Bellevue is bustling with parks, movie theaters, fine dining, bars and shopping. The streets are stuffed with coffee shops, food trucks, a museum and — in a few weeks — multiple farmers markets.
But the one thing it’s missing compared to its big sister across the lake? Live music.
Public radio state KBCS 91.3 and the Bellevue Arts Museum are hoping to change that. The two entities will launch a new monthly series on Friday called BAM Sound and Vision that pairs music and art.
Through October, attendees can experience the marriage of the electronic indie pop duo Sister with Atoms + Bytes — an exhibit exploring the the collision of the digital and analogue worlds — or the contrast of soul singer Grace Love with the sturdy metalwork of Metalmorphosis.
In all, the diversity of the artwork will be matched by the range of musicians.
Because of their existing partnership, the Bellevue Arts Museum brought KBCS on board to curate the show’s soundtrack. It was as if the stars aligned, said Patrick Whalen, who scoped artists for Sound and Music on behalf of KBCS.
While there weren’t any grandiose ideas of changing the music scene in Bellevue from the onset, the two organizations both have a longstanding desire to spread live music to the Eastside.
“We’ve always wanted to have more music here at the museum,” said Meredith Langridge Anderson, the senior events manager at the Bellevue Arts Museum. “I think that music and art essentially pair really well together, and music is kind of the tie that binds. It’s something that everyone can bond to.”
The museum previously tried to cater to the growing Downtown neighborhood with an after-hours music series called BAMignite, but had trouble finding success. Sound and Vision will be their first project integrating music and art.
Outside of occasional performers in restaurants and events at Crossroads Mall, live music has struggled to find a home in Bellevue, Whalen said. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a market for music.
“When I see a line to get into the bowling alley, I think, ‘there’s clearly a demand for entertainment,'” he said. “Some people have tried valiantly to bring music to Bellevue. This might be the key that launches a thousand ships.”
That being said, Whalen isn’t counting his chickens before they hatch.
“It could be a smash hit or take a while to develop. Our priority is to invest in Bellevue,” he said.
The concert series will start on Friday, April 29 and will feature the museum’s exhibit Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture with music by the Westerlies and Breaks and Swells.
Whalen wanted to mix music that he felt fit well with Louis Kahn’s work — which he found in Seattle-bred brass band The Westerlies — with music that would bring out the joy in the exhibition — enter Sisters.
One of the members of the Westerlies is reportedly such a big fan on Louis Kahn’s architecture that the group is composing a new piece of music especially for the show. No one, not even Whalen, has heard it or will before Friday.
BAM Sound and Vision runs on the last Friday of each month through October. The full schedule of musicians and exhibits can be viewed at www.bellevuearts.org.
