Town Hall Seattle To Hold Grand Re-Opening

Town Hall Seattle: After nearly two years of construction, over 35 million dollars invested from the community, hundreds of events Inside/Out across the city, and a summer soft-launch, Town Hall Seattle is hosting its official ribbon cutting on August 28. Elected officials, representatives from local arts agencies, Town Hall donors, and members of the press are invited to attend. There will also be a press tour highlighting Town Hall’s renovations at 3:30pm, immediately preceding the ceremony.

At 4:30PM, Town Hall’s Executive Director, Wier Harman will take the iconic Great Hall stage with Dow Constantine (King County Executive) for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Other featured roles include: Jeanne Kohl-Welles (King County Councilmember, District 4); Nicole Macri (Washington State House of Representatives, District 43); Joe McDermott (King County Councilmember, District 8); Jamie Pederson (Washington State Senator, District 43); and others.
Town Hall’s historic renovation included seismic retrofitting, a new HVAC system, all-gender restrooms on the lobby level, enhanced audio capabilities in the Great Hall in the form of a custom-made acoustic reflector, ADA upgrades, a renovated downstairs performance space (now called the Forum) and bar (the Otto), and a brand new performance space (the Reading Room), amongst other improvements. BuildingWork served as the architect for the historic renovation. Construction work was performed by contractor Rafn Company.

The ribbon cutting will be followed by a happy hour (5pm) and Town Hall’s annual member meeting (6:30pm), where Town Hall delivers a state of the organization address and takes questions from its member and donor base.
The ceremony ushers in Town Hall’s most ambitious month of programming in its 20-year history, its Homecoming Festival. The reopening festival is a community-wide invitation to explore the renovated Town Hall while taking part in a wide variety of events - from policy panels to family-friendly concerts; teen nights to talks. Homecoming opens on September 2 with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Representative Pramila Jayapal holding court in the Great Hall on the state of labor in America. Other highlights throughout the month include Pulitzer Prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks’ full building takeover (September 7); Ibram X. Kendi with Ijeoma Oluo discussing antiracism (September 14); U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on high stakes diplomacy (September 16); a Town Music concert with Joshua Roman celebrating all things cello (September 22); and 40+ more events spanning the arts, civics, and sciences. A full calendar can be found here.

Executive Director, Wier Harman, is available for quotes and questions. Press is invited to tour the building at 3:30 with Mr. Harman. Please RSVP to Jonathan Shipley (jonathan@townhallseattle.org).