I Got The Grant

So now it's April of 2010 and the time has come to announce the grant recipients of the 2010 grant cycle for the Artist in the Community Partnership Grants given by the Ventura County Arts Council, funded largely by the James Irvine Foundation.  And if I haven't mentioned it already, the City of Ventura that I'm writing about is in Southern California.

The letter arrives.  I got the grant.  Four thousand dollars to create and produce a performance piece with 6 storytellers who either were previously homeless or were presently homeless, and a quartet of four musicians to make music in the moment behind them.

Now the real work starts.  It is April.  The performance is scheduled for August.

And, by the way, I am supposed to take home 1/2 of the grant money as my stipend.  I find that laughable.  As I previously mentioned, I have no retirement.  Am I really going to start taking home large chunks of change NOW while I try to create something?  Probably not.  When it was all said and done, I walked away with $400.  And I was happy about it!  I paid the musicians, the homeless, the sound guy, and the video company because I was not going to create a performance without getting it on tape.  I suppose I had the idea of making a documentary in the back of my mind all along.

But it is April and I've got to first create relationships with the homeless.  Without their sad expertise, there is no story to tell.  It is their story, not mine, and hopefully not yours either.

I hit the ground running.  Three mornings a week, I served coffee at the homeless shelter before my day job began.  I poured coffee, talked to the people who would talk to me, and kept my mouth shut about the project.  I just tried to build relationships.  I wanted to present a snapshot of homelessness to an audience who believes that all the homeless out there are the same guy.  I wanted to present the husbands and wives, the mothers, the ones who had found shelter and the ones who were chronically homeless.  I was blessed with 6 amazingly courageous people:  They were Donna, Donnie, Dan, Donald, 3-Dog, and a woman who would remain nameless.  And yes, the fact that everybody's names started with a D did not go unnoticed.  I have no idea why that was.

Then came the musicians, but they were easy part.  I've had the good fortune to work with some incredible musicians over the 20 odd years I've been singing jazz.  I knew all I had to do was nail the right people for the money and I would have no musical worries.  As always, the musicians were an absolute and beautiful breeze.

I will continue with this saga tomorrow but before I go, as they say, "Let me introduce you to the band."  On keyboards was Kevin Fukagawa; on electric and acoustic bass was Danny Young, (and for all you jazz buffs out there, the legendary trumpeter Snooky Young was Danny's dad); on drums for the rehearsal (we actually had one) was Derek Syverud; on percussion and drums for the performance was Chris Wabich; and on flute, soprano sax, and tenor sax was Scheila Gonzalez.

Good night, sleep tight, and I'll blog you tomorrow.