The Artist Experiment and The Call Theatre

The Elevate Prize would set my concept off to its fullest potential from the start. I want to create a space in my community that encompasses theater, community services, and retail. My belief has always been giving voice to the stories we don't commonly hear while connecting on a deeper level with my community. I know my concept will be sustainable. I have learned through my decades of experience in the theater industry, why and how arts organizations thrive and why they don’t. The Elevate Prize would release the financial pressures associated with starting a new venture and funds would make for a longer term concept possible. Because of our economic crisis, the majority of artists workers are unemployed. These funds would afford them an artistic opportunity and get them back on track to a prosperous life. Additionally, retail has suffered and these businesses have lost their spaces. Yet they still have products and services to offer. This prize would jump start a new opportunity for them. For me personally, I see myself making this the main focus of my life and I would dedicate all my energy to it. 

Throughout the years, NYC has given me so much. I think of this city as a relationship. We have had our ups and downs and in the decades I have lived here, I have grown as a person and an artist. I have seen the world in my backyard, known many people, had experiences that I believe I could only have in NYC, come to appreciate different ideas and cultures, endured hardship, and thrived in our resilience. I have a fierce loyalty to this city and to theater. Now at this stage in my life, I want to do what I can to help it thrive. 

I plan to create a space that is unconventional for traditional theater in my neighborhood Flatbush Brooklyn. It will support local businesses and bring positive attention to the community. In the space, I will create a socially-awareness show by writing and incorporating other playwrights and theater performers into a production and pay everyone involved. Local vendors will be sourced to provide a full experience from food, drinks, music, fine art, retail and other services. A call to action of how to engage with the immediate community will be the main focus for all attendees. 

 The City needs an economic plan that can come by way of new opportunities for artists, retail, and services. My proposal for a theater/community/retail space is essential for Brooklyn to recover. I am interested in tackling our local housing crisis, food scarcity, and economic inequality that curse our neighborhood by giving those issues a voice and space by way of theater that truly represents the people of Brooklyn. There will be local level services available before and after the shows. Such as, but not limited to, housing information, food services and where to give/receive donations. I will employ local artists to entertain and engage the audiences to get involved in the community by any means they are able. All while keeping ticket costs low giving accessibility to everyone. All are welcome and supported. If Brooklyn has a chance at recovery after this year, it cannot do it without the arts contribution. The importance of Arts is undeniable if we look at it from an economic standpoint. This industry alone adds $877 billion in value to the US economy according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. By opening a center like this and paying all involved, our community will thrive. 

If the pandemic had not happened and I did not spend all my time at home unable to travel anywhere, I might have continued my theater pursuits in the same way as I had been for years. But something was always off with that way and I felt a shift happening. I could not imagine it would happen this way. I spent most of my time connecting with my neighborhood. Current high rents in NYC over the past couple of decades make everyday NY’ers struggle and now things have only gotten worse. Spaces were closing down daily around me and the financial real estate structure makes it difficult to produce local theater. This affects everyone by trickling down to my community having a lack of visibility. People feel forgotten. Everyone’s stories and voices are integral and the need for representation in theater is essential for the well being of Brooklyn. Most people have to choose between paying their rent or have a night out in the theater. But, if the theater has a community aspect to it, one where they might find resources they can use while seeing theater, then that is a game changer and is needed right now. 

Maya Angelou says, “We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror?” This prompts us to ask ourselves about ourselves and that is how we grow. I believe neighborhoods need an identity that is more than the negative stereotypes of their past hardships. We need to write our own stories because no one else can do it for us accurately. We know there are systemic problems in this city in housing, the arts, and community funding. This lends itself to locations sitting vacant for years like a street blemishes and gives the perception that the area has been abandoned. By creating this theater/community space and reclaiming an unconventional empty building, not only will this be a center for the arts and economic opportunity, but it can become a template for other communities, and an example of innovation for new forms of theater. It also will stand as a source of pride for our neighborhood and disrupt the feeling that people have lost connection to their home. People need to be empowered, their voices need to be heard, and we need to be brought together.