Sharing our stories. Strengthening our communities.

An Important Update From Window Seat

Dear Friends,

I'm writing today with some difficult news. For the past 15 months, we've navigated an incredibly challenging financial period due to a significant drop in grant funding. During this time, we’ve cut a program, reduced staff hours, and refocused our efforts on community fundraising. Unfortunately, additional cuts were still necessary. Last week we made the collaborative decision to lay off Meg. Their last day with us will be July 1.

We grew from a staff of one to a staff of two when we hired Meg in September 2021 as our Community Weaver to lead our community engagement and fundraising at Window Seat. During this time, they engaged our community through storytelling circles, a creativity salon, our annual gathering, playback theatre through Brave Practice, tabling events, and Give Local. They shared their public administration skills through writing grants, creating systems for evaluating impact, and helping communicate our purpose with the community. There are countless other ways they've shared their skills to Window Seat, and we’re grateful for all the ways we were able to grow and deepen our work with their energy, creativity and deep commitment to our mission.

Our priority has always been to the community we serve. We’ve been collaborating with our community for almost 10 years to document and amplify the stories that make us the beautiful, complex, and diverse community we are here in the South Sound. Looking ahead, our plan is to prioritize:

• Carrying out year two of the Pride Storytelling Project, the public programming phase of the project.
• Continuing the work we started with the Olympia Library to make our archive of oral histories accessible to future researchers served by the 29 libraries within the Timberland Regional Library system.
• Exploring more sustainable models to continue to carry out our mission and support access to our local history archive for future generations.

Scaling back from a two person staff to one will be a big challenge and we'll look to you for continued support and wisdom as we make this transition. Window Seat has always been nimble and adaptive. We have also always had a big and loving community of supporters who have given generously their time, wisdom, and resources to our work. We welcome future collaborations, conversations, and creative thinking as we consider what is possible moving ahead. Please reach out with your questions and ideas. Thank you in advance for your care and support.

More soon,

Elaine Vradenburgh
Founder & Memory Activist
Window Seat Media

Support Window Seat Today

Meg’s farewell as Co-Director of Window Seat

Dearest Window Seat Community,

It is with mixed emotions that I share the news of my departure from Window Seat Media, with my last day being July 1, 2025. This decision, made collaboratively, is a necessary step for the organization to navigate its current financial challenges and ensure the continuity of its vital programmatic commitments to our community.

My time at Window Seat has been incredibly rewarding. I am immensely proud of the work we have accomplished together, particularly the Pride Storytelling Project and the Community Roots collection of oral history projects, which have firmly established Window Seat's place in our community since 2016.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to all of you—our dedicated donors, volunteers, partners, and every individual who believes in our mission. Your support has been, and remains, the driving force behind everything we do.

I am especially thankful for the opportunity to have worked alongside Elaine, our Board, cohort members past and present, and our broader community partners and supporters. Your belief in my talent was evident from the start, enabling impactful programs like Brave Practice, our Playback Theatre community engagement program that ran for three years! I have learned so much and will cherish the experiences and relationships I've built here.

I remain a firm believer in Window Seat's mission and the incredible work Elaine and the Pride Storytelling Project cohort are doing. Our impact is undeniable, with thousands engaging with us every year.

Your Recurring Investment is the Key to this Nonprofit’s Future

Window Seat's monthly expenses average around $10,000. Imagine the power of your collective support:

• If just 2,000 people—the number who watch our most popular social media videos—all pledged $5 a month, we could be covering all our monthly expenses.
• If the 1,000+ people who follow our newsletter all gave $10 a month—the cost of your favorite coffee and less than a dozen eggs—Window Seat could weather the storm until some kind of tides turn.

Because as we know, tides wax but they also wane. For the security of the programs you love, there must be a shift away from unreliable grant funds towards community-driven funding. Please hear me when I say that the continued existence of these vital community resources—and the survival of the nonprofit sector as a whole— depends on your recurring support. We are a canary in the coal mine. Losing one of only two staff members is a casualty of a poisoned system. No one else is going to step up if the community doesn't do it. Your financial investment is profoundly needed and felt deeply.

Thank you once again for everything. I look forward to seeing Window Seat's continued success from a new perspective.

With heartfelt appreciation,

Meg Rosenberg
Former Co-Director and "Community Weaver" of Window Seat Media

Now “Community Weaver” of Gossamer Strategies, LLC

Join us in building a sustainable future for Window Seat Media. Will you commit to a recurring monthly donation today and help ensure our vital storytelling and community-building work continues to thrive?

Subscribers levels

Friends: $5+/ month, $60/ year

Neighbors: $10/ month, $120/ year

‍Connectors: $25/ month, $300/ year

‍Cultivators: $50/ month, $600/ year

Champions: $100+/ month, $1,200+/ year

Become a "Friend of Window Seat"

Pride Cohort Shares Their Research and Learning

On June 3rd we gathered at the library, shared archival materials, worked on a group zine, and listened to and shared stories. Thank you to all that came out!

What is the Pride Storytelling Project?

We launched the Pride Storytelling Project in October 2024 in partnership with Capital City Pride as a two-year project. The project documents moments in LGBTQIA2S+ history from the perspective of people who are a part of our local queer community. The first year focused on research and documentation. We will share our research and learning through a public programming phase in year two.

Since October, we’ve supported and guided a cohort of community members to learn oral history research methods and best practices. Together, they recorded 20 community oral histories with our local queer community who range in age from late 30s to early 70s. The focus on spanning generational experience (as opposed to focusing on a specific time period or demographic) emphasizes our commitment to strengthening intergenerational relationships and understanding, as well as elevating BIPOC and transgender experiences since our community has become more diverse in the past 15-20 years. Interview topics ranged from migration stories, organizing efforts, the build environment, local and national laws, personal development, and thoughts on the future. The importance of access to space, creating community and belonging, and the ongoing cycle of fight and celebration have been strong themes arising from our interviews so far and are themes that continue to be relevant today.

Olympia and the surrounding area have a rich history of LGBTQIA2S+ community arts and organizing, yet little of that history is accessible to the general public, especially from the perspective of those at the center of those stories. People are eager to learn from each other and for their stories to be documented and shared. Through our research process, we have connected with many who have rich personal archives. Early publications, like Sound Out and Matrix, video footage from the first Capital City Pride, timelines of legislation, walking tours related to local LGBTQIA2S+ history, and the community memoir, OlyWa Days of Change, are some of the materials we've learned from through this process. We’re excited to collaborate with the community to further share these materials, along with the new oral histories we recorded, as part of our documentation effort through exhibits, publications, and other public programming next year!

Thank Your Project Participants!

Our oral history work is community-driven and participatory and collaborative. It’s truly a group effort, and we want to acknowledge all the wonderful people who have contributed so far:

Cohort MembersAzadi Amaan, Jonah Barrett, Lucas Claussen, Daniel Garcia, Wild Tiny, and Meg Rosenberg.

Artwork
Jahla Brown

Community Narrators

Alpha Q
Anna Schlect
Cameron Combs
Carol McKinley
Don Orr Martin
El Sánchez  
Estrella Shepard
Helen Thornton
Jamie Rainmaker
Jean Eberhardt
Lisa Brodoff
Lucas Scott Miller
Luna DeLyte
Lynn Grotsky
Melissa Bless
Nomy Lamm
Rachel Carns
Radio Sloan
Rosalinda Noriega
Tali Economy

Partners & Funders

Capital City PrideCommunity Sustaining FundGraphic CommunicationsInatai FoundationInspire OlympiaOlympia Federal SavingsOlympia Film SocietyOlympia Timberland LibraryPhotoland at The Evergreen State CollegePort of OlympiaStoryOlyTrue Self YogaWindow Seat’s “Friends of Community Storytelling”

Check Out the Cohort Exhibit on Saturday!

Our cohort produced an exhibit that will be on display in the Olympia Center as part of the Capital City Pride's Health and Wellness Fair. You can listen to a selection of 5 stories, organized by decade, as well as add your own story to the timeline!

CAPITAL CITY PRIDE HEALTH & WELLNESS FAIR

Saturday, June 28 | 11AM-4PM

Olympia Center 222 Columbia Street SW

FREE!

Exhibit Printing Sponsor - Thank You!!

Celebrating Our Work

At its May 20 meeting, the Olympia City Council proclaimed May to be Olympia Heritage Month. The proclamation encourages all residents to explore, recognize and celebrate our diverse history and heritage and expand access to it for all Olympians. Thank you to the Olympia City Council for continuing its commitment to honor the histories all Olympians and for acknowledging the work of organizations and groups, including Window Seat, in our community who share that mission. Our diversity is our strength and our gift!Watch the first 20 minutes of the recorded meeting to hear from colleagues in our community and council members.

‍Watch

Kristina Rainmaker, one of our Community Roots cohort members in 2023, recently founded a new nonprofit, Pathways to Agency, whose mission is to support the community in need by empowering individuals with information and actionable processes to foster forward movement and strengthen the broader community. She recently interviewed Elaine for the organization's weekly podcast, Resource Report, that airs every Wednesday on KAOS 89.3 FM.Listen