Our 2018 Inside/Out season has come to a close, folks. We’ve had a wonderful time out in the community these past months offering up civic, arts, and educational programs that have reflected and inspired our region’s best impulses: creativity, empathy, and the belief that we all deserve a voice. We’re thrilled to continue bringing compelling programming to your community in the new year and to finally be able to enter our newly renovated building in a few months (learn more about that here).

Here are a few highlights of our season that took us from Phinney Ridge to Columbia City; the Central District to the University District; West Seattle to Capitol Hill; and plenty of spaces in between.

SEPTEMBER 2017

LISTEN: Sam Kean: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us. On September 6 our Inside/Out season started in earnest at the Bathhouse Theatre. Author Sam Kean discussed the very air we breathe.

WATCH: Dar Williams: A Thousand Small Towns. The award-winning singer graced the Rainier Arts Center stage for a discussion of America’s small towns—and sang a few tunes, too.

OCTOBER 2017

LISTEN: Masha Gessen: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia. Vladimir Putin’s biographer revealed how, in the space of a generation, how Russia surrendered to a more virulent and seemingly invincible new strain of autocracy.

WATCH: Juan Gonzalez: How NYC’s New Mayor Inspired America’s ‘Resistance’ Cities. The legendary journalist sat down to discuss Bill de Blasio’s election and what Seattle’s place is as a ‘resistance city.’

NOVEMBER 2017

WATCH: Lawrence O’Donnell: Playing with Fire. The MSNBC host presented a keen examination of the 1968 presidential election at Seattle University.

WATCH: Martha Nussbaum: The Philosophy of Thoughtful Aging. One of the world’s greatest living philosophers offered her perspectives on the aging process.

DECEMBER 2017

WATCH: Dr. Beverly Tatum: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Town Hall was thrilled to bring Tatum to both the Rainier Arts Center and the Westside School for a forthright conversation about racial identities in our school system.

LISTEN: Neil Patrick Harris: The Magic Misfits. The award-winning actor came to Temple de Hirsch Sinai to discuss his new children’s book and perform a magic trick or two.

JANUARY 2018

LISTEN: Denise Fairchild: Equity in Clean Energy Solutions. The activist discussed the global fight to conserve our natural resources, and the magnified impact of this battle on low income communities and communities of color.

WATCH: Charles Waters: Can I Touch Your Hair? The poet spoke at the Northwest African American Museum with Reagan Jackson about race, mistakes, and friendship.

FEBRUARY 2018

WATCH: Nadine Burke-Harris: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity. The renowned pediatrician discussed early childhood trauma.

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Kauffman: How Hippie Foods Changed the Way We Eat. The award-winning food writer talked about co-ops, tofu, and more. 

MARCH 2018

WATCH: Robert Reich: The Common Good. The famed professor and author discussed the fundamental purpose of society and the common good that defines it.

LISTEN: Kory Stamper: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. The lexicographer cracked open the complex world of words.

APRIL 2018

INTERVIEW: Richard Powers: Overstory. The award-winning novelist discussed his luminous 12th novel, Overstory. The novel was about trees, but much more than trees –  it was about the regenerating possibility of reconciliation, and of homecoming.

WATCH: Samantha Irby: Meaty. Irby chatted with Lindy West in a hilarious evening exploring Meaty—Irby’s widely beloved collection of smart, edgy, and unabashedly raunchy personal essays.

MAY 2018

LISTEN: Barbara Ehrenreich: Natural Causes. The bestselling author talked about the aging process and extolled the value of living well while accepting our mortality.

INTERVIEW: Town Music: JACK Quartet. The JACK Quartet joined with Joshua Roman for an unforgettable performance that included a Roman’s composition entitled ‘Tornado.’

JUNE 2018

WATCH: Michael Bennett: Things That Make White People Uncomfortable. The football champion discussed the role of race in sports in this gripping conversation.

WATCH: Angela Garbes: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy. The food and culture writer discussed pregnancy with Lindy West. Thoughtfulness and Hilarity ensued. Watch the night’s event here.

SEPTEMBER 2018

WATCH: Teaching for Black Lives. A summit of activists and educators assembled for a treatise on how we can end institutional racism in our classrooms.

WATCH: Jose Antonio Vargas: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. The Pulitzer Prize winner discussed his experiences as an undocumented immigrant in America with Ijeoma Oluo.

OCTOBER 2018

PROFILE: Vishavjit Singh: Sikh Captain America. The cartoonist and activist took the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute stage for a conversation about the importance of confronting our own stereotypes.

INTERVIEW: Michael Hebb: Let’s Talk about Death (Over Dinner). The end-of-life advocate invited us to a conversation we’re not having often enough—how we want to die.

NOVEMBER 2018

POETRY: Blair Imani: Modern HERstory. The activist told powerful stories about women and nonbinary people rewriting history and an audience member wrote a beautiful poem about the experience.

WATCH: Francis Fukuyama: Identity, Dignity, and the Politics of Resentment. The famed political author asserted that the demand for recognition of one’s identity is a fundamental human instinct—and a major contributor to populism and polarization in America.

DECEMBER 2018

INTERVIEW: Adrienne Mayor: Gods and Robots. The folklorist and historian of science takes us back in time to the mythology of robots, automata, AI, and humanity’s timeless impulse to create artificial life.

LISTEN: Randy Shaw: A Generation Priced Out of New Urban America. The housing activist sat down with Mónica Guzmán of the Evergrey, exposing how millennial home-buyers are having their access to housing in big cities restricted, exacerbating trends of racial and economic inequality.

There’s more yet to come, friends! In fact, we’ve got Jonathan Weisman and a Mozart birthday bash coming in January. Check our calendar for details and find most all our past Inside/Out events in our media library.

Have a wonderful holiday season.