Building Harmony: Brick By Brick

$657,000 Pledged Toward May's Goal of $700,000

Capital Campaign for Jazz Night School’s Permanent Home Project

Joining Forces

With a lease ending in 2026 and a goal of permanence and sustainability, Jazz Night School is creating a path to ownership of a new facility that will also create permanent homes for other cultural community members. Founder/executive director Erik Hanson with Jazz Night School volunteer/property development facilitator Ben Rankin formed a coalition with affordable housing developer Southeast Effective Development (SEED) - a 50 year old nonprofit dedicated to housing, economic development, and cultural arts in Rainier Valley - and LEMS Bookstore, a local Black-owned Southeast Seattle cultural institution to achieve the now-shared goal of creating a building on a 21,000 SF property in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood that will:

  • provide a permanent debt-free home for Jazz Night School.
  • provide a permanent debt-free home for LEMS Bookstore.
  • create 100+ units of affordable housing to combat displacement of creative and BIPOC communities.
  • play a significant role in the cultural and economic growth of the Columbia Hillman Arts & Cultural District and Rainier Valley Creative District.
  • create a cultural landmark building in a landmark district. 

Location

5021, 5015 & 5001 RAINIER AVENUE SOUTH SEATTLE, WA 98118

Funding Sources

With a Building Harmony capital campaign goal of $6,000,000, May 2024 is a critical time! 

Institutional donors will be the largest portion of our funding sources but they don't want to be first, our community must lead the way.

We currently need at least $700,000 in “pledges” by June 2024 to qualify for over $1,000,000 from the WA State Department of Commerce.

Donor Impact

Owning an 8,000 SF ground floor commercial condominium debt-free will lay the foundation for permanence and sustainability, and will provide Jazz Night School with greater revenue opportunities and much-needed spaces such as:

  • Event Space / Large Ensemble Rehearsal Facility
  • 6 Ensemble Rooms
  • 4 Practice / Tutoring Rooms
  • Multi-Media Production
  • Lobby space
  • Office Suite - 2 Private Offices & Conference / Work Room
  • ...and more!

The overall project will also catalyze growth of the Columbia Hillman Arts & Cultural District, combat cultural and diversity displacement, and empower Black businesses and service organizations by:

  • attracting students from across the region, who in turn utilize local businesses.
  • employing more professional artists/educators.
  • creating a new community space for art-related purposes.
  • leveraging a $40+ million construction project to generate significant jobs in labor and trade.
  • providing affordable housing for 100+ cultural contributing and/or BIPOC households.
  • ensuring LEMS Bookstore continues its legacy of impact.

A Brick For You

We've set three donor levels at amounts that aim to provide everyone with a pledge-target they can reach for, and fulfill over five years:  

You can be a part of building this new permanent Jazz Night School home by choosing a Brick that works for you, and pledging it right now. Please remember that the actual contributions have five years to be fulfilled.

And right now, every pledge received will be matched as much as 2-to-1 with the upcoming WA State Commerce Department grant.

PLUS: If you have employer matches you can use them to help fulfill your pledge too!

Thank you for considering joining this project, and for understanding and valuing the impact Jazz Night School has on so many lives.

Want to join and make a lasting impact but have questions? Reach out to our Operations Manager, Alicia Hutchinson, at aliciah@jazznightschool.org.

Progress To Date

Emerald Bricks — 14 of 20 (70%) Gold Bricks — 43 of 50 (86%) Silver Bricks — 92 of 250 (37%)
Ken Anderson & Sarah Potter
Bari & Mo Berry in memory of Bill Berry
Davida Bourgeois 
Laura DelVillar 
Tom Fitzpatrick 
Lowell & Alyce Fritz in memory of Larry Jones
Jorge Garcia & Barbara Schinzinger
Gregg Hirakawa 
Richard Israel & Armilito Pangilinan
William McKee & Maria Batayola
Chris Peterson & Carrie Stolzman
Ben & Margit Rankin 
Gordon Thomson & Dianne Carreri
Ben & Kimberli Wilson 
Anonymous
Rafael Antognolli
John & Shannon Bartkiw
Ponce Bautista & Aileen H Bautista
Joseph Bennett
Mike Blome
Nathan Britton
Melissa & Chris Cable
Robert Cohen
Jim & Kelli E. Derrig
Stephanie Doran
Rogene Eichler West & Curt West
Cynthia Goodwin
Melissa Hansen
Marlis Hanson in memory of Vern Hanson
Roger Hanson
Craig Harris
Courtney Hedberg
Christopher & Victoria Helm
Sarah Hufbauer & David True
Ardeshir & Nour
Paul & Rosemary Moore
Erik Neumann & JJ Jacobi
Jonathan Newkirk
Kevin O'Neill
Kevin O'Neill
Drew Oliveira
Jane Orvis & Steve Hanson
Marcy Reed in honor of Charles Williams
Joseph Robinson
Theo Roffe
Deb Schaaf & Paul Atwater
John & Normana Schaaf
Patrick Shainin
David Simonton
Jonathan Smith
Steve Southerland & Maggi Johnson
Nelda & Clif Swiggett
Reiko True
Reiko True In memory of Naomi True
Alex Vollmer
Sandra Walker
Warren Wilson
Marko Yakovlevitch

Ellis Anderson
Ron Angeles
Anonymous
Stephen Ash
Chad Atalla
Eric & Linda Beck
Evan Briggs
David Broudy
Peter Bruck & Rebecca Sharpe
Tom Buffington
Gavin Calkins
Samuel Cameron
Andrea Carino
Ellina Charipova
Vijay Chemburkar
Tim Chinowsky & Brit Anderson
Anthony Bernard Cook
Jeff Coopersmith
Meghan & Steve Crawford
Kevin Doren
Peter Follette
Ross Frohn
Bob & Jane Gale
Ashley Garland
Cynthia Gayton
David Gibbs
Eric Gier
John Gilbreath
Jen Gold & Mark Troxel
Marianne Gonterman
Jennie Goode & Kristen Pula
Mireille Gotsis
Therese Govern
Bill Green & Diane Whitney
Richard Heasley & Sandra Bryson
Richard Hesik
Gordon Hicks
Adrienne Hidy
Linda Hubert
Peter & Melissa Igel
Thomas Israel & Cyndy Israel
Jovino Jose Dos Santos
Deep Kapur
Rick & Teri Katzer
Steve Kim
Bill Kleitsch
James Lamb
Allen Lawrence
Trenton Lawton
Michelle LeSourd
Wuwei Lin
Janet Livingstone + Jonah Orlovsky + Carol Squire + Kendra Toole
Kurt & Judy Loewen
Donna F. Lotton
Jim Madara
Christine Marshall
Bert Martin
Keith Martinez

Lisa Maynard

Virginia Mckenzie
Gary Milligan
Kylie Moden
The Mori Family
Max Morrison
Mark Myking
Marci Nakano
Tim Newsome
Tiffany Ng
Lisa Nicholas
Carol Olivier
Clare Ortblad
Glen Page
Diane Panagiotopoulos
Alexander Price
Marcy Reed in memory of Peggy Pullen
Marcy Reed in honor of Dave Loomis
Joanie Robertson
Marge Rosen
Steve Rosenman
Donna & Joel Schmidt
Alan Shefveland
Rick & Amy Shieff
John Silverman
Marissa Singleton
Leonard Sklar
Jennifer Stanton & Ofer Matan
Tobi Stone
Chris Symer
David Tower
Curtis Walton
Kevin Wenner
Nicholas Wilson
Michael & Stella Withey