A reimagining is in store for Seattle’s beloved Bumbershoot Arts & Music Festival, following a recent search for a new production partner conducted by Seattle Center, which selected New Rising Sun – a coalition of Seattle-based arts, entertainment, and cultural leaders – to build a sustainable structure to drive the beloved festival forward in ways that maintain its original spirit, audaciousness, and appeal.
The next steps in formulating this new partnership are to draft a letter of intent that outlines its terms, followed by a detailed agreement that establishes parameters around use of the Seattle Center grounds and other components of a new Bumbershoot production arrangement.
The timing of the next Bumbershoot Festival will be determined as part of that process.
More info: Bumbershoot (seattlecenter.com)
Bumbershoot Music & Art Festival takes place every Labor Day weekend in the heart of the city on the 74-acre Seattle Center campus. Discount advance tickets and multi-day passes go on sale well in advance. The price for tickets goes up the closer we get to the festival dates. So the sooner you purchase your pass, the more you will save.
Each year, thousands of people from across the country flock to Seattle Center to attend this acclaimed festival, which has become one of the biggest and most-loved contemporary festivals in North America, yet maintains its Northwest spirit and innovative roots.
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About Bumbershoot
The name Bumbershoot (meaning “an umbrella”) was chosen both as a nod to the Emerald city’s most famous weather pattern (rain!), as well as a symbol of the overarching mission of this festival: to be an umbrella for all of the arts.
From the beginning, Bumbershoot was a multi-disciplinary arts festival showcasing the best of comedy, dance, film, literary arts, music, performing arts, theatre, and visual arts.
The Bumbershoot Festival is marked by a special blend of world and nationally renowned talent, local artistry, and spectacle. The programming at Bumbershoot strives to be a contemporary microcosm of what is current across all disciplines and genres within those art forms, giving our audience opportunities few other festivals around the world offer.
Now approaching half a century since it’s inception in 1971, Bumbershoot is one of Seattle’s largest cultural touchstones. Spanning the Seattle Center grounds, a campus originally created for the 1962 “Century 21” World’s Fair, Bumbershoot has continued the legacy of legacy of Century 21, celebrating innovation and the search for what’s next.
The video below, Airstream Leave it Beautiful- Bumbershoot 2016 from The Public Works on Vimeo will give you a sense of Bumbershoot.
Bumbershoot TBA
When: Postponed until a new Bumbershoot production arrangement has been detailed.
Tickets: Single day, general admission tickets for Bumbershoot start around $99 and increase the closer we get to Labor Day Weekend.
Be the first to know about ticket discounts, promotions, and festival information by visiting their website: https://onereel.org/bumbershoot.
Discount Bumbershoot tickets
(These are 2019 prices)
- Single day General Admission tickets are $99, advance purchase.
- 2-day and 3-day GA tickets are $$165 and $220, advance purchase.
- VIP and Emerald passes are $175-$795, advance purchase.
Sign up to volunteer. Sign up to volunteer on the Bumbershoot website (usually before August). Volunteers can experience Bumbershoot behind the scenes, earn an exclusive volunteer t-shirt and can also earn festival passes.
Calendar of free or cheap live music performances
The following events include affordable music performances in all genres on our calendar in the next 60 days.
(If nothing is listed below, there are no free or low cost music events on our calendar. Theoretically, this should never happen. We update music events on a rolling basis all year long. We try to have at least 10-20 free or low cost music events on the calendar every month.)
But wait, there’s more!
- Here’s where to find free events throughout the year at Seattle Center.
- And our big lists of live music venues (all genres) and free live music events in the Puget Sound region.
- Plus, music festivals in Washington State.
- For more fun anytime, here’s a list of 101+ always free things to do for fun.
- Find free and cheap things to do every day on the Greater Seattle on the Cheap event calendar.
- Visit the Greater Seattle on the Cheap home page and choose from a menu of free and cheap activities in the Puget Sound region.
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Bumbershoot 1973 photo from Seattle Municipal Archives (CC2)
