For as long I\u2019ve been at Town Hall Seattle \u2014 almost 17 people years (or 119 dog years, but who\u2019s counting?)<\/i> \u2014 our organization has been defined by 1) a broad and curious program, brimming with ideas collectively-sourced from across our community and beyond; and 2) the belief that as many as possible should be able to enjoy it. We\u2019ve called this second part a<\/b> commitment to access<\/b>. The meaning of \u201caccess\u201d has evolved over the years, but we\u2019ve tended to use it in a somewhat limited way: as a commitment to lower financial barriers to producing and attending things here.<\/i><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve taken a lot of pride in the structural inclusivity of our model, always insisting on the result of a more genuinely welcoming community for all. Town Hall will fulfill its true potential when people who have long felt at home here continue to feel a sense of belonging, while we work to be more deeply meaningful and relevant to even more people across this community. That said, as we work to embrace a richer understanding of accessibility, we want to be clear: our commitment to affordability for all remains critical to the heart of Town Hall.<\/p>\n
This season, we\u2019re rolling out a new \u201cSliding Scale\u201d approach to ticket prices for Town Hall-produced lectures.<\/strong> What does that mean for us? People will always <\/i>be able to choose a $5 ticket for these programs (and tickets will remain free for youth 22 and Under<\/i>). But the Sliding Scale pricing option is an approach founded on lots of existing data. Over time, we\u2019ve seen that many patrons choose to make an extra contribution to Town Hall when they purchase tickets, and now we\u2019re giving the people the option to pay what they\u2019re comfortable with for Town Hall programming. No matter where you place the sliding scale ticket price, your ticket purchase helps support our programming and our operations.<\/p>\n Town Hall was founded in 1999 and we\u2019re moving into a new era, finally installed in our newly-renovated building and full of the optimism and possibility of new leadership, all while serving a society in flux. As we begin to imagine the next Town Hall, we need to ensure it can thrive for another 23 years and beyond. In a time of deep vulnerability for cultural presenters like us \u2014 financial uncertainty and shifting audience behavior \u2014 our goal is to protect our mission-driven commitment to broad community access while securing modest extra revenue that will support our operations and create a solid foundation for the Town Hall to come.<\/b><\/p>\n In the end, we hope the new pricing approach is simply an invitation to pay what is comfortable for you<\/b>. I know you know this, but $5 tickets have never reflected the value of our programs (priceless!)<\/i> or the true cost of operating Town Hall (pricey-but-worth-it!)<\/i> We\u2019ve always said that membership here is an act of generosity toward the community at large, assuring affordability for all \u2014 and that\u2019s still true. But for some, it\u2019s simply easier to add an extra contribution into the value of their ticket when they can. We believe that in asking those who are inclined to consider paying more, we will create an even deeper sense of belonging and pride within Town Hall\u2019s extraordinary community of supporters.<\/p>\n I can write at this kind of length, with this kind of candor, and all my, let\u2019s call it eccentric <\/i>punctuation because the Town Hall community is thoughtful and generous. You\u2019re in it for what it means to you, but you\u2019re ALSO in it for each other and for what it means to the city.<\/b> We are sincerely grateful to all of you, for making Town Hall a uniquely compassionate and collegial place, defined by a thoughtful, caring, and honest community. You can prove it by telling us honestly what you feel about this pricing approach (or anything else) at membership@townhallseattle.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n With gratitude and affection,<\/p>\n Wier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For as long I\u2019ve been at Town Hall Seattle \u2014 almost 17 people years (or 119 dog years, but who\u2019s counting?)<\/i> \u2014 our organization has been defined by 1) a broad and curious program, brimming with ideas collectively-sourced from across our community and beyond; and 2) the belief that as many as possible should be able to enjoy it. We\u2019ve called this second part a<\/b> commitment to access<\/b>. The meaning of \u201caccess\u201d has evolved over the years, but we\u2019ve tended to use it in a somewhat limited way: as a commitment to lower financial barriers to producing and attending things here.<\/i><\/p>\n We\u2019ve taken a lot of pride in the structural inclusivity of our model, always insisting on the result of a more genuinely welcoming community for all. Town Hall will fulfill its true potential when people who have long felt at home here continue to feel a sense of belonging, while we work to be more deeply meaningful and relevant to even more people across this community. That said, as we work to embrace a richer understanding of accessibility, we want to be clear: our commitment to affordability for all remains critical to the heart of Town Hall.<\/p>\n This season, we\u2019re rolling out a new \u201cSliding Scale\u201d approach to ticket prices for Town Hall-produced lectures.<\/strong> What does that mean for us? People will always <\/i>be able to choose a $5 ticket for these programs (and tickets will remain free for youth 22 and Under<\/i>). But the Sliding Scale pricing option is an approach founded on lots of existing data. Over time, we\u2019ve seen that many patrons choose to make an extra contribution to Town Hall when they purchase tickets, and now we\u2019re giving the people the option to pay what they\u2019re comfortable with for Town Hall programming. No matter where you place the sliding scale ticket price, your ticket purchase helps support our programming and our operations.<\/p>\n Town Hall was founded in 1999 and we\u2019re moving into a new era, finally installed in our newly-renovated building and full of the optimism and possibility of new leadership, all while serving a society in flux. As we begin to imagine the next Town Hall, we need to ensure it can thrive for another 23 years and beyond. In a time of deep vulnerability for cultural presenters like us \u2014 financial uncertainty and shifting audience behavior \u2014 our goal is to protect our mission-driven commitment to broad community access while securing modest extra revenue that will support our operations and create a solid foundation for the Town Hall to come.<\/b><\/p>\n In the end, we hope the new pricing approach is simply an invitation to pay what is comfortable for you<\/b>. I know you know this, but $5 tickets have never reflected the value of our programs (priceless!)<\/i> or the true cost of operating Town Hall (pricey-but-worth-it!)<\/i> We\u2019ve always said that membership here is an act of generosity toward the community at large, assuring affordability for all \u2014 and that\u2019s still true. But for some, it\u2019s simply easier to add an extra contribution into the value of their ticket when they can. We believe that in asking those who are inclined to consider paying more, we will create an even deeper sense of belonging and pride within Town Hall\u2019s extraordinary community of supporters.<\/p>\n I can write at this kind of length, with this kind of candor, and all my, let\u2019s call it eccentric <\/i>punctuation because the Town Hall community is thoughtful and generous. You\u2019re in it for what it means to you, but you\u2019re ALSO in it for each other and for what it means to the city.<\/b> We are sincerely grateful to all of you, for making Town Hall a uniquely compassionate and collegial place, defined by a thoughtful, caring, and honest community. You can prove it by telling us honestly what you feel about this pricing approach (or anything else) at membership@townhallseattle.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n With gratitude and affection,<\/p>\n Wier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcement","category-town-crier","category-town-hall-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townhallseattle.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}