I first heard of the Century Ballroom when I was learning to dance, I was on their email list for years, and I first had direct contact (emails) with the CB peeps when dancers came to perform at the Sydney Gay Games. A ballroom that was designed specifically as a safe space for everyone? Yes please. And in practice, a venue which was dedicated to dance and providing a space where dance nerds (that’s us) could come to social dance? Double yes please.
Sadly, the Century Ballroom is in a bit of shit. They need funds to cover an unexpected tax hit, so they’re having a srs party to help raise funds. Why? From their site:
Why a fundraiser?
Two years ago Washington’s Department of Revenue reinterpreted an obscure tax and, without notice, started applying it to businesses such as ours. This has become known as the “opportunity to dance” tax.
The details of this tax are set forth below if you’re interested. The short version of the story is that the State started to enforce this tax by selectively auditing several local nightclubs and one dance hall, the Century Ballroom. We are now faced with a penalty of $90,000, due in three months . With the threat of this looming for almost two years, we have been altering our programming and adjusting prices while negotiating with the State. Unfortunately, our efforts have fallen far short of raising the required funds.
Our patrons are loyal and generous, and we are truly blessed. We are asking for financial gifts because we have heard from many people who, after hearing our story, would like to help. We are grateful for your continued presence at our dances and classes. It is the best show of support we could ask.
If you would like to consider giving an additional gift at the anniversary party, it would be greatly appreciated. We would not ask our patrons to do even more if the situation weren’t so dire. If you cannot attend the party but would still like to donate, we have set up a PayPal account to make it easy for you to support us…
…and there are links to paypal, etc there on the site.
Supportive, accommodating, welcoming dance venues are few and far between, so you might consider dropping them a dime if you can.