Bringing people together through the arts.

Happy Time Studio is building capacity for the arts across King County.

We can help you build skills, relationships, media, and funding for artists in King County.

Over the past five years, we’ve hosted:

  • Over 600 music and arts students of all ages

  • 23 professional teaching artists

  • Thousands of visitors to the studio, gallery, and arts events

  • Ten solo art exhibits and two group shows

  • 15 paid local songwriters for six sold out In the Round concerts

  • A free summer makerspace

  • 15 paid live artists and performers at every art walk over the past three years

  • 150 different art classes including all manner of painting, drawing, printmaking, writing, sewing, and more

  • More than 20 individual and organizational consulting clients

  • Countless community meetups and friendly gatherings

During this time, we also:

  • Created the Issaquah Open Studio Tour (now run by the local artist-led nonprofit Art Commons)

  • Launched the Open Studio Newsletter, a King County-wide arts media resource including an email newsletter, podcast, and free online arts forum

  • Built the Art Up Incubator program and successfully piloted it with 9 local artists in Issaquah’s Creative District in 2026

  • Designed custom classes and workshops for local organizations, including Forest Friends Preschool, Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park, Aire Craft Festival, Issaquah School District, King County Library System, Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, and Girl Scouts

  • Advocated for leadership and economic opportunity for artists at every level

With students, artists, teachers, and visitors coming to Issaquah from as far as Everett, Burien, Enumclaw, North Bend, Ballard, Delridge, and Duvall, we learned over time that the King County arts ecosystem is diverse and hungry for more resources and connection.

Happy Time has provided ideas and space for new creativity and generative imagination in the arts for people from all walks of life.

And we are just now getting started.

We look at arts capacity building holistically.

SKILLS

We are in the business of helping people make art, and helping people who help people make art. Because it’s simply good for us.

We can teach music, art, and writing. We can help you start or refresh an arts business or nonprofit. And we can provide all kinds of professional development for arts & culture workers, from strategy to fundraising to marketing to finance and more.

We are experienced artists, teachers, nonprofit leaders, and small business owners, and we can design a custom curriculum with the Art Up Incubator, or we can do one-off, specialty workshops.

RELATIONSHIPS

We are in the business of helping people find other arty people to talk to, learn from, and support. We create spaces where you can do this, and we partner with others all around the area for a broader impact.

We know in the arts that the best things are accomplished with collaboration and mutual support. This is something we demonstrate by showing up for people and bringing attention to how important it is to invest in community.

MEDIA

We are in the business of delivering information to the public about art, with a much-needed focus on the communities that make up the smaller cities, towns, and rural areas around King County. We do this through the Open Studio Newsletter, which is totally free and includes an email newsletter, podcasts, and the Arts Hangout, an algorithm-free online arts forum. We offer lots of advertising and sponsorship opportunities for businesses and individual artists.

We also promise to respond to your inquiries in a timely and personal manner. Far too much energy has been spent on trying and failing to get a response from local press, we want to be a better option.

FUNDING

We are in the business of helping you learn all about raising money for art. Successfully win grants, fundraise from individuals, and create earned revenue through sales and other services.

If you’re not a numbers person, we can show you that, well, it’s not so scary. Making a budget is doable. And King County is in the middle of an unprecedented arts boom, so now would be the time to jump in.

How can we help you build skills, relationships, media, and funding for artists in King County?

WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!