Arts Walk: Hidden Histories Launch & the Rededication of the ORSM

Join the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice (RCF) and the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project during Fall Arts Walk weekend to see images from the Palestinian Cultural Palace – a cultural, developmental, and social gathering place for young people in Gaza. On Saturday, October 7, between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m. at Capitol Way and State Ave., we will also rededicate the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural in commemoration of RCF’s 20th anniversary. We will hear from artists, activists and community members about the mural’s past, present, and future and about its impact. For those who can’t make the rededication event, RCF, Art Forces, and the ORSMP will be at the mural for the duration of Arts Walk, providing information on the mural’s history, its relationship to the community, and details on our recent and upcoming projects. There will be live music, Palestinian crafts, and artisan olive oil from Canaan Palestine available for purchase.

We encourage the public to also join us at the mural from 10:00-11:00 a.m., Saturday, October 7, the second day of Arts Walk, for the launch of three new “Olympia’s Hidden Histories” self-guided walking tours, created by students and faculty at The Evergreen State College. This growing collection of downtown walks makes visible the stories of Olympia’s diverse communities, natural ecology, and connections to the world. The new tours, developed by students in Evergreen’s “Taking Back Empire” program, focus on the Port of Olympia and its connections to global shipping and trade, militarization, and fossil fuels. Students who produced the tours will speak on their projects, together with community members who collaborated with the project, and public and college officials who wish to express support. Attendees can then walk the self-guided ArcGIS StoryMaps tours, which are accessible (without an app download) on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop, using the QR Code or the link at https://artforces.org/hiddenhistories. The ArcGIS StoryMaps walking tours collection is a collaboration of Evergreen State College students and faculty with the “Walls Tell Stories, Olympia” project, created by Art Forces and supported by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice (the organizations that created the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural). The project has been partially funded by a Washington Humanities SHARP grant, a Thurston County Heritage Grant, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.