Hello dear reader! I'm Anatol and I coordinate our amazing Frye Volunteers, who assist with a diverse range of tasks that support the museum’s activities, from leading tours for school groups, to facilitating our Creative Aging programs for adults living with dementia and their care partners, to overseeing ticketing and check-in for our events and programs. If you have visited the Frye, chances are that you have crossed paths with at least one of our volunteers.
I am excited to introduce Volunteer Spotlight, a series where we will shine a light on one of our awesome volunteers each month. Each spotlight will highlight the personalities of our volunteers and share more about their connections to the Frye. Our hope is that by creating a space to showcase some of the people who make the Frye such a warm and meaningful space, we will all get a chance to build a greater sense of community.
We will kick off this series with one of our wonderful Events & Programs Volunteers, Kori. Kori has been with the Frye for a little over a year and has facilitated check-in for numerous programs in addition to leading art-making activities at Community Day. During their time at the Frye, Kori has brought their thoughtfulness and passion for the arts to all that they have done, leaving a positive impact on all staff and visitors they have engaged with. We are so lucky to have Kori as part of our volunteer family and hope you enjoy learning more about them and our other exceptional volunteers through this series. Take it away, Kori!
Volunteer Spotlight: Kori (She/He/They)
Hello, I’m Kori. I’m a Nurse Practitioner, visual artist, writer, and choreographer living in Capitol Hill. I work at Swedish Hospital and couldn’t help but notice the Frye just across the way. I’d visited the museum a number of times before I joined as a volunteer just over a year ago.
One of my favorite exhibitions was Pan Gongkai: Withered Lotus Cast In Iron, and the feeling of those works and the music that was composed in response are still palpable to me years later. Having had a number of great visits, and also feeling like the Frye is a neighbor of sorts, I wanted to get involved and be more connected to the art, artist, and greater community of people who appreciate and support what has become one of my favorite places.
I love being at the Frye because it feels like an expansive space. By that, I mean it is a space in which I feel there’s a presence of something greater than myself. Maybe people talk more often about churches or mausoleums or mosques with that kind of language, but I think the presence of an engaging artwork or creative idea, and in the inspiration that comes from it, can be just as much a thing of reverence as what we might encounter someplace spiritual. I can’t wait to go back in person, but in the meantime I’m glad to encounter you here. I hope we get to meet soon! —Kori
Anatol San Jose Steck
Development Coordinator