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Field NotesFebruary 2001 A company needs money and a room of its own to create quality performance work. —KH Jump-Start Performance Co. was founded in 1985 with a compelling vision – to build an interdisciplinary company of artists that would create original works that spoke in many diverse voices and addressed the crucial issues of our times. Jump-Start’s first performance was held in a company member’s living room. Since that time Jump-Start has grown from an organization with an annual budget of $2,000 and no paid staff, artist fees or performance space, to a $300,000 institution with a staff of eight, paid fees to more then 80 artists annually and a 6,000 sq.-ft. facility, soon to be expanded to 7,500 sq. ft. Today, Jump-Start celebrates a history of continuous artistic and financial growth, gaining national recognition while remaining firmly grounded in San Antonio. Its success is firmly rooted in its ongoing mission:
Unique to south Texas, Jump-Start is especially significant to local and regional communities because San Antonio is isolated both by geography and economy from other regional and national centers of contemporary art activity. Jump-Start holds a deep commitment to the development of the region’s rich artistic natural resources. The company encourages local emerging and established artists by providing resources and a nurturing environment for the development of new performance. The Jump-Start theater is a place where imaginative and powerful voices are given a chance to explore and grow. At the time of this visit, Jump-Start’s company consisted of 20 core members who vary in ethnicity, aesthetic approach and artistic disciplines (including visual artists, videographers, actors, dancers, designers, writers and musicians) and often collaborate with a wide range of associate artists. Twenty-six people have been members of the group over its history, five original members. Average longevity of members with the group is 10 years. Company members are very dedicated and love working together. Artistic Practices: Original Productions, Guest Artists, Education
Jump-Start typically produces or presents 50 original performance works per year. These range from ten minute pieces in an evening of short works to full-length productions that run four to six weeks. The company produces two to four "major" company works that have longer runs and larger budgets. As well, they produce two to three full-length works-in-progress through a New Performance Lab. These works have shorter runs. The work ranges in style from very experimental performance to interdisciplinary to fairly traditional play construction. The work is all original and usually has a social/political theme. Jump-Start often says that they experiment with content and/or form. Of the major company works, many have gone on to tour nationally. Recent original productions include: "On the Pulse of the Morning," the theatrical premiere of Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem, adapted by Jump-Start’s Artistic Director Sterling Houston; "Los Ojos de Zapata," an adaptation of a Sandra Cisneros short story by Felipe Santander; and "Big, Bad and Beautiful" by Alicia Fernandez, a work written by, for and about women of size. Jump-Start also offers its ongoing W.I.P. series (Wednesdays in Performance/Works in Progress), a venue for artists to present short performances for audience feedback on the last Wednesday of every month. The core of Jump-Start’s work flows from the unique and specific desires, dreams and visions of company members. Around the office the byword is: "Be careful what you ask for!" with the understood corollary: "because you just might get it." Most projects are initiated at the annual retreats. The project gets discussed and resources get allocated. The lead artist on the project selects a team of collaborators, from within or outside the company, and depending on the scale of the work, seeks additional funds. Emerging artists are nurtured through shorter works and shared programs. Jump-Start’s current work tends to be collaborative, but is not necessarily ensemble-generated. There are several avenues for community input, interaction and feedback on company productions. In the monthly W.I.P. series, new short works receive a critical response from the community. There is a Community Connections Team that meets periodically to help with community public relations. Jump-Start hosts periodic critical-response sessions at various stages for full-length productions where various community people are invited to participate. The company’s annual Guest Artist Series has become an important venue for introducing new and established artists to the San Antonio community. Jump-Start offers two alternating biennial festivals. Festival de Libre Enganche, initiated in 1995, brings together Mexican and Mexican-American artists to explore issues of common concern. In the spring of 2000, Jump-Start premiered Young Tongues, a festival curated and performed by young and emerging artists in various media. This festival is vital to the company’s commitment to mentor and nurture emerging, young talent. The Guest Artist series is crucial for making links among local, national and international artists; serving as a de facto training ground in socially engaged live art; cross-pollinating social, political and aesthetic concerns to the mutual benefit of artists and audiences, both local and beyond. Guest artists have included Maya Angelou, Sandra Cisneros, Ntozake Shange, Urban Bush Women, Eiko and Koma, John Jesurun, Peggy Shaw, Robert Wilson, Astrid Hidad, Karen Finley, Holly Hughes, Ruby Nelda Perez and Jesse Borrego. Jump-Start is the most established site in San Antonio, and probably all of south Texas, for experimental and community-based art and performance of all kinds. Their theater space, administration, production and technical resources therefore are integral for local artists and companies, including Burras Finas, Karavan Middle Eastern Dance Troupe and madmedia. "We’re here to address the total child." Jump-Start’s education programs are at the heart of the company’s mission to empower unheard voices, especially youth and nonwhite voices. The programs’ unique strength lies in the development of ongoing and long-term (multiyear) relationships with students, teachers, parents and school administrators. Jump-Start instructors become a part of the school’s social ecology and diversity; invested in the health of each student, as well as the school community, neighborhood and city. Jump-Start’s community education component includes after-school classes, long-term residency programs at local public schools, and various workshops and classes. The company has provided workshops for students at public and private schools, homeless shelters, the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center and other community and civic organizations. Over the past ten years, Jump-Start has presented educational programming to more than 40,000 students in more than 50 different schools and community groups. In 1991, the company initiated Historias y Cuentos, an ongoing arts-in-education program with several inner-city San Antonio public schools. The program’s goals are to infuse arts into the curriculum, provide leadership training for young people, encourage group process through cooperation, develop creative problem-solving skills, cultivate artistic abilities, promote self-esteem, foster racial harmony and promote collaborative projects. This program reaches about 4,500 students and another 6,000 parents and community members annually. Some past projects include: a video on the life of Frederick Douglass; the Wall of Women, a permanent installation of student created plaques honoring Sheroes; Bombs of Inspiration, an ongoing exhibit of large scale art works using words like "respect," "learn" and "dream"; and community exhibitions at various galleries including Blue Star Art Space and Centro Cultural Aztlan. The underlying principal of Historias y Cuentos is that art is a powerful tool for empowering students to discover constructive ways to make their voices heard, to impact their community and take control of their future. In recent years, Jump-Start’s arts-in-education program has greatly expanded. Recent projects and partnerships include: Shake Hands with Shakespeare, with Arts San Antonio; The Healing Arts, which brings arts programming to children who have been sexually abused, with the CARE Center and the West Side Boys and Girls Club; "All Burned Up," a youth video about the dangers of tobacco use, with the YMCA; "La Frontera," a play with accompanying workshop that offers a positive way to address ethnic diversity issues, with area public schools. Administration & Organizing The company of artists is considered the core of the organization. The salaried staff is composed of company members. The main governing body is the company, particularly the staff. The board of directors, which includes some company members, also helps set policy. The company tries to work in a very democratic way with as little hierarchy as possible. They sometimes affectionately call themselves a "pseudo-collective." There are 20 people in the company and 22 on the Board. The day-to-day management is handled by staff through daily conversation and weekly staff meetings. There are monthly board and company meetings; sometimes separate but usually not. There is an annual retreat of board and company members that assesses the past season and plans for the upcoming one. In 2000, Jump-Start instituted an annual artistic retreat for the company to work on and develop ideas and new work. Jump-Start has a paid staff of eight, all of whom are practicing artists. Staff members work part-time as arts administrators while continuing to develop their artistry. All art work (includes tech) is paid in project-based fees. Jump-Start’s staff consists of:
Jump-Start also has an ongoing apprentice program that gives hands-on experience to youth that aspire to a career in the arts. The company’s current apprentices are Annele Spector and Sarah Guerra. On average, 80 people work directly at Jump-Start each year. This includes company and noncompany artists, technicians and support staff. All are paid.
Anyone in the company can initiate a project and receive support. There is a lively exchange among company members that demonstrates a spirit of genuine trust and mutual support. Within this organic and democratic structure, the leadership roles played by Steve Bailey and Sterling Houston are not obvious at first glance. Conflict and difference get aired and discussed within the group, but if a resolution is not forthcoming it seems that Bailey and/or Bailey and Houston determine the bottom line. As with many organic collaboratives, the people with the longest history and who work the most hours make the most important decisions. With Jump-Start, the transparency and accessibility of this process, as well as the diversity and ethics of the key players, act as safeguards, maintaining a healthy (stable and flexible) organizational structure and a good vibe among the workers and their extended community. Jump-Start has a working board that believes in the company’s mission and gives generously of time, energy, expertise, and financial resources. Current board members include small-business owners for the Southtown area and educators from several schools involved in the company’s programs. Jump-Start’s board is ethnically diverse, queer inclusive and has more women than men. Jump-Start Company members also serve on the board, rotating in two-year intervals, becoming active stockholders in the process of Jump-Start’s growth and development. Jump-Start’s advisory board encompasses a range of community leaders, including author Sandra Cisneros and Judge Bonnie Reed. In 2001 Jump-Start launched the Millennium Initiative to secure the company’s financial future and guarantee its continued artistic growth and expanded ability to enrich San Antonio with innovative and visionary art. The initiative has four components:
Context & Community: San Antonio, Communities, Partnerships "Involvement in the community fuels the fire, inspires the work." Jump-Start functions and does most of its programs in inner-city San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio is one of the poorest cities in the United States with a very low per capita income and low cost of living. The majority of the population is Chicano/Mexican-American (60%), European-American (30%), African-American (7%) and others. The communities within San Antonio that Jump-Start serves are primarily people of color, women, queer, youth and other disenfranchised groups. Jump-Start serves approximately 25,000-35,000 individuals per year. Texas is a big state. San Antonio, in the south of Texas, is not just physically far away from most American cities but is further isolated by the ethnic and class differences that typify white and middle-class dominant cultures. Jump-Start simultaneously thrives in this isolation and interrupts it by crossing borders of culture, aesthetics and class. Continuing to develop deeper affinities with Tejano/Chicano and Mexican cultures, Jump-Start celebrates the cultural wealth of the region and sets an example for community-based art that responds and inspires. Referring to the low cost of living in San Antonio, Steve Bailey once said that Jump-Start would need 50- to 100% more money to do the same work in almost any other urban area in the USA. The performance and education work of Jump-Start not only serves but participates in several historically under-served communities, helping to birth and develop community identity, leadership and vision. Much wisdom and strength comes directly from the diversity of company members who are deeply rooted in specific communities united by ethnicity, neighborhood, sexuality, art medium, political struggle, age, gender or collective vision. As a multicommunity, polycultural resource Jump-Start is also the site and inspiration of cross-community collaborations that honor specific cultural histories while engaged in the dangerous yet fertile practicing of cultural border crossing. Those local, national and international communities include but are not limited to:
Community involvement has been a cornerstone of Jump-Start’s approach since its beginning. Over the years, Jump-Start has collaborated with a wide variety of community organizations:
The Facility Jump-Start is located in the Blue Star Arts Complex - a commercial complex of warehouses converted for artistic purposes, including galleries, other nonprofits, studios and residences – just south of downtown San Antonio, Texas. The 7,500 sq.-ft. renovated facility includes a 100- to 150-seat performance space, a lobby gallery, storage and costume shop, two small company offices and, in the near future, a classroom. The relatively small main office has several desks/work stations in an open plan with most desks facing the center, indicative of Jump-Start’s open process. In 1999, Jump-Start signed a fifteen-year lease for the space, ensuring the company’s long-term presence in this important venue. Jump-Start Summed Up Since its founding in 1985 Jump-Start Performance Co. has:
Personal Observations These reflections are based on five nonstop days of observation and hanging out. I took notes and interviewed everyone I could, from founding company members to audience members experiencing the company for the first time. I saw three full-length performances, including two premieres and one revival. These shows, written and directed by Jump-Start company members, were aesthetically very different, including a musical, solo performance art and a historical drama. In common, each work expressed and explored particular social issues, giving voice to silenced histories, furthering the mission of liberation and empowerment for all. I visited two schools and one community center where Jump-Start is in residency teaching art, empowerment and community building to youth from various quarters of San Antonio. I observed two staff meetings, attended two cast parties and shared food at several lunches and brunches. I met about 60 people and I interviewed 35 of them. I found Jump-Start Performance Co. to be an ideal candidate for an archive of ensemble and grassroots theater companies in the U.S. or anywhere. However the words "ensemble" and "grassroots" rarely enter this report, even if Jump-Start is aligned with these concepts both in vision and action. The language that Jump-Start uses to define and describe its work has evolved within a very particular artistic, organizational and political process unique to this group and this place. They are a team, an ensemble of artists who create original theater rooted in their personal and community concerns. And they have organized themselves into an alternative institution that plays a significant role in the soul work that inspires San Antonio. The weekend I arrived in San Antonio, Jump-Start was premiering two works, S.T. Shimi’s "Southern Discomfort" and Dianne Monroe’s "Comfort." Both works featured the story of an atheist, humanist female in south Texas, and yet the performances could not have been more distinct. Each of the two artists, sisters in political and artistic vision, have created an annual work on related themes for the past three years. Shimi and Monroe, aligned with Jump-Start’s mission of artistic experimentation and cultural diversity, give voice, image and honor to the invisible stories of America’s disenfranchised majority. "Southern Discomfort" Written and performed by S.T. Shimi, directed by Steve Bailey "Southern Discomfort" is solo dance theater; an autobiographical cuenta on religion, Texas, faith, trance, skin color, relocation and exile. Shimi recounts key events leading to her evolution as an atheist in a series of texts punctuated with gesture and image. The accessible stories, both hilarious and provocative, illustrate a childhood marked by being the only brown (Indian) family among a congregation of Chinese attending Pentecostal churches in Singapore. Through cunning and fate Shimi finds her way to the theater, then Ivy League college in New Hampshire, and then to San Antonio. In each environment she continues to be Other; unique not only in her combined ethnicity (Indian) and political identity (feminist), but also as one who doesn’t believe that god, in male or female forms, is her path to liberation. Expressed through intimate personal accounts, the result of the text is sharply theoretical and deeply philosophical — an inquiry on the transmission of spiritual belief and the existence of god. Structurally the work is framed by a series of dances (sans text) unique in their fusion of belly dance (traditional "Oriental") and Modern (contemporary western). Shimi performs a sultry choreography of rib and pelvic isolations paired with sweeping turns to music from Play, Moby’s recent gospel-techno fusion. Costumes ranged from basic, yet sexy, black — shorts and partly transparent leotard — to hyper-camp Texas rodeo girl with big blond wig, miniskirt and boots. In the work’s most dynamic scene, Shimi, seated in a white chair, wearing white, beneath a cloth sculpture that recalls a revival tent, whips her body into a feverish trance while delivering an emotional text about a pastor’s attempt to pray the devil out of her unbelieving mind. Shimi says, in a definitive line from the performance, "Someone tried to drive the devil out of me. they just drove out god instead." The work concludes with a lovely and spare text on death as the final act, not a doorway to some other existence: "Life just is. And living it, really living it, should be enough." In many U.S. progressive communities, a well-worn path to liberation is prescribed with a return to one’s cultural roots, which often leads to a reconnection to religious and/or spiritual practices. Shimi’s global humanist feminism seems to strengthen an atheism born in adolescent resistance to a patriarchal religion’s strict and ongoing restrictions on gender, sexuality and culture. The complexity of her experiences and thoughts is deepened by her dancing. Somehow, relocated to south Texas, Shimi began to study and perform belly dance, a traditional form with roots throughout North Africa and the Middle East, sourced in prepatriarchal spirituality that honored female divinities. Like an angry, questioning Rabbi, Shimi’s rejection of god, energy and the possibility of spiritual conversion, combined with her closing call to honor life now, as we live it, led me to a deeper questioning of my own faith, beliefs and nonbeliefs. Upon revisiting my experience of "Southern Discomfort," I recall my own questions of how performance and dance can be spiritual tools that bind community together (religion: from "religare," to bind up). "Southern Discomfort" is smart performance art, a compelling text with no shortage of good humor and the dare to investigate oneself in search of broader political inquiry and expression. The dance and physical theater could be more precise and energetic, but they serve the work well, developing new language and embodying ideas. The work is so much about being an immigrant woman of color in America and yet it doesn’t suffer from the limits of identity-based ideology that weigh much contemporary art. (P.S.: Shimi ends all emails with: "analyze capitalism, choose revolution, demand chocolate.") "Comfort" Written by Dianne Monroe, directed by Chuck Squier, performed by Debbie Basham-Burns, Brandy Jalene, Ed Gildersleeves. "Comfort" is a historical drama about Freethinkers, a community of atheist humanists who fled political persecution in Germany during the mid-19th century to develop a utopia in south Texas. With the Civil War raging, the Freethinkers’ liberation philosophy, both antiwar and antislavery, was challenged. The eligible men of the Freethinkers chose exile to Mexico rather than serve the Confederate forces. The play recounts a story of a brutal betrayal and massacre of the young men en route to Mexico and the destabilizing effect this had on the women and elders who remained, and the eventual dissolution of the community and ideals of the Freethinkers. The story is told by a small cast of two women and one man. They play a mother and daughter who lose a son/brother in the massacre, and a male leader of the community who resists both the draft and the massacre by wearing women’s clothes. This male actor also plays a contemporary descendent of the Freethinkers whose pride in his ancestors contrasts his grief over their mostly lost legacy. "Comfort" is a war story with no soldiers. Focusing on the women, we are exposed to the breakdown of the mother and the renewed strength of the daughter faced with the chaos that war brings to their closed community. The male roles are used to frame and contextualize the lives of these two women and their claustrophobic relationship. This play about atheists and pacifists who celebrated the rights of all people, including women, held some strange contradictions. I found the female roles bound by traditional pioneer expectations. The women were portrayed as hard-working and integral to the life of the community, but it seemed that the entire play was about sacrificing women’s lives for the sake of men. The mother refused to see how she supported her son to the detriment of her daughter. And the daughter’s attempt to reinspire her mother’s sanity involved a spiritual action; a ritual of burying the dead. When I saw the play on opening night, I was a little disappointed by the actual performance. The actors’ German accents and emotional presence was inconsistent, which contributed to a feeling that the work was too long. I thought the set was effective and evocative, but it was not inhabited to its full potential, especially in the use of the rocks that were strewn about the stage. The costumes were excellent and immediately invoked the period. I think the play would benefit from further productions (I know that a second production at a local college is forthcoming) and that it would be interesting to tour the work to the surrounding communities where Freethinkers were once influential. I was fascinated by this story and by the subversiveness of its contemporary implications. As a white man and a leftist political radical in the U.S., it pains me to see, even in progressive art contexts, white histories reduced to mono-cultural critiques. "Comfort" uncovers one of hundreds of suppressed histories of European settlers in America that does not conform to a profile of Indian-killing, land-grabbing, money-making immigrants who, at the cost of their own ethnicity and culture, helped create the whiteness that now blankets the country. Very recently the town of Comfort, once populated by a vibrant Freethinker community, installed a huge rock in a central park to commemorate the Freethinkers who founded the town. Christian extremists, who enjoy much political success in local and state offices of Texas, had the memorial removed on the grounds that it honored godlessness, among other sins. Ed Scharf, a descendent and researcher of the south Texas Freethinkers, who was instrumental in establishing the memorial, became a key advisor to Dianne Monroe. Scharf shared his research and stories and, with his wife Irene Scharf, participated in valuable Critical Response sessions during the development of the play. At the opening, I delighted in meeting this couple, who continue to hold strong opinions about religious persecution and who continue to live in small-town south Texas. Monroe’s play reminds us not only that the repression continues but that the "free thinking" lives on as well. Cast Parties For both "Southern Discomfort" and "Comfort" On subsequent nights I attended opening night parties in which board members, company members, friends and family, cast and crew joined to celebrate the premieres of "Southern Discomfort" and "Comfort." As the performances themselves were very distinct, so were the parties. And yet, as the works were united through common vision and mutual support, these parties shared some essential ingredients: good food and plentiful drink at a diverse friendly gathering. At both parties, I recognized a community that was more diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, sexuality and career, than any in which I regularly participate in San Francisco. Calderón Boys & Girls Club I spent a Saturday afternoon with Jump-Start at the Calderón Boys & Girls Club on San Antonio’s east side, a predominantly Mexican-American barrio. The club is a vibrant drop-in center offering sports and cultural programs for neighborhood youth, with particular outreach to kids who live with foster families. It is the ongoing site for Jump-Start’s Healing Arts Program, and it was the first site for the 2001 tour of "La Frontera," a musical play by Sterling Houston. I attended both of these events as well as a post-performance workshop for teens, exploring the issue of prejudice. Healing Arts Program Facilitated by Dianne Monroe and Topo/Jose Manuel Galvan The Healing Arts Program uses theater as a healing art for youth who have been sexually abused. This is an ambitious program in an early stage of development. I was struck by the patience of the teachers, Galvan and Monroe, while working with a few too many students of varying ability and willingness to participate. The group played some familiar theater games, including passing the invisible magic clay around the circle for spontaneous mimed sculpting, and guessing what had been created. During the second part of the session two groups, led either by Galvan or Monroe, collaborated to create brief fantastical physical performances. The group ended with a closing circle in which Topo shared a magic trick, which the kids adored. I’m inspired by the long-term vision and commitment of Dianne Monroe, with the support of Jump-Start, in establishing this program. The work is necessary, generous, complex and beautiful. While observing the group I wrote the following questions:
"La Frontera" Written by Sterling Houston, directed by Felice Garcia and Sterling Houston, performed by Lisa Suarez, Kitty Williams, George Staley, Alisa Claridy, Roger Alvarez, Veronica Gonzales. "La Frontera" is a musical comedy/drama about a Latino family moving into San Antonio’s south side, a historic black neighborhood. It most resembles an S.F. Mime Troupe-type morality play performed in a popular, neo-commedia style with recognizable characters, excellent singing and accessible ideas. The play demonstrates the said and unsaid prejudices between Latinos and Blacks through the interactions of three generations from two families, one Mexican-American and another African-American. Each "representational" family consists of mom and dad, a teenage daughter and a grandmother. The same actor plays the daughter and the grandmother in each family; a device that is both funny and articulately symbolic of the role that family plays in the evolution of prejudice and change. I found the concluding texts almost too direct or obvious, not leaving enough imagination space for the audience to develop their own visions of intercultural collaboration and community. Still, the play and the performance of it have an integrity that captivates, challenges and inspires. A revival of a work originally performed eight years ago with the same cast, "La Frontera" seems remarkably contemporary and relevant. I saw the play with approximately 150 youth, aged 5 to 18, from both the Calderón Boys & Girls Club, which serves a majority Latino community, and from a Club on the south side serving primarily African-Americans. I was reminded of how it is too rare for young people to see theater that is located in their neighborhoods and communities and in which the characters go to their schools, shop at familiar stores and sing the kind of music they listen to, from R&B to rap to tejano cancion. The kids, a wild bunch of diverse ages, paid close attention, enjoyed themselves and got the message in a form that they willingly accepted. After the performance, I spoke with several youth, mentors and counselors from the Club. All were impressed with the play and spoke of the sincere gift of bringing both live performance and relevant guidance on significant social issues to a population that is usually denied such privileges. The staging of "La Frontera" at Calderón was the first stop in a tour that will include other local sites and travel to other cities in Texas — another dream made manifest at Jump-Start, where the slogan "Be Careful What You Ask For" is often repeated. Youth workshop on prejudice Facilitated by Lisa Suarez, Sterling Houston, Steve Bailey Following the performance of "La Frontera," a group of teens, youth mentors and a couple of activities counselors from Calderón participated in an experiential workshop exploring the primary theme of the play, prejudice. Suarez began the workshop with a physical warm-up, name games and magic clay. This activity served to break the ice, bond the group and let us all know the basic rules: everyone participates and expect the unexpected. Returning us to our chairs, Houston talked about prejudice, weaving theory and personal anecdote. He engaged the group to consider their own prejudices and their difficult experiences of prejudice. Some of the youth shared their stories and ideas. I was concerned that Houston’s analysis was too simple and easy, and maybe not reflective enough of the complex loyalties and pressures that limit young people’s behavior and perspective. The final section of the workshop was led by Bailey, who divided the participants into three groups and gave us a series of quick guidelines (based on the work of Anne Bogart) for making a one-minute performance. Because I was a participant, I didn’t take precise notes, but I do remember that each performance had to contain, among other tasks, one fall, one song, one image of prejudice and one older character. The process was fun and engaging, an embodied exercise in art as social problem solving, inspiring a rare youth-adult creative collaboration. In the moment, I found myself critical of the "simplicity" of the performance, echoing the concerns I felt during Houston’s talk. Writing this a month later, I remember how quickly the facilitators transformed the energy in the room from cool to warm, from polarized and tentative to communal and engaged. It is no small feat that this workshop was facilitated by three people representing the primary and historic ethnic lines in San Antonio — Mexican, African and European. And this trio did not come together just for an afternoon of preplanned affirmative action, but have an extensive history of co-visioning and collective practice making and teaching original performance that is socially relevant and community responsive. Questions I jotted down during the workshop:
Weekly Staff Meeting On Monday mornings, the staff gathers for a weekly meeting, mostly consisting of reports and updates, so that everyone knows what is being worked on, even if particular actions seem to concern only a limited number of company members. The role of facilitator is shared and everyone makes reports, however brief. Even in this mundane setting, I sensed a genuine openness, curiosity and support, which made visible the overwhelmingly positive statements made by staff in private interviews. On the question of leadership and power, I did note that Steve made the most reports, demonstrating that he has his hand in the most projects, but I didn’t experience any "power trips" or reactions to such. Clearly, I was not present for any major decision making but in a variety of situations I witnessed spontaneous decision making and each time the concerns of all present were considered. The staff and the company operate in a loosely structured collective process, reaching consensus on most decisions. Most company members see either Bailey or Bailey and Houston as the leaders or most influential people in the company. Still everyone is quick to add that almost anything that a company member really wants to do, can happen. Web Site Launch Meeting Following the staff meeting there was a brief info session hosted by company member and Webmaster Michael Verdi. Rather than the typical accessing the Web site individually and e-mailing responses, five or six company members gathered around a single monitor and enjoyed a lively exchange on what to include and what to highlight in the new Web site. Those who weren’t interested left the meeting. Of those who stayed, some observed and others were more active. I include this particular meeting in this report because it seemed to capture the spirit of teamwork that typifies the Jump-Start office. The mood is professional yet casual, open equally to apprentices and more experienced company members, and good work gets done. Historias y Cuentas Jump-Start in the schools Historias y Cuentas, Jump-Start’s school residency program, specializes in ongoing, multiyear collaborations. These art-education programs are at the heart of Jump-Start’s mission of empowering unheard voices. Visual-art and performance teachers become a member of the school community, working with teachers, students and administrators for several years, impacting school policy in relation to the arts and increasing the use of art in interdisciplinary curriculum development. The program, as the title infers, uses art as a primary medium to explore personal and social history and to build community. Though I didn’t get to experience any in-school workshops, I did interview two primary education partners and Jump-Start board members — Alba Ibarra, principal of Kelly Elementary School, and Michelle Brinkley, teacher at Tejeda Academy. Steve Bailey also took me on brief tours to see the new art room at Kelly (space with no desks!) and to see two permanent installations at Bonham Elementary School. The installations, facilitated by company members Michael Marinez and S.T. Shimi, consisted of a series of 3-D ceramic portraits of Heroes and Sheroes with accompanying statements by each artist on why they chose to honor this person. My first interview for this report was with Alba Ibarra. Her enthusiasm and respect for Jump-Start was infectious. From this first moment in San Antonio, and every day for the five days I studied the company, I was impressed by the commitment, talent and vision of the Historias y Cuentas program and the positive lasting influence that it has on the extended community. My site visit to Jump-Start Performance Co. will be remembered for inspiring images, gracious hosts and innovative, dedicated artists. It is an honor to extend my respect and blessings to Jump-Start Performance Co. Biography of site visitor Keith Hennessy is a Canadian-born, interdisciplinary artist choreographer and community arts organizer living in community in San Francisco. Hennessy's solo work has been produced throughout the U.S., in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, including several gay and lesbian performance festivals. Since 1998, he has performed with Cahin-Caha, cirque bâtard, a French/American, mongrel circus based in France. Hennessy was a member of the performance collective Core and was a founding member and principle collaborator in Contraband, a San Francisco-based performance company. Hennessy co-directs 848 Community Space. He is a member of Alternate ROOTS, a service organization for community-based artists, and serves radical cultural agendas as a consultant, director, teacher, curator and agitator. Hennessy's web site can be found at http://www.circozero.org. |
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