Community Report
2022

Read our Community Report for stories about who we are, what we do, and how we put our values into action.

Establishing Our Roots

Black & Tan Hall partners at one of the 2022 B&TH summer Block Parties.

Photo credit: Jovelle Tamayo for Pillar

Black & Tan Hall’s focus in 2022 was building capacity, both inside the Hall and internally within our business structure. We further developed our legal structure and model to more closely align our business’ trajectory with our values. This was facilitated by attorneys of Interdependent Law and Aligned Law who secured $7500 of grant funding to work with us. Our partnership also engaged local culture worker Marcus Warlick to build rental systems for both the Hall and event production equipment.

Meanwhile, our partners continued work with La Union Architects and Len Can Builders to upgrade the Hall’s electrical systems, reinstall kitchen equipment, and finish the installation of fire suppression and security systems.

This progress was possible thanks to support from 4Culture, Seattle’s Office of Planning & Community Development, and Pillar Foundation.

B&TH partner Karen Toering cleaning post-renovation. New artwork on the wall by Walter Peeze.

Photo credit: Marcus Warlick

Our Partners

Highlights of some of the B&TH partners who worked behind the scenes in 2022.

Photo credit: selfie by Sadiqua Iman

“That shapely, textured, shift of consciousness springing forward with bounce...” Sadiqua Iman is a Seattle native. She is an interdisciplinary artist that challenges preconceived notions of marginalized identities through theater, dance, and poetry workshops and performances. Not only did Sadiqua take on the role of B&TH Arts & Culture Manager in 2022, but she also became Langston’s newest Program Director!

Seattle native Naudia Miller was drawn to B&TH “to be an example for my sons and the youth that your dreams can become a reality, it’s just a matter of creating a plan and then putting it into action.” In 2016, she launched her first business, Pacific Empire LLC, a consulting agency that focuses on assisting Black entrepreneurs with establishing and maintaining their business. She is also a founding board member of the Harriet Tubman Foundation for Safe Passage, and in 2022, she became B&TH’s General Manager. Naudia “believe[s] in creating space for the Black community to come together and have fun in a safe and welcoming environment, for us and by us.”

Photo credit: Ashley Harrison

Photo credit: Jovelle Tamayo for Pillar

2022 was a year of B&TH management transition, with Karen Toering passing the General Manager torch to Naudia. While in that role, KT helped raise over $2.2 million for B&TH programing and steward the grant for purchasing the building. Outside B&TH, KT works in a variety of capacities, but her favorite is as grandmother. KT sees Black and Tan Hall as a place where art, justice and food intersect to nurture our spirit and connected lives. She is the co-founder of Sankofa Film Society, a film and discussion series in Seattle and founder of the Gary International Black Film Festival in her hometown of Gary, IN.

Photo credit: B Atwell

As B&TH’s Partner Outreach Coordinator, in 2022 Joe Seamons focused on restructuring the business in collaboration with the partners and local attorneys. A partner in Black & Tan Hall since 2016, Joe concurrently worked throughout 2022 representing The Rhapsody Project alongside partners Totem Star, Red Eagle Soaring and Seattle’s Cultural Space Agency to establish The Station Space, a cultural workforce development and arts education hub centering youth of color, which will open its doors at King Street Station in 2023! Even more excitingly, in September of 2022, Joe and his wife, Briar, welcomed their first son into the world.

Maria McDaniel was born and raised in Seattle and has been a key force in maintaining B&TH finances for the last several years. She remembers stories from family members about Seattle’s Black & Tan, Honeysuckle and Birdland clubs in the 60's, and she wants the community built around music in the Central District to resurface in South Seattle to bring people together again. Listen to her discuss her family’s connection to the Green Book in the KING5 Facing Race Series.

Photo credit: Ashley Harrison

Joining B&TH as a Good Jobs Fellow in 2020, Christina Chan has been leading B&TH marketing strategy and web design for the last three years. The Good Jobs Fellowship was designed to steward BIPOC youth by learning and working alongside B&TH partners to operate our business, and in Christina’s case, the learning has been in both directions! Christina’s marketing and business savvy led her to the decision in 2022 to take on a bigger role in her family jewelry business, Dyme Designs.

Photo credit: CB Photography

Ashley (center) with local historian Ken Steiner (left) and community leader Tanya Woo of the Louisa Hotel (right) at the Green Book Tour Grand Launch.

Photo credit: Ken Steiner

Ashley Harrison and her husband Ben joined the Black and Tan Hall project in 2017, excited at all the ways B&TH seeks to counter gentrification and displacement by centering Black leadership, redistributing wealth internally, and insisting that (re)development should benefit the community. 2022 was a big year for her with the Seattle Green Book Tour launch, which was the culmination of several years of research led by Ashley. This immense piece of work links today’s Black and Tan Hall to our local past. Ashley’s paid work and other community involvement focus on workers’ rights.

Arts & Culture

Launch event for the B&TH Seattle Green Book Tour Self-Guided Tour

Hundreds joined B&TH in March to launch the Seattle Green Book Self-Guided Tour highlighting Black-owned and Black-friendly businesses along the Jackson Street corridor between the 1920s and the 1960s. This vibrant avenue included the famous Black & Tan Club and other clubs from Seattle's early jazz scene that offered a haven for people of all races in an era when segregation dictated social boundaries.

Audience watching Suitcase Dance Theatre perform.

Audience joins the Suitcase Dance Theatre for dance lessons.

Photo credit: B Atwell

Touring the 1930s-era murals of Seattle's jazz club scene under the Louisa Hotel.

Photo credit: B Atwell

The Rhapsody Songsters perform in Chiyo’s Garden.

Ben Hunter warms up for his performance with Reggie Garrett.

Attendees using the B&TH Seattle Green Book Tour App.

Photo credit: B Atwell

Green Book Tour self-guided tour app.

The multimedia tour is self-guided, with narrations by B&TH partners and original artwork of each site illustrated by Jennifer Bennett and digitized by Benjamin Hunter.

In 2022, the Seattle Green Book Tour reached 4,000 people! Read more about the B&TH Seattle Green Book Tour App on the B&TH website and at the South Seattle Emerald.

"My understanding of the impact this tour could have on our communities is that we can, as People of Color, see our stories as important — and others who we share community with can do the same. When we see each other’s stories as important and finally understand the history behind who really built this city, we care about one another a little deeper, we hold each other a little tighter, and we then contribute to keeping that history alive." - Troy Landrum Jr.

Summer Block Parties

Summer block parties in 2022 gave us the opportunity to come together after an isolating pandemic. We gathered with neighbors, danced, and enjoyed local art and food. Thank you to the Columbia Hillman Arts & Cultural District for sponsoring these events!

The bubbles at the kids’ activities tent were for everyone young at heart.

Photo credit: Jovelle Tamayo for Pillar

The September Block Party was curated by Julie-C and the OnTheBlock team.

Photo credit: Jovelle Tamayo for Pillar

Lemonade by KT.
Video credit: Sadiqua Iman

The New Triumph performing.

Video credit: Sadiqua Iman

Looking Ahead

B&TH sold flowers supporting local Hmong farmers all summer long.

Photo credit: Sadiqua Iman

There’s always dancing. Here with Dance with Dora.

Photo credit: Sadiqua Iman

THANKS FOR COMING OUT THIS SUMMER!

Video credit: Naudia Miller

Looking Ahead

As our partnership continues to build support from the community via Patreon, we have established a goal to secure our occupancy permit for the Hall in 2023! Currently, renovations and inspections are on track to meet this goal, please stay tuned . . .