Trenches and square holes had already been cut into the concrete in the Snoqualmie Room at the Seattle Center. Nonetheless, organizers of the Vera Project held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony last week to mark the progress of a program that began in 2000.
Vera-which is an acronym for "Veri et recti amici" meaning true and sincere friends-is a musical venue and program run by and for youth.
The program had been located for three years in the building that once held the Annex Theatre on Fourth Avenue in Belltown, but that building is gone now, noted executive director Shannon Roach.
Vera Project board members worked out a deal with the city to relocate to one of the Northwest Rooms. "It's really amazing being at the Seattle Center," Roach said. The Seattle Center is easy to get to, and it feels safe, she added.
"We've been fundraising almost a year and developing plans with the architects," she said. The project will cost around $1.5 million, according to Roach, and $1,087,019 of that had been raised as of last week, according to the Vera Project Web site.
The city kicked in $350,000 of that total, while King County, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation each donated $140,000 to the cause. Members of Pearl Jam, a long-standing rock band with strong ties to Seattle, ponied up a little more than $22,000 from a Gorge Concert, and the Vera Project board members came up with just more than $31,000.
The 6,500-square-foot room will be expanded to 9,500 square feet by adding a mezzanine level. The venue will include a full recording studio that will be capable of recording live acts, and the trenches will be used to bury the cables so they don't get stomped on the dance floor.
There will also be an art gallery, a silk-screening room, booths that were salvaged from the former Belltown venue and a concession room that will include the old espresso machine, according to program director Melissa Quayle.
The Vera Project has more than 1,000 volunteers and 45 members, Roach said. The members are directly involved in oversight for the project, and they have as much to say about the organization's operations as the board of directors, she added.
Pre-construction work started in August, and it should take about four months to complete the renovations, according to Roach, who said the equipment will be installed in January. "We should open the first week in February, if there's some wood I can knock on," she said with a grin.
Sub Pop Records co-founder Jonathan Poneman and the Vera Project go way back. "When Vera was looking for space on Fourth Avenue in Belltown, I loaned them some money," he explained.
Poneman added that Seattle has a proud history of music-inspired events, but that history had been muddied recently. "For many years, there seems to be an organized cabal to keep kids from getting together and having a good time," he said, mentioning the Teen Dance Ordinance as an example.
Now the city is finally sponsoring a venue where youth can be creative, Poneman said. "I think that says a lot about Vera; I think that says a lot about the young people and the city of Seattle."
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com.Zabel[[In-content Ad]]
