Give your regards to FUSION: Summer arts festival is Aug. 5

July 24, 2009 6:23 pm
Auburn artist Leah Boehm shows a stoneware piece she crafted by using face molds from real people. Boehm will join about 30 artists for the FUSION summer arts festival Aug. 5 at Dumas Bay Centre.
Auburn artist Leah Boehm shows a stoneware piece she crafted by using face molds from real people. Boehm will join about 30 artists for the FUSION summer arts festival Aug. 5 at Dumas Bay Centre.

Federal Way’s biggest summer social event is also a major fundraiser for homeless women and children.

The annual FUSION summer arts festival returns Aug. 5, featuring plenty of gourmet eats, musical treats and artistic feats. This year’s theme is “Give My Regards to Broadway,” and festival organizers hope to raise $120,000. Last year’s festival raised about $100,000.

Friends United to Shelter the Indigent Oppressed and Needy (FUSION) was started in 1993 by Peggy LaPorte. It is a nonprofit volunteer-run program that provides transitional housing and services for families facing homelessness.

In 2009, the group merged with the Joseph Foundation, a charity with similar goals. Together they have 15 transitional housing units and 10 condominiums in Federal Way and Northeast Tacoma.

About 75 percent of FUSION’s funding comes from its annual summer art event.

Students in Jennifer Picardo’s advanced art class at Federal Way High School were challenged to design this year’s invitations, with Danine Polus crafting the winning entry.

FUSION 2009

What to expect at this year’s FUSION festival:

• “Give My Regards to Broadway” theme.

• More than 30 artists from the region.

• Vendors will offer jewelry, fiber art, garden art, glass art, paintings, wooden carvings and wood bowls, wearable fabrics, pottery, sculptures and quilts.

• Silent and live auctions.

• Gourmet food catered and served by Metropolitan Market.

• Melanie Roach, a 2008 Olympic weightlifter, will emcee the event.

• Live music and performances of Broadway tunes. Performers include Joey Jewell and Swinging at the Sands, Jo Kaiser, Brian Soushek and Holly Rose.

• More than 160 volunteers help with the festival.

• Major sponsors include Poverty Bay, Jeff and Leanne Stock, Prudential NW Realty, Windermere Real Estate, Home Street Bank and Puget Sound Energy.

• Phyllis Tellari is FUSION’s new executive director and first full-time paid staff member.

If you go

FUSION’s annual summer arts event will run 3 to 9 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Dumas Bay Centre, 3200 SW Dash Point Road, Federal Way. Tickets are $55 per person in advance or $65 at the door. All proceeds from ticket sales, artist commissions, auction donations and raffle are used to cover costs of providing professional case management and support services for clients in 15 transitional homes. To learn more, visit www.fusionfederalway.org or call (253) 941-0820.