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) - [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.