In the midsts of the pandemic and Capitol Hill Occupied Protests, Carolyn Hitt (Blue Cone Studios) and Julie-C (Seattle ACED) came together with support of community to found Forever Safe Spaces in 2020 for and by frontline artists as a force of self-preservation, holistic healing, and cultural resilience. 

The mission of Forever Safe Spaces is to interweave, stabilize, and nurture the people most vital to our ecosystem so we can not only survive, but thrive in place. From the ethos of mutual aid, FSS advocates for and invests in creative spaces and cultural workers (artists) as a solution to social disparity, displacement, public safety, and more. 

As a community-led formation, our membership core including our leadership, resident artists, volunteers, collaborator ecosystem, is central to all we do and an active part of informing and curating our programming.

our initiatives

Via FSS, our three studio spaces on Capitol Hill, Seattle, support 60 resident artists and a broader ecosystem of roughly 200 local creatives working in photography, videography, fashion, music, storytelling, literature, painting, ceramics and social practice art.

Through our CommuniTeas drop-in programming, our resident artists directly serve hundreds of community members a month through providing free weekly and monthly workshops, gathering space, recording opportunities, and more. You can find the more current CommuniTeas programming calendar - published monthly - on the Blue Cone Studios Instagram page.

Via On The Block Seattle Creative Marketplace, a free, monthly creative marketplace and street fair that centers BIPOC creatives and small businesses, our focus is placemaking for creatives and the previously displaced in this high opportunity but highly unaffordable arts hub of the city. The location is 11th Ave between E. Pike and E. Pine and in 2024 expanded to include E. Union as well. OTB provides vending space for hundreds of individual creatives and microbusinesses of all mediums, creates paid performance opportunities for local musicians, and draws thousands of participants at each event. 

We also host internships with Folklife's Creative and Cultural Workforce Development program which pairs creatives with local organizations for work opportunities in the field, and as a founding host of this program we have graduated a total of 7 apprenticeship rounds. In May of 2024 we were awarded Community Reinvestment Fund contract for Washington State for Gun Violence Prevention which is supporting in part our operations through July of 2025. 

In 2025, FSS is launching Channel OTB, an artist led storytelling platform to capture and amplify the multifaceted narratives and happenings in our creative ecosystem.

theory of change

We believe in artists and we seek to transform how cultural and creative labor is valued towards a more equitable and sustainable world. 

We believe that the practice of art making and human creativity is intrinsically valuable, healing, and revolutionary. This is why creating spaces and opportunities for low-barrier participation and access to means of creative production is a vital form of community empowerment.

Our People

Current Steering Core, Staff & Lead Residents

Carolyn Hitt, Co-founder

Julie Chang Schulman, Co-founder

Jac Smith, Leadership Team

Japera Burres, Leadership Team

Twyla Sampaco, Leadership Team

Brandon “BT” Thomas, Leadership Team

Mika’il “WAV” Atiq, Production Lead Staff

Titus Ross, So Below Studio Lead Resident

Dexter “Banga” Platt, Production Team

Zion Thomas, Social Media & Curatorial Apprentice

Desmond Platt, Production Apprentice

Troy “Intylekt” Sheppard, The Study Studio Team

Maurice “Reesbo” Kennedy, The Study Engineering Team

Amai, Production Team

Jeremy DeCory, Production Team

On The Block Creative Marketplace Team

Rio Estolas, OTB Co-founder, NW Throwbacks

Diana Adams, OTB Co-founder, Vermillion Art Gallery & Bar

Roger & Cesar Maldonado, OTB Partners, Mediums Collective

Resident Artist Community

(Coming Soon)