Window Seat Media

Support Window Seat's mission to spark conversation, connection, and social change through community-based oral history and storytelling in the South Sound and beyond.

Who We Are

Window Seat is a community oral history organization that has been gathering people together to document and share our histories and stories since 2016. We are committed to growing a living archive of memories and experience that reflect, honor, and celebrate the many histories and identities that make us who we are, here, in the South Puget Sound region. We believe our future is shaped by the stories we tell, so we work with our community to weave valuable community knowledge of the past into the fabric of public life today.

"Free listening" at InhaleExhale event, Feb 2020.

What We Do

Community archives impact what and how we remember. Our local archives currently lack many stories of youth, elders, LGBTQ+ folks, BIPOC, immigrants, disabled people, low income people, and others who have made significant contributions to our region. Inaccurate or incomplete narratives reinforce biases, deepen inequality, and create cultural divides that leave people isolated. By contrast, when communities develop the skills and have access to the tools to document and amplify our own stories, we grow in our ability to connect across differences, strengthen bonds, and imagine new possibilities for a future we can build together.

To address these challenges, Window Seat aims to:

• Build community capacity to document its own stories by training community members in oral history best practices, multimedia storytelling tools, and ethical storytelling principles;
• Add underrepresented oral histories to local archives and libraries; and
• Amplify local histories through diverse and engaging public programming, such as artist talks, exhibits, workshops, performances, podcasts, communal listening sessions, and other activities that center the needs and strengths of the South Sound.

Community archives, like ours, are giant communal memory boxes. We shift through these memories together, reminiscing, reflecting, trying to remember dates and names and places. It’s an opportunity to ask different kinds of questions and to have different kinds of conversations with our friends, our family, and our community. And, perhaps, most importantly, it's an opportunity to shine a light on those who came before us who show us how to be resourceful and creative, tenacious and hopeful as we create our future together. 

Our Past

Pride Storytelling Project culminating event, June 2026.

Since our founding in 2016, Window Seat has partnered with a wide variety of communities to uplift local knowledge and share powerful ideas. Some of our partners have included Interfaith Works, SafePlace, The Community Farmland Trust, Senior Services of South Sound, and Capital City Pride. Whether focusing on domestic violence, housing insecurity, end-of-life care, immigration or farmland preservation, the stories connect us across issue and community to share our community’s rich history and tradition of creativity and innovation, collective care and activism. 

Our Future

We’re at a moment in our organizational history where we’re reflecting back on this body of collaborative work. We’re noticing that this collective archive, Community Roots, houses wisdom and memories of local artists, organizers, and others who are caring for the people, land, and traditions of this place. We’re noticing there are themes that connect us across concern and community and that a map is emerging that shows the networks of care and creativity in our community.

While the grassroots nature of community archives like ours ensures the collection is created by and for the community, it often means a lack of resources and expertise to ensure long-term preservation and broad accessibility. We have an opportunity to archive all the materials we’ve gathered, which is over 100 oral history interviews and some related memorability, at The Evergreen State College Archives. Expanding access to primary source materials expands opportunities for community members to learn from those who came before them and for researchers to write more expansive and inclusive histories of our region.  

This is a lengthy process to do with relational and ethical integrity. We will be working with partner organizations and narrators to invite them into the process, reviewing transcripts and preparing them for archiving, creating metadata, and more. As we archive our collection, we will also be revamping our website to include curated content - new and existing - for people to access.

Support Community Care and Connection With a Gift Today!

Storytelling is a vital part of human life. There are many ways that community storytelling can nourish, heal, and strengthen our communities. We rely on your community support to continue our work of creativity and social change. 

All gifts—large and small—are needed and deeply appreciated.

Listening Session, Oct 2026