Visit Seattle Partners with EnChroma to help Color Blind Guests Experience the Incredible Vibrancy of Seattle Museums & Cultural Institutions

EnChroma color blind glasses will be available for free use at select venues across Seattle during Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience, Oct. 13 – 16

SEATTLE – Seattle is one of the most vivid cities in the world – with a diverse color palette enriched with natural landscapes, urban enclaves and premier cultural institutions. To ensure more visitors can experience the magic of the city’s many shades, Visit Seattle announced today, during Color Blindness Awareness Day, a partnership with EnChroma to make the company’s renowned color blind glasses available for use at select venues across the city.

This partnership will enable people with red-green color blindness to experience the destination in color, starting with Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience, a dazzling festival that celebrates Seattle’s glass art movement throughout four packed days of programming, Oct. 13-16. The events take place at 50 venues across Seattle and the surrounding areas, featuring new exhibitions, parties, studio tours, live demonstrations and opportunities to connect directly with 70+ studio glass artists – from rising local talents to master glassmakers. The EnChroma glasses will be available for anyone to borrow upon request at select locations. To view the full programming and events for the 2022 festival, visit refractseattle.org.

Often overlooked, color blindness affects one in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (.5%), 350 million people worldwide. While people with typical color vision see over one million shades of color, people who are color blind only see an estimated 10% of hues and shades. For this community, colors like green and yellow, gray and pink, purple and blue, and red and brown look similar; often, these colors also appear muted and dull. This can deeply limit their enjoyment of highly color-driven art works. EnChroma’s science-backed lenses expand the range of colors that people with red-green color blindness can see – and make colors more vibrant, clear and distinct.

“Color blindness often goes unaddressed because not enough people realize how it affects learning, work, daily life and the ability to fully appreciate art or nature,” said Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma. “We applaud Visit Seattle for partnering with us to make the colorful artwork at Refract, and the city’s numerous other attractions, more accessible to those with color vision deficiencies.”

“Seattle’s art scene is one of the best in the world, and we want every visitor to enjoy it to the fullest,” said Ali Daniels, Chief Marketing Officer at Visit Seattle. “With select glass events offering EnChroma Color Blind Glasses, we’re thrilled to make the epicenter of American glass art more accessible than ever.”

A few Seattleites got an early opportunity to experience the glasses, as depicted in a touching video filmed at one of the most colorful sites in the world: Chihuly Garden and Glass.

“The colors were quite a bit different than I thought they were,” said participating Seattleite Matt Scaer, who is color blind. “Seeing glass art was the most exciting for me, because there is so much new that I hadn’t seen before.”

Access the media image above here (Credit: Courtesy of Visit Seattle, EnChroma and Chihuly Garden and Glass)

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About Visit Seattle:
Visit Seattle has served as the official destination marketing organization (DMO) for Seattle and King County for more than 50 years. A 501(c)(6) organization, Visit Seattle enhances the economic prosperity of the region through global destination branding along with competitive programs and campaigns in leisure travel marketing, convention sales and overseas tourism development. Visit visitseattle.org.

About EnChroma:
Based in Berkeley, Calif., EnChroma produces leading-edge eyewear for color blindness and low vision sold online and through Authorized Retailers worldwide. Invented in 2010, EnChroma’s patented eyewear combines the latest in colour perception, neuroscience and lens innovation to improve the lives of people with colour vision deficiency around the world. EnChroma received an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Learn about the EnChroma Color Accessibility Program by emailing [email protected], calling 510-497-0048 or at enchroma.com.

About Refract: The Seattle Glass Experience
Visit Seattle, Chihuly Garden and Glass and more than 50 Pacific Northwest arts organizations are joining together for this annual festival, taking place October 13-16, 2022. This year’s festival offers a unique mix of in-person shows, demonstrations, parties and exhibitions, alongside virtual programming options. Visit RefractSeattle.org for further details.

About Chihuly Garden and Glass:
Located at Seattle Center, Chihuly Garden and Glass brings together all the elements of artist Dale Chihuly’s work, including Drawings, signature glass series, large architectural installations and personal collections. This long-term Exhibition features indoor galleries, the centerpiece Glasshouse, and an ever-changing Garden, along with live glass demonstrations, a Theatre, and Collections Café, which features items from Chihuly’s personal collections. Learn more at chihulygardenandglass.com.