The front of The Showbox along First Ave in downtown Seattle, October 2023. Photo credit: SDOT staff Blog stats: 350 words | 2-minute read
Quick links – Take our survey:
- Musicians: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WPFM89K
- Music venues: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B52G99R
Seattle is a world-class music city, with a rich history of diverse cultures, creative spirits, and groundbreaking sounds across many eras and genres of music.
Are you a musician or representative of a local music venue in Seattle? We know it can be challenging to reliably find parking spots near venues and to load or unload your equipment for gigs. We’re listening, and we want to hear from music venues and local musicians. Seattle’s Office of Economic Development and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) have recently launched a survey to do just that.
If you are a local musician or representative of a Seattle music venue, please take 5 minutes to share your thoughts on loading and parking issues near music venues. The musicians survey is available here, and the music venues survey is available here. The survey will remain available through November 30. Your feedback will help inform potential solutions to improve parking and loading near venues. Thank you!
Did you know? In 2014, Seattle ran a pilot program to support musician loading at live music venues around Seattle
In 2014, the City implemented a low-cost, phased approach to make it easier for musician load-in and load-out at live music venues with Musician Priority Load Zones. Five music venues were selected to pilot the program, and nearby load/unload zones were modified to prioritize musicians’ use through branded signs. They include a yellow regulatory sign and City of Music branded “Priority Musicians Loading & Unloading” sign.
The pilot served the following five music venues: High Dive (Fremont), The Crocodile and Tula’s (Belltown), The Triple Door (Downtown), and The Showbox (Pike Place Market).
What’s next?
We’ll review the feedback we receive from this survey, which will help inform potential future improvements to music venue parking and loading. Please stay tuned for additional updates in the new year. Thank you for your time and interest.