Editing Olympia, Washington (section)

===Fine and visual arts===
[[File:Oly WA Capitol Theater 06.jpg|thumb|The [[Capitol Theater (Olympia)|Capitol Theater]], home of the [[Olympia Film Society]]]]
Olympia is a regional center for fine arts. A number of [[theatre|theatrical]] experiences are available with companies such as Animal Fire Theater, Olympia Family Theater, Olympia Little Theater, Theater Artists Olympia, Broadway Olympia Productions, and Harlequin Productions at the historic State Theater, as well as Broadway Olympia's Black Box Theater at Capitol Mall. The Olympia Symphony Orchestra performs five regular-season concerts at the Washington Center and two pops concerts. The Masterworks Chorale Ensemble performs four regular-season concerts at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

Visual art venues include some of the local coffeehouses, Olympia Coffee Roasting Co., [[Batdorf & Bronson]], and Burial Grounds downtown, with the latter indefinitely closed. Art House Designs is an art gallery that also hosts a jazz performance space. [[Murals]] and public art installations of [[sculpture]] are prevalent in Olympia and are especially featured on the State Capitol Campus and along [[Percival Landing]] on the urban waterfront. The Washington Center for the Performing Arts also presents visual art exhibitions throughout the season in its lobby areas.

Notable art venues near Olympia include Art in Ecology, housed in Washington Department of Ecology's 322,000-square-foot, three-story building on the campus of Saint Martin's University. Art in Ecology is a long-established art-in-the-workplace venue that has works by numerous northwest artists. Permanent installations by Alfredo Arreguin, commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission, are accompanied by changing solo and group exhibitions throughout the year. Appointments to view the works are needed; tours take about an hour.

South Puget Sound Community College has a gallery in its Minnaert Center with rotating exhibitions. Evergreen State College, northwest of Olympia, has a professionally curated gallery with rotating shows in the Dan Evans Library building. South of Olympia, [[Monarch Contemporary Art Center and Sculpture Park]] has an 80-acre [[sculpture garden]] and [[art gallery]].

Each year, the [[Olympia Film Society]] (OFS) produces a film festival and fosters film and video education in Olympia. It also shows independent, classic, and international films year-round at the art-deco [[Capitol Theater (Olympia)|Capitol Theater]]. A mostly volunteer-powered organization, OFS supports and presents a variety of cultural events, including ''All Freakin' Night'', an all-night horror film screening with a cult following.
[[File:Lakefair.JPG|thumb|[[Lakefair]], Olympia's annual summer festival, pictured in 2008]]
On the fourth Saturday in April, in honor of [[Earth Day]], Olympia is host to one of the region's largest community celebrations – the [[Procession of the Species]]. Held in conjunction with the city's biannual Arts Walk, the Procession is organized by the community-based nonprofit organization Earthbound Productions, and is the culmination of an annual Community Art Studio that is free and open to the public.<ref>[http://www.procession.org/AboutStudio.php About the Community Art Studio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525163111/http://www.procession.org/AboutStudio.php |date=May 25, 2011 }} — Official Website of the Procession of the Species. Retrieved October 16, 2009.</ref> In its July 2009 ''Best of America'' feature, ''[[Reader's Digest]]'' magazine honored the Procession of the Species with the top spot in its "can't resist" parades and processions list.<ref>[http://www.theolympian.com/living/story/888342.html "Procession of the Species tops Reader's<!-- "Readers" in original --> Digest list"]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} — June 22, 2009. ''The Olympian''. Retrieved October 16, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/best-of-america-just-for-fun-awards/article141292-6.html 8 People, Places and Things We Love About America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091226000437/http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/best-of-america-just-for-fun-awards/article141292-6.html |date=December 26, 2009 }} — ''Reader's Digest''. Retrieved October 16, 2009.</ref> Open to all, the Procession of the Species attracts up to 30,000 viewers, while its costumed participants of all ages frequently number nearly 3,000. On the Friday evening before the Procession of Species, a Luminary Procession is held.

In February 2025, the Olympia city council passed a resolution declaring the city a "sanctuary city" for [[LGBTQ|LGBTQ+]] people, guaranteeing municipal-level protections on top of existing [[LGBTQ rights in Washington (state)|state laws enshrining LGBT rights]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olympia becomes Washington's first LGBTQ+ sanctuary city |url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/olympia-lgbtq-sanctuary-city |access-date=February 7, 2025 |website=The Advocate |language=en}}</ref>