Walk Hall renewed – JH News&Guide
Once you get into your 50s, it’s natural to require a little maintenance. That goes for buildings, too.
What started as a review of Walk Festival Hall’s fire suppression system led the Grand Teton Music Festival to examine other parts of its Teton Village home. The result is a $35 million project that will “transform” almost every corner of the building, in GTMF Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles’ words.
Work started April 15, which required the Festival to relocate its 2026 season to the Jackson Hole High School auditorium and Center Theater, and will continue through the winter and spring.
“It started back in 2022,” the Festival’s general manager, Jeff Counts, said, “when we realized the fire suppression system was approaching the end of its life. It got us thinking about the building as a whole, so we hired Theatre Projects to do an assessment of our existing theatrical systems and make suggestions for improvements and upgrades.”
The board voted in 2023 to launch a capital campaign, and in the spring of 2025, Executive Director Emma Kail said, it folded in a “landmark gift” of housing from Margot and Cynthia Walk and the Jackson Hole Housing Fund, as well as a $16 million boost to the nonprofit’s endowment.
As of Aug. 6, $4 million of the total needed funds remained to be raised, she said.
In 2024, the Festival hired architects HGA of Minneapolis, the firm that designed History Jackson Hole’s award-winning building on East Broadway. DPR Construction, which has locations around the world, including in Jackson, was taken on as the contractor, and David Kahn of Acoustic Distinctions out of Stamford, Connecticut, worked to preserve the much-lauded acoustics.
A hall is born
The idea for a permanent home for the Festival was proposed in 1971. The offer of free land in Teton Village, which then was still mostly undeveloped, gave the idea a boost.
Jackson architect Robert Corbett and Bancroft Construction were contracted later that year. Fundraising and financing came in 1972, construction started in 1973, and the Festival celebrated its 13th season with its first performance in the 750-seat hall on July 18, 1974.
Acoustician Chris Jaffe later said the hall was among his finest works, and its reputation for warmth and intimacy has made it a favorite venue for performers invited to join the Festival Orchestra each summer.
Small additions and changes were made over the next 30 years, and in 2006, Walk Hall saw its first major renovations, including upgrades to backstage spaces and the HVAC system, and insulated panels to improve sound isolation in what had become a ski mountain base area busy with large construction projects.
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