Residencies

Group photo of the Town Hall staff standing against a white wall

About Town Hall Residencies

Each season, Town Hall’s Residency program offers local Artists or Scholars a paid opportunity to nourish their creative disciplines and engage with Town Hall programs and collaborate with our programming team to develop original events for the community. This opportunity is open to scholars, journalists (SiR) or visual artists and performing artists (AiR) working in Seattle, King County, and/or the Puget Sound region. Scholars- or Artists-in-Residence bring fresh voices to our programming and expand our perspectives about what happens on Town Hall’s stages.

Applications are now open for our Fall 2024 Residency! Learn more below.

Application

Now Accepting Applicants for Town Hall’s Fall 2024 Residency 

Town Hall Seattle is seeking one Resident artist or scholar for Fall 2024. This opportunity is open to artists and performers of any discipline, journalists, researchers, and other specialists working in Seattle, King County, and/or the Puget Sound region. Some past Town Hall Residents include Shaina Shepherd, Gretchen Yanover, Timothy White Eagle, Elisa Chavez, Juan Alonso-Rodriguez, Marcus Harrison Green, Brangien Davis, Sally James, Hanna Brooks Olsen, and Maia Brown. 

Commitment
The Residency will take place for a 3.5-month period from September to December of 2024. 

The Resident will produce two public programs:

1) A “Scratch Night” event that shares work-in-progress in early-mid October

2) A final “Findings Night” event in early-mid December which the scholar or artist shares what they worked on during the Residency. 

Additionally, the Resident will be encouraged to attend Town Hall events, contribute to audience engagement, and contribute to the life of our community through activities like introducing a speaker on stage, writing for the Town Hall blog, or hosting a post-event conversation. 

Stipend and Benefits
The Resident will receive $3,000 + up to $1,000 in production support, as well as access to Town Hall’s facilities and events for the duration of the Residency. 

How to Apply

Applicant eligibility: 

  • Must be 18 years of age or older 
  • Must reside in Seattle, King County, and/or the Puget Sound region 
  • NOT be a high school, undergraduate student  
  • NOT  be a former Town Hall Resident 
  • Current Town Hall consultants, advisors, staff, board members, and their family members are not eligible to apply  

Applications are due by Friday, August 16, 2024, at 11:59PM PDT and in-person interviews for finalists will be scheduled at Town Hall’s offices in Seattle August 26-28. Please fill out the application form linked below. As part of the submission process, be prepared to submit examples of your work (instructions in the form).  

Apply Now

Town Hall Seattle prioritizes applicants that come from historically under-represented communities. Creators of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applicants are encouraged to visit Town Hall’s calendar of events and the archive of past residents below.

Questions? Contact james.kuhn@townhallseattle.org.

Past Residents

Town Hall’s Residency Program was launched in 2012, and we’re grateful to every resident who has spent time on our stages. Our Archive is a work in progress; check back soon for updates!

2023-2024 Artist-in-Residence: Maia Brown

Maia Brown (with fair skin and long ginger hair) reads the Talmud.

Maia Brown (she/her) is a visual artist, Yiddish musician, writer, translator, and educator. Brown has a background in oral history and fine art, including a Watson Fellowship to study storytelling and advocacy in South Africa and the North of Ireland. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. She is a dedicated student and teacher of her own tradition as well as the many ways people have reached out to each other across communities.

Maia has dedicated herself to arts education while also captivating audiences as a Klezmer musician with her band, Brivele, an anti-fascist Yiddish folk ensemble based in Seattle. Through her translation work in Yiddish political song and poetry, as well as Hebrew and Aramaic liturgy, Maia fosters collaboration among poets, scholars, and musicians both locally and internationally. Her belief in the interdisciplinary nature of diasporic living shines through in her artistic endeavors, all aimed at building connections across generations and cultural boundaries. We look forward to the vibrant contributions Maia will bring to Town Hall and the broader community during her residency. 

Maia Brown’s Residency Archive

2022-2023 Artist-in-Residence: Shaina Shepherd

Known for her pervasive style a soul-grunge frontwoman turned piano songstress, Shaina Shepherd‘s notable vocal stylings have brought her into various creative spaces — from collaborating with Duff McKagan, members Soundgarden, and Heart’s own Nancy Wilson, to sharing stages with rock stars like Modest Mouse, to being a soloist with classical ensembles around the country. Inspired by the parallels between gospel and garbage metal and living in the city where both Pearl Jam and Quincy Jones cut their teeth, Shaina lends her soulful voice to projects of all genres. Her heart songs are steeped in American folk and redefine the Outlaw genre with an infusion of Tina Turner, Betty Davis, and Nina Simone. 

Focus while in Residence: “Dauphine is a collection of art songs I’ve written over the past 8 years all surrounding a character struggling with being a femme minority living in mostly white communities. The project is based solely out of a songbook I have journaled as a place of relief for this particular feeling of ennui correlated directly with the black diaspora. I will bring these songs to life for the first time with an audience, and a live band of experienced jammers and studio musicians, commissioned to solidify a 8-10 track body of work.”

Shaina’s performances during her residency were one-night-only events. To learn more about her work, visit her website.

2022-2023 Scholar-in-Residence: Sally James

Sally James is a writer whose curiosity about people has taken her from jails to hospitals to schools to research labs. Once a staff member of daily newspapers, she has been an independent writer on medicine and science for many years. Most recently, she’s reported stories for the South Seattle Emerald, Parentmap, Seattle and Seattle Business magazines, and other outlets. She is the mother of three adult children and lives in Seattle with her husband and a noisy cat. She is a former president of the Northwest Science Writer’s Association, a nonprofit supporting science communication.

Focus while in Residence: In the words of Sally, “The Year 12 project is asking about a pivotal time in a young person’s growth when what’s swirling around us in news, music, or culture may leave a permanent imprint on our identities.

Visit Sally’s website, Seattle Science Writer.

Sally James’ Residency Archive