(bright music) - [Kim] Welcome to "Kalamazoo Lively Arts," the show that takes you inside Kalamazoo's vibrant, creative community and explores the people who breathe life into the arts.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Support for "Kalamazoo Lively Arts" is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

(bright music) - On this episode of "Kalamazoo Lively Arts," Destiné Price of Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative supports youth by providing safe, brave spaces to create art and to express themselves.

Aerick Burton showcases his art form he calls taxigami, a combination of origami and taxidermy that also shines a light on endangered species.

But first up is Dann Sytsma of the Kalamazoo Non-Profit Advocacy Coalition, also known as KNAC.

They work to provide affordable, collaborative workspaces for nonprofits, artists, and startups at the Historical First Baptist Church in downtown Kalamazoo.

Well, today I'm talking with Dann Sytsma from the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition.

He's also the Director of Crawlspace Comedy Theater.

Thank you so much for talking with me here today.

- It's a pleasure, Kim, thank you.

- When I saw that you were part of an improv group, I broke out in a cold sweat, because, (laughs) I did improv once, and it was the most terrifying experience.

What drew you to that initially?

- I went to Grand Valley State, go Lakers, all the way, love Grand Valley.

A friend of mine joined an improv team up there just in the community and I thought, ah, I'll audition for this and see what happens.

And I fell in love with the art form, probably in large part because of the people that I met in it, so that just got me hooked on it.

And then, when I moved down to Kalamazoo there wasn't much going on.

There was one team that had fizzled out, so some other friends of mine said, "Hey, you've done this before, "why don't you get something going?"

And that was 2003, so Crawlspace has been going ever since.

- What a thing to be able to bring to a city and give people the opportunity to learn that.

And then you're the President of the Kalamazoo Non-Profit Advocacy Coalition, so what would you say their mission is for Kalamazoo?

- Yeah, that's a great question.

So, we want to offer affordable space for artists and entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams, all while preserving an iconic building in downtown Kalamazoo.

So there's three different pillars of the organization.

Historic preservation is a huge one.

We're in the oldest public building in Kalamazoo.

It's the only surviving building that was there when President Lincoln spoke in 1856.

So it's an incredible- - You can see the building from Bronson Park, right?

- Yeah, he would've walked right by it.

And at that time, it was only a year old, so it was shiny, new, and it had the tallest steeple in Michigan.

So it's a beautiful building with a long, positive legacy in Kalamazoo, and so we want to keep it and have it continue telling the story of what the city has been through, 'cause it's been a mute witness to almost the entire history.

So historic preservation's a big part of it, and then the entrepreneurial incubation.

I think entrepreneurship is such a wonderful, powerful tool for people to achieve sustainable, economic wealth creation.

In Kalamazoo, a lot of people have been left out of that, and we want to remove barriers that keep people from achieving success through entrepreneurship, whether it's a nonprofit or a for-profit.

And then performing arts is another key element of it.

We're a performing arts town, and you hear some people talk about it in kind of a scarcity mindset of we're a small town, we can only handle so much arts.

Like, noooo, we are a cultural hub in the region.

People come to us for the culture and for the performing arts, so that's another big part of it.

When we complete our renovations, we'll have four venues within our building for people to enjoy the arts.

- That's what I was gonna ask you.

What is the vision in the end?

I know you've got a lot of diverse artists in there.

Crawlspace is in there.

What else do you have?

- We have several performing arts groups that are based out of it.

Tye Chua Dance has two studios in our building, and they are prospering beyond I think anything they expected.

And then Crawlspace, we keep adding new things, and we're getting ready to be able to have a full liquor license in our space.

Performances will be growing.

Our classes continue to be wildly successful.

Kids' programming is huge.

Queer Theater Kalamazoo is based out of our building, and they continue to do great work.

All Ears Radio Theater has been reborn.

The pandemic was a little hard on performing arts as I'm sure you've had conversations that would echo that, and All Ears Theater, we weren't sure about it.

And then Laura Henderson really took on the leadership of that organization along with other partners, and they're doing amazing stuff as well.

So a lot of phenomenal arts groups and others are in the building now.

- Yeah, and you saved this building.

You had to get really creative.

I think I read somewhere that it's 30,000 square foot of space.

So is there still a church in the church?

How does that work?

- [Dann] Yeah, so First Baptist Church, that's the original owners of it for almost 170 years, and they gifted it to the KNAC, and part of the arrangement was that they're one of our tenants.

So, Sunday mornings they still have services, and they have other programming through the week.

Yeah, it's been their home since their beginning.

And so, it's wonderful that they can continue doing that.

- I'll tell you, when I was going over your website, there was something called The High School Improv Showcase, and it piqued my interest immediately, because, like I told you, I was terrified doing improv, and for young people to do that, I bet they're fearless.

- Oh, they did an amazing job.

They were so good.

They did a mix of improv, and then they had also been writing some scripts, and so it was a combination of scripted and unscripted work, and some of it wasn't even comedy.

It was high schoolers expressing their thoughts and feelings through theater.

(audience clapping) - You said two of Kalamazoo's greatest legacies, and I couldn't agree with you more, is quality performing arts and innovative entrepreneurship.

Do you think that that's still there?

I mean, it's been there for years.

Do you think it's evolving in a different way?

What are your thoughts on that?

- I do think it's evolving in some different ways that are overdue and so welcome, and I'm reminded of a conversation that came up a few weeks ago at something called the Kalamazoo Lyceum.

And the question was asked, "Does Kalamazoo have a shared story?"

And two of the panelists said, "No, we don't."

And they're very community-minded individuals that are doing so much for the arts and for the culture of Kalamazoo.

But they had to be honest and say it's not exactly shared.

There have been almost two stories, two narratives of Kalamazoo that have been playing out, and that's starting to change.

KNAC really, really wants to be a part of strengthening a more shared story.

- Now, I heard you might be making an announcement or something, can you talk about that or?

- I can tell you a lot of it is focused on the capital campaign that we've embarked on, 'cause we really, really need to renovate portions of the building, so that it can continue serving Kalamazoo.

And then, we're also going to be adding some things to the building that will make it a much more suitable space to entrepreneurs and startups.

So we're gonna create two coworking spaces, and we'll accommodate about 40 different users.

That's gonna be a wonderful place to emphasize that shared story.

- Dann, what did it take, really, for KNAC and the church to pull this whole thing off?

- Yeah, that's a good question.

There were some folks early on that were very instrumental in getting it going, folks like Nathan Dannison, who was a minister in Kalamazoo at the time.

And David Nichols, he was the senior pastor at First Baptist and a real visionary, I believe that.

And Nicholas Baxter was an artist, a musician, and he was a member of First Baptist, and I feel like the three of them were very critical.

And Jean Chua also with Tye Chua Dance was there early on.

And I think everybody realized that Kalamazoo really could use a space for continued performing arts.

- So Dann, tell me about the importance of having all of this right there in the center of downtown right off of Bronson Park.

- I've always thought that downtowns are the cultural hub of a community.

Kalamazoo really represents that, and I think there's a real opportunity to continue building that.

I think Kalamazoo also, the downtown especially, needs to realize what its legacy is and that legacy of performing arts is so strong.

I wanna make sure people don't forget about that.

I want the performing arts community to also feel like it's being invested in and that it is going to continue thriving and growing and becoming something that is a real regional asset.

- Dann Sytsma from the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition, thank you so much for talking with me here today.

- Thanks, Kim, It was a pleasure.

Thanks for inviting me to be a part of it.

(bright music) (gentle music) - Destiné Price supports her community by providing a safe, brave space for youth to express themselves through their open mic nights, art programs, and Summer of Healing.

Well, introducing you, Destiné, to our Kalamazoo Lively Arts audience, in your home called Fire, I'll add an exclamation mark to that.

So congratulations, and my first question is what's Fire all about?

- Yeah, thank you, thank you for having me.

So Fire, known as Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, is a arts-based, nonprofit organization that serves youth here in the community.

We serve youth 13 to 21 years old, and we have historically been known as a safe, brave space for both youth and local artists here in the community.

We are also Kalamazoo's longest running open mic space.

- Ooh, I bet you've been on stage saying a little poetry or two.

- Oh yeah, I actually was a former Fire youth.

That's how I started off here at Fire, directing here at Fire.

- [Shelley] Take me back to its beginnings.

How was the need determined that a space such as this is needed?

- Back in 2005, Fire was founded by Dr. Michelle Johnson and Denise Miller, who are both artists in the community as well and two Black queer folks who were really adamant about creating a space for Black folks here in the community.

Then, the youth came in the neighborhood, and we're like, "We need a brave, safe space too."

And that really, building those relationships and seeing that need, really showed us the necessity for this space.

- Yes, and this space has a lot of history in it, doesn't it, like a engine station?

- [Destiné] Yeah, so we used to be a firehouse.

We used to be a laundromat, and we used to house folks.

It used to be an apartment building.

- [Shelley] And where are you physically located?

- [Destiné] We're located on 1249 Portage Street here in the Edison neighborhood.

- What do you offer us throughout the year, your guests, well, to be inspired?

- Yeah, so we're a space to nurture expression, truth, and freedom.

That magic can mostly be found every first Friday of the month at our open mics.

So, like I said, we are Kalamazoo's longest running open mic.

So every first Friday, 6:00 to 8:00, that magic happens in our doors, in one of the units here at Fire.

We also have youth programs that are just solely for our youth, and they're free to youth in the community.

We have creative arts-based writing workshops and poetry-based workshops that involve and are in collaboration with other artists and poets in the community.

We also have our yearly Queer Prom, so that's really a space to really provide a safe, brave space for queer youth in our community as well.

And we also do a Summer of Healing, so that's where we really engage a small, intimate group of youth with skill sets around healing and transformation.

- And you welcome artists to bring their installations in that have messages to share, yep.

- Yeah, so just like Maya James came and had their installation here at our building, Fire is definitely a space for artists to come showcase their work, to tell their stories.

- What's Your background?

- I myself, I'm a poet.

I'm an artist as well.

I dabble in a couple different mediums.

Painting, I do some visual arts, I do a lot of drawing, but I'm really a lover of the words.

- Yeah, is the toughest maybe step for someone who wants that safe space to walk in the front door?

- That can always be the toughest step, I feel like, is to take that step in the door.

One thing I actually identified with youth recently was it almost takes seeing or feeling something familiar in a space.

And that's something that the staff and myself here work to do, is to make some type of familiarity, so folks are comfortable in this space.

- Now this has four, you say, divisions or sections or what makes each section different?

- Yeah, so we have four units.

So this unit has turned into both a gallery space and is growing into a community store space.

So, our youth are really the ones in charge and the curators of this space.

So upstairs is the space where our youth meet, and they do a lot of sensory things together and community building.

And our open mic space is where all the magic of open mics happen.

We're constantly shifting, and like I said earlier, Fire acts as a portal and is really curated by the youth in this community.

- How can this community help?

How can you ask for their help and what can they do for you?

- You could really support us by visiting our website.

We can be found on thisisfire.org, on Instagram and Facebook and really just coming and showing up, showing up for youth, showing up at our open mics, really spreading the word.

We had been closed for a long time due to COVID as many organizations were.

So now that we have the space and resources to really share with community, it's really getting the word out.

- Why support the arts in Kalamazoo?

- The arts is a very important and special home for a lot of folks.

It's a way to express ourselves.

And I think as humans, we innately are designed to express ourselves.

Arts in particular, here in Kalamazoo, is important.

It saves folks.

It has saved many youth that I know.

It saved myself.

So really creating spaces for folks to explore themselves and their identities and to express that in art is special.

- Well, with your background in poetry as an open mic night, give me a sample here.

- The first time my body was disrespected, I knew love found a way outside of my heart and found a home on my arms, steadily exposed, out poured until drained, a grass no more.

Who do you think you were when you siphon the healing my inner child had bestowed on me?

Denied my words, breath and space replaced with sweaty hands, like you have a hold on me.

What you did not know is that everything that was within me is still, that my body is delicately mine, that I have a voice, that love will slowly move its way from my outsides to caressing the organs abused, pouring back into my chest cavity, traveling to flush my cheeks and soften my eyes.

What you did not understand is how undeniable I was, I am, and will be.

- On behalf of Fire, thank you, Destiné.

- Thank you.

(bright music) - Aerick Burton combines origami and taxidermy to create his trauma-free art form of taxigami.

We dive into Aerick's love of origami and his passion of sharing the art form with others.

Well, today I am talking with Aerick Burton, who is a visual artist, he's a photographer.

What else are you?

You do so many different things.

- Oh yeah, I do graphic design, a lot of paper arts, fiber arts.

I would just say an artist.

I try not to box myself in too much.

- Yeah, you do do so many different things.

And the thing that caught my eye was I was reading about you, and I saw something called taxigami, and it sounded so interesting to me.

You gave it that name, describe that, what is taxigami?

- Yeah, so taxigami is basically the merging of origami and taxidermy.

I call it Trauma-Free Taxidermy.

- You know, I discovered origami.

My brother came back from Japan and brought me a paper folding origami kit.

- Oh Yeah.

- And I was hooked.

For me it was really, as a kid, it was really, really relaxing, so what does origami do for you?

- It definitely didn't start off as relaxing as it is now, but it was more of, I got one of those origami kits for either my birthday or for Christmas one year and just decided to give it a try.

I had trouble sleeping in high school, and so I would go out to a local coffee shop and just sit.

And so I took my origami kit one day and just fell in love.

I was there for hours, just folding and folding and folding, and just got hooked that way, yeah.

- And you merged, I saw something that you displayed.

It was in 2018 at ArtPrize, right?

- [Aerick] Oh yes.

- [Kim] Was it a bonsai?

- [Aerick] Yeah, yep.

- [Kim] Oh my gosh.

What went into that?

How did that whole concept, it's so beautiful, but how did that whole concept even happen?

- Yeah, thank you, so that was a very big project that I don't even know where it came from really.

It was a lot going on.

We were in the process of moving, and we had a daughter on the way, and this was gonna be my first ArtPrize, so I was trying to think of something big, and I taught my wife how to fold these butterflies.

And so we would sit in bed and fold butterflies.

We just got to this point where we had this massive amount, and what to do with it, and I've always noticed those little wire trees with the rocks on them and wanted to do one of those large-scale.

- It was my favorite piece.

And then the second favorite piece was I think you somehow merged that with graphic art.

I saw this beautiful scene.

How did you do that?

- Yeah, so that, like taxigami, I coined that as digigami, 'cause I have a pretty big background in photography as well.

So what I would do is I would create these origami pieces and then photograph them and then put them into digitally created backgrounds.

- Yeah, it looks like a scene that you're ready to just step into.

- Yeah.

- I think you displayed, if I'm not mistaken, I saw something also in 2021.

It was like a three-dimensional thing.

It just showed your love and respect for animals again.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

- [Aerick] Yeah, so that was the next ArtPrize that I did.

For that one, I did a 10-piece series of taxigami pieces, focusing a lot on endangered species and just our role as humans and how we can help.

- [Kim] And you always had a love for elephants too, as I.

- Oh yeah, that's my main animal.

That's probably my favorite origami thing to fold as well.

- What do you love about elephants?

- Oh, man, just everything, just they're massive, just this gentle giant kind of feeling, the strength and just the way that a lot of origami designs aren't as realistic.

And I found an elephant design that I really like, and I was able to tweak a bit to really give a more realistic shape to.

And so it's just one of my favorites to fold and to see afterwards as well.

And that's how I started the taxigami.

Also, it was the first heads that I did were elephant heads.

- Oh wow, you can hang those on the wall, and feel good about it, right?

- Oh yeah.

(chuckles) - When did you realize, I have a gift that everybody else doesn't have.

- I started getting involved with local galleries.

They pushed me to show something different, and I was like, "Well, I guess I can.

"I do a little bit of origami."

From there, I was able to develop my own voice with the origami and how I showcase my work.

I try to put more of the message inside of it where you have to dig for the message versus it just being right there.

I try to make it so that my art is accessible to all ages, especially kids.

And when you get too brash, it can alienate people or push people away.

Ultimately, the biggest message in my work is love and peace, and I think that even just that in itself can really heal a lot of the problems per se, that are plaguing us, yeah.

- You seem like a zen kind of guy too.

But then I read that you're a break dancer.

- Yes.

- I'm from Detroit.

So it used to break out on the street, right?

- Oh yeah.

- Are you still a break dancer?

- I am, so I took a hiatus for a while, but now that me and my wife recently opened up a studio where she does dance and yoga Pilates, and then we also host different art shows and such.

But since we've had that space, it's been a lot easier to get back into dancing and break dancing.

- What would you say art means to you?

When you look over your life, and you see that the effects that it has from when you first discovered it to where it's taken you now, what does it mean, what does it do for you?

- Yeah, art is pretty much everything.

It's my peace, my solitude.

It's how I see the world, how I feel the world sees me.

It's pretty much a part of every aspect of my life, not to say that my art is going to change everything, but hopefully at least, it'll get people thinking about it a little bit more.

- That's the thing is it opens minds.

And if you can open the minds of little kids, right?

- [Aerick] Oh yes.

- I think that's where the magic lies.

You know, Aerick, it's been so much fun learning about you and talking to you today.

I just wanted to thank you so much for giving me some of your time.

I know you're a busy guy, so I appreciate that.

- Yeah, definitely, thank you, it's been a pleasure.

(audience clapping) - [Announcer] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

(upbeat music)