The Seventh Annual Stranger Genius Awards

For seven years running, The
Stranger has thrown wads of cash at local artists and arts
organizations in what has become a cross between the MacArthur genius
grants and the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. There is no
application process. There are no strict criteria or disqualifiers.
Sometimes we award achievement. Sometimes we award promise. Sometimes
we give the $5,000 cash prize to artists who need the money. Sometimes
we give it to artists who don’t. The only thing that unites the
recipients: excellence. They are the best Seattle culture has to offer,
and we don’t want to them to move away. The $5,000, however, comes with
no strings attached—if they want to spend it all on a move to New
York (or a set of Wedgwood china or a new hot-air balloon), that’s
their business.

Too many arts grants demand a tangled bureaucratic relationship just
to ask for money, not to mention all the accounting for where that
money went. The arts editors of The Stranger prefer to say:
“Hey, you’re great. Take the money and run.” And run they have: Lynn
Shelton went on to win hosannas from Sundance to Cannes, James Longley
was nominated for an Oscar, and Heather McHugh won a MacArthur genius
grant just last month.

Deciding each year’s Geniuses is never an easy job. There are always
hurt feelings and fights and don’t-you-take-that-tone-with-me moments.
This year, we decided to lean into the problem and conducted our
deliberations while sparring in a boxing gym. Fists flew, sweat poured,
and we picked perhaps the broadest spectrum of Geniuses this year:
experimental writer Stacey Levine, popular (but still experimental)
comedy duo the Cody Rivers Show, ejaculatory and spiritual sculptor
Jeffry Mitchell, young hiphop filmmaker Zia Mohajerjasbi, and the newly
sexed-up and reinvigorated Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Lots of people who came to last year’s awards ceremony at the Moore
Theatre (somewhere north of 1,000 revelers) said it was their favorite
party yet. So, after years of hopping from venue to venue—the
Henry, SAM, Western Bridge, the Rem Koolhaas library—we’re going
with what we know and staying at the Moore, where you can dance on the
stage and wander around its nooks and crannies with a drink and a date.
And hear phenomenally catchy pop-rock by Throw Me the Statue,
intelligent hiphop by They Live!, plus the ambient and chillwave
U.S.F., and the deep and groovy cuts of the Emerald City Soul Club. The
only main difference this year: The party will cost $5 to attend.
Because we work in a dying industry. But five bucks for the best art
party of the year is a steal. Just think of the door charge as your
small contribution to next year’s awards.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll win one.

The Stranger Genius Awards cabal is Paul Constant, Christopher
Frizzelle, Jen Graves, Brendan Kiley, Charles Mudede, David Schmader,
and Lindy West.