Documenting the contributions of those who lived and performed in Olympia is one way to make sure this history is preserved. Our research explores the history of Olympia music between 1980-2002 and includes oral histories, original artwork, photos, and other ephemera.
Our programs serve all fans of music, art, and contemporary history–folks who participated in these events and the countless others who have been inspired by them. The stories told to us represent a wide variety of people, including founders of the Riot Grrrl movement and creators and organizers for large-scale music events, including The Transfused, Yoyo a Go Go, Homo A Go Go, the International Pop Underground Convention, Ladyfest, and many others.
In August of 2022, the City of Olympia Heritage Commission hired Kelsey Smith and Elaine Vradenburgh to begin the process of documenting Olympia’s independent music history. This work included an 84-page resource guide and 25 fully transcribed oral history interviews with 30 people. In 2023, Kelsey, Markly Morrison, and Mariella Luz formed a new independent nonprofit to continue this work. The Olympia Music History Project edited the interviews to present to the public. They will continue to perform independent research on the key moments and spaces in Olympia’s rich music history and share their findings through stories, photographs, media, and other ephemera.
We hope this initial body of work will serve as an introductory resource for music fans and cultural researchers to engage with, now and in the future. We look forward to seeing the satellite projects generated from our efforts, which are a mere drop in the bucket towards understanding and analyzing the phenomenal Olympia music scene.
This means that BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled stories are told. While the City of Olympia's population is over 90% white, we understand that having only two or three stories by folks of these identities would be a disservice to our telling of music history.
Eight of the original 22 interviews were with people who identified as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled. We will continue to prioritize these marginalized voices and stories.
We aim to participate in an honest and ethical storytelling practice that ensures maximum agency of the narrator and avoids harm. All oral history participants are entitled to a copy of the interview as an audio recording and a written transcript. Participants can withdraw participation at any point before, during, or after the interview. They may choose to limit the use of contributed materials at any point. Project staff will seek feedback when presenting excerpts from oral history interviews and related materials as part of public programming to ensure an accurate and ethical representation of these stories.
Oral history projects allow participants to tell their own stories and share their unique historical perspectives and experiences. Participants may have difficulty recalling exact details like dates, names, and locations, so we consider these stories to be personal memoirs as well as a starting point for further research and fact-checking. We believe that this history will always be a work in progress, and we rely on a diversity of feedback and corrections from our community to help shape the accuracy of these historical records.
Thank you to Rachel Carns for designing the Olympia Music History Project logo, and to Stella Marrs for granting permission to use her iconic font in our design. Thank you to Danielle Ruse and Mychal Handley of August Creative for designing our website, and to Jack Habegger for lovingly illustrating our artists.
