 artist cabins! Check out this little video tour of cabin 261! Also, our residency application for the 2027 season is now open, deadline is June 30th. Apply now to join us next year!
This project has been years in the making, and we want to extend a huge thanks to the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust @murdocktrust and the Sage Foundation for supporting these renovations. We worked with Side x Side Architects @sidexsidearchitects and Clark Construction @clarkconstruct , as well as local subcontractors for plumbing, electrical and painting work. Also, big shoutout to Jacqueline Mention @mentionj for her impeccable taste in paint colors and all things design!
We’d also like to thank some of our incredible supporters of the residency program, including Sally Warren @sally_a_warren & Jeff Jackson, Cathy Sarkowsky @cathysarkowsky , Cat Clifford @sea.k.see , and the Chin Family Foundation.
Thank you all, and we hope to see you here at Fort Worden soon!
#artistresidency #writingresidency #centrumfoundation #artistcabin
Spend your Valentine’s Day listening to 14 talented poets 😍💘🌹
Listen to featured readers Janeen Armstrong, Dawn Pichón Barron, Eric Greenwell, Nanya Jhingran, Ted McMahon, Sati Mookherjee, Abby E. Murray, Melissa O’Neil, Tamarah Rockwood, S. Salazar, Rachel Sullivan, Thena Westfall, Haines Whitacre, and Lisbeth White at Fort Worden's Wheeler Theater for a celebration of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness through poetry.
Each poet will read 2 poems: a love poem they wrote and a love poem written by another poet they love.
Doors open at 6:30, and the reading is free and open to the public. Donations will be gratefully accepted at the door.
After the reading, connect with the poets and buy a copy of their books at Taps at the Guardhouse across the street with a campfire. Snacks provided by Taps and Centrum, and Taps will also staff a cash bar.
Celebrate love with us!
#centrum #porttownsend #valentinesday #poetry #salishsea
Big news for Centrum and Fort Worden State Park.
We’re excited to share that Centrum has signed a new long-term lease with Washington State Parks, securing our home at Fort Worden for decades to come. This agreement affirms Centrum’s role as a cultural anchor on public land and allows us to steward 14 historic buildings, including McCurdy Pavilion and the Wheeler Theatre, while continuing to invest in arts education, performance, and preservation.
Alongside this milestone, we’re also entering a thoughtful leadership transition. After 14 years as Executive Director, Rob Birman will move into a new role focused on long-term capital fundraising and campus projects, while Centrum launches a national search for our next Executive Director. Rob will remain in his current role during the transition, ensuring continuity and care for our community.
This moment reflects both stability and possibility—and our deep belief that Fort Worden will continue to be a place where art, learning, and culture thrive for generations.
👉 Read the full announcement at centrum.org
#Centrum #FortWorden #ArtsEducation #WashingtonArts
Super Bowl fans?
We can all agree the Seahawks won, and the basis of the halftime show was love. Did you see a couple start lives together in matrimony and commitment? We did.
Let's keep this love season going. Valentine's Day is this weekend, and we invite you to join us for a free poetry reading at Wheeler Theater at 7pm.
We've already introduced 8 of our 14 featured poets who will read. They will read a poem they wrote about love and another poem by different poet about love they love! So much love.
Let's introduce 4 more poets who will read this Valentine's Day:
❤❤❤
Tamarah Rockwood is a Harvard graduate, founder of Bainbridge Island Press, and PhD candidate at University of Birmingham, UK. Organizes western Washington poetry communities. Lives on Bainbridge Island with her family.
S. Salazar’s debut poetry collection Raíces, Relics, and Other Ghosts (Kelsay Books, 2023) received three honorable mentions for the International Latino Book Awards. When not writing, she hikes with loved ones, talks to her parrot, Gizmo, and gushes over every dog she sees.
c'ic'áyx̣ʷmu Rachel Sullivan-Owens is a local Indigenous poet and author from the nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕ people, enrolled with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in Sequim. Her work can be found in The Yellow Medicine Review and more.
Thena Westfall is a poet. She lives and works in Port Angeles, WA.
❤❤❤
Join us at Taps across the street from Wheeler Theater after the reading for food and companionship! For more information, visit /program/poetry-on-the-salish-sea/
#poetry #valentinesday #fortwordenstatepark #poetryreading #love #badbunnybaby #superbowl
Centrum’s newly formed Youth Artist Society (YAS) presents its first-ever public event! Strings N Things is a youth-powered music showcase featuring local young bands and singer-songwriters performing old-time fiddle music, folk, indie, and punk.
STRINGS N THINGS
A Youth Music Showcase
Wednesday, February 11, 2026 | 4:00 pm
📍 The Wheeler Theater
Admission by donation — nobody turned away
Performers include:
⚫️ Solo and duet youth artists
⚫️ Boiler Room String Band
⚫️ Chloroform Rags
From planning and tech to performance, design, and merch, every aspect of this event is created by students, with guidance from Centrum’s incredible community of local artist mentors. This concert is the culminating showcase of YAS’s winter afterschool workshop, focused on:
_ Event production
_ Screen printing & design
_ Media studies (journalism & podcasting)
_ Sound and lighting for live performance
Come support the next generation of artists and don’t miss this high-energy, youth-led performance at the Wheeler Theater!
Join us on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2026, at Wheeler Theater for a celebration of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness through poetry.
This reading starts at 7:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:30) and is free and open to the public. Donations will be gratefully accepted at the door. We will feature readings from 14 poets from around the Salish Sea reading 2 poems each: A love poem they wrote, and a love poem they love written by another poet they love... 😍😍😍
After the reading, we will celebrate and connect at Taps across the street with a campfire to warm our hearts, snacks provided by Taps and Centrum to warm our stomachs, and Taps will also staff a cash bar.
Poems carry warmth, like a hand held a little longer than expected. In a few carefully chosen lines, they gather affection, longing, and gratitude, turning simple words into a shared heartbeat. Share your heartbeats with Poetry on the Salish Sea at Wheeler Theater this Valentine’s Day. Bring loved ones. Bring friends. Join us at the reception at Taps right across the street afterwards for a warm fire, good food, and companionship!
Let's celebrate love as best we know how - together!
#centrum #porttownsend #valentinesday #poetry #salishsea #fortwordenstatepark #poetryreading
For Brandon Godman, Fiddle Tunes is a rare convergence of craft, community, and sound. As both a luthier and a fiddler, he moves between jam circles and repair benches — adjusting bridges, fixing soundposts, and helping instruments (and musicians) find their fullest voice at Fort Worden.
“What is really special about Fiddle Tunes is #1 it’s a celebration of the fiddle — you kind of pick your adventure, and there are many adventures to have that don’t even appear on the surface.” — Brandon Godman
Founder of The Fiddle Mercantile in San Francisco, Brandon brings decades of repair, restoration, and performance experience — a trusted go-to for instrument care, and a fellow player when the late-night jams spill into stairwells, porches, and hallways.
✨ One story from Centrum Stories: Connected by Community
FEATURING: Brandon Godman, Patrick McGonigle, Kendl Winter, Jere Canote, Chris Cooper, Greg Canote, Kevin Wimmer, Cameron Fontenot, Rhys Jones, Nokosee Fields, Riley Calcagno, Nandi Forrest, Emily Mann
MUSIC BY: “The Appalachian Trail” (Hunter Quinn), “The Rose Waltz” (Foghorn String Band)
FIDDLE TUNES: June 28–July 5, 2026 • Founded 1977 • Classes, jams, dances, concerts + late-night adventures
REGISTER TODAY AT CENTRUM.ORG
For visual artist Arit Emmanuela Etukudo, Centrum’s In the Making Residency offered something rare: uninterrupted space to create, reflect, and breathe. Surrounded by the natural beauty and historic quiet of Fort Worden, she found the freedom to slow down and reconnect with her artistic truth.
“Creating work here, I really got to sit with my work and slow down… no pressure of everyday life… just sit with myself, sit with my work, and create truthfully.” — Arit Emmanuela Etukudo
In the Making is Centrum’s visual artist residency where studio practice meets community engagement — supporting public-facing projects like exhibitions, installations, performances, and other community-centered experiences.
✨ One story from Centrum Stories: Connected by Community
FEATURING: Arit Emmanuela Etukudo
IN THE MAKING ARTIST RESIDENCY: Offered Sept–May • 2–4 weeks • Cost-free • Studio + cabin/apartment + optional public project - Applications accepted in May 2026.
LEARN MORE AT CENTRUM.ORG
