- This month on The Spark, our theme is "Connecting Community through Art and Sport".

We'll learn more about a nonprofit film company, connecting communities with compelling stories, a new world-class sports and event facility that will be opening soon in the heart of Liberty Park, and a local art gallery and painting competition that gives back.

We'll also share a special moment from our Spark Awards 2021.

- From our very beginnings in 1954, Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance has been built on the values of customer service, leading with integrity and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

- (male announcer) Additional funding for the SPARK is provided by ECOP, the Memphis Zoo, My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, My Town Miracles, and by Meritan.

[upbeat music] - Ever been excited by a new idea, inspired by watching someone lead by example.

When we talk about creating change, we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way, so we can learn and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park and this is The Spark.

They're a nonprofit film company connecting communities through compelling stories.

We're here with Lakethen Mason, he is the Executive Director for Memphis Film Works.

And let's start, you're a humanitarian, a storyteller, and so much more, but give us a little backstory on Memphis Film Works.

- Awesome.

Thank you so much for having me.

Memphis Film Works started in 2016, I would say with our very first entree into filmmaking, looking at the life and culture of music here in the Memphis, Tennessee area.

It was our first venture, it took us a year to produce.

From then on, we caught the bug to stay in the community and support community efforts to be seen.

You know what we found, there were thousands of stories that were untold or undigitized in today's market and we found a really great opportunity to be able to build relationships with community members going into neighborhoods that we've never ever been into and exploring the art, life history and culture of Memphis.

It's become our mission, we do this on a day-to-day basis.

We work with other nonprofit organizations and community organizations in making sure that they are continuing to connect with citizens and residents of Memphis.

Not just the high profile individuals that seem to be a part of the incredible news chain, but those everyday citizens, those everyday residents who are contributing in their own right, even if it's just changing their life from a previous life that probably wouldn't have been desired.

Showing those redemption stories, those restoration stories has become a big part of our mission.

- So really that leads perfectly into "Our Neighbors, Our Stories".

And so talk about this collective narrative.

- Absolutely, "Our Neighbors, Our Stories" came about three years ago through The Kresge Foundation.

as a nonprofit organization, we were eligible to apply for a grant to explore the community.

And our original plan was to engage 300 families and residents in the city to understand what they have as an asset and what they need in terms of priority to make sure that their community thrived and that there was a mindset of thriving and sustainability.

So we, we went around the city.

We visited 40 neighborhoods, and we actually ended up interviewing 600 residents during that time period.

We then met the Assisi Foundation with Jan Young, and she agreed to help support the publishing of our first book.

Right, so Memphis Film Works, now we're a publisher!

And they decided that they would support this effort.

It was a big vision, not only to record and to film 600 families and residents, but how do you now transcribe that experience and place it within a book format that people enjoy and continue to explore and pick up in the library and hear about the lived experiences of everyday people, everyday people from your chef to your sheriff, to the deputy, to the maid, to your regular people who are managing the restaurants, right.

Every lived experience teaches us something.

And that's something that I've learned in this experience is we all are part of this microcosm that gives us a chance to peek into the world and the lives of others so that we learn, so that we are able to have empathy and we're able to continue to give to humanity in the way that could be selfless, but also could be selfish as well.

Because we are all a part of this universe and we're all a part of making sure that our space is designed for everyone to thrive and for our, the basic part of our city to be a well-known city across the world.

That's what I found when I spoke to every family member, they love Memphis, and they loved what Memphis brought to them in terms of their grassroots, their upbringing, right?

And to be able to be given an opportunity to be heard and to be seen and to be placed in a book when they're not the president of an organization was thrilling to them and their thrill totally motivated me.

- Talk about history in place.

- So a part of why we're doing "Our Neighbors, Our Stories" is to make sure that the today's history and today's moments are captured in a way that brings dignity to the story, the genealogy and the ethnography of our Mid-South story and our Mid-South culture.

So when we decided that this would be a big aspect of archiving and developing a repository of today's historians and history makers, we decided that we needed to make sure that we had a initiative that allows us to look at history in place today.

And it gave us an opportunity to work with high school students.

Right.

Many people in the past call them docents if you will, making sure that there are people who can speak to the language of today, tomorrow.

Right, so preparing and cultivating young filmmakers, young storytellers, young creative writers, to understand what is important about history, what is important about the place where you are, and how do you take that information and build upon it, building your pathway, building your career, developing a track for becoming a scientist.

I believe the essential ingredient to any profession that you move on to is understanding and knowing your history.

Having that knowledge of your history, it's gonna give you a great base for exploring what life and humanity is all about.

So we have invested in an educational platform called Hap.

which is the name of the, of Hap to work with young up and coming scholars, filmmakers and storytellers to ensure that they're ready to take on the legacy of Memphis and meet the legends of today to make sure that they're talking about the legends of tomorrow.

And we've also worked with East High School to produce filmmakers that now have gone on to Indie Memphis, they're, they're winning awards.

And we're very proud because at the end of the day, if we are not preparing our future generation to take on the history and the story of our culture, then we're doing everybody a disservice, right?

I can't talk about you if you don't inform me, I can't connect with you if you do not sit down with me as an elder to pass along very important information and being informed about the story, even if that story is a struggle, is gonna help form better human beings and it's going to make sure that we're improving the human experience in the long run.

- Wrap up with where we can go to learn more.

So website, social media, where do we go?

- Ourneighborsourstories.org, you can get the book there.

You can also learn more about us at memphisfilmworks.org.

You can donate there and find out all the things that we're doing.

- Absolutely love everything you're doing Lakethen.

Thank you so much for you and your amazing team and for coming on the show.

- Awesome, thank you Jeremy for having me, I really appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - They're a world class facility.

We're talking about sports and events with Memphis Sports and Event Center General Manager, Antonio Perez.

And let's start out, give us a little teaser on this exciting new opportunity for the Mid-South in terms of bringing together as competition, sports events, and so much more.

- Yeah, Jeremy, thanks so much for having me out.

And I'm pleased to tell you about the Memphis Sports and Event Center at Liberty Park.

Liberty Park, of course, being a rebrand of the Memphis Fairgrounds.

And what we're bringing to the table is a state-of-the-art facility that sits right in the center of the city featuring 16 basketball courts, 32 volleyball courts, and pretty much any amenity you can think of that surrounds it.

That's a full menu cafe, sp ectator seating for thousands, VIP suites, sports performance, eSports, and all done with the objective of two things, to engage greater Memphians and to drive sports tourism.

We'll talk about that more, I'm sure, but that's the big high level overview of what's going on at Memphis Sports and Event Center.

- Obviously you can't choose your, your favorite, but you can say a favorite.

And so what's a favorite part of the Memphis Sports and Event Center in terms of either amenities, just cool, new features, what's something that is really new and exciting for you?

- Yeah, so, so, my favorite part is the size.

You know, we're talking about 16 basketball courts, the next biggest facility in town has four.

So this makes us one of the biggest facilities of its type in the country.

Secondly, I love its location.

This is not a remote location or off some highway exit or in a weird, this is right in the middle of the city, so that makes it very attractive in terms of everything that surrounds the facility.

And then we have some pool spaces within, you know, obviously we're looking at traditional court sports, but we're gonna have lots of technology in the building.

We're gonna have an eSports studio.

So now if you're a gamer or if you wanna learn about STEM, you can come in and pass through, we offer that.

And sports performance, if you wanna get stronger, fast or more powerful, these are all compliments to our on-court sports programming.

So all those things in combination excite me.

- The other thing I think that's really cool is that this is working off of a proven model, especially for other communities.

So talk about the proven model.

- Yeah, so Memphis Sports and Event Center has a parent company called Eastern Sports Management or ESM.

And the, the main thing about that is that all of our processes, our softwares, our registration systems are tried and tested and improved at other facilities throughout the country.

So although this facility is new to Memphis, we're not new in how we do things.

We're not gonna have to learn as we go.

There's lots of thought and strategy involved in all of our business decisions and how that impacts the end user is just that the guest experience is that much better.

The service standards are higher and everything, like I said, we will have been trained and practice on.

So we're able to benchmark the best practices and learnings from our sister properties so that Memphians are getting a world-class experience.

- Obviously, I know some of this is top secret, but what's been some of the testimony or feedback from the events that wanna come to Memphis and host their big events here?

- Yeah, so a lot of wins in terms of selecting Memphis as a city.

So firstly, they've never been able to come to the city before 'cause we've never had the sports facilities of this type to support their events.

Secondly, they love our centralized location.

You have Florida teams who do n't want to travel to Seattle and California teams who don't wanna go to DC or New York, here's a place where they can kind of meet in the middle.

And then, you know, just the culture and entertainment that Memphis has to offer.

They know that they're gonna get good eats, that southern hospitality, their dollar might go a little farther.

So all these things in combination are making us a really attractive destination.

And when we get to announcing all these parties that are coming, I think people are gonna be really impressed about the events they see in the city that have never been here before.

- Talk about partnerships 'cause obviously not only on the construction side and making everything you know kind of come together, but really when you're talking day-to-day, all the different teams, the nonprofit organizations, the coaches, there's a lot of collaboration and partnership with what you do.

So talk about partnership and the power of it for, for you and your team.

- It's absolutely critical to what we're doing.

You know, this is, while we operate the building and I made mention to, to ESM, it's a city-owned building.

So we're working hand in hand with the city to make sure that we're making good on their deliverables and then all the surrounding partners.

We're not builders of the facility, we get the keys on a certain date, but there's just so many talented people behind the scenes contributing to what's gonna ultimately be this amazing facility.

Then when we get to a programming standpoint, we're in the process of arranging all these partnerships again with schools, with club teams, with tournament operators on a local level because those sports tourism events, you know, they're the ones who are gonna get the highlights and a lot of the attention, but it's really the local programming that's more impactful to obviously the citizens of Memphis.

And that just happens more often 'cause you're talking five days a week versus two days a week.

So just again, so many, so many good and talented people involved and you know, just, it's gonna be the kids and the participants and the families who are winning by all of the offerings.

- Well wrap up with where we can go to be in the know, because I know you're constantly putting out updates and videos and everything.

So talk about where we go to be in the loop, but also to reach out and say, "Hey, I wanna host something there.

I wanna start having this conversation," where do we go?

- So go to themsec.com, that's our website, themsec.com, there you're gonna be able to sign up for our newsletter and you're gonna be able to view our program listings, get involved as a participant.

If you wanna follow us socially, go to Memphis Sports and Events, you know Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and then there we're making a lot of the announcements that you kind of teased a moment ago.

You'll get behind the scenes insight as to our construction development.

You'll be first to know anytime a program drops and you'll just be in the loop.

- Well thank you Antonio, for all you and your amazing team are doing.

We're excited for the future ahead.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- You're most welcome, thanks for having me.

[upbeat music] - The Spark Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2021 Individual Adult Aw ard went to Pastor Doug Bell.

[gentle music] - I'm Pastor Doug Bell of CrossPointe Church in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

I pastor at CrossPointe Church and I'm also the CEO of Destiny Center and on the board of a fantastic organization called DeSoto Grace, we mentor kids.

My role in the community started as a need in my own personal life.

It started with the experience that I had growing up in Holly Springs in a low-income situation, I noticed that there were opportunities out there for people.

There were people who wanted to give people a helping hand, lift them up, if you will, but the connector was not there.

So what I try to do is look at the situations, what are people's needs, what is available?

And the missing link in all of this is always communications and connectors.

So we have what is called a resource navigator that keeps a book of resources available because if the resources are available, you and I don't need to recreate the wheel.

I tell my team all the time, if there's a resource available, we're going to take that person to that resource, we're gonna find a way to connect that resource and that person.

And if that resource is not done with excellence, if it's not done with dignity, then we're gonna find a better way to do it and try to meet that need in our own way.

So yeah, there's some innovation here, but it but it's all born out of experience.

At Crosspoint Church, we encountered an obstacle like all of you have, and that was 2020.

When a year becomes an entire obstacle and you know what I'm talking about, and it has affected a wide range of people.

In 2020, we noticed the obstacle was actually an opportunity at CrossPointe Church that we were closed at one point sixty-fve percent of the year on the weekend.

And when we found that our church could still operate, we could still connect, we could still network, and we could still make a difference in our community, even with our church doors closed, not singing songs and even with me not preaching messages.

So we started "First Sunday".

Now we intentionally close our church doors every first Sunday of the month and we don't come in and sing and we don't preach, we go out into the community and we serve the community.

Along with the work and the efforts of CrossPointe Church, Destiny Center is a mobile community center that brings resources and people together.

I was raised by my grandmother in Holly Springs, Mississippi, but she didn't know how to drive, she could not drive.

We were on the lower income scale of people and we had to rely on people to come and take us to the store or just anywhere.

But I understood as a very young man that if a resource was out of reach, that resource was not available to you.

So we try to connect the resources, it's all about transportation.

It's all about connecting people and resources because like I said, if a resource exists but a person has no way to attain it, it doesn't exist for that person.

It may seem overwhelming to try to change the whole world, but you don't have to change the whole world.

Every one of you, every one of us can change somebody's world.

[gentle music] - They're a local art gallery, an art competition, and so much more.

We're here with Marina Cutler, she's the President of the Cutler Crane Gallery and founder and host of the International Brush Off Project.

So Marina, let's start.

Where is the Cutler Crane Gallery located?

Give us a little bit of history on it.

- Well, thank you for having me Jeremy.

The Cutler Crane Gallery was started in 2018.

It's a not-for-profit commercial art gallery.

We're located at 254 Court, which is downtown Memphis.

- And so what I love is it's a beautiful building and you have put artwork on each floor, but you do have a gallery that the public can go in and see, but it's local artists in terms of being able to feature them and give them opportunities.

So give us a little bit of the magic for the gallery.

- So the whole idea is that Memphis has an incredible art community and we are a building of five floors.

And although we have a proper gallery on the first and the second, so we have two, a smaller version and a large gallery that we just launched in 2022 in May, we still have artwork throughout the entire building in which all the floors have their own character, their own signature.

Where we feature the Memphis artists and try to promote the emerging and the mid-career as well is our new gallery, The Contemporary Gallery, which is the Cutler Crane Contemporary Gallery that's located in our cellar level.

It's 5,000 square feet and has some studios as well.

So we're also encouraging local artists to create and then we can showcase what they create within the gallery.

- Carry that over into the International Brush Off Project, because it's a chance to showcase the gallery, it's a chance to showcase local artists, but also international artists and there's a higher purpose.

And so talk about the International Brush Off Project.

- So the International Brush Off Competition, it started, it's a painting competition.

It started in 2018 in Montreal and it has evolved into an international competition when we started to partner in 2017 with Mountain Lake PBS.

What we do is we have international artists submit their works and all the works that come in get judged by a group of juried artists, people who jury the artwork, and then they get selected to be part of this painting competition, The Brush Off Project.

When we put that exhibition up, we now have yet another layer to it because as we expose the artwork and have the opening, we are selling the artwork in which we celebrate the artists themselves and they get their percentage of the artwork, which is 50%.

And then the other 50% of each piece of artwork that sells, now goes towards art based programming for people who are living with Alzheimer's and dementia.

- And why is that so important?

There's a personal connection for you.

- Absolutely, in 2016, my mom passed away of Alzheimer's.

She lived with it for a very long time.

And what you realize is when, when somebody has Alzheimer's, we have very little that we can do.

We are not doctors, we can't solve that, there is no cure at this point, we can only help to enrich and make their lives better.

And art-based programming is known to help do that.

So I decided that we would do something that would at least contribute towards the enrichment of not only the person who is living with Alzheimer's, but at the same time the families and help to create art-based projects for them, residents we share all our different art boxes with them and we also supply them with art-based programming and fund their products that they need.

- So how can we as the community support your efforts and where do we go to learn more?

- Well, first off, you can always drop by the gallery.

You can call, make an appointment, but you can go to our website, which is the cutlercranegallery.com, and you can also go directly on there and just purchase an art box.

By buying an art box and you can put it in the name of someone you love, we'll donate it to somebody that we know that has been identified as needing such a product.

So there's art boxes that you can buy online.

You can come in and visit the artwork.

Ideally, we want you to see artwork, we want you to buy the artwork.

So that's at the Cutler Crane Gallery at 254 Court and we're downtown Memphis, but we're online 24/7.

So you can reach out to us and buy some artwork that way.

- Well, Marina, I love everything you're doing, I greatly appreciate it, thank you for coming on the show.

- I appreciate it and thank you, Jeremy.

[upbeat music] - Both art and sport have a powerful way of connecting our community.

They can inspire us, they can ignite conversations that lead to new and deeper relationships.

They can help us better understand ourselves and others and can strengthen our character and resolve.

Both art and sport bring people together physically, but also bind us closer together mentally and spiritually.

We're fortunate to have so many organizations and individuals using art and sport to connect our community.

Like Memphis Film Works, which is spearheading the narrative collection "Our Neighbors, Our Stories" in search of common ground, that chronicles the art, life, history and diverse culture of Memphis.

Like the Memphis Sports and Event Center, which will serve as both the world-class destination for sports competition and a huge gathering place for local youth and adults to connect and grow through sport.

And like the Cutler Crane Gallery and the International Brush Off Project, that not only gives local artists an opportunity to showcase their talents, but to create opportunities to give back and support causes using art for therapy and transformation.

So when we support the arts and sports, we can be a spark in connecting our community.

So thank you for watching The Spark.

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for The Spark.

We look forward to seeing you next month, and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- From our very beginnings in 1954, Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance has been built on the values of customer se rvice, leading with integrity, and supporting our community.

We believe in promoting the positives, encouraging engagement, and leading by example to power the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]