“As the brainchild of founders Sarah Hayes Harkins and Matthew Seneca, The Long Room has proved to be a welcome addition to the area’s entertainment ecosystem, remaining true to the area’s past as an essential artistic hub while feeling of a piece with the small business ethos managing to hang on in the face of the city’s continued late-capitalist expansion and aggressive beigeification.”

“Both [Seneca and Harkins] come from performing arts backgrounds — Seneca in theater and teaching, Harkins as a ballerina with Charlotte Ballet — and they’ve found a surprising overlap between the discipline of the stage and the demands of running a business. From building a tango community to learning the ins and outs of event planning, they’re charting their own path in Charlotte’s growing cultural scene.”

“It’s a beautiful space for performances and I’m so happy Megan and The Long Room owners have built an event that supports working musicians.”

“By positioning The Long Room’s performance-focused venue as an event space available for weddings, receptions, corporate events, bar mitzvahs or drawing down the moon, Harkins and Seneca will fill two neglected niches in the Plaza-Belmont sector: affordable event space and a potential artistic home for the artists and audiences who are more comfortable in the less stuffy environs outside of the I-277 loop.”