• Storefronts Seattle—dedicated to hooking up show-ready artists with empty retail spaces for pop-up installations—has at least two new things to crow about. First, a residency by Seattle's world- renowned b-boy crew Massive Monkees, who've set up shop in the 4,000-square-foot Milwaukee Hotel in the ID, offering performance showcases and dance classes "for kids of all ages." Second, the triumph of Cmd+P gallery, the screen-printing studio/retail gallery/community hub that will graduate out of Storefronts into its own retail space in Pioneer Square's Quintessa Building.
• Andy Fife—whose name is synonymous with Shunpike—is leaving next month to become an independent consultant. Shunpike was formed in 2001, but Fife was its first full-time staffer (hired in 2007). A press release says Shunpike's work will continue apace: the Arts Business Clinic, Storefronts Seattle, and fiscal sponsorships and "back-office services" that help arts orgs stay alive and well. Shunpike projects a surplus for 2012. Cofounder Michelle Chiachiere will take over during the board's search for a new executive director.
• After 42 years in its modest building abutting Highway 99 in South Lake Union, the School of Visual Concepts—whose logo is in fact a silhouette of its modest building—has finally been priced out of its neighborhood. "We have no bones to pick with Vulcan at all," said Larry Asher, co- director of the school, which at any time has about 650 students in graphic design, web design, and marketing/communications, with a great specialty in letterpress training. SVC is looking for space north of downtown to avoid contending with sports-arena parking in the south.
• Seattle International Film Festival has a new managing director: Mary Bacarella, who's spent the past 14 years as vice president of brand management for the Space Needle LLC. (Thanks and farewell to outgoing managing director Deborah Person.)
• In the arts world, Creative Capital grants—providing cash, connections, and prestige—are like Golden Globes or Oscars. Susan Robb and Degenerate Art Ensemble are the latest Seattle artists to win the national honor. Cheers!
• Congratulations are also due to local authors Ryan Boudinot and Nancy Kress, whose most recent books were shortlisted for the 2012 Philip K. Dick Award. Boudinot's Blueprints of the Afterlife is a novel about (among other things) a giant replica of Manhattan being built in Puget Sound. Kress's DNA-obsessed story collection Fountains of Age is very good, but she's written (and will write) better books; Afterlife is Boudinot's first great novel, and it deserves the recognition this year.
• The Free Book Incident is open every weekday in Occidental Square at the Olson Kundig Storefront, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It is what it says—a place to browse and take home free books. The FBI is only open for a month, so we're advising you to schedule a couple long lunch breaks in next couple weeks. 
