A polymathic organizer, artist, scientist, and naturalist based in the Pacific Northwest USA.
A polymathic organizer, artist, scientist, and naturalist based in the Pacific Northwest USA.
Richard Hartnell is a polymathic organizer, artist, scientist, and naturalist with a career spanning twenty years over thirteen countries.
After being kicked out of community college in his hometown of Bellingham, WA for lingering there too long for fun during a war effort, he left for Oakland, CA to pursue a career in the circus arts that presently spans thirteen countries. He is a co-founder of the Bellingham Circus Guild and a prior resident artist at Flowtoys, the world’s foremost creator of LED performance props.
A veteran in the world of drug culture and policy, he has led one of the most active chapters of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (later winning election to its Board of Directors), worked as an analytic biochemist in the early days of California’s recreational cannabis industry, sat as a psychedelic crisis counselor for the Zendo Project and White Bird Rock Med, and presently works as the VP of Outreach for DanceSafe.
Having earned several DJ residencies in several cities over the years, Richard spent the COVID lockdown restarting a music practice while helping family weather the pandemic, rising to the top 1% of streamers on Twitch.tv.
As an event organizer, he has started, sustained, or staffed dozens of festivals over the years. He is presently the director of the Cascade Juggling Festival and workshop organizer at Kindle Northwest, North America’s premier fire festival.
While not caught up in as many exploits as he can pack in, Richard spends time on his tiny permaculture farm populated by countless food plants and five darling hens.