PRESS
The Conru Art Foundation·Press Kit
The Conru Art Foundation is a Seattle non-profit that funds working artists, opens historic buildings to the public, supports more than 100 local non-profits with the Conru family foundation, and runs eight active programs ranging from a year-long painting fellowship to a ten-week summer of exhibitions and tours.
The press shorthand for this kind of foundation is usually “tech founder funds the arts.” That isn’t the story here. Andrew is the foundation’s creative director and the driving force behind every program in it. He picks the buildings, programs the seasons, runs the curatorial conversations, paints alongside the fellows, and personally writes every line of the code that renders this page.
8
Active programs
8
Full-time art fellows
$5M+
Deployed each year
3
Downtown gallery spaces
100+
Seattle non-profits supported
Free
Public admission, every program
The mission, in three words
Beauty. Truth. Love.
The mission
Every CAF program runs the same play: bring people together around beauty, truth, and love. The Atelier funds eight artists for a year so the work can actually be made. The Salon keeps the door open. The grants flow shows up where independent organizations need oxygen. The Summer of Awe opens three buildings the city can walk into for free.
The foundation is preparing for an AI future where people will need to work harder to find meaning. The bet is that beauty, truth, and love hold up under pressure. Painting still rewards a year of attention. A real room with real people in it still changes how a week goes. We are betting that those human anchor points become more valuable, not less, as the next decade plays out, and we are inviting Seattle to stand by those values with us.
Beyond its own programs, CAF coordinates with the Conru family foundation to deploy more than $5 million a year across foundation programs and grants to over 100 Seattle non-profits. Public admission to every CAF program is free.
The Programs
The Prize
The foundation’s annual award for contemporary painters working in Seattle. Fellows receive grants, studio support, and a wall in the Beautiful Things exhibition each summer. The Prize asks the same question every year: can you make a painting that argues for beauty, truth, and love?
Open to working Seattle painters · Curated by the CAF team
The Atelier
Fully funded, year-plus residencies for eight artists at a time. The first program in modern Seattle that pays a working stipend so artists can focus on the work for a year, with mentorship from master painters and dedicated studio space at the Occidental.
Pioneer Square · Year-plus residencies
The Living Room
A 16,000-sq-ft cultural hub on the 5th floor of 110 Union St in downtown Seattle. Salon-style hang of contemporary work year round, atelier sessions and life drawing most weeks, and the social home of the foundation: drinks before tours, dinner after shows.
110 Union St, 5th Floor · Free admission
Summer 2026
A ten-week umbrella program that opens three downtown buildings simultaneously: the 1916 Coliseum Theatre (The Coliseum of Art), the Occidental Fine Arts Center (Beautiful Things 1850–1950 + the Seattle Art Prize Fellows), and the 1893 Lusty Lady (private CAF tour). June 1 to August 15, 2026.
Three buildings · Three exhibitions · One private tour
Press
For Summer of Awe coverage specifically (programs, tour map, building photos, sponsorship), the SoA-specific press kit has six downloadable assets, a 3-paragraph press-release writeup, and a tour map at full resolution.
Open the SoA press kit →
The Magazine
The foundation’s creative-media engine: daily arts coverage of the Pacific Northwest, comprehensive event listings, artist features, and a quarterly print magazine reaching tens of thousands of readers across the region.
publicdisplay.art · Quarterly print + daily web
The Commission
A program that pairs master portrait painters with Seattle subjects to create heirloom-quality, traditional portraits. A foundation-supported alternative to the photograph: every commission funds the artist directly and produces work intended to outlast a generation.
Year-round · Commissioned through CAF
On The Walls
A working collection of mechanical player pianos, jukeboxes, music boxes, and coin-operated audio wonders from before the electronic era. Distributed across the Salon and — this summer — inside Beautiful Things at the Occidental Fine Arts Center.
Inside the Salon · Inside Beautiful Things, Summer 2026
The Grants
In coordination with Andrew & Nonie’s personal family foundation, CAF helps direct over $500,000 annually to more than 100 Seattle non-profits, plus event space at the Salon. CAF identifies recipients; the family foundation issues the grants.
conru.org · 100+ Seattle non-profits / yr
Founder & President
Andrew is the founder and president of the Conru Art Foundation. Background in tech (he founded one of the first social networks in the late 1990s), now a full-time patron, art collector, and amateur painter in Seattle. He runs the foundation alongside Nonie Conru and a small Seattle-based curatorial team.
Available for press interviews on the foundation, the Summer of Awe, the Lusty Lady building project, and arts patronage in 2026. Read the longer bio →
Press Photo Pack
Right-click and save, or click to open. Photos credited "Conru Art Foundation" unless otherwise noted. For Summer-of-Awe-specific assets (tour map, etc.), see the Summer of Awe press kit. A combined ZIP is on the way; in the meantime each section below groups what you need by job.
Vector logos for CAF and the public-facing programs.
Real photos of the historic buildings the foundation is opening this summer (and the Salon, year-round).
Editorial-ready imagery for each active CAF program.
Press & Partnerships
Press inquiries get the fastest turnaround on press@conruartfoundation.org. Sponsorships & partnerships: wendy@conruartfoundation.org. General programming: hello@conruartfoundation.org. Tour and group-visit requests: tours@conruartfoundation.org.
