Supporting the performing arts in Ellensburg
Laughing Horse Arts Foundation is a non-profit umbrella corporation committed to enhancing and promoting the fine and performing arts in Ellensburg and Kittitas County, Washington State.
If your wish to reach out to us, leave your email below or send an email to [email protected]. Or visit one of our affiliate organizational sites!
“Thanks to Laughing Horse Arts Foundation, we have access to amazing performing arts events in Ellensburg!”
Larry Sharpe (Originator, and Founding Board Member of Jazz in the Valley)
2026-2027 ArtsWA - General Operating Support for Midsized Organizations
Arts Fund - 2025 Community Accelerator Grant (also a grantee in 2024 and 2023)
Kittitas Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Ellensburg Arts Commission
Valley Theatre Company
Produces Theatrical and Musical Events that showcase the incredible talent found in our community, and providing positive experiences for Ellensburg families where generations of families can volunteer together to create theatre. VTC offers 4 productions per year: a Rising Stars youth production, a mainstage musical, a cabaret and dinner theatre event, and a small cast play.
VTC is dedicated to its mission of creating an inclusive environment that supports community engagement through the theatre arts. It strives to create a welcoming environment where everyone feels that there is a place for them in the theatre experience, providing opportunities for community members to participate in the art of storytelling as creators, collaborators and audience members.
Ellensburg Community Radio
Ellensburg Community Radio has been streaming online since October 2014, and launched a low-power FM license in April 2026. If you are within about 5-10 miles from town you listen at KELL 98.3 Ellensburg. We operate 24/7 with an eclectic mix of diverse music. Community members have stepped up and we now have over 20 locally produced programs breaking into our stream throughout the week. The programming is as quirky, sophisticated and as unique as our community.
ECR has its studio in the heart of downtown Ellensburg in a collaborative arts incubator space called The INK. As part of their space, they have a Tiny Stage where they regularly host local musicians, poetry, and other artistic events. Each week, they post a comprehensive list of local live music, theatre and other events happening in Kittitas County.
Ellensburg Music Festival
For over 25 years first as Jazz in the Valley and then as Ellensburg Music Festival, this 100% volunteer group has hosted a summer extravaganza of music the last weekend of July. It has been a catalyst for the Ellensburg downtown area and its support of local music groups. Music festivals in general have become harder to sustain, and this group is in the process of redefining the direction it wants to take going forward to support music events and performances.
Over the last 25 years, Ellensburg Music Festival has given over $50,000 to Central Washington University’s Jazz and Music program in the form of scholarships.
Boulet Productions
Boulet Productions is the only community theatre in upper Kittitas County, and draws from several smaller very rural communities (Cle Elum, S. Cle Elum, Roslyn, Ronald) to produce 3-4 dramatic productions per year, including a radio drama and a melodrama. They also sponsor youth theatre programs in Cle-Elum/Roslyn including a summer theatre workshop and offers supplemental education and expertise to the local high school’s drama program.
Classics in Ellensburg
Classics in Ellensburg uses classical music to create inspiring performances, strengthen schools, and unite the community. They sponsor a free Brown Bag lunch-time concert series with local chamber musicians, and coordinate for chamber music performances at the local elementary schools.
Grant Support for the Arts
Thank you to the following organizations who support LHAF and our component arts orgs with grants including:
"I am impressed with the unwavering commitment to the arts demonstrated by the Laughing Horse Arts Foundation."
Laughing Horse Arts Foundation - A Legacy of Supporting the Arts
- A Little History:
- Ellensburg has a strong history of support of the performing arts. Laughing Horse Summer Theatre was a professional summer stock repertory theater that dominated the summer arts calendar in Ellensburg throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. In 1996, a new group transformed the organization into the Laughing Horse Arts Foundation (LHAF), whose purpose is to encourage and promote an appreciation of and participation in the fine and performing arts in Central Washington. After the professional summer stock theatre went dark, the Foundation was developed to encourage individual artists and arts organizations in their activities, as well as to support, and assist the public in an awareness of arts projects.
- Who Does LHAF Support?
Laughing Horse Arts Foundation (LHAF) now covers several sub-organizations, and annual arts events locally, including Ellensburg Musical Festival (formerly Jazz in the Valley), Valley Musical Theatre, Ellensburg Community Radio, Boulet Productions (in Cle Elum), Ellensburg Film Festival, and Classics in Ellensburg. We encourage you to read up on each of these and find ways to get involved! for 30 years, LHAF has also functioned as a launchpad organization for the now separate non-profits of Spirit of the West, and Ellensburg Dance Ensemble.
- What are you working on now? How can I get involved?
Currently, the Laughing Horse Arts Foundation and its member organizations have been among the key stakeholder members of the Ellensburg Arts and Cultural Alliance and are actively advocating for improved performing arts facilities in the community. The LHAF Board of Directors meets monthly. If you are interested in getting involved with our projects, please emails us at [email protected] and we will get in touch with you!
Support Ellensburg's vibrant performing arts scene in collaboration with us. You can donate to LHAF or to any of our sub-organizations through the link below.
Check donations can be mailed to: LHAF, PO Box 214, Ellensburg, WA 98926. You can also donate directly to any of our sub-organizations for their specific projects, through their websites. Laughing Horse Arts Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization (EIN# 91-1211173).