Hugo House Explained

Hugo House is a non-profit community writing center in Seattle, Washington.

About

Hugo House was founded in 1997 by Linda Jaech, Frances McCue, and Andrea Lewis. These three writers believed Seattle needed a center for local writers and readers to find a community and create new work. In 1999, Laura Hirschfield described the nonprofit organization: "Richard Hugo House is a two-year-old literary arts center in Seattle named after the Seattle-born poet and creative writing teacher Richard Hugo who wrote squarely and poignantly about people and places often overlooked."^[1]

Several new programs were created at Hugo House during the 2000s by Program Director Brian McGuigan, including Cheap Wine and Poetry (in 2005)^[2] Cheap Beer and Prose (in 2008),^[3] and the Made at Hugo House fellowship.^[4] McGuigan left Hugo House in 2014. Tree Swenson was the executive director of Hugo House from 2012 to 2020.^[5] The current Interim Executive Director is Rob Arnold.

House

Hugo House first occupied a 16206square feet Victorian house originally built in 1902. Previous occupants of the building included New City Theater and before that the Bonney-Watson mortuary and funeral home.

In addition to administrative offices, the House included:

• an 88/150 theater
• a cabaret stage and cafe
• three multipurpose rooms
• a conference room
• an art gallery
• private meeting spaces

In June 2016, the organization moved to a temporary space adjacent to the Frye Art Museum on First Hill when the original house on Capitol Hill was razed.^{[6] [7]} The property was redeveloped with a six-story mixed-use building which, starting in September 2018, serves as the permanent home for Hugo House.^{[8] [9]}

Programs

Hugo House presents a number of programs, including:

• Hugo Writing Classes
• Hugo Classes for Youth
• Stage Fright Teen Open Mic
• Hugo Works in Progress
• Hugo Literary Series
• Word Works: Writers on Writing
• Writers-in-Residence
• Made at Hugo House Fellowship
• Zine Archive and Publishing Project (formerly a program of Hugo House, now independent)

Articles

• A Study in Social Entrepreneurship: Richard Hugo House, Laura Hirschfield, Grantmakers in the Arts Newsletter, Volume 10, Number 2, Autumn 1999
• All eyes on a timely topic at Hugo House, John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/4/2002,
• Open House, Christopher Frizzelle, The Stranger, 7/24/2003,
• Making Things Better, Frances McCue, Community Arts, 10/2004
• Not With a Bang, But a Whimper, Paul Constant, The Stranger, 9/16/2008
• Hugo House names interim director, John Marshall, Seattle PI, 10/23/2008

Notes and References

1. Hirschfield, Laura. "A Study in Social Entrepreneurship: Hugo House," GIA Newsletter, Vol 10, No 2 (Fall 1999) http://www.giarts.org/article/study-social-entrepreneurship
2. Hugo House "Upcoming Events" https://hugohouse.org/upcoming-events/cheap-series/ Viewed June 6, 2016
3. Richardson, Lissa. "Who Can Resist Cheap Beer and Prose?" Pif Magazine http://www.pifmagazine.com/2010/09/who-can-resist-cheap-beer-and-prose/
4. Constant, Paul. "The Hell With Grants," The Stranger February 13, 2013 https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-hell-with-grants/Content?oid=15995166
5. Richardson, Catherine "Q&A: Tree Swenson Leaves Academy," Publishers Weekly Magazine, May 1, 2012 http://www.pw.org/content/qa_tree_swenson_leaves_academy?cmnt_all=1
6. News: June 6, 2016 . Hugo House Settling Into New Digs . . June 9, 2016.
7. News: Smith . Rick . January 6, 2016 . Hugo House Makes a Good Move—To First Hill, Temporarily . The Stranger . June 9, 2016.
8. News: Smith . Rich . Hugo House, Seattle's Premier Literary Center, Reopens on Capitol Hill . . Seattle . Index Newspapers LLC . 2018-09-12 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180917204827/https://www.thestranger.com/books/2018/09/12/32131709/hugo-house-seattles-premier-literary-center-reopens-on-capitol-hill . 2018-09-17 . 2018-11-13 . Everyone will get their first look on Saturday, September 22, at the grand reopening celebration. .
9. Web site: The New Hugo House . 2018-01-01 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180810141830/http://newhugohouse.org/ . 2018-08-10 . 2018-11-13 . ...a new and permanent space...on the same ground where we began... .