About
Auntmama's Stage 3
Auntmama’s Stage3 is a community space for entertainment, innovation and relaxation.
Entertainment
Talented musicians, storytellers, singer-songwriters and poets grace the stage and spread out into the meadow. Many of these talents are artists you may have heard at festivals, including Northwest Folklife, or possibly on Auntmama’s KBCS radio show. Some are artists you don’t know yet, but you’ll never forget because they are just plain good.
International talent like Great Aunt, Sofia Talvik, and the Black Feathers surprise us with their fabulous sound. We love our Northwest artists toom like Reggie Garrett, Alicia Healey, Wes Weddel, and The Go Janes. Emerging artists are important. Coming directly from Folk Alliance Region West tour is Gaby Castro. You’ll get to hear her before she becomes a household name. Check out “Events” to get the specifics.
More projects are underway: storytelling with Kathya Alexander and Fresh Ground Stories, a label festival, a bicentennial radio celebration and a book launch. Stay tuned for those announcements and listings.
Relaxation
There’s a reason we reboot our computers; sometimes they just need to reset. Humans need a pause to reset as well. We’ve kept some dates available for those who want to unwind, dream, walk about, and smell the roses. There are rugosas in the meadow, tea roses in the oak garden, native northwest plants, and a dahlia or 200. Whatever survives weather, resident pets, and visiting wildlife blooms nine months of the year. There’s also nearby Heronswood Garden, where two cultures flourish, and meandering paths lead you to new species. Our “Guest House” page lists some nearby attractions.
Location
Stage3 is in Kingston, Washington, 10 minutes to the Suquamish and adjacent to the Port Gamble S’Kellam tribe.
Just 50 miles from the Olympic National Park, separated by the Puget Sound fjord and Hood Canal, we are on the Kitsap Peninsula, and accessed by boat. Another route is to cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and follow state highway 16. Kingston is 10 minutes from the Edmunds Kingston Ferry, 25 minutes from Bainbridge Island, and 20 minutes to Poulsbo, nicknamed “Little Norway” for all the fisher folks who settled there. USA Today just nominated Poulsbo as one of top ten small towns, so come before it’s big.
Surrounded by mountains, water, over 130 varieties of flowers at the Fat Turnip Farm, and 2,000+ native plants, this area represents how diversity keeps us alive. Taking care of this land and each other requires art like everything else.
Innovation
At Stage3, we provide a creative landscape for all sorts of projects and from all types of industry, business, nonprofits, and the arts. It’s a rustic, and comfortable place for such things as retreats, workshops, board meetings, you name it – a place that offers quiet, a retreat from the hubbub.
We encourage innovative thinkers like architects or energy futurists to plan, train, gather, relax, or be entertained, as well as artists to paint, write, create the next great thing.
Click on “Retreat” to see if Stage3 meets your needs.
The Organization
Music Community Resources (MCR) operates Stage3 and provides administrative support. This not-for-profit has produced the Bainbridge Bluegrass Festival, the Cello Orchestra, Coyle Concerts, and the long running Pegasus Coffeehouse series.
MCR is funded by grants, which support residencies, community forums, special events, and educational programs. MCR is an 18-year-old inclusive organization working collaboratively to bridge arts, social justice, and healing.
If you are familiar with arts patrons, grants, or other ways of continuing this work, please let us know. Arts have never been more essential to the well-being of society, and our artists need ongoing support. There are underrepresented, underfunded creatives in every generational constellation who need to make a living, have a safe harbor, and space to do their work. Thanks to a GoFundMe campaign, Stage 3 launched. Now we must sustain it.
Artists interested in a residency can reach us through the contact form. We are small and just getting started but tending artists is near to the Stage 3 heart.
Attractions
Outdoor enthusiasts have long known Kingston as the gateway to the Olympic Mountains with its bike and water trails, forest hikes, abundant fishing, and oyster gathering on the 300 miles of off-shore waterways.
Kitsap Peninsula Water Trails and Olympic Outdoor Center offer kayaks and stand-up paddle board rentals and lessons. That’s in the turn-of-the-century company town of Port Gamble, where you can also explore quaint shops and artists digs. Port Gamble and Poulsbo are both magnets for arts and crafts, and Kingston’s Maker Haus has about everything a crafter could want.
It goes on. The beach at Point No Point is a lovely place to swim, fish, and soak up local history. Bloedel Reserve and Heronswood Garden are splendid places to stroll, learn about native fauna and flora, and load up your car with magnificent plants for your own garden on sale days. Check for hours, because they change, and sales are infrequent.
For the gardener, the list places to explore is long. For culinary enthusiasts, the local u-pick farms, organic stands, and the oh so lovely wineries offer out-of-this-world delights. For golfers, there’s White Horse and Gold Mountain Golf Club. After all that, sit in one of Kingston’s big chairs and enjoy the view because really, you’ll need a rest after all that “doing.”