Summer Break + Final Year of Racer Sessions

Hello Racerheads!

A couple important announcements:

First, we are now on a summer break and will resume on September 15th with PROLCK (Christian Pincock, Ray Larsen, and Kate Olson)!

Second, as most of our audience already knows from following us on social media or from attending the sessions, 2024 will be the final year of the Racer Sessions — this means there are sadly only seven Racer Sessions left! Below is a copy of the announcement that we posted to our social media accounts in January, for those who did not see it:

With clear eyes and full hearts, we announce 2024 as the last year of Racer Sessions.

When Racer Sessions started at Café Racer in 2010, it was a kernel of an idea. Nothing fancy, very DIY, and fortified by a strong foundation of students and friends. Every week there was a shared sense of responsibility and purpose, and over months and years the session grew into something much bigger and with more longevity than anyone expected.

A small bar guarantee led to a budget and a bank account, and then came the idea and fruition of a record label, Table & Chairs. Musicians and bands from other states heard about what we were up to, and began reaching out to include a Racer Session as part of their tours. We were teaching masterclasses and introducing improvisation to performers of all levels. We became fiscally sponsored and started grant writing.

Racer Sessions became an entire ecosystem for those who felt pulled to it. It remains truly magical that community can feed an idea like that and make it into an institution and a home for an art form, an expression, a community.

In the same way that communities grow, we began to see longtime volunteers and community members step away, for all the naturally occurring reasons that crop up in our 20s and 30s: getting married, having children, growing career opportunities, moving to new cities, a need to rest and reorient. All of these same things have fed our community in many ways, fueling artists to create the art they've continued to share with us.

But volunteer power has dropped, and for the last several years, that volunteer power has been carried on the shoulders of a very small team. They're tired, too, and it's time for them to get some rest and a chance to refocus. We've spent a *lot* of time ruminating on this decision, especially as it relates to Racer Sessions' role in the community. Two big questions have come to the surface:

1. Why not launch a campaign to find new leadership? Because running Racer Sessions is a lot like having to do every role at a nonprofit at a part-time level, and that is a very big ask of a volunteer team, no matter the size. And finding a way to shift from volunteer positions to paid stipends, as well as training new folks up on the ins and outs of our fiscal sponsorship, would involve a greater amount of labor than any of us can currently carry.

2. Why put this to bed when the session has grown and overcome so many big changes already? Having the autonomy to choose how we close this chapter has felt very important to us, especially as we've seen friends and fellow organizations struggle with these same kinds of questions and issues. This is a choice we've landed on after countless conversations with Racer Sessions attendees, volunteers, founding members, and community leaders.

Actively choosing to retire the session after one more year gives us the opportunity to actively and intentionally celebrate, and start thinking as a community about what comes next: how we want to continue cultivating and growing spaces for improvised, experimental, and left-of-center music in Seattle.

So now the fun begins, and we proceed with a final year of sessions. We want to take 2024 as a victory lap, an opportunity to celebrate everything we've been able to do as a community. Expect to hear from new presenters and longtime favorites, outdoor sessions in the warmer months, post-session hangs, and lots of reminiscing. If you want to talk about this big news with us, just reach out, or find us at Gallery 1412 on 1st and 3rd Sundays, 7-9pm.

With love,

Racer Sessions