• BelRed Arts District

    Header Image
    Image of Christian Moeller’s “Nails” sculpture. Brightly painted, and large-scale nails reach toward the sky next to Sound Transit’s Link light rail base in BelRed.

    The BelRed Arts District was first designated as an Arts Village as part of the 2009 BelRed Land Use Code Update that transformed the vision for BelRed from a light-industrial and commercial area into a mixed-use dense urban district. The original designation was a point on a map near 136th Ave NE and Spring Boulevard that represented the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Francia Russell Center's original location, which has since been relocated next door. Currently, BelRed has a wide array of arts organizations, businesses, artists, and makers working across the district. The City of Bellevue is committed to further envisioning the Arts District and building on past studies and outreach to cement the district within Bellevue's changing urban fabric. 

    The BelRed Arts District currently is facing significant changes and is therefore at the forefront of many City-led efforts to bring attention to the district and help the community shape its future. Below is a list of projects, plans, and resources to learn more about these efforts and how to stay involved.

    • Economic Development Plan - The recently passed Cultural and Economic Development Plan includes guiding policies that further support the BelRed Arts District.
      • More about this plan, including updates on progress, can be found here.
    • Utility Box Wraps Program - This program is a multi-year project to cover utility and signal boxes in Bellevue. The program's start will begin by covering up to 15 utility boxes in BelRed with artworks from local Eastside-based artists.
      • Learn more about the Utility Box Wraps Program here.
    • 4Culture Creative Consultancies Project - With a generous grant from 4Culture in 2020, the City of Bellevue hired artist Katie Miller to help research and conduct outreach for the BelRed Arts District. Miller studied the BelRed area, other arts districts and developed a series of research areas that resulted in a report. This report also included results from stakeholder outreach and a survey that collected vital feedback from residents, community members, and stakeholders. These findings will help guide the City in creating an Action Plan that will respond to the needs and create a vision for the district's future.
      • The full report can be read and downloaded here.
    • BelRed Arts District mailing list - If you would like to stay involved in future work around the BelRed Arts District, please email Manette Stamm, mstamm@bellevuewa.gov.

    Staff Contact: Manette Stamm, mstamm@bellevuewa.gov or (425) 452-4064