The attendees enjoyed free pizza and an acoustic performance by local musician Louis O'Callaghan, while Vera staffer Shannon Stewart divvied out assignment topics to the kids. Vera volunteers will be writing up the report, covering issues like police relations and organizational structure. Tentatively scheduled for the first week in June, Vera's upcoming presentation to the city council is aimed at garnering continued council support for Vera, Seattle's first city-funded all-ages club.
Inaugurated with a sold-out commencement gig on January 27, which featured the Murder City Devils, the venue did shows every Saturday through April--14 shows total without a hitch. The city council evaluation will be one of two that the Vera Project will undergo in order to receive further city funding. The second evaluation is scheduled for September. (Vera has received $45,000 in funding from the city so far over two quarters.) The June presentation, which will be conducted by Vera staffers like James Keblas and Kate Becker, will paraphrase the answers of 150 Vera members who filled out questionnaires last month. In part, the survey tried to determine if Vera has met one of its main goals: educating kids. Have participants learned how to run the soundboard for example, or have they learned about promotion? Vera will also address questions posed at a meeting two weeks ago (Thursday, May 3), when City Council Member Richard Conlin, Mayor Schell staffer Tom Byers, Nick Licata staffer Newell Aldrich, Seattle Arts Commission director Susan Trapnell, and the Parks and Recreation department superintendent Ken Bounds met with Vera staff. The bigwigs had predictable but understandable questions: "How many [unruly] incidents have there been?" "How well have the shows been attended?"
After the two evaluations, the Vera Project must still find a permanent venue. (Belltown's Local 46 is a temporary location.) "There are just too many condos around," says a frustrated Keblas. If Vera can't find its own venue, Keblas speculates that the project might partner with another arts organization willing to share a venue. In the meantime, the Vera Project will spend this summer searching for grants from the Paul Allen Foundation and others.
