Fremont Arts Council
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The Fremont Arts Council (FAC) is a Seattle-based community arts organization founded in 1979. The FAC cultivates creativity, celebration, and belonging by engaging people of all backgrounds as active participants in the arts. We produce free and low-cost public events; including the Fremont Solstice Parade, Seattle's largest participatory art event, as well as May Day, Luminata, Trolloween, and Petit Troll. The FAC offers year-round workshops, artist grants, and open studio access at our home base, the Powerhouse. The FAC stewards beloved public art, the Fremont Troll. Rooted in the belief that art builds stronger communities, the FAC welcomes everyone, across backgrounds, abilities, and experience levels, to create, celebrate, and connect. The FAC engages community through free public festivals, open workshops, artist grants, and public art stewardship to cultivate a spirit of celebration where everyone is an artist.
- Income
- $93,951
- Spending
- $98,429
- Reserves
- 25.9 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 69%
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 90 out of 100. Higher than 73% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, under $250k).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 25.9 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 0% of what it owns.
Living within its means
8 of 15Spending exceeded income by 5% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (5)
- $16,788 spent. Luminata is the Fremont Arts Council's annual autumn equinox celebration, held each September at Green Lake Park in Seattle. A free, all-ages evening of light, music, and community artistry, Luminata invites the public to mark the turning of the season by filling the night with handmade luminaries, illuminated art installations, live performance, and the collective glow of hundreds of participants walking together around the lake. The event is built on a foundation of community participation. In the weeks leading up to Luminata, the FAC hosts free, drop-in lantern-making workshops at the Powerhouse, the organization's home studio at 3940 Fremont Ave N in Seattle. Open to all skill levels and requiring no registration, these workshops give community members the opportunity to craft their own luminaries to carry in the procession. In 2025, workshops ran throughout August and September, welcoming neighbors of all ages to create alongside one another. On the evening of Saturday, September 20, 2025, the Green Lake Park came alive beginning at 5:30 PM, when a lantern shop opened near the Greenlake Boat House. Community members who were unable to attend workshops could purchase a lantern on-site, with all proceeds supporting the FAC's mission and helping to keep the event free and accessible for all. At 7:00 PM, an opening performance set a festive and welcoming tone at the waterfront before the procession began. At 7:30 PM, a lead band launched hundreds of lantern-carrying participants into a luminous, approximately one-mile walk around the lake. The route began at the Green Lake Boat House and concluded at Seattle Public Theater at West Green Lake Beach, where illuminated art installations created by local artists invited the crowd to linger, explore, and celebrate together. The procession welcomed all participants; families with young children, people carrying handmade creations, costumed artists, puppeteers, and musicians, reinforcing the FAC's core belief that everyone is an artist and everyone belongs. Mobile art of any kind - puppets, costumes, lanterns, instruments - was welcome without advance coordination, keeping the event spontaneous and radically participatory. Artist grants were made available to support the creation of both stationary and processional illuminated works, making Luminata a meaningful paid opportunity for Seattle-area artists and performers. Musician grants further extended support to the performing arts community. Luminata is free to attend and designed to be inclusive across age, background, and ability. Through this event, the Fremont Arts Council fulfills its exempt purpose by providing free public arts programming, supporting working artists through competitive grants and paid performance opportunities, and offering no-cost arts education through community workshops. Luminata strengthens Seattle by transforming a beloved public park into a free, inclusive gathering space where thousands connect through shared creativity. It supports local artists through grants and paid performance opportunities, drives community arts education through free workshops, and animates the city's cultural calendar each autumn. By centering participation over spectatorship, Luminata builds social cohesion and affirms that the arts belong to everyone.
- $1,406 spent. On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the Fremont Arts Council celebrated with its May Day event at Meridian Park (near the Good Shepherd Center), 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle. This free, all-ages gathering welcomed the community to mark the arrival of summer with a potluck picnic, flower headdress making, children's crafts and games, live music, giant puppet performances, and a joyful dance around the Maypole. No registration was required. May Day offers Seattle residents a free, participatory public gathering rooted in shared creativity and seasonal tradition. By centering handmade art, communal food, and intergenerational play in a public park, the FAC removes barriers to cultural participation and strengthens neighborhood bonds. The event provides an accessible on-ramp for new audiences to experience the FAC's mission - that everyone is an artist - and builds the civic goodwill that sustains a healthy, connected community.
- $8,435 spent. The Fremont Troll is an 18-foot, 13,000-pound concrete and steel sculpture residing under the Aurora Bridge at N. 36th Street in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. In 1989, the Fremont Arts Council launched a public art contest using neighborhood matching funds to rehabilitate a neglected area under the bridge, and the community chose the troll design. Built in 1990, it has since become one of Seattle's most recognized landmarks, by some reports, second only to the Space Needle as a recognized symbol of Seattle. The Monumentous The FAC maintains ongoing stewardship of the sculpture, including cleaning, maintenance, and the surrounding Troll Knoll area. The Troll is a documented driver of neighborhood tourism, drawing visitors to Fremont's shops, restaurants, and breweries. In 2025, Seattle welcomed 40 million visitors who spent $8.8 billion, generating $12.3 billion in total economic impact. The Troll contributes directly to this ecosystem as a free, highly photogenic destination that consistently generates organic social media promotion of Seattle. On TripAdvisor, it holds a Travelers' Choice designation with over 1,500 reviews. The FAC activates the Troll as a living community gathering place through two annual events. Trolloween, held October 31, 2025, celebrated the Troll's birthday with free live music, a theatrical pageant, and the Haunt of Fremont, a costumed neighborhood procession open to all ages. Petit Troll, held March 2, 2025, was a Mini Mardi Gras parade featuring community-built toy truck floats, brass bands, and a march through Fremont, with the winning float earning a place of honor in the Solstice Parade. Together, these programs transform a public art landmark into a year-round engine for community celebration, local economic activity, and Seattle's cultural identity.
- $30,006 spent. The 34th Annual Fremont Solstice Parade, produced by the Fremont Arts Council, took place on Saturday, June 21, 2025, marking the FAC's largest event of the year. This one-of-a-kind, people-powered spectacle featured over 60 community-based ensembles with giant puppets, stilt walkers, dazzling dancers, whimsical floats, jubilant musicians, and free-spirited cyclists transforming the streets of Fremont into a living work of art. The parade is proudly non-commercial; no printed words, logos, or motorized vehicles are permitted - making it a rare, purely human-powered celebration of creative expression. The parade started at 3rd and Leary, cruised along 36th Street, and wrapped near the Fremont Rocket. The celebration continued over the weekend of June 21-22 in partnership with the Fremont Fair, produced by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce. The Solstice weekend draws more than 100,000 people to shop, eat, drink, and enjoy all manners of creative expression in the Fremont neighborhood. This concentration of visitors generates substantial direct economic benefit for Fremont businesses, restaurants, hotels, and vendors. Parking fundraisers at B.F. Day Elementary and Fremont Baptist Church provided additional community benefit. Artists have described the parade as "a bellwether to the health of Seattle" (Seattle Met) - as long as the puppets march through Fremont, the city's creative spirit endures. As Seattle's largest participatory art event, the Solstice Parade fulfills the FAC's core mission by providing free public arts programming, supporting artists through competitive grants, engaging the community as active creators, and generating civic pride and economic vitality for the City of Seattle.
- $30,055 spent. Throughout 2025, the Fremont Arts Council offered free and low-cost public art classes and open studio hours at the Powerhouse, 3940 Fremont Ave N, Seattle. The volunteer-run makerspace welcomed the public for low-cost or free registration. Classes covered giant puppet construction, reed luminary-making, sewing, float-building, and costume creation all taught by local artists using recycled and sustainable materials. In 2025, the FAC hosted a sold-out 8-day intensive large-scale puppetry workshop led by Donovan Zimmerman of the nationally recognized Paperhand Puppet Project. No prior experience is required for any program, making classes accessible to beginners, families, and artists at every level. By removing cost and experience barriers, the FAC ensures arts education is available to all Seattle residents, fulfilling its core mission that everyone is an artist.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since December 1997.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.