The Teen Tix Mission
Teen Tix serves teenagers by making Seattle’s rich cultural life affordable and accessible to them. Art has the power to inspire critical thought, creative impulse, and a deeper sense of involvement in one’s community. By facilitating teens’ art encounters while empowering them to design and initiate those experiences, Teen Tix not only delivers all of the benefits of art to teens, it also brings to the arts the gift of an engaged and enduring community of young patrons.
Seattle Center Teen Tix was founded in 2004 in partnership with ten of the resident arts organizations on the Seattle Center campus: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Pacific Science Center’s IMAX & Laser Dome, EMP|SFM, Giant Magnet, Intiman Theatre, and Seattle Children’s Theatre. Its goal was – and is – to nurture the next generation of Seattle art audiences. In 2006, Teen Tix began adding partners outside of Seattle Center. Currently, 38 arts organizations throughout the Puget Sound region participate in the Teen Tix program.
Any teenager (13-19 years old) can sign up for a free Teen Tix pass. The pass then entitles them to purchase $5.00 day-of-show tickets at any of our participating organizations. To date, Teen Tix has facilitated the sale of over 16,000 arts tickets to teens.
Teen Tix also provides various arts engagement opportunities to teens, from arts leadership training on the Teen Steering Committee, to arts criticism via the Young Critics Workshop. Over 80 teen contributors make the Teen Tix blog Seattle’s best source of youth-centric arts coverage. In 2009, Teen Tix was shortlisted for the Stranger’s annual Genius Awards in the organization category. In his profile, Stranger Theater Editor Brendan Kiley said “If Seattle culture has a future, Teen Tix is at its heart.”
Teen Tix is co-managed by Holly Arsenault and Pete Rush, under the auspices of Seattle Center Productions, the public programming arm of Seattle Center. Holly joined the program in 2005 and oversaw its transition from a 15-minute to day-of ticket program, as well as its expansion outside of Seattle Center. She is also an actor, dramaturg, playwright, and teacher, and holds a BA in Drama from the University of Washington. Pete joined Teen Tix in 2008, after serving as Curriculum Manager for the Seattle Center Academy. He is also a prolific scenic and costume designer, as well as a freelance visual artist, and theater educator. He holds a BFA in Acting from Boston University.