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Make.Shift Art Space empowers, supports, and creates opportunities for local artists and musicians.

 
 
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Make.Shift is a non-profit art space.

Our mission is to engage the community by providing all-ages spaces for art and music in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. Make.Shift started in 2009 with the modest goal of being a support network for local bands. Now we run an all-ages art gallery and music venue, affordable art studios and band practice spaces, weekly arts & music workshops, and a low-power community radio station, KZAX 94.9 FM.

Picture of white sign with multi-colored text that reads: "No booze, no drugs, no jerks"

What’s Going on at Make.Shift?

 
 

View the current Gallery Exhibition HERE


Our Programs & Projects

 

Make.Shift is proud and excited to announce our forthcoming web series featuring interviews, live music performances, community video submissions, visual art and so much more!


Make.Shift is home to an all-ages music venue focused on booking local and regional independent bands and musicians. Masks and social distancing are strongly encouraged at all indoor shows.


 

Make.Shift’s award-winning Art Gallery hosts monthly shows online and IRL. We are open for First Friday Art Walk and Thurs-Sat from 1-6pm. Masks and social distancing are strongly encouraged inside the gallery.


 

KZAX 94.9 LP FM is a freeform community radio station serving Bellingham and beyond. Listen on the dial or online! KZAX broadcasts Bellingham bands, local content creators, and independent music from up and down the West Coast.


Make.Shift offers all-ages, all experience level workshops (almost) every Saturday. We also have a walk-in open studio and an hourly practice space.

We offer annual passes to make workshops and studio time at Make.Shift as affordable as possible.


 

Make.Shift is home to 12 affordable art studios and 6 band practice spaces. Make.Shift’s resident artists work in a variety of mediums: painting, textiles, woodworking, and more. Our resident musicians span many genres: folk, metal, noise, pop punk, and more. Spaces are rented on a month-to-month lease. Size, rates, and availability vary.


 

In the Winter of 2021, Make.Shift entered into a collaboration with the Whatcom County Crisis Stabilization Center to curate murals for their new facility. The project is near completion and features work from artists, Stevie Shao and Glynn Rosenberg. This project was made possible in part by the Whatcom County Health Department and the David Edward Fund of the Whatcom Community Foundation.


Picture of hands clapping with quote written in white text: "Awesome venue and art space heroically and enthusiastically fills a great need in the community." Quote attributed to Jesse, Make Shift Showgoer

Land Acknowledgement

Make.Shift and KZAX acknowledge we are residing on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Lummi People. The Lummi People are the original inhabitants of Washington's northernmost coast and southern British Columbia. They lived in villages throughout this territory and continue to have an ongoing relationship with these areas. Since Time Immemorial they have celebrated life on their land, water ways and on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of their People to perpetuate their way of life.

Educational Resources

We encourage you to learn more about the history of colonization in this region and the current experiences of our Indigenous neighbors with whom we share this land.

Lhaq’temish Foundation

Children of the Setting Sun Productions

Bellingham Racial History Timeline

Bellingham History From Below

Nooksack Indian Tribe


THANK YOU TO OUR Supporters!