Spalding Bakery (aka Term Project #2)

So the second project I am working on concerns Spalding Bakery. I am trying to continue a previous folklore project from Community Engagements Through the Arts. We collected folk stories from various neighborhoods about prominent buildings. In my neighborhood we had the all-mighty Spalding Bakery to work with. This place is fantastic. They have the BEST donuts. No joke. And they're affordable. The building used to be in the North Limestone community but after a mugging incident it shut down and four years later reopened on Winchester Road. Right now I am collecting information about Spalding Bakery. If you have a story or a factoid or a personal experience associated with either the current bakery on Winchester or the old building (regardless of whether there was a bakery in the building at the time) on North Limestone. Please let me know!

I had never been to Spalding Bakery during the morning rush. Which was not cool, since how could I make a project about a Lexington icon without having experienced the full awesomeness myself. So today I made it my mission to go. At about 6:30 am I rolled out of bed and forced on some clothing. I got in my cold car and made the five minute drive to the bakery. And was SO glad I did. I had heard the stories. I had been told about the awesomeness, but these shared stories do not do justice to the real thing. They cannot compare to experiencing it oneself. Everyone was friendly. Everyone in line was friendly. No one seemed to mind the ridiculous wait. There were all kinds of people from all walks of life. The diversity of the customers made the experience so rich. As did the delicious smells wafting around a bakery of quality. If you have not been. I recommend it. I HIGHLY recommend it. I believe I am much more prepared to do justice to this project now that I too have participated in the incredible phenomenon that Spalding Bakery has created.

The Fairy Tale Project (aka Term Project 1)

The Fairy Tale Project is a collaborative theatrical presentation that I am co-directing with Elizabeth (aka co-conspirator of epic community/collaborative endeavors). We have the lofty goals of exploring community in four ways: between fairy tales and contemporary culture, between art and theatre, within the cast, and between the audience and the performers. We are writing 64 plays, which will then be cut down to 30, which will then be performed in 60 minutes! All of these plays are referential in some way or another to fairy tales. To make things more interesting we will let the audience determine the order and we may even ask them to participate! Exciting I know. So come we will have performances on May 20 and 21 (possibly even the 22) at 7:30 pm. Tentatively set for Little Theatre at Transylvania University.

But enough with the propaganda. So far we have had 1 cast meeting and 3 rehearsals. We have used viewpoints and writing exercises to get the juices flowing. And I believe around 13 plays total have been written by cast members (although some of these plays are not yet finished). Honestly, I have been surprised at how much excitement and momentum there has been within the cast and I hope it continues. I have no reason to doubt that it will continue.

The Start of Awesome

Contrary to what the title of this blog and this post imply, I am far from confident about the course I am about to take. This marks the start of my independent study in Community and Collaborations within the arts. Will this class be successful? What am I really trying to learn? Is it even possible to learn this stuff? And what gives me the right to think I can formulate an independent study in all these things?

I am not sure that this is going to work out, but I am sure that I must try. Perhaps, if this is a failure, it will still be awesome. I think there is some famous quote out there about beauty in the attempt.... or failing is better than not trying at all. I can't quite recall but I am going to try to adopt that attitude. Which brings about another question. What do I mean by failure? I'm not even sure what the answer to that is.

So here I begin. The questions I hope to have some answer to (or at least understand better) by the end of this term are many: What does it mean to work with the "community"? How does an artist work with the community? What about exploitation? What does community art accomplish? Does it matter? How do I explain to people who don't think this work matters that it does? Does the artist have to be a member of the community or an outsider of the community to make this type of work? Is it possible to be both? Does the relationship of the artist to the community change the process? If so, how so? Is it possible to make a living doing this? What happens when the project ends? Does the end of contact between the artist and community change the project? Does it make it mean less? Does this end to the project turn the artist into an exploiter? Can this be avoided?

There are more but I'll get to them later. For now, this is the beginning. The beginning to my questions and concerns. Throughout the next month I will attempt to undertake three projects that explore these issues and will blog daily about what other questions come up and what I learn in the process. So, thanks for reading, and stay tuned if you want to learn more with me.