Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Dungeons & Dragons has become one of the most iconic game brands in the world. Since its genesis in 1974 the game has expanded far beyond its humble beginnings, and its scope increased by magnitudes after its induction into the publishing realm of Wizards of the Coast, based in Washington. To take us on an unprecedented journey through the visual evolution of the brand, the author team of Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, and Jon Peterson will be joined by the creators of the 5th edition of the...

Many of us share thrilling childhood memories of reading books that made the world feel more vast, mysterious, and magical. To pass along to our children that sense of wonder (and rekindle it for us too!) we joined Dylan Thuras, co-founder of the collaborative global exploration project Atlas Obscura, who brought us an illustrated guide to 100 of the world’s most breathtaking landmarks—both natural and manmade. Thuras unveiled a guidebook to inspire a love of exploration in our kids, taking...

From Madonna to Beyonce, Amy Winehouse to Dolly Parton, women have played an essential and undeniable role in the evolution of popular music. Writer and professor of journalism Evelyn McDonnell joined us for a conversation that champions the 104 greatest female artists who have played critical roles in defining modern music. She shared glimpses from Women Who Rock, a collection of essays that offers an up-to-date history of the evolution, influence, and importance of female musicians, both...

How do we want to die? Few conversations we have throughout our lifetime are as critical as those about death. But according to Michael Hebb, co-founder of the end-of-life awareness campaign Death Over Dinner, it’s a conversation we’re not having often enough. Hebb pulled up a chair at Town Hall to share advice from his book Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner), offering keen advice about these conversations that ranges from spiritual to practical to downright funny and surprising. Hebb met...

A computer mouse that doesn’t work for left-handed people, an interface whose color scheme is inaccessible for users with colorblindness, a touchscreen payment system that’s only usable by those who read English, have 20/20 vision, and use a credit card—these design oversights are the building blocks of exclusion, and they’re built into many devices we take for granted. Inclusive design expert Kat Holmes founded mismatch.design to combat the problem of devices that reject their users, and...

What happens when we imagine Captain America wearing a turban? Cartoonist and activist Vishavjit Singh, creator of ‘Sikh Captain America,’ has spent his career exploring the power of cultural labels and fighting against bigotry. He arrived at Town Hall’s stage for a conversation with Sharon Chan of the Seattle Times, discussing the confining nature of labels we use every day, unconsciously or not. Singh highlighted the importance of confronting our own stereotypes and their place in our...

The world of twentieth-century abstract painting has traditionally been male-dominated—but five women broke from tradition and dared to enter that world and propel a revolution in modern art. To champion their stories, acclaimed author Mary Gabriel spoke at Town Hall, with accounts from her book Ninth Street Women. Gabriel joined us to explore the rich, revealing narratives of these five brilliant female artists—Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen...

As new movements throw fresh awareness on the ills of gender inequality in American life, how can we ensure we raise children with healthy, positive, shame-free, and egalitarian attitudes about bodies, gender, sex, and love? To shed some light on this discussion, author Bonnie J. Rough took Town Hall’s stage in conversation with sexuality and parenting expert Amy Lang and columnist Nicole Brodeur. With wisdom from her book Beyond Birds & Bees: Bringing Home a New Message About Sex, Love, and...

Why don’t our kids do what we want them to do? In our modern highly-connected age it sometimes seems as though children have less self-control than ever. To offer us some behavioral insight, journalist and parenting expert Katherine Reynolds Lewis joined us with revelations from her book The Good News About Bad Behavior. She met for a conversation with KIRO 7 News reporter Patranya Bhoolsuwan to explore the ways we can instill the values of independence, responsibility, and self-regulation...

Photographic walking tours to writing workshops, “disruptive” art to small groups talking through modern masculinity—our 2018 Inside/Out Neighborhood Residents created some of the most interactive programs in Town Hall’s history. Now, Town Hall invites you to take part in their capstone evening as they reflect on their experiences during this experimental year. Join this season’s Residents—Jordan Alam, Peter DiCampo, Erik Molano, and Shin Yu Pai—as they share a behind-the-scenes look at the...

Estimates have placed the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Seattle at well over 8,000, with nearly half of those people living unsheltered in streets or parks. The city of Seattle spent roughly $50 million on emergency shelters, food and hygiene services, eviction prevention measures, and other similar relief programs—yet the problem only seems to be growing. To reframe our conception of this issue we welcome Kaia Sand, Susan Robb, and Rex Hohlbein, whose diverse artistic...

The photographic Everyday Africa project has inspired photojournalists all over the world to follow the Everyday model to fuel conversation and connections between seemingly disparate groups of people. Now Peter DiCampo—co-founder of Everyday Africa and Town Hall’s Inside/Out Resident representing the University District and Ravenna neighborhoods—convened a panel of Everyday project founders to discuss the changing world of journalism and the power of photography to reframe narratives about...

Artists Imani Sims, Tani Ikeda, and Jordan Alam share a passion in creating work relating to the ways personal experiences are held in the body. We’re thrilled to welcome them to present their narratives through film, prose, and poetry explorations of the events of their lives that have impacted their bodies, and how those changes have affected their encounters with the world. First we hear from local poet and author Imani Sims, who has been hailed as a “cultural ambassador, leader and...

An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hearing and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another. These characters and their struggles exemplify the sweeping, impassioned story of activism—and stunning evocation of the natural world—that is author Richard Powers’ twelfth novel, The...

Town Hall is excited to invite you to a live taping of Trust Issues, a podcast about facts gone wrong. Each week, journalists Sydney Brownstone and Heidi Groover dive into conspiracy theories run amok, fake news stories, shady health claims, or chain emails sent by our grandparents. They took us down the rabbit hole to find the strange ideas we construct, and try to understand why people believe they’re true. Sydney and Heidi are reporters at The Stranger, where they cover city politics,...

In 2011 a magnitude-9 earthquake shook northeast Japan and wracked the coast with a massive tsunami, devastating towns, destabilizing economies nationwide—and causing meltdowns in nuclear power plants. Nonfiction author William T. Vollmann joined us to share firsthand accounts of the fallout from these disasters, bringing excerpts from his newest book No Immediate Danger, whose title sardonically co-opts the reassuring mantra of official Japanese energy experts. Vollman cautioned against...

Mexican-American author Kathleen Alcala explored the indestructible link between a people and their land in her novels and nonfiction work. With a deep interest in the forces of history that shape an individual’s experience and worldview, Kathleen creates characters that reflect the evolution of society as it has changed from traditional to modern. To lend us a unique glimpse of her perspective, Alcala took our stage to discuss the role of archives and historical research in the process of...

Writer Samantha Irby is known for her brazen wit and boldly honest feminist writing from her blog bitches gotta eat, as well as her book We Are Never Meeting In Real Life and her essay work contributing to Nasty Women, a collection of feminist essays on life in Trump’s America—and a discussion recently hosted on Town Hall’s stage earlier this season (where author Samhita Mukhopadhyay hailed Irby as “the funniest writer in the world right now.”) Irby took our stage to present a reprint of...

How do our bodies retain memory of the events they experience? How can we connect with the emotions and life-altering changes recorded within our physical selves? Local artists Neve Mazique and Nic Masangkay took the stage with Inside/Out Neighborhood Resident Jordan Alam to share original works of prose, movement, and music expressing how personal experiences are held within the body. They presented their narratives of life altering and intensely physical moments—from birth to...

Do you have strong feelings about the word “irregardless”? Have you ever tried to define the word “is”? Many of us take dictionaries for granted, and few may realize that the process of writing dictionaries is, in fact, as lively and dynamic as language itself. Kory Stamper took our stage to crack open the complex, obsessive world of lexicography—the practice of making dictionaries—in her book Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. Stamper revealed the agonizing decisions about which...