Shape Our Water at Fishy Fables
Stories, creativity, fun, and learning: Raindrop Run traveled to Youngstown Cultural Arts Center for an afternoon celebrating Seattle’s urban waterways with the Delridge community.
Photos by Youth in Focus.
About Fishy Fables
Created by Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA), Fishy Fables was a community art making and environmental education event, hosted at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in February 2025. Read DNDA’s event overview.
Visitors heard a creation story from Suquamish Nation elder and artist Barbara Lawrence, before exploring activities like hand-painting “scales” for a wooden salmon sculpture, and creating a 3D neighborhood map, including stormwater drainage infrastructure.
About Raindrop Run
When rain falls, Seattle’s urban environment speeds up stormwater. But what if we designed a city that acted more like nature, where undeveloped landscapes soak up water like a sponge?
Raindrop Run allows players to design their own stormwater pathway through a collaborative art installation that mimics a traditional marble run. Marbles travel through a colorful landscape of human-built and natural solutions for water management, as players attempt to “slow down the flow” of water’s journey on its way from the sky, through Seattle, to the Salish Sea.
Our project team
Raindrop Run was developed by a co-creation team that includes Nina Vichayapai and Britta Johnson (Artists); Dre Avila, Samantha Keller, and Leslie Webster (Seattle Public Utilities); Julie Bassuk, Beth Batchelder, Laura Basile, Claire Farrington, Queenie Gipaya, and Chad Sharp (MAKERS); Anand Balasubrahmanyan and Molly Michal (Team Soapbox).
