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Dear Members,

18 years ago, David Brewster and a group of civic-minded philanthropists saved our graceful old building from the wrecking ball. They placed a bet on an only-in-Seattle kind of shared cultural space: a lofty-but-not-stuffy reflection of our city’s curiosity, creativity, and deep understanding that we thrive when we come together in community.

Nearly two decades later, we find ourselves at a thrilling moment—we’ve raised over $20 million to give our historic home the love it needs, and we’ll break ground this summer on a top-to-bottom renovation. We’re celebrating this new phase in our campaign and our project with a broad public challenge we’re calling “Dig Deep,” a month of community-level fundraising to help start construction. Dig Deep culminates in Groundbreak, the spectacular weeklong sendoff to the 2016–17 season and the “old” Town Hall, to which you are all enthusiastically invited. We’ve packed it full of old friends and fresh debuts, live music and lively conversation. The last day itself will be a morning to midnight party—remember the old “Around-The Clock” programs?—that will have something for everybody. It’s going to be an incredible week and I hope you can join us.

Last thing. Like Town Hall itself, this milestone is only possible because of the humbling support of our members—the advocacy, the affection, the true feeling of connection and belonging that surrounds this place. I wrote last month with a note about my recent health challenges. This may sound strange but I can say that in the weeks following I have learned firsthand what it feels like to have some of that good energy directed to me. The outpouring of well-wishes and support in response to my diagnosis has rendered all of those traits of our community very personally to me. I am humbled and grateful.

These last 12 years have been the most satisfying of my professional life. And right here, right now, I have never been more grateful to be a member of this community. We stand on the edge of big and exciting changes. Thanks for standing with us again—and thank you for making Brewster’s founding bet a winner.

See you at Groundbreak,

Wier Harman
Executive Director

Dear Town Hall Friends,

Well, here we are, less than two months away from election day in this maddening, surreal year for American politics. If you’ve been following the race as closely as we have at Town Hall, you’re on an emotional rollercoaster regardless of how you feel about any of the candidates. I personally feel compelled to start offering trigger warnings to our audiences anytime I bring it up. But as the spectacle, the humor and the fun of a topsy-turvy reality-TV campaign winds to a close, we’re left with the deadly seriousness of this critical juncture in American history, and Town Hall must respond.

Historically, the last weeks of the campaign are when the stakes finally catch up to everyone watching in both the press and the voting public, reaching their crescendo at the first presidential debate. In 2012 the first—frankly boring and sometime pedantic—debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney attracted 70 million viewers. This year, when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump meet on stage for the first time on September 26th, estimates say at least 100 million will tune in. This is Super Bowl and M*A*S*H finale territory. Putting aside all the profound political, economic, and global significance of the thing, this will be a cultural phenomenon. Animistic forces of gender, race, violence, identity, even language itself will be unleashed on that stage. As Clinton predicted, this will be the subject of PhD dissertations for years to come.

One great pleasure of my job at Town Hall is exposure to the constant stream of learned authors, journalists, and thinkers who appear on our stage. From both left and right-wing perspectives, for years there has been rumbling here of a primal unease in America. Economic, racial, environmental and political uncertainties are dominant themes in our civics series. In March Town Hall hosted an overflowing democratic caucus (overwhelmingly supporting the “political revolution” of Bernie Sanders). The radical possibilities of this political season were apparent to anyone who has been spending time here engaging with the ideas on our stage. But on September 26th no one knows what will happen. For those of us who have complained about the stale, predictable nature of American political discourse this is a definite “be careful what you wished for” moment.

Since Town Hall has been the home for me and so many of you in preparing ourselves, emotionally and intellectually, to grapple with the reality of the next few weeks in politics, we are committed to hosting this opportunity to gather in our space and watch this damn debate together. We’ll be streaming the program live on our big screen downstairs as well as projecting a curated selection of reactions from some of our favorite Town Hall speakers as they live-tweet. Plus, our new scholar-in-residence, the always insightful and hilarious Hanna Brooks Olson, will be joining us to provide the much vaunted “hot takes” of contemporary journalism. And of course, the bar will remain open throughout. 

You do not want to be alone for this debate. Whatever happens, the company of your friends, neighbors, and the Town Hall community will be there to groan and kvetch together. I’m very excited to act as host. I like politics alright but I love ideas, and clumsy though they may be these debates are actually one moment when as a country we grapple with major ideas on anything like a grand scale. Such public idea-grappling is, of course, Town Hall’s bread and butter, and as a member of our community you must appreciate that. Join us on September 26th at 6pm for the beginning of the end of this campaign, or (depending on your perspective) the world as we know it.

Plus!

• Stick around after the debate for a classic Town Hall evening with the fabulous design theorists Bill Burnett and Dave Evans;
• Join us the night after the debate for a panel with some of the University of Washington’s top political experts for a look at how we got into this situation to begin with;
• And mark your calendars for the perhaps anti-climactic Vice Presidential debate on October 4th. We’ll be hosting another party for that. I suspect it will simultaneously be sillier and more substantive.

Thank you.

Edward Wolcher
Community Programs Curator
Town Hall Seattle

MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest is one of the 75+ community organizations that Town Hall hosts each year, and their journey to Town Hall started with Board Member Mark Anderson. Mark said, “MIT Enterprise Forum had been hosting their speaking events at a number of venues around town, each with differing costs, requirements, and infrastructure. It took a lot of time and administrative overhead to select venues and manage the process. I thought Town Hall with its great support staff, outreach, seating flexibility, and catering options would be a great fit for the organization, so I reached out and made the introduction.” We are thrilled to welcome MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest to the Town Hall family!

MIT-EF Northwest is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that’s part of a network of 28 worldwide chapters of MIT Enterprise Forum, and have been an active chapter since 1981. Believing that technology can solve big problems and do powerful things, members share a passion for making a difference in the world through technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Jimmy Jia, Chair of MIT-EF Northwest, offers some perspective about their programming: “Our events focus on technologies with important growth implications for our Seattle community, such as last season’s space and artificial intelligence events. We assemble national-caliber speakers and include social and networking time for audience members and speakers.”

In their 2016-17 season line-up, speakers will be exploring the possibilities of augmented humans, 3D bioprinting, nanotechnology/ molecular manufacturing, smart homes and connected cities. Says Shirley Lunde, Vice Chair, “If you’re passionate about cool and disruptive technologies, you’ll love our Innovation Forum events. We hope to see you there!”

Jimmy Jia: How Energy Gets Its Power

September 21, 7:30 pm
Downstairs at Town Hall
$15

Augmented Humans: Stronger. Faster. Smarter

October 19, 7:30 pm
$25

For more information, visit mitefnorthwest.org