By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Wa Na Wari, a vital center for Black arts and culture in Seattle, recently announced that they have secured a permanent home in the community, marking a significant step in the fight against gentrification in the city’s historically Black Central District.
The property, located at 911 24th Avenue, was purchased by the Frank and Goldyne Green Cultural Land Conservancy (FGGCLC) for $1.195 million, with Wa Na Wari signing a long-term lease with the conservancy. This move ensures that the house will remain under Black ownership, a crucial victory for a community that has faced decades of displacement.
With support from individual donors, the City of Seattle, the Gates Foundation, and the Satterberg Foundation, Wa Na Wari was able to secure its future in the neighborhood. Co-founder Elisheba Johnson emphasized the importance of retaining Black ownership in an area that has experienced the harmful effects of gentrification.
“It’s the reason we exist, right? So, I would say it’s vitally important,” Johnson said. “We didn’t want to see another Black family lose another Black home. And so, if we could even think for a moment of a way to kind of stop the bleeding for just a moment, really a triage.”
For Seattle’s African American community, the acquisition represents more than just securing a building—it’s about legacy. The American dream of land ownership has historically been out of reach for many descendants of African slaves. Since the government failed to deliver on its post-Civil War promise of “40 acres and a mule,” Black families have had to struggle to build generational wealth through land and homeownership. Wa Na Wari is part of this broader effort to reclaim space and provide a model for how Black communities can combat displacement.
Sited in a fifth-generation, Black-owned home, Wa Na Wari is a community art project that reclaims Black cultural space and emphasizes the importance of Black land ownership in gentrified neighborhoods.
“Our mission is to create space for Black ownership, possibility, and belonging through art, historic preservation, and connection,” said the organization in a statment. Referred to as a “container for Black joy,” Wa Na Wari fosters Black art, organizes community events, and builds movements to resist displacement. “Wa Na Wari” is a Kalabari phrase meaning “our home.”
The Frank and Goldyne Green Cultural Land Conservancy was established to steward cultural land for Black communities and ensure their presence in Seattle remains strong.
“This is so personal to me,’ Inye Wokoma, Wa Na Wari’s co-founder and land steward. “It is the fulfillment of a 20-year-old commitment I made to my grandparents when, in 2004, I promised them I would do everything in my power to continue what they started. This was one of the homes that they made available for our family to live in. Now it is a permanent home for our community.”
Wokoma reflected further on the journey to secure the property, saying, “Some days the reality of it leaves me breathless. Every day it fills me with gratitude and joy. I have so much to be thankful for: my grandparents’ love and lessons, my relatives and friends who believed in an impossible dream, a community who poured into that dream. Thank you… all of you.”
Johnson echoed Wokoma’s sentiments, recognizing the hard work and collective effort that made this achievement possible.
“This moment is surreal for me as it is the realization of years of collective dreaming and scheming for a more equitable Seattle,” Johnson said. “I feel like I can finally take a breath and be secure that I have a physical and spiritual home for my community here in Seattle.”
Wa Na Wari began renting the home in April 2019 as an anti-displacement strategy. The art center paid market-rate rent to ensure the property remained in the Green family, while simultaneously working on a capital campaign to purchase the home. Over the next three and a half years, Wa Na Wari and the Frank and Goldyne Green Land Conservancy developed a plan to make the home’s ownership permanent.
During this period, Wa Na Wari became a cultural institution that modeled how Black families can preserve their homes and maintain ownership despite external pressures.
“How can Wa Na Wari, as a Black cultural institution, position its work around community?” Wokoma asked, emphasizing the need for a strategy that would allow Black families to collaborate on preserving their homes. “Using a cultural and capital campaign strategy to community-build, to develop the kinds of resources and assets that would allow them to collaborate with a family, to come up with a strategy that they could use to save a beloved family home—that was the central objective. It was the main challenge, right?”
Wa Na Wari will remain the sole tenant of the 911 24th Avenue house, and exciting plans are in the works. These include renovations to make the building accessible and the construction of a new facility that will house an artist live-work studio and an indoor performance space for its residency program.
“When we founded Wa Na Wari, we were asking a question: Can arts and culture stem displacement and save Black homes?” said the co-founders. “Over three years later, the answer is a strong yes. We now know that arts and culture is a powerful strategy to help save Black homes in historically Black communities.”
In 2020, Wa Na Wari launched the Central Area Eco-System for the 21st Century (CACE 21), an initiative that amplifies the voices and needs of Black homeowners, builds collective power, and advocates for just land-use policies. “CACE 21” aims to replicate Wa Na Wari’s success in other cities facing similar challenges, proving that Black art and culture can indeed help save Black homes and create a more equitable future.
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