About Us

OUR MISSION 

To establish and maintain an inclusive community gathering space for play, discovery and creative exploration. 

WHO WE ARE 

Interactive Bellingham (IB) is a group of passionate community members who have come together to create a space for interactive play, creativity and discovery for all ages, abilities and backgrounds in Bellingham.  

We want to create a new space where anyone and everyone can come to be immersed in a unique environment of extraordinary interactive artful installations. We want visitors to be amazed by the unexpected, to be astonished by the weird and wonderful, to interact with art, games, moving sculptures, machines, and unusual spaces; to explore, invent, learn, create, and where all who enter can experience the joy of play.  

We believe that this place will tempt everyone and will:

•  Provide visitors of all ages and abilities a place to escape into a unique realm of imagination
•  Provide a hands-on, interactive, safe, fun place for children to run around and explore
•  Allow parents to relax and enjoy their own experience 
•  Be a favorite for dates, parties, and events 

We want everyone who visits our future home to be amazed, delighted, inspired and welcomed, returning again and again, while discovering something new each time. 

Interactive Bellingham is a registered 501(c)(3). 

Ian Bivens

 For 9 years Ian has orchestrated the build of the “Nightmare on Railroad,” in partnership with Boundary Bay Brewery. The Beer Garden becomes The Fear Garden, a 2,400 sq. ft immersive experience for all ages and accessibility levels that sees nearly 3,000 patrons over three spooky evenings. A community staple every October, The Haunted Fear Garden directly supports arts education with 100% of profits going to Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth. Ian also produces and co-directs the annual OPUS Performing Arts “Nutcracker,” at Mount Baker Theatre. He also works at MBT as a stagehand and rigger. 

Vanessa Blackburn

Vanessa is a book editor with SPIE Press and a long-time advocate of downtown Bellingham. She has worked as a journalist, public relations professional, teacher, communications professional, graphic designer, and political organizer over the years, as well as a performer in theater, dance, musical and performance art projects since she was a child. In the past year, she served as a scary ghost girl in the Bellingham Fear Garden and as secret service for local rock stars, as well as sang and played accordion in her bands, The Meanderthals and The Bham Bhams. 

Alice Clark

Alice is the organizer of multiple community-building events and organizations including Pickford Film Center (Fairhaven Outdoor Cinema, Projections Film Festival, Guerilla Film Festival), originator of Sunnyland Stomp, and co-creator of the Bellingham Wig-Out. Past Executive Director of Pickford Film Center and Downtown Bellingham Partnership, Alice’s forte is facilitating pushing dreams forward to reality and encouraging others to do the same with their own.    

Kate Clark

Kate has a BA in Studio Art and a master’s in business administration with a specialization in marketing, both from Western Washington University. She is currently a member of the Bellingham Arts Commission. Kate has been active in promoting fun and play in Bellingham, including co-organizing the Bellingham Wig Out. She has donated her artistic and writing skills to many area organizations over the years and currently keeps a studio at the Colony Wharf Arts Collective working with pastels and acrylics.   

Liz Jennings

For 15 years Liz led a creative team to mount the best and most exclusive Halloween parties in Bellingham, making Sunnyland known for the whole-house and outdoor themes including Zombie Apocalypse, Terror Under the Sea, Carnival of Horrors, Freaky Fairy Tales, Game Night, Stage Fright, and Marriage of the Damned. The events involve six-month project management for installations on three levels over 2,500 sqft. Her Production Company includes engineers, welders, carpenters, artists, musicians, circus performers, and weirdos of all kinds. Liz also does performance art, set production, and comedy with old-school rockers and lounge lizards.  

 THE IDEA ROVER was a hands-on activity and market research contraption and “tri-psy-cle” that was funded by a Whatcom Community Foundation Project Neighborly grant. It visited over 10 different community events in 2018 around greater Whatcom County. A close investigation rewarded curious visitors with experiences that engaged the senses through sound-activated switches and buttons that invited touch, close-viewing ocular devices to see things from different perspectives, moving gears people set into motion, creation stations where messages were left and ideas were communicated in a variety of ways. In addition to engaging those who experienced The Idea Rover, the ideas and comments collected helped us form our vision for our future home. 

ADVISORY BOARD

Mary Elliot

Elsa Lenz Kothe

Kristi Park

Michael Oppenheimer

Susan Powell

Mike Smith

Board Members continued - 

Steve Lemma

Steven is a co-owner of Translucent Productions, a small company that specializes in planning, producing, and hosting creative, immersive and effective events. They are experts in turning ‘normal’ parties into exciting and compelling events integrating sound, lighting, art, talent and media design. Steven’s focus on their team is auto-engineering and light and sound production.    

Jessyca Murphy

Jessyca (she/they) is a visual artist, writer, and cat daddy living in Bellingham. Working in both digital illustration and fiber arts, her work explores mental illness and gender identity through dark humor and radical vulnerability. Jessyca received her M.A. in Media Studies from the New School in 2015. She is currently the Executive Director at Make.Shift Art Space. She also co-founded LadyFest Bellingham, sings in bands like Party Thighs and Scumeating, and exhibits her art in galleries throughout the country.   

Renee Sherrer  

Renee is a textile artist with a MFA in Textiles from University of North Texas. She’s taught a variety of subjects from sculpture to dyeing, drawing, fashion design and sewing around the US as well as locally at Fairhaven College, Whatcom Community College, Skagit Valley College, and Ragfinery. She is the owner of Social Fabric, which exposes the community to the myriad of textile and sewing and has created large, textile interactive exhibits that are both immersive and experiential. She’s a Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award recipient and recognized costumer for plays, shows & opera.