Non-Profit of the Week: The Seasons Yakima
Aw, how seasonal: The Seasons Performance Hall in Yakima, WA
The Seasons, Yakima
One of the regular features Noah and I decided to have on this blog was a spotlight on a different non-profit each week. We’re both very excited to be able to showcase various organizations that we believe in, as well as new ones we’ll learn about from our readers and from NPO clients of DonationPay. Let’s begin, shall we?
So. I should start with a brief heads-up that this post is primarily motivated by something akin to nepotism and the expectedly dramatic influx of happy family tidings this holiday season. This first NPO of the Week is one I am quite intimately familiar with: The Seasons Performance Hall of Yakima, WA.
I come from a very musical family; my paternal grandmother was a first-chair violin virtuoso (and remains, at 92, able to perform, teach and play beautifully), my father is an accomplished classical pianist, my sister and I both played the piano when we were kids (with varying degrees of success; I’m sure my parents would rather poke their own eardrums out with pens than hear an 11-year-old play Fur Elise ever again in their lives). My mother, well, she has a very pretty singing voice and knows her way around the two-dollar recorder. Basically, there was always music happening in my family; whether it was one of us girls picking out a tremulous, tone-deaf version of Across The Universe on the family guitar, or my fathers casual expertise in Beethoven’s most complex Sonatas. I never really heard my parents listen to jazz, though, until my brother was about 10 years old and picked up the saxophone for the first time.
My brother Logan has always been fascinated by musical instruments and by music in general. By the time he was 2 years old, he’d already had violin lessons and could confidently find Middle C on a piano. He didn’t discover his true musical calling, though, until he came across the alto saxophone and fell in love. It’s quite rare that someone who deeply loves an activity also happens to be really, really, preternaturally good at it. It’s exciting and hypnotic and you can’t help but to get involved; our house-which had previously contained mostly classical records and reel-to-reel Bob Dylan- was suddenly overrun with Coltrane CD’s. We talked about Bird’s romance with heroin and how Johnny Hodges hit the occasional flat E. A Love Supreme reigned supreme. I found myself taking ‘History of Jazz’ for a whole year in college. This hurricane of jazz-love swirled around our little prodigy (who is 8 years my junior) as he slowly grew into the type of crazy-good musical dynamo that eventually found his way, after dazzling the high school stages, to a jazz conservatory in Boston.
He’s still there, writing and performing up a storm and generally outshining my chagrinned, proud sister and I, at nearly every turn. The Jazz obsession, though, that befell my parents during Logan’s exciting high school years (playing in the Grammy Band! Winning Outstanding Soloist Awards at the Ellington Jazz Festival! Branford Marsalis knew his name!!) did not just evaporate upon his departure. Instead, they decided to kick it up a notch.
Around the time Logan graduated from high school, my dad noticed that there was an old Christian Scientist church for sale, for a more-than-fair price, in downtown Yakima. He’d grown up in Yakima as an artsy kid in a conservative community and had returned with my mother as an adult to run the family business, after raising me and my siblings in Seattle. He lamented the dearth of venues for good classical and jazz music in town- not a one, besides the Yakima Symphony. He decided something had to be done.
My dad and some other members of his family, including my grandmother, bought the church, wrote a mission statement and got started. The Seasons Yakima now, three years later, offers a spectacular selection of jazz and classical concerts, educational outreach, a weeklong Fall Festival with composers workshops and nightly programming, and is aspiring to be the cultural and arts hub that my father can see so clearly in his minds eye. The mission is to bring sophisticated, affordable, world-renowned Jazz, Classical and World music to this small, conservative city and to enrich the community.
The Seasons Yakima staff and board are constantly struggling toward the goals of this initial mission; they experience all the usual frustrations, sadnesses and outrages of a fledgling non-profit. There are budgetary concerns, staffing issues and communication breakdowns, but everyone involved in this project truly believes in the mission of the organization and are dedicated to bringing their new, collective vision to light.
The Seasons is expanding their mission with their website, making much of the fantastic musical content of their facility available online. They’re developing their blog to bring cutting edge music news to Washington and the nation. Their education program has brought workshops and performances to hundreds of students in the Yakima area. I’m proud of my father and sister (who is The Seasons marketing director) for persevering in such difficult times and for their commitment to weathering the storm of this recession.
During the more reflective moments of this holiday season, I have thought extensively about family and how lucky I am to have one who is dedicated not only to providing a strong internal support system, but also to being of service to our entire community. Arts organizations have an especially difficult time of it these days, because they are often deemed ‘non-essential.’ All non-profits are struggling more valiantly in these financially fraught times; take some time out of your holiday shopping to donate to an NPO that’s close to your heart today!
Happy Holidays,
-A.J.
That’s an interesting start up story. I know that especially in the arts, having people really bring a passion to the community is essential. There are a few other performance spaces across the country that have converted to old churches. It’s such a cool idea for a non profit.