About The Project Room

Mission:
The Project Room is a gathering place and online platform dedicated to asking questions about contemporary life. Through a dynamic collection of public programs that focus on works-in-progress, The Project Room presents work, ideas, and people that respond to specific themes and demonstrate the relevance of creativity in everyday life.

The Project Room aims to be inclusive in all of its endeavors, featuring different points of view and areas of expertise. In addition to the arts, programs feature technology, culture, history, geography, industry, and other areas that intersect with the specific question in focus.

From 2011-2013, The Project Room asked the question, Why Do We Make Things?
In 2013, The Project Room asks, How Are We Remembered?

Off Paper
Off Paper is TPR’s online journal that follows the themes presented in The Project Room through thoughtful writing and other relevant online content. Contributing writers come from all types of fields and areas of expertise and share their perspective on what creativity means to them. Off Paper continues the conversation that is taking place on-site for audiences everywhere.

Jenifer Ward, Editor
Tessa Hulls, Assistant Editor
Brangien Davis, Editorial Advisor

Editor Jenifer Ward has a background in cinema studies, particularly in a German context. After completing her Ph.D., she taught language, literature, cinema, and cultural studies at The College of Wooster, Rhodes College, and Gustavus Adolphus College, and is now the Associate Provost at Cornish College of the Arts. Her most recent publication, in addition to numerous articles, essays, and book chapters, is the co-edited volume Reworking the German Past: Adaptations in Film, the Arts, and Popular Culture (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010). She serves on the Advisory Board of The Project Room, in addition to her work as Editor of Off Paper.

About TPR Founder Jess Van Nostrand:

Before opening TPR in July of 2011, Jess Van Nostrand worked as an independent visual art curator (2003-2007) and Exhibitions Curator for Cornish College of the Arts (2007-2010).

Jess developed her career locally by creating exhibitions that investigated themes of contemporary life that featured under-recognized work being made in the Northwest. Shows such as “Girls Growing” and “Raw & Refined” addressed timely social and cultural issues and featured artists such as Trimpin, Wynne Greenwood, Mandy Greer, Joseph Park, Francis Baker, John Grade, Paul Rucker, Dan Webb, and many others.

During her three years as Exhibitions Curator at Cornish College of the Arts, Jess created the popular “Alumni Retrospective Series,” wrote and implemented the first mission statement for the gallery, refocused the Gallery’s programming to reflect the interdisciplinary goals of the College, co-taught the Art Department’s Senior Thesis Course, and partnered with the Cornish Dance Department to present the innovative year-long celebration of dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham.

In addition to directing TPR, Jess is an instructor for the Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program, and serves as VP of Programs for the Board of Directors of ArtTable, the national organization for women leaders in the visual arts.

Watch a video from the Authorship series here:

The Project Room is an Associated Program of Shunpike. Shunpike is a 501(c)(3) non-profit art service organization whose mission is to strengthen the Seattle arts community by partnering with small and mid-size arts groups to develop the business tools they need to succeed. Working in close partnership with these groups, Shunpike helps solve problems quickly and impart vital skills in finance, organizational management and arts administration.