King County Council proclaims Peter Donnelly Day

April 21, 2009

Summary

Phillips honors legacy of arts legend

Story

The Metropolitan King County Council recognized Peter Donnelly’s 45 years of service to King County’s arts community by proclaiming April 20, 2009, as Peter Donnelly Day in King County. Councilmember Larry Phillips sponsored the proclamation in honor of the man who dedicated his life to the development of arts.

“Peter Donnelly brought our community together through the arts,” said Councilmember Phillips. “His decades of work helped transform Seattle from a mid-sized city with few arts opportunities to the internationally recognized cultural center we know and love today. He will be profoundly missed, but his legacy lives on in King County’s vibrant, rich arts culture.”

Some of Donnelly’s achievements include helping create the Seattle Arts Commission in 1971; serving for two decades as president and CEO of ArtsFund, formerly the Corporate Council for the Arts, which raises private funding for the arts; spurring construction of the Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center, home of the Seattle Repertory Theater; and helping establish the statewide Building for the Arts Program. Mr. Donnelly passed away March 28.

The proclamation of Peter Donnelly Day coincided with a celebration of Mr. Donnelly's life that took place April 20 at Seattle Repertory Theatre's Bagley Wright Theatre.

Members of King County’s arts community join the King County Council in honoring Peter Donnelly Day. The Council recognized Donnelly’s contribution to King County’s arts community at its April 20 meeting.

Read the proclamation