Residencies
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 Spring 2025 Residency! Learn more below.
Application
Now Accepting Applicants for Town Hall’s Spring 2025 Residency
Every year, Town Hall selects exceptional local artists and scholars for paid Residencies where they engage with Town Hall programs and collaborate with our programming team to develop original events for the community.
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, Tomo Nakayama, Gretchen Yanover, Timothy White Eagle, Elisa Chavez, Juan Alonso-Rodriguez, Marcus Harrison Green, Brangien Davis, Sally James, Hanna Brooks Olsen, Bailey Ambrose Heller, and Maia Brown.
Commitment
The Residency will take place over 4 months from February to June of 2025.
The Resident will curate and produce two live public programs: 1) A “Scratch Night” event in April that shares work-in-progress and 2) A “Findings Night” event in June during which the scholar or artist shares the culmination of their work during the Residency.
The Resident will regularly meet with relevant Town Hall staff to provide updates on the progress of the residency and will collaborate with Town Hall to promote the residency through relevant channels.
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 writing for the Town Hall blog, hosting a workshop, hosting a pre/post show conversation for a program on our calendar, or introducing a speaker on stage.
Stipend and Benefits
The Resident will receive a stipend of $3,000, as well as access to Town Hall’s facilities and events for the duration of the Residency. In addition, Town Hall will reimburse up to $1,000 of itemized project materials, artist fees, and/or production costs for all activities over the term 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
- Duos or small groups are eligible to apply, but must be a singular artistic or scholarly entity (i.e. music group, podcast duo, collaborative researchers or journalists etc.)
- Must NOT be a high school or undergraduate student
- Must 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 Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 11:59PM PDT. In-person interviews for finalists will be scheduled at Town Hall’s offices in Seattle February 4-6. 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).
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.
Meet our 2024 Fall Artist-in-Residence, Bailey Ambrose Heller
Bailey Ambrose Heller is a mechatronic artist combining his passion for robotics with the artistic process. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTs). Bailey aims to use technology to reflect aspects of humanity and people’s relationship to automation and Artificial Intelligence.
Click the buttons below to learn more about Bailey’s Residency!
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 (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
- Artist-in-Residence Maia Brown: Just Scratching the Surface (Blog post, 3/22/24)
- Artist-in-Residence Maia Brown: Seeking a Song (Blog post, 4/1/24)
- Scratch Night 2024 with Maia Brown (Audio Recording, 4/13/24)
- Findings Night with Maia Brown: Partner Spotlight, Donkeysaddle Projects (Blog post, 5/13/24)
- Looking Back – A Town Hall Residency (Blog post, 6/13/24)
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
- Sally James: Stories of Year 12 (Blog post, 4/7/23)
- Sally James: Scratch Night Presentation (Audio recording, 5/4/23)
- Sally James: Scholar-in-Residence Findings Night 2023 (Audio recording, 6/21/23)
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