AIGA Seattle History
The founding members of AIGA Seattle established a benchmark for
activity early in its history. AIGA Seattle’s kick-off event,
held on October 29, 1986 at the Seattle Art Museum in Volunteer
Park was attended by nearly 200 people, including guest speaker
Kit Hinrichs of the AIGA National Executive Board and AIGA
Seattle’s Founding President, Pat Hansen. With the commitment
of the Chapter’s first Board of Directors, a dedicated group of
vendors and design firms raised more than $20,000 in seed money,
and AIGA Seattle was established as the 9th AIGA Chapter in the
nation. Since its inception, it has seen its membership grow
from a core group of 19 individuals to 650 members. AIGA Seattle
has maintained its role as a national mentor to other chapters,
and has helped establish Seattle as one of the premier graphic
design communities in North America.
AIGA National History
The American Institute of Graphic Arts was established in 1914 by
a group of 40 people from the National Arts Club in New York City,
who met and drafted a constitution for a new organization that
would serve as "a source of pleasure and intellectual profit" to
it’s members. William W. Howland, publisher and editor of the
magazine The Outlook was elected first president. By 1922,
AIGA adopted bylaws stating a desire to stimulate and encourage
those in design; foster concerns for standards of design; form a
center for the exchange of ideas; and stimulate the public taste.
Those objectives still lie at the organization’s core.
Today, AIGA serves more than 16,780 members throughout North
America, including Canada and Mexico. In the 1980s AIGA began
establishing national chapters, and today there are 47 celebrating
excellence in design and promoting an understanding and respect
for the profession.
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