260. Scratch Night 2024 with Maia Brown and Brivele
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 06/07/2024
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Go from “what the heck is this” to “how does it taste so good” in a celebration of misfit vegetables. Maybe you just discovered celery root (a lumpy, softball-sized bulb), at the grocery store. Or perhaps you received watermelon radishes in a CSA package. Did a parsnip catch your eye at the farmers’ market? Even vegetables you think you know, like cabbage or brussels sprouts, will reveal next-level flavor with the right recipe. Becky Selengut has made it her mission to take less popular — or even outright scorned vegetables like beets and okra — and cook them into irresistible...
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Town Hall's 2024 Scratch Night featuring the work-in-progress of our Artist-in-Residence Maia Brown In collaboration with bandmate, Stefanie Brendler, Maia crafts an intimate evening that dives deep into the Yiddish archives of anti-fascist poetry and song, offering a glimpse into their creative process. Maia Brown, a visual artist, Yiddish musician, and educator, brings a rich background in oral history and fine art to this exploration, alongside Stefanie Brendler, a multi-talented Seattle-based artist, composer, and member of the klezmer brass band Shpilkis. This evening comprises a...
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Explore the life cycle of Seattle artists in a dynamic round table discussion hosted by Sarah Traver, director of Traver Gallery. Join the conversation on transforming artistic practice into a flourishing and creative career within the vibrant artistic landscape of Seattle. Esteemed artists Esther Ervin, Henry Jackson-Spieker, Steve Jensen, Pohlman Knowles, and Jeanne Marie Ferraro all connected with Pratt Fine Arts Center, will share their experiences in developing their practices across diverse disciplines, including glass, installation, jewelry, metal, printmaking, public art,...
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Looking back through history, it is obvious that the presence of music has had a profound impact on the daily lives of humans, our cultural rituals, and the evolution of civilization as a whole. Yet in public discourse, we still tend to separate conversations about music from those about civics or politics. We frame music as a product for entertainment when in reality the practice of music is deeply tied to the way our communities are structured and function. Shain Shapiro is the director of the global nonprofit Center for Music Ecosystems, and author of This Must Be The Place: How...
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What do we learn when an anthropologist and a historian talk about food? Across endless eras, landscapes, and civilizations, humanity’s relationship with food has played the part of one of the landmark features of culture and community. We feel this on both the micro and macro scale — from learning a recipe passed down through generations of one’s own family to the excitement of exploring an unfamiliar local market in a city far from home. Culinary curiosity invites us all to the table, and through their new book, Ways of Eating, authors and storytellers Benjamin Wurgaft and Merry...
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The Village Voice aimed to show readers something that mainstream publications wouldn’t: live theater productions climbing through the scaffolding of off-Broadway venues; moments in music from hip-hop to jazz to punk; New York City civil issues, like corrupt landlords; and global issues, like the AIDS crisis. Through decades of independent reporting and first-hand accounts within the myriad subcultures of New York, the Village Voice built a journalistic legacy of lived experience, bold critique, and political activism. One can’t help but wonder, what it must have...
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What does it mean to be a proudly queer Indigenous woman in the United States today? Sasha LaPointe, winner of the 2023 Pacific Northwest Book Award for her memoir, Red Paint, shares a new collection of essays that navigate the complexities of indigenous identity, challenge stereotypes, and address cultural displacement and environmental concerns. Thunder Song draws inspiration from her family’s rich archive and the work of her late great-grandmother and weaves together stories that demonstrate the profound intersections of community, commitment, and conscientious honesty....
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If you’re a part of the Seattle arts scene, chances are you’ve come across Tessa Hulls. She has a hand in many local creative communities, including Seattle Arts & Lectures (where you might have spotted her illustrations on the 2021 Summer Book Bingo Card!), the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and the Henry Art Museum. She’s also the lead artist in the Wing Luke Museum exhibit which explores the impacts of how the I-5 construction ran right through the Chinatown International District in the 1960s. It’s no surprise then that Hulls is passionate about mixing art and...
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Have you ever lost something or someone dear to you? Though it ranges in severity and impact, loss is a shared human experience – an inevitable, inescapable part of life. Praised for her humor and sharp wit, essayist and novelist Sloane Crosley delivers her first memoir Grief is for People, exploring how loss can take many forms. After the pain and confusion of losing her closest friend Russell to suicide – which occurred only a month after also losing prized possessions and her sense of safety following a burglary – Crosley looks for answers, even where they may be elusive....
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You’d be hard-pressed to find a person whose life went unchanged in 2020, arguably one of the most consequential years in human history. It marked an unprecedented time, left indelible memories in our minds, and set off ripple effects we still feel even today. Disruption of normal life was nearly universal; however, the ways in which we experienced disruption were varied. Acclaimed sociologist and bestselling author Eric Klinenberg’s latest work 2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed offers an account of a single year in modern history told through the...
info_outlineTown Hall's 2024 Scratch Night featuring the work-in-progress of our Artist-in-Residence Maia Brown
In collaboration with Brivele bandmate, Stefanie Brendler, Maia crafts an intimate evening that dives deep into the Yiddish archives of anti-fascist poetry and song, offering a glimpse into their creative process.
Maia Brown, a visual artist, Yiddish musician, and educator, brings a rich background in oral history and fine art to this exploration, alongside Stefanie Brendler, a multi-talented Seattle-based artist, composer, and member of the klezmer brass band Shpilkis. This evening comprises a stirring blend of storytelling and music, echoing the resilience and resistance found within Yiddish tradition.
About the Artists
Maia Brown (she/her) is a visual artist, Yiddish musician, writer, translator, and educator. Brown has a background in oral history and fine art, including a Watson Fellowship to study storytelling and advocacy in South Africa and the North of Ireland. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. She is a dedicated student and teacher of her own tradition as well as the many ways people have reached out to each other across communities.
Stefanie Brendler is a Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, visual artist, translator, storyteller, and union stagehand. The founder of Seattle’s premier klezmer brass band Shpilkis, Stefanie is also a member of the Yiddish folk-punk band Brivele. Despite the constant toil under capitalism, heteropatriarchy, and nationalism, Stefanie’s artistry reflects the joys of life as a queer Jew.
Brivele, a Seattle-based ensemble, blends Yiddish song, anti-fascist and labor balladry, folk-punk, and contemporary protest themes into powerful vocal harmony. Meaning “little letter” in Yiddish, Brivele symbolizes the journey songs undertake, crossing borders and time, carrying tales of love, resistance, and resilience. Rooted in the Yiddish anti-fascist tradition, their repertoire merges satire, remembrance, and political commentary, echoing the voices of ancestors in today’s struggles. With an irreverent spirit, Brivele proudly embraces Diaspora heritage, singing in Yiddish as a testament to the enduring relevance of our mixed-up, impure Yidishkayt.
About Town Hall Residencies
Every year, Town Hall selects exceptional local artists and scholars for paid residencies where they engage with Town Hall programs and collaborate with our programming team to develop original events for the community. Read more about our residency program here.
WORKS CITED:
- "Music in Concentration Camps: 1933-1945" by Guido Fackler
- Passionate Pioneers: The Story of Yiddish Secular Education in North America, 1910-1960 by Fradle Pomerantz Freidenreich
- "The birth and long life of ‘Peat Bog Soldiers’ on its 90th anniversary" by Fiete Ausländer
- "Memories of a Jewish American red diaper baby" by Susan Gosman