315. Joyful Resistance: Leveraging the Power of Arts Activism
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Release Date: 07/18/2025
344. Andrew Yang with Jonathan Sposato: Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Remember that one time in 2019 when presidential candidate Andrew Yang promised a thousand dollars a month for a whole year to ten U.S. families if they donated to his campaign? Yang would like to address this. Pulling from his latest book titled Hey Yang, Where’s My Thousand Bucks?, Yang shares stories from his remarkable life so far, including this viral moment during a live presidential debate. Beyond championing universal basic income, Yang would like to bring a little humor into the world. In his candid and playful accounts, Yang examines where the U.S. sits today through the lens...
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343. Judith Enck with Bellamy Pailthorp: The Problem with Plastic
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
In less than 100 years, plastic has gone from a novel invention to a ubiquitous feature across the globe. Plastic is now found in everything from household objects to industrial mechanisms to inside human bodies themselves. Once a marvel of modern science, plastic has become so inextricably woven into our lives that imagining a world without it can seem impossible. Backed by years of research and reflections taking place in real time with changing technology and environmental awareness, The Problem with Plastic critically examines the paradox of this material and how swiftly its...
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342. John Patrick Green with Ben Clanton: InvestiGators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
When something wacky is going on in the Gatorverse, the Special Undercover Investigation Teams know that it’s time to S.U.I.T. up! Join the team at S.U.I.T. headquarters with the newest book in John Patrick Green’s InvestiGators spinoff series– Agents of S.U.I.T.: Sew Much Trouble. Someone has stolen the Notorious P.I.G. food truck, and with it, Piggy Smalls’ special BBQ sauce! But before super-spy Badgers Bongo and Marsha can solve the case, they need to solve the problems they’re having with each other. To help them realize what a great team they truly are, General Inspector...
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341. Kate Quinn with Elise Hooper: Astral Library: A Novel
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Have you ever wished you could go inside of a book? You could travel to a new place, see new sights, potentially live a different life altogether — all from the page. From New York Times bestselling author Kate Quinn comes Astral Library, a fantastical novel where books are not merely objects, but doors to different worlds, different adventures, and different futures. After growing up in the foster care system, protagonist Alix Watson came to believe one thing: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and letting her dreams...
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340. Thomas Mallon with Katie Campbell: Opera Talk: Fellow Travelers
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Hear from acclaimed author, essayist, and critic Thomas Mallon, whose novel Fellow Travelers (2007) inspired an opera and a SHOWTIME® miniseries. With exacting attention to historical detail, Mallon’s novel brings to life the shameful era in the early 1950s known as the Lavender Scare, during which gay and lesbian federal employees were systematically expelled from government service. More recently, Mallon also published The Very Heart of It (2025), a collection of journal entries during his literary coming-of-age during the AIDS crisis in New York City. Reporter Katie...
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339. Chuck Klosterman:The Football Phenomenon
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
For many Americans, football is more than just a sport — it is a way of life. Year after year, it remains the most watched sport in the country, captivating millions every season. A recent study showed that 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. Football, whether we like it or not, is inescapable. Chuck Klosterman, New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and critic, visits Town Hall just after Super Bowl Weekend to discuss his newest book, Football. Here, Klosterman dissects the question of natural greatness, looks at football through...
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338. Letters Aloud: Love Me or Leave Me: Letters of Loving, Longing, and Leaving
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Get ready to laugh, swoon, and maybe cringe just a little—Love Me or Leave Me from Letters Aloud unleashes the wild side of romance in a whirlwind show packed with real letters from history’s most lovelorn (and love-scorned) souls. With a cast of spirited actors, comedy crackles from every confession, break-up, and “did-they-really-write-that?” misadventure, all paired with lively music that sets hearts and funny bones tingling. It’s an unfiltered anthology of grand gestures, awkward flirtations, ridiculous rejections, and letters so sincere (or spectacularly misguided) you can’t...
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337. Vivian Tu with Tori Dunlap: Well Endowed: The Secrets to Strategic Spending
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
For most people, trying to be smart with money is a hurdle that isn’t going away anytime soon. And once you have a handle on the usual demands like bills, loans, and maybe even savings – what about the future? Long-term financial choices can be daunting and confusing, and isn’t wealth management advice for the already wealthy? How do everyday people balance today’s dreams and realities with tomorrow’s security? Tailoring her years of expertise for modern generations, bestselling author and CEO Vivian Tu wants to deconstruct the traditional framework of financial literacy and show...
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336. Jackson Cooper with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera: A Kids Book About Kindness
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
How can we be kind in today’s fast-moving, intense world? Kindness is a choice we make every day, but it’s also your superpower. Local author and educator Jackson Cooper, author of A Kids Book About Kindness (DK Kids, 2025), shares his insights on teaching the essential tools for kindness to families, parents, and the next generation of leaders. A Kids Book About Kindness is an accessible, family-friendly introduction for children and their caregivers to learn the tools of being kind. Using a “Kindness Toolkit”, author Jackson Cooper teaches readers the easy ways...
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334. David Guterson with Karen Maeda Allman: Evelyn in Transit
Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series
Whether you know him from his award-winning and bestselling novel set in Puget Sound, Snow Falling on Cedars, or his columns in Pacific Northwest publications, Bainbridge writer David Guterson may be one of our region’s most well-known writers. He’s written a new novel, Evelyn in Transit, which explores what it means to live a righteous life, maybe even in spite of our imperfections. Guterson’s novel introduces Evelyn Bednarz, who is radically open-minded, formidably strong, and unusually clear-eyed about herself and others. Yet Evelyn has always been a misfit in society. She’s...
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This is a dynamic and inspiring community panel on the joyful power of arts activism. In a time when many are facing systemic erasure — politically, socially, and culturally — Pottery Northwest is transforming art into resistance through equity-driven programming that uplifts Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ voices. Moderated by James Miles, the panel features ceramicist Aisha Harrison, former legislator Kirsten Harris-Talley, and Pottery Northwest Executive Director Ed King.
Leading Pottery Northwest is a privilege for Ed King after a career as an award-winning visual artist and ad agency art director in Miami. He has held roles as an arts administrator at ArtServe in Fort Lauderdale and the Chief Operating Officer of Creative Pinellas in St. Petersburg. King is deeply passionate about non-profit arts leadership, advocating daily for the financial well-being of working artists — a crucial element of a thriving creative economy. He is committed to fostering inclusivity and diversity, ensuring that the arts serve as a powerful tool for personal growth, community building, and social change.
Aisha Harrison is a studio and public artist working primarily in clay and bronze. Aisha is currently working on a solo show at Bainbridge Museum of Art in Fall 2025, as well as a large-scale outdoor public art commission with The University of Washington Tacoma and the Washington State Arts Commission to be unveiled in 2026. She has done residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Women’s Studio Workshop, and Baltimore Clayworks. Aisha has taught at Pottery Northwest, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Penland School of Crafts, The Evergreen State College, Bykota Senior Center, Baltimore Clayworks, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, and the Lux Center for the Arts.
Kirsten Harris-Talley (she/her) is Co-Founder of In The Works; building belonging, anti-racism, and repair practice with BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women, and youth led organizations and movements. She previously served as a Seattle City Councilmember and a Washington State Representative. She is an activist and power building strategist; championing Reproductive Justice and the #BlackLivesMatter movement for abolition. Kirsten believes the personal is political – that which we practice is how we show up in the world – and she invites us to be whole, accountable, and caring.
James Miles, aka Fresh Professor, is a New York City artist and educator with 20 years of experience, now based in Seattle. He’s an Assistant Professor at Seattle University and the Chief Strategic Officer at Path with Art. James previously served at the Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, Third Stone, MENTOR Washington, and Arts Corps. He is the creator of the Fresh Education program, using original hip-hop music and theater to boost academic success in middle school classrooms. A graduate of Morehouse College and Brandeis University, James has provided professional development to teachers across the world. His mission is to reduce educational inequities using the arts. He is the author of Gotta Stay Fresh, and you can learn more about James at FreshProfessor.com.
Presented by Town Hall Seattle and Pottery Northwest.
