Green Lake Park is Now a Piano Park (Until August 17)
UPDATE: The Green Lake piano experienced some water damage from the rain over the weekend and is currently being repaired. The Seattle Parks Dept. tells us that the piano will be back soon. Stay tuned!
For the next month you may see (and will likely hear) Green Lake’s newest resident: a classic piano. The recently launched Pianos in the Parks is a summer campaign from July 17 to August 17, encouraging Puget Sound residents to discover 32,000+ acres of City of Seattle and King County parks and open spaces through the power of music and art.
The campaign features 20 artistically-enhanced pianos created by Gage Academy of Art faculty, students and friends, each placed in one of 15 iconic Seattle city parks and open spaces. Each piano, procured and tuned by Classic Pianos, is available for the public to play.
Green Lake’s piano named “PianoBot and Friends,” was designed by Bellevue-based artist and author Vikram Madan. It is located on the northeast side of the lake, at 7201 E. Greenlake Drive N, near the docks and the Green Lake Community Center.
“We are delighted to host the pianos at 13 city parks, Seattle Center and City Hall plaza,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, in a press release. “Pianos in the Parks will enliven our parks and engage communities through the power of art and music.”
Musicians of every level are encouraged to enter the Pianos in the Parks Facebook contest where they can upload a video of their performance of an original piece or music from the public domain for a chance to play at Concerts at the Mural presented by KEXP and Seattle Center on Friday, August 22. Entries will be voted on by Facebook “likes” with the top five most heavily “liked” videos being judged by a community panel. Share photos and videos and join in the conversation on Twitter, using #PianosintheParks.
At the end of the campaign, all Pianos in the Parks pianos will be sold to the highest bidder in an online auction on the official website, www.pianosintheparks.com, finding new forever homes. Proceeds from the sale of these pianos will benefit Seattle Parks and Recreation, King County Parks, Seattle Symphony, KEXP and Gage Academy of Art.
So we have to ask, what song would you play at Green Lake?
