When it was time to choose a venue to host our community’s first-ever gala fundraiser concert event, The Heritage Ball, the venue that leaped to mind was Black & Tan Hall. 

This Black-led, community-owned performing arts cooperative was founded in 2016, and derives its name from both the Black & Tan Club that once existed on 12th & Jackson Street (just up the hill from The Rhapsody Project’s home at King Street Station) as well as the stupendous Duke Ellington classic, “Black & Tan Fantasy.”

Of course, The Rhapsody Project is both a family and community affair, so it is no coincidence that both our co-founders and one of our board members continue to serve as three of the legacy owners and leaders who have worked for nine years to establish Black & Tan Hall. 

Our vision for The Heritage Ball is to present supporters with highlights from the amazing year we just experienced while demonstrating the ways in which we are walking the walk of our mission to celebrate heritage and build community through music. One of the ways we do that is through lasting partnerships with organizations like Black & Tan Hall, whose mission and vision align with our values. 

This South Seattle venue grew out of a community that was established across the street at The Hillman City Collaboratory (a space now stewarded by another fabulous, local organization, Young Women Empowered), where some of The Rhapsody Project’s first-ever community programs and concerts were hosted as early as 2014.

While our dear departed Collaboratory closed early in the pandemic, the community that helped build it has grown and evolved to help establish Black & Tan Hall. On December 7th, all of these communities will come together to celebrate the new possibilities that are opening up as we celebrate a landmark year of opening both The Hall and The Rhapsody Workshop at King Street Station!

— Joe Seamons