 I am so excited that we were able to gather together via computer for this beautiful conversation. So in terms of what we're going to do for the next 90 minutes, there's a number of us who are participating. Well there's actually a few people who might be joining us a little later in the call. I see Take Back Our Streets has joined us. Awesome. My name is Claudia Alec and I'm the executive director of Calling Up, which is a trans-media social justice company that is producing performances of social justice around the country. And I was traveling around the country and met with Vidhu Singh, who's this brilliant director, who had directed and every 28 hours plays engagement that was also a collaboration with the protest plays. And we were sitting there having this beautiful one-on-one exchange, and she had the great idea of, oh, we should figure out how to share what we're talking about with others. So she thought, well, let's get, she's hardest for us, and said brava, brava offered a space. We thought, let's do it there. It'll have a few of us in the room. And then we kept talking about and thought, you know what? We keep talking to ourselves in these small rooms. How do we make sure other people get to access this information? How do we make sure that we're not repeating ourselves over and over and over again in small rooms full of the people doing the work? So then we thought, well, let's livestream this bad boy. And then we realized if we really want to include the national constituency of people who have been collaborating on this work, we should just be completely digital. So we are all participating from our different areas of the world. So that's me just giving a quick frame of how we came to be and what we're doing on this call. We would love to have people quickly introduce themselves. In terms of doing a digital discussion, it's best to have yourself muted if you're not actively speaking. That way we can cut down on background noise. And if you could give us your name, your organization, your gender pronouns. And I like to do an access check-in when I have conversations with people that I haven't spoken to before. So my access check-in is you might notice that I have some twitchiness or weird body language. That's not me reacting to anything that you are saying. That's me reacting to my own body giving me pains. But other than that, my accessibility is great. Also, feel free to take advantage of the chat functions if you're participating in the conversation via Zoom. And if you are watching live via Facebook or HowlRound, yay HowlRound! Please feel free to post questions there and we will try and integrate those into our conversation as we can. All right. So I'm going to mute myself, hand the mic over to Vitu so she can introduce herself and then allow the rest of our awesome participants to introduce themselves. Hi. Thank you, Claudia. My name is Vitu. And I'm Vitu Singh. I'm a theater director. I'm a recovering academic. I'm an artist in residence at Brava Theater. And I, in April, we presented an event called Books and Bullets at Brava, which included every 28 hours please. And that's it. That's a brief introduction. I'll move on. And perhaps Carla, who is part of that event, can introduce herself. I do apologize. My name here, name is Vitu Singh. But it shows as my hot mom boundary, which is the name of my friend's film. But I love the name. It's fine. And just for consistency, can you give us your preferred gender pronouns? And if you feel like this, everything's accessible to you, just say my access needs are met. Yeah, I'm good. She works for me. Actually, I didn't want to add that because Claudia and I had been emailing. And then then I heard that you were going to be in the Bay Area. And we decided to meet and it's really, it was really fantastic to meet you, Claudia, in person. And yeah, we had a lovely time. We met at the ferry building. We had fantastic conversation, which has led to this event. So, Carla, you want to? All right. My name is Carla. I go by she as well. I have been a part of the Brava Theater for about six or seven years. And so they have been such a wonderful support group for me. And I'm so happy to be continuing with them and continuing to work on shows with me. I'm a set designer and a theater artist. And I work also more recently in soundscape ecology, which is going out and recording natural ecosystems. So that's a whole other world that's opened up to me. So what I'm trying to do primarily is work in environmental justice through healing our relationship with nature and allowing everyone to realize that there are a lot of options for sustainable living practices out there. And just, you know, bring us all into the conversation because whether it's an urban or a rural space, there is a lot of work to be done. And I'm hoping to bring a more ecological viewpoint to that. So that's where I'm at now. Um, so I wanted to add that Carla actually backpacks all around Patagonia by herself. And she also goes to the Amazon and she records insects and sounds. And so she she really works around climate and environment and also social justice. So she's a fantastic designer. Oh, Stephanie, you want to go next? Yeah. Um, so hi, everyone. My name is Stephanie Wilborn. First of all, it's such an honor to be part of this conversation. So thank you for having me here, Claudia. Um, my pronouns are she, her and hers. And my access needs are met right now. So thank you for asking, Claudia. I think that's really important. We asked that I am currently the community coordinator here at American Conservatory Theater, ACT in San Francisco. And what that kind of looks like, even though I do a lot of community outreach, or I should say community social justice work, primarily with low income communities, people of color, and things of that nature. I'm also a theater educator. I go to a lot of high schools around in the Bay area, and teach and also a lot of boys and girls clubs as well. This past February ACT, I produced a every 20 hours but making it more of a festival and really focusing on black arts healing. So what that looked like, there was a lot of visual art as well as the plays that we produce, a lot of workshops that actually talked about the issues around every 20 hours. And just focusing on how do we as people of color use our platforms that we have today, and really, really touched on the issues that affect our community, such police brutality, gun reform issues, all of these things and how do we keep these conversations and this momentum going to propel us further into the future of part of these conversations. Yeah, thank you so much. And I think the last person that hasn't introduced himself is Tiffany. Is that right? Yeah, so go right ahead. Pleasure of speaking with Claudia. Gosh, I guess a couple months ago about our theater action gun control play initiative that we had started. Through that, I was so happy I got to speak with Carrie dad speech and, and, and Claudia about the every 28 hour plays. And then we also had some trade out of the collection of the gun plays and after Orlando plays. And we put together a collection of plays from new plays from playwrights who are willing to let their plays be produced for action gun control events. So we wound up having a little over 20 readings across the nation in March and April, most of them were in March, we had a few in April. And it was just really heartening to see so many, so many theater makers who, who maybe didn't have access to playwrights, or maybe hadn't heard of these collections yet, or hadn't gotten involved with these collections yet to, to have readings and raise money for action and, and every time. And so and right now we're working on a new initiative, it's get out the vote plays initiative. I'm sorry, this is my son, Finn again, who's feeling a little clingy at the moment. Hopefully he'll behave. And, and, and so now we're doing a get out the vote initiative, because, you know, of course, not just mean anything if nobody actually votes or shows up and takes action and joins, joins causes. And so we're really big on trying to connect with community organizations and trying to activate audiences. So that's kind of what what we've been doing recently. And very, very much looking forward to being here. I'm sorry. And I'm she, her is, is my dinner, are my dinner fires, and I don't have any access problems today. So thank you very much. And let's see who else has not been I see a Tashi and more and we're up there. Yeah, okay, thank you. That's great. Lauren, do you want to do a quick introduction of yourself? Sure. Hi, thanks for having me. I am a playwright. And I go by she, her furs, my access needs are met. So I'm here because I'm just gonna cough and everybody's face for the my introduction. So I'm a writer and right after Parkland happened, I happened to be working on a one woman play called natural shocks, which is a play that deals with a lot of things, including gun violence violence against women. And yet it is a 60 minute comedy. And, and so right after that happened, a producer and a friend of mine who I've known for a decade decided to work with me to make sure that the play got out all across the US, we were aiming for 50 states, I think we got 46. So on April 20, which was the 19th anniversary of Columbine this year, the play was produced, was given away royalty free to anyone who wanted to do a reading that would be a fundraiser for moms to be in action or every town or local domestic abuse and domestic survivor organizations. And so we had about 107 readings in that weekend at this play all raising anywhere from $100 to a couple thousand dollars at each event. And there was a big reading in New York, which raised several thousand dollars starring actress Catherine Jimmy. And so we really did turned a play that was just a one woman speaking into a way to talk about guns, a way to talk about mass gun violence in relation to women and women's violence. And so yeah, it's that's that's was such a confirming and incredible thing to be a part of. So it seems like a lot of us have similar ideas about being present in the community using art to say things that newspapers and statistics can't. So that's why I'm so excited about the work that everybody's doing. And in quite, it's quite a confirmation that that we're we're doing something important valuable urgent and putting art and activism into the same space, which is which is amazing. I'm also super excited. This is Claudia again. I'm super excited that we have not only artists to work in performance, but we also have artists that are working in visual arts and craft arts. So we have Sarah trail on the call as well as Kathy DeForest. Kathy DeForest is representing vision quilt and Kathy introduced me to Sarah quite recently and I'm super excited about her work as well. So Kathy, would you please introduce yourself? Yes. Now, how do I do that? Do I need do you see me? Or do I need to push a button? You can see me. Yes, you're okay. All right. So I am Kathy DeForest identify as she her her. And I started vision quilt about two and a half years ago. It was inspired by the AIDS quilt, which moved our country from fear to connection and 54 tons of AIDS quilts have been made since 1984. So that's our goal. 54 tons of vision panels. And I can show you some panels when I get that opportunity. But we've been working primarily in southern Oregon. That's where we started but I used to live in the Bay Area. So we've also working in Oakland and in Chicago. So we have we primarily work with kids in middle school and high school, but we've had people as young as 14 months and as old as 96 years old making panels. And these are we've asked people to share their visions on how to prevent gun violence. We've had exhibitions in universities, museums. Claudia hosted us with about 80 panels at MLK day. She also brought us in OSF. The 28 hour plays where we help hung them in the Bowmore Theater. We've been working with tomorrow night if any of you are in the Bay Area and not watching the Warriors play off 65 middle school students from the Oakland Charter School have made vision quilt panels and they're having an amazing exhibition right down in downtown Oakland. We're also in a museum show that Sarah and I are connected to at in San Jose and that show is called guns loaded loaded conversations and our video of the kids in Oakland are being showcased there and that will be up until July 15th in San Jose. But we've also been working in Chicago and our we we are very decentralized. We work primarily on volunteers, but through one phone conversation, a woman at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago had 65 young people and families one summer make vision quilt panels and there was a huge exhibition at that museum and we have a hospital there that a children's hospital that hopefully is going to become our partner. We've been working with violence prevention organizations in Oakland and public health institutions. We will partner with anyone. We really we tell everyone the vision quilt panels are really sharing people's vision and we've worked with gun owners from the beginning. They've been part of our process and it's about using the power of art and inclusive dialogue and these are permanent panels. So those of you that are working with moms or every town or other organizations, you know, we let people borrow them. People use them for the June 2nd event wear orange event. We've used them. We've been to Washington DC with them. We use them in visuals and marches and we work a lot with survivors and the kids in in Chicago are phenomenal. We were there with Father Flager at Saint Sabine as the community center next to that. So that's a that's a quick view of us, but we would love our ideal is that when there's an exhibition, there is music, performance, spoken word, and then we have community conversations about what that neighborhood or that community can do in the next six months related to prevent gun violence. And our theme, I don't know if you can see my shirt is together, we can prevent gun violence. Thank you, Claudia and everyone. Um, Joan, do you want to do a quick introduction of yourself? I'm still in the midst of trying to pull up some video for Sarah. I might fail and I might simply share your website, Sarah. But Joan, please talk to us. Are you in St. Louis right now? At the moment I am. Yes, hi. I never know where I am. Hi everybody. I am so thrilled to be part of this conversation. And I want to thank Vinju and Claudia for convening us. So my name's Joan Lipkin. I'm the producing artistic director of that uppity theater company, which is based in St. Louis. And I met Claudia when we work together on every 28 hours when they came to St. Louis to sort of use it as as the incubator for developing every 20 hours, which so many of us have been involved with. In terms of the work that my company does, we work on many, many issues. And we've been around since 1989. But I did want to share with Carla, or rather Tiffany, that we have a very interesting project called Dance the Vote, which is about commissioning choreographers and spoken word artists to create short pieces about the urgency and history of voting, which we pair with voter registration. That's a sidebar. What we're working on right now around gun sense advocacy is the way we describe it is we are partnering with with painting for Ferguson, painting for peace in Ferguson, and mom's demand action painting for peace in Ferguson is an initiative. It's a book that was actually developed out of the panels that were made when Mike Brown was killed. And there was a lot of looting and and stores, you know, were were vandalized. And there was a lot of understandable upset in the community. And so the the there was a lot of boarding up of windows and artists went and painted for peace, local artists. And so we are working with them, we are producing a student production of 26 pebbles. I don't know if you all are familiar with that. It's a new relatively new play by Eric Yololo. And it's based on over 60 interviews that he did about six months after the shootings at Sandy Hook. And it has a kind of the style of it in a sense is relates to the Laramie project. But what's interesting for me is that we're doing it in communities of faith, and libraries in free spaces to try and reach out to nontraditional audiences. And we are including conversations with mom's demand action, so that people really understand that there are very specific things they can do, including push pushing back about having a legislation in Missouri to have guns in daycare centers, and in schools, the Missouri legislature has been trying to make that possible. We've been pushing back. So I I'll stop for now, except to say my access is good. Thank you. And to say that my pronouns are she her hers. Are you still on the call with us? I am. Brilliant. While you're talking, I'm going to try and share my screen. Okay, please introduce yourself. Hello, my name is Sarah trail. I'm a 23 year old recent Harvard graduate that works in custody in in jails and prisons in the Bay area teaching inmates how to get their high school diploma. Um, I've been sewing since I was four. And I've had a lot of personal success kind of due to my middle class background and two parents who would be able to support everything. But I have a fabric line. I have a pattern collection. I've written a book with CNT publishing that's like Barnes noble and Joe hens. Really teaching young kids how to sew. But once I went to undergrad on TC Berkeley go bears. I really kind of was awoken to systemic injustice. And I had an experience and opportunity to teach in public schools. Coming from private schools, I kind of saw firsthand the inequities between private public school. I became like, you know, sewing instead of teaching kids how to sew and make prom dresses and tote bags. I kind of shifted my focus to making political art quotes just to talk about inequities in education, equities in school. And so since then, I founded the SJSA, which is literally a nonprofit that teaches kids how to sew and make art quotes. And I just bring in volunteers, we kind of bridge an intergenerational community of volunteers who are willing to help and mentor and train up, you know, youth how to be engaged or civically engaged artists is they're like challenged to tackle social issues in the community that really affect their lives. A unique part of SJSA is that we intentionally bridge generational racial and socioeconomic divides by having youth are embroidered by volunteers across the US. So we have two types of programming, we have long term programming, which will have the Sam Jose Quilt Museum where we'll have the same kids every day and they'll make their own quote from start to finish. And then we also have workshops as programming with you have an already existing group of people that you want to, you know, have a workshop with we bring in the kids, and we bring in art and material and fabric and everything. And we make quote blocks and then the quote blocks get sent out across the world to embroidery volunteers, and then they get sent back to us. And we put it into a community quote that showcases issues from police brutality, gun violence to sex trafficking to catcalling. So it's really about youth voice through textile art. More than it is about sewing. But you know, it's it's really just an opportunity to share marginalized voices in a in a venue that isn't typically listening to them. Thank you. I I know that I couldn't see what I was sharing, but I think everybody else could was did that get successful? Yes. Yeah. Sarah, I was literally just going to the website and sharing some images from there. Um, is take back our streets still on the call. Oh, we'd love to hear from you. Unmute yourself. We'd love to How's it going? I'm one of the executive directors that take back our streets. I'm Julius is my co executive director season. Um, what we do at uh, we're from Oakland. Um, take back our streets started. Um, when our brother was murdered in Oakland, and from there, we we started to reach out to all of the different community members to kind of ignite the fire to further the fight to stop violence, gun violence, intercommunal violence. Um, recently, we've kind of woken up and like what have we gotten ourselves into because it's turned into a full blown organization. Um, he's the he's the the the mental health staff in the HR department for all of our mental health staff, license clinicians that we have. And I'm kind of like the the the field officer, I guess you could say so I'm in the streets a lot. Um, we do a lot with trauma, intercommunal violence, trauma, domestic violence, human trafficking, police trauma, whatever the trauma is from a mental health standpoint. And then event when it comes down to events and different things like that, we kind of step to the streets and kind of see what they want to see and see what they want to do. And we just put a plan behind it and incorporate them as much as we possibly can. And since then, we've just been rolling on. He pretty much done that. Me and my nine or five, a workbook council service, we reentry treatment team. So we deal with social justice. And I'm working with probation and parole officers every day and advocating for the people that we work in between helping them read or reenter and navigate through society and, you know, stay home and stay free. On the other hand, I'm advocating with them in a county in the meetings, telling them that the program, the RFPs got to be right because you got to give people a second chance. Like if they mess up one time, you can't just be ready to throw them back in the clinic. You know what I'm saying? So it's a lot. It's a lot. It comes with, it comes with a lot, a lot of effort and a lot of lived experience, know what's going on. Me personally, I got shot 11 times by Oakland police officer. And uh, yeah. So, you know, I hate the police period. I don't want to do, I don't want no dealings with the police at all. So we take a first hands on approach to getting the mud ourselves. You know what I'm saying? Without only time, we're going to see one of us call 911 or anybody connected to us if somebody need an ambulance or a supply period. We try to reduce harm and the trauma from, you know, any interactions with the police because in every situation I've been in, they cause more harm than they do. Protection, uh, right now we're trying to link up with some lawyers and some people, not necessarily politicians, people that can write legislation and allow us to push it at the forefront. You know, uh, I got a lot of lived experience with the justice system, with trauma, with the streets. So like a lot of people know me out here where I'm from. So when they see the work that we doing, they're like, okay, well, it's a turnaround. It's like a whole 360. So they willing to step out and try to make it, uh, try to make it even better to play what part they cancel. You know, it's like the more the merrier. That's how I see it. So if we, if we can make it go turn up and get how worldwide to where everybody is on the same page, I'm only at four. And whatever I can do, you know, to provide knowledge, service, whatever to make it play my part in the machine to make sure it worked. That's what I'm with. Period. Thank you. Um, I'm also realizing that we've mentioned the every 28 hours plays a number of times. Um, but I never did an actual description of what that project was. So I will do that very quickly. Um, so I'm the, um, the producer of the every 28 hours plays, uh, which were, um, commissioned, um, and developed in collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the One Minute Play Festival and so many theaters, um, from all over the country. Um, some theaters provided playwrights, um, playwrights, uh, provided materials, uh, uh, as well. Um, everyone wrote for free. We all traveled to Ferguson, workshop, the plays, there's about 75 in the full collection. And, um, and there have been engagements with these plays all over the country. And the idea is to create a something for people to react to and to react with. Um, and I feel like that, um, has some resonance with natural shocks and the work that Lauren's been doing. Um, I'm also really moved by the number of people who are not only on this digital discussion right now, but the number of people who wanted to join us and were unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Um, I really do feel like these ways of connecting digitally are also ways for us to, uh, collaborate asynchronously. It allows us to take the work that we're doing individually and, uh, and have more exponential impact by being able to collaborate nationally. I'm also really moved by the diversity of voices and people who are on this call. I feel like that's the only way to respond to a national epidemic. Uh, I also want to acknowledge that some of us are coming from a very specific, um, a activist space that's about race. And I know that for myself, that's definitely one of the places that I am strongly, um, um, opera. But we also have folks who are working from the larger scope of gun violence, um, in the United States. We've got several directors who worked on, um, uh, the after Orlando, which is another place where if you're already part of a marginalized community, chances are gun violence is going to affect you, uh, more harshly. Um, so I would love to, um, um, ask some people and feel free to just unmute yourself and start talking and we'll see if that works in terms of managing our conversation. That feels too wild and crazy. We can start using the chat function, but please feel free just to respond to this prompt. Um, what is the problem that you are trying to solve? What is the main challenge you're trying to, um, address in your work right now? Uh, I guess we'll start. Um, I think, um, for, for, for starters, I think the main thing that we have to realize, um, is that not guns don't kill people. People kill people and you can use, you know, people use knives, people use, you know, yadda, yadda, yadda, you know, whatever the weapon of choice is. But, um, I, I, I do agree with small little pieces of gun control, but, um, it starts to dip into different types of things that, that, that are needed in conversation as well. Um, you know, mainly freedom, you know, is, is, it's okay for people who don't look like inner city people or blacks to have arsenals full of, you know, AR-15s and what have you and different things like that, but it's illegal or it's a threat when somebody who's not allowed to or not expected to have one of those things in their possession. So gun control, I do agree with some pieces of it. Um, I think the, uh, the psychological piece has to, uh, improve a lot since, um, a lot of them, you know, that's the, the ticket that, that's used to, um, to kind of free some of those that use these weapons to, um, to perform mass shootings. Um, but beyond that, uh, I think, I think, I think, um, we need to realize that guns don't kill people, people kill people. Um, for me, uh, one of the biggest challenges that I'm facing in the work that we're doing is, uh, having the people understand that us being unified is in so high demand right now, and we need to focus on that above everything. Like, I'm gonna just use us as a, as a scenario, like, this is my brother, but I don't see my brother face to face all the time. You understand what I'm saying? Or I see my brother in passing or my sister in passing and won't speak but a mother are. You understand what I'm saying? Those, those, those type of problems right there are, are little, but they're strong in bringing people together because if we can't even come together to communicate, how can we get, come together to fix the problems that needs us to get to where we need to go? That and, uh, having people understand that we need to come out this love and hip-hop generation and really make, you know, instead of sitting on a, sitting on a computer or typing a like, get out there and really vote and rock that vote where you at and, and make some changes in both of some people who gonna really make some difference. If not, then all the coming together and the means are just prices if we're not gonna do the things that's gonna put us in position to really make the power plays that we need for social justice, for prison reform, for real gun control. And I'm not talking about taking them away because I believe in the Second Amendment, I'm all for fire arms. I'm just not for crazy motherfuckers with fire, excuse mine. That's, that's my biggest problem. I need to police. Thank you. I really appreciate your perspective. I also want to make sure everybody, you have room to disagree if you want. So I'm going to state my one place of disagreement, which is guns do kill people. People kill people with guns, but guns kill people, they're killing machines. I recognize that we live in the United States and people should have access, but in our country, folks have way more guns than in other places. So I feel like that's a pretty vital part of the conversation too. So I'm agreeing with almost every single thing you just said, but I feel like guns kill people, but we should keep talking about this. Who else wants to tap in? So I want to say Julia Sanciza, my name is Vidu. It's V-I-D-H-U. And I think what I heard from what you said is one is the importance of relationship and community. Julius, that's what you said. And also you said people kill people, not guns kill people. And I'm really hearing all the huge amount of work you're doing. And I really want to acknowledge that work. It's really powerful and important work. And like Claudia actually, I'm not into guns, because I think the United States is crazy when it comes to guns. I'm an immigrant. I've also traveled a lot and lived in other parts of the world. I grew up in India and the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States is really powerful. We're still here. Just give us, we're still here. We're still working. Yeah, yeah. So I mean to me, it's horrific that children in the U.S. have to go through drills and deal with gun safety. To me, it's horrific that communities of color deal with so much violence and police brutality. And I mean, I could go on and on. And frankly, as a member of this society and also as an artist, I feel helpless a lot of the time. And the reason that I engaged in these plays was from that desire to make that small drop of difference. And I think like Tiffany here, we've both worked on the after Orlando plays in 2016. So it's really appreciative that we could do small and I could do small impactful evenings of theater that engage the community and broaden community organizations. So we get into to go back to your point. Relationship and community. Yeah. Strengthening. When we I think when I think when everybody realizes the importance of relationship and community, our first I'll backtrack and say this. Whenever the big boom or whatever is going to happen to America, whenever it happens, it's going to happen to everybody. You know what I mean? So that's why me myself. I never understood. I never understood racism. I never understood the the the the motive behind gentrification and different things like that. Me personally, it would it's desirable. It would be a lovely thing if we could all live in harmony. But unfortunately, the powers that be have made that to where that's not the case. So the strengthening in the community that we need, it has to come from us within. So we see people like the honorable Louis Farrakhan saying that we need to separate and different things like that, which leads me more towards agreeing with him because after trying for so many years, after trying for so much time, after trying for, you know, whatever we had to do to try and unify. And if you will abide by the rules that were, you know, given to us, not necessarily, you know, not dating back way back, but just like modern day stuff is like they've made it throughout in Oakland. Now, the whole downtown has been washed of everything that's colorful. It's nothing but but but whites. And I'm not saying that's a problem, but why can't we be included? So there need to be some strengthening community and there needs to be some strengthening in the in the arena where, you know, the cohesive part of coexisting, you know, resides. Let me just interject on that because for me in Oakland, I'm not speaking from nowhere else around the world right now. I'm just speaking specifically to Oakland and what's going on because I don't know everything that's going on specifically in every place. I just know about what I'm talking specifically to Oakland. I have a problem with Oakland in full of white people because in the beginning of the history of this city, it was a Klu Klux Klan city. It was a Klu Klux Klan city. And then this city became a chocolate city doing through Huey P. Newton and the Black Pathers and the Cultural and Industrial Revolution. Everyone moved right here. We had laws and a lot of our people own property and then they came with all these mortgage and fixed rates and a lot of these predatory lending schemes and a whole bunch of stuff where people didn't understand. All they seen is money times because inflation and things that was going on. These were tactics that was that was set up before they were even talking about integration. You know what I'm saying? This is generations and generations of stuff that's been set up to hold us back. And I have a problem with it. Then when we got elected officials that let the sale parts of the city out to Uber and these financial institutions, but my city looks like skid roll on every side. That's a problem to me. We got 7,000 vacant spaces in the city to fill people with a city of 35 and 100 plus growing homeless brothers and sisters. You see what I'm saying? And that number grows by the hundreds daily steady building above market rate housing with no percentage of it affordable or assistable or come on man. But we stay in the most expensive place in the country because we got Google and Apple here. I don't understand it, but you give forward 40 or 50 million of $40,000 to let them put these bikes all over the city and then you have the city wasting resources with people calling and making white people gentrifying white people, making racist, demeaning, threatening phone calls, putting people life at risk for nothing. I have a problem with that because on the flip side you got these racist skinhead as police coming in here running to the call of whoever calling that's white and they lying half the time. That's why you gotta record and everything that's going on. It's not a game to be played out of here. I've been shot 11 times by the police who's dead for 18 minutes. I know what it's like. So I have no sympathy in those cities. Yes, I want my gun open police out here murder people like a gang police everywhere murder people. I want mine here personally. Certain things I'm just not going to have understanding. It's a problem. It's a problem. And for my white brothers and sisters, I don't believe in like allies either. We're going to be brothers and sisters or we're going to be family. You're not an ally because at the end of the end of the day, he'll turn on you too. You see what I'm saying? Either we're going to be brothers and sisters because I know good white people. Like I really messed with them. But then at the flip side, these are the same white people and we get jacked by the police together. They're like, oh, hell no, it's not going down like this versus some people. They say they cool some of the liberals that say they cool and they get out there and post-test you with black live matter sizing they gave but then vote for Nassio Malley who've been locking up and are pressing our people for two decades because they didn't commit but you will vote for her. You're not my friend. Get away from let's keep it real. This is Claudia. I'm interjecting. Thank you so much. I appreciate so many of the things you just said. And I definitely feel like again, I'm just going to repeat the point I made, which is marginalized communities are affected by gun violence way more in the United States. The they're working to solve. Ultimately, I feel like they're all tied to the ultimate sin of white supremacy in our country. But it's also tied to male supremacy. You know, we've got a lot of women on this call and I'm in a lot of justice spaces around the country. And I find that they are full of women. I was at the where Orange March here in the Bay Area. And it was a lot of mothers and grandmothers. And yeah, sometimes they have their husbands with them, but I realized this is this is a movement that's powered by women to a certain extent. And a lot of the reading I've been doing has been talking about how a lot of this violence, it's racial violence, but it's also gendered violence, where a lot of these mass shootings have some component of gendered violence, violence towards women involved in them. I'm seeing a couple of nods. Is that resonating with anyone on the call as well? Yes, I think that I was, in fact, was I was telling someone I'm Susie Butler. I was watching the show one night and this guy was talking about women, them, Nazi women are just, I'm like, what in the heck is going on? And they're always trying to put men down and they're always trying to get rid of men. And we should kill all of them. I'm like, okay, these men really hate women. They hate women. Okay, so yes, I believe that it is about killing as many women as possible. So why would, you know, that's the only reason I think they're doing it. I actually wanted to interject and say that Susie, welcome. I'm so happy on the call. You want to introduce yourself briefly and maybe if you just move back a little, we can see you better. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. I'm Susie Butler, singer and actress around the Bay Area for many years. But I, in fact, I had a tragedy. My grandson was murdered and nobody seemed to know who did it. So there is some type of code between, I know you guys talking about all this stuff, but there's also a code between you guys that don't tell when something happened. And also for the mothers, I also feel, you know what your badass kids are doing. Sorry, no cursing, but you know what your kids are doing. You know who have a gun in your house. So why in the world are you even, you know, allowing your kids to do this type of stuff? It's like you don't care as long as they bring home some money, bring home some food. I don't know what's going on. Can I interject? Yes. Okay, speaking from a lived experience, I wasn't a street cat myself, but I have seen and lived in situations where the majority of the kids in my house had to kind of eat out of the same pot. So, you know, it's two, three packs of top ramen and four kids have to eat. You know, so it's an emotional toll that it takes on a child to see his parents left like that. And then, you know, they got different straps on them, different clamps and different things like that. And then I think what it is for the kids is they don't have anything else to occupy their minds. And I say that because nowadays, especially in schools, high schools, middle schools, they've taken the ability to, for kids to work with their hands out of the school. And what sucks about that, and that's resemblance, that's resemblance of being in chains. You can't work with your hands. A lot of alternatives things to do with their hands have been taken away from them. And then what do you give them? Guns. And the whole part about it is when you look at statistics, this is things that we've all researched, that the number of home invasions was up in our cities. Oakland, San Leandro, different places like that. So then we found out where all of these snub-nose 38, we found out where all these things were coming from. These old people are leaving these guns and different things in these lock boxes. And these kids are home, doing home invasions, 15, 16 burglaries. And they're coming out with these guns. Now, whatever else they're getting the hold of from the time they get the gun and the time they commit the murder, who knows? And that's the tough part about it, because reaching these kids in between that time could mean risking your own life. I can't tell you how many guns I've had put on me recently, just walking in my own neighborhood, trying to speak to somebody. And that has to be a risk that you have to be willing to take. And me as a father, and me as an African-American, black, whatever you call it, as a man, I have to be willing to lay down my life so that another kid can live theirs. So I saw that Tiffany wanted to share something. And I don't know if Susie's still on the call, but Susie is actually a principal at a school and she might be able to talk a little bit about the impetus behind giving people something to do with their hands, literally sewing, or Kathy might also be able to reflect on that. But I wanted to give Tiffany a chance to tap into the conversation. Oh, thank you. I, um, sketching is so important and it wanted to this mention was that for me with protest place projects, one of the questions, one of our central questions is, how do we get people to talk? How do we get somebody who, you know, when we think about the people who are probably listening to this conversation today and how around, they're probably people who are interested in the arts, interested in gun control. And so we're talking to people who can probably participate and contribute to the conversation, but how do we reach the people who are not having this conversation with us? How do we reach the people who are on the opposite side? And that, and that's something that, that as an artist, because I'm a playwright and I'm a professor and, and that's just the central question to me and my work and what we're trying to do at protest place and how do we have those conversations because as Julia and Derek are saying that's absolutely right, that your conversation that you're having within your community is different than the one that the opposition or the, you know, political opposition or the gun control opposition or whatever it is that you're working towards, very different the conversation they were having. And we've been living down in the South for the last years we were in Arkansas my husband had a position there and was wildly different than anything I'd experienced before I'd never lived in the South. It was a town of 13,000 people. So it was a very, very small town in the South. And, and there were a lot of things I was like at the end of the day we all want the same thing. We all want to live in peace and be happy and take care of our family. We all want the same thing but we can't agree on how to get there. And, and I'm just really curious and really hopeful with everything that we've been doing in the playwrights that we've been working with and the organizations we've been working with that there is a way and I love the quilts and all of this like art for activism how does it translate into action? How do we build the community of artists that is able to access the community that perhaps doesn't attend the arts? How do we activate them? How do we get them engaged? How do we have conversations so that we're not just arguing all the time? And I just just saying that that's a central question to me and something that I spend a lot of time thinking about and I really find valuable listening to what everybody else is doing and the steps you're taking to have those conversations because nothing's going to change if we don't start making difference and we have this administration right now that is leading with hate and stoking the fires of hate and stoking the fires of fear and not leading by example in any way, shape or form how to come together and so it's up to people like us it's up to organizations it's up to communities to overcome that and not fall prey to more of that and I don't know if it's going to work but I'm hopeful but that's one of the questions that I really wrestle with is how do we bridge those gaps and how do we how do we make our art efficacious in a way that leads to the change we want to see? Okay I'd love to talk All right Kathy and then Joan please Okay Claudia was just showing images of some of our panels and you know just what you've been saying and what the take back our streets people were saying about put something in your hands both Sarah Trail and the sewing academy and vision quote are literally asking people of all backgrounds of all kinds of economic and racial backgrounds to really share their visions and our goal is to train teenagers to work with other teenagers to have them on teams with survivors and community activists to have these conversations using art and the power of it to really get people to look and as I said these panels are permanent and they don't go away so when you see what a gun owner has said and when you see someone from San Quentin I can put up how do I I don't know how I share my screen but I can put up how do I I don't want to do that I won't do it right now go ahead Claudia how do I do that it's the green button at the bottom of your screen then share screen all right and then I go to my little thing that I'm ready for oh dear so we've had men in San Quentin make panels here's one of them and this man talked about perhaps if if guns had been locked up when he was young he wouldn't be serving 21 years in San Quentin so that's the kind of conversation so when I show oh dear it's not there when I when I show his panel to people in Chicago or in Oakland you know they want they want to be able to think about things on a whole other level this one was done by a eighth grader in in Oakland and he he said who killed our hope I mean that's a pretty profound question and other other people this is from a girl in Hayward Photoshop and it just goes on and on this is done by a woman who it works for every town for gun safety her only son was killed in the mission to a random bullet and this is this is from a kid in Chicago this is from a young girl this is how she sees her city so you can't see these panels and you can't read their artist statements without wanting to do something and that's that's our whole point so I'll show you just a tiny bit of our model and I'd love to connect with all of you because this is this is exactly what we're trying to do we're trying to engage people in panel making and in group dialogue post exhibitions and create community you know connections with people like yourselves and host community conversations and say what can we do in the next six months in this neighborhood in this community thank you thank you and then you just hit the button that says stop sharing and it'll go back to our face thank you so much Kathy that was great and I don't again Sarah is busy principle pulling at the school so I'm not sure if she's still on the call with us but one of the really powerful exercises she did was she's part of some cohort that's getting some support and we had a meeting where we not only she talked to us about her process she shared with us panels have been made by people from all over but then she actively asked us to spend two hours making our own anti-gun violence quilt panels which was a very powerful exercise I find that you activate a different part of your brain when you're not only absorbing art but when you're also making the art Joan Joan you still on the call please and I just want to say that vision quote and Sarah of the sewing academy we were partnering so we are now a young and old person and dynamite partnership so we're very excited about that go ahead Joan this is wonderful and I I just want to say that to to to our friends and our colleagues from Take Back Our Streets in Oakland and I was listening really deeply to you and you know it hurts to hear the things that you're saying growing up on the South Side of Chicago and being intimately involved in St. Lewis and Ferguson these problems are systemic and I appreciate the the honesty when somebody is honest and they're authentic there is no greater gift when somebody tells you what their truth is and so I appreciate I just want to say I hear you it hurts to hear the things you're saying but I I think what you're saying is very important and that we share it in a public way I want to take a moment and be what it feels to me I'm an artist I'm also a social activist and I'm also I feel like a realist and the fact is is that this is a racist misogynist violent culture this country is based on violence and we can all of us work to undo racism and misogyny nobody is going to take what the NRA and the culture of this country is never going to let us take guns away all together I wish they would I agree with Claudia that guns also kill people I don't want to be near a gun but I am aware that we have to figure out a way to bridge the conversation with people who want their guns because if we can't do that we are really stalled and so I want to share with you just a couple of strategies that we've been looking at if that's okay I've been in conversation with the Interfaith Partnership which is a coalition of over 40 different religious groups really across the spectrum and one of the things that one of the leaders there has said to me is it's a really big tent and we want a real a big tent that can contain everybody and we are not going to agree on what our strategy should be exactly to prevent gun violence but we are possibly going to agree that this is a moral and ethical and public health issue and if we can do that then we can begin to talk about gun sense advocacy which is not the same thing as anti-gun I personally Joan and anti-gun that's going to put me in a bubble way off by myself so what I chose to do when I said I was going to produce 26 pebbles which is this beautiful play about the shooting of 21st graders at Sandy Hook and six educators working with the student group what I said is we're not going to try and go into traditional theater spaces because they're expensive and they're difficult to book except if you do something way way in advance and they also tend to to attract the same kinds of people we want to go into different spaces where we can begin to develop different relationships so what we decided to do was to partner with all these communities of faith and also with libraries and to make this a free production so that cost was not an impediment to anything and to also have the mom's demand action as part of our involvement who can offer strategies and the strategy the two things that I personally am focused on as an activist as well as an artist is trying to block the state legislature not just in Missouri but around the country from making guns we know that we need guns safety we need protections we need to have more stringent laws about waiting periods and about who has access and where guns can be carried they do not belong in schools they do not belong in child care centers they do not belong in certain public spaces we can push back against the legislature to insist that we have this one protection there are four million members of mom's demand action and they're not all women but you're right Claudia it's very interesting that this is kind of something you know a lot of women have taken on and I think in part it has to do with our dealing with some aspects of what I might call toxic white masculinity because the mass shootings have been by white men and that has to be said they're not being done by men of color really and they're not being done by women so a lot of women have come together but we welcome our men our men our allies our male allies because we all need to come together so we want to push back against the legislatures and one we can do that is that we go to the state capital that we have these meetings and that we really have a very viable physical presence but the other thing is that we have got to get the vote out because unless we flip the senate and the house of representatives in November 2018 we are going to be dealing with more conservative judges that block all of our actions and this is this is so crucial it's not as interesting as putting on a play you know getting out the vote but as Tiffany said and as hopefully we are doing without getting out the vote project we can find ways because we're artists to make it creative and to give us agency but I think for me I want the performance to be tied to action I want always to try and follow it up with a deep authentic conversation I want somebody who wants their gun to be able to say you can't take my gun away from me I want my gun and then for me to be able to say and you get to have your gun can we agree that that gun should not be in a daycare center we have to figure out how we have these conversations my friends or I think we're really in trouble and we also have to really support our young people they are leading the way which is why we're doing a student production I'm passionate I'm sorry to go on and on but I you know as much as I talk about it I get so emotional when I think about what goes on and the fact that over 90 people a day are killed through the use of guns and so much of it is our people of color so and children young people I wanted to try to include Claudia and Stephanie a little bit because I haven't heard you speak for a while and also I wanted to mention that Carla and Susie and I had worked together on an event at Brava theater which included the every 28 hours plays and to echo what you said Jane actually our event was followed by a pretty deep authentic conversation and it seemed the audience people was really hungry for conversation and didn't leave for a long time I let you jump in and add to that if you want perhaps Carla and Susie and Stephanie so a big thing for me with every 20 hours because you know I I live this life like these are my people that are dying so it's I feel particularly attached to something like that how do I use my privilege of being at a very large institution like ACT and really elevate others to have their voices heard that we do not often hear through different narratives so after the every 20 hour plays when we produced I think we probably did about 30 of them I made it a point a very strict point here that I wanted these conversations segregated and I had a lot of resistance from a lot of folks saying we all need to talk together which is great but I'm going to be honest with you me being a woman of color I have been trained from society to censor myself on how I'm feeling around people that do not look like me to do not right no video has frozen is that true for everyone else I thought Stephanie frozen in a moment of mid-sentence passion all right you see there I think Stephanie is frozen but everyone else is fine at the moment excellent well we have another for this conversation you know I continue to be struck by the intersection of all of these issues because and I actually should speak with a little more clarity right because I had a reaction to guns don't kill people people kill people which is totally true but I do think guns make it easier to kill people they make that a lot easier to do so ultimately we do need to fix our society we need to fix all these issues that are helping to create the opportunities for violence to take place but I also go we need to literally have less guns I grew up in Montana we all had guns I grew up I learned how to use a gun the right way when I was when I was young and that was an amazing experience because I recognize not everybody gets that not everybody gets taken out to the backyard and taught this is a killing machine this is how you kill things with it understand that if you pick this up and point it at something you better be willing to kill it that's the point of this machine so that's my own very specific context I'm super struck by even in a conversation full of people who are all on the same page in terms of we we recognize we've got a national epidemic we're all doing things to address this epidemic and yet even in this conversation there are places where we don't totally agree where there are places where there's friction um you know we've talked about gender violence we've talked about racial violence and I also just want to make sure we don't lose heterosexism and violence to our LGTBQ population there's a reason why after Orlando is another project that many of us have collaborated on and either produced or acted in or directed and I also want to make sure we don't lose the disability piece of this conversation because disabled communities are highly affected by gun violence as well in this last half an hour of our conversation I would love to start talking about um the power of artistic uh collaboration and why that's working for us if there are any stories of success people have that they'd like to share that would be awesome and then also please say out loud how the people viewing this video can support your work or support this work in general because if you go to Lauren Gunderson's page Natural Shots I'll make sure there's a link to this she specifically says donate to every town USA donate to um moms I'm forgetting the name of it but donate to that organization I'll just command the action thank you so please feel free to popcorn I'd love to hear more about how we can support what you're trying to make happen in the world and also if you have any positive stories please feel free Claudia I'm going to interject and say that Stephanie since you froze in that very passionate moment do you want to complete that thought yeah and let's include Carla who hasn't spoken and then we can open it up to your question Claudia yeah thank you so much y'all sorry about that like technical difficulty I don't know what happened there I'm not too sure where it cut off so if you guys could kind of tell me where it stopped and I could kind of flew you in you were speaking about the need for segregated conversations yeah yeah yeah um so like I was mentioning I I have been taught from society that me being a young black woman that I'm supposed to censor myself I have to code switch to a certain way to make others feel comfortable right so I made it a point to have these conversations and have it be one space specifically for black individuals that identify as black others POCs and then one conversation happening right above our theater with white white folks and the conversations that were happening I was not involved in the other ones but in the space that I was with all black folks it was so powerful it was there was great ideas and just really supportive conversations and one thing that came up which I was very surprised and very happy it came up is how we me mentorship in order to move forward and to push these conversations how can me be a person of color learn from someone else that is actually pushing the same narrative as me so for instance I partnered up with destiny arts which is a great social justice program but they use dance and it's a youth program as well and the artistic director there Sarah Crowell who's a mentor of mine she actually has been such a big part of my life in that way yeah so you can see through that every 20 hours right there so I can actually hey Claudia can I pull up some like pictures to show this yeah okay so I'll pull up some pictures here we go yeah okay it's not working but here we go okay great so with this as you guys can see I really focused on like black art and black healing particularly so this is destiny arts right here this is some of their kids and they did is such a beautiful piece with poetry talking about how they can use their voices and stuff like that in order to empower others talking about gun issues and specifically police brutality this is Jess Colorell who's staying with us to this is some of the pieces that we did as well but here I'm trying to show you guys this is the destiny arts movement workshop and that was really beautiful because there was one individual who actually has a really hard time walking and she just got up and she's like I just felt like I had to move my body so it was really beautiful to see but going off to this as well when we had these segregated conversations we actually followed through of how do we keep each other accountable and how do we keep supporting each other through these really tough conversations and then there was really interesting conversations happening up in the discussion group with all the white people they were mentioning how they feel at times they don't know how to talk about these issues and a lot of folks were saying that they have a hard time stepping back you know so that was really interesting to see how do we as individuals and how we identify whether it is you are part of the LGBT community or if you are a woman a person of color all these how do we actually really impact ourselves to push this narrative that needs there needs to be changed right and use our platform with that as well so I just think that was really important to really highlight that sometimes you need to have these segregated conversations because I'm not going to feel comfortable going into a room with white people and like talking about that right so I think that's been really helpful and I'm still continuing working with folks around the Bay Area specifically like folks that have actually been impacted by these issues and that is something I would love if you all if I actually could if you guys look on that website you can probably find my email as well through ACT if you guys have any organizations that you feel we need to connect with or if you feel you want to give suggestions about how we can support your organization I would love love love to hear that because the conversation shouldn't stop here we need to keep it going like let's keep this momentum going you know so that was really really impactful for us here at ACT and that's something we've been struggling to is how do we keep the momentum going because it's a cycle right we keep going and then we stop we hear another thing and then we stop again I'm not stopping I need to keep going like it's going to happen again and again I don't want to forget those who have unfortunately passed but I need I need to keep going so that's what our ancestors wanted they want to see if you go keep going so I need all of you here with me so we can really push this great narrative that quality has really provided us through the works of art which is so important because it's healing as well so I want to comment on the young brothers I don't know if you're still on there but they were saying that they took all this I maybe it was someone else who said it but they took all the stuff so ain't out of out of the schools they took shot out of the schools they took auto mechanics out of the schools and put it all in community college is where you have to pay for it and I think that is very important because I believe that I don't mind is the devil's workshop so if you have something to occupy your mind you maybe you won't be in trouble all the time maybe there's something else that you can you know can direct your energy to and that would be a good thing that's in california I think more so than because in the south they have all that stuff it's not they didn't take it out of schools because they do they have it all and what's crazy about it is the fact that like I said it's resembling of being in chains you know not being able to work with your hands right I think once like people can well I don't want to say people but our our generation coming up can understand at some point how valuable it is to have the use of your limbs and be able to reach out and touch and this that and the third because these things make you money I'm a musician and I don't fight I'm a musician and I don't fight because I value my hands if I can't touch a keyboard I can't make money you know um picking up a gun and using it for whatever the reason may be I don't I don't I don't think it's ever made anybody a whole bunch of money where they you know didn't have the stress that came with it you know so I think it's very important that we kind of stress how important it is to um if if if it's if the the city government and the school systems aren't doing it I feel it's incumbent upon us as community organizers and people who have the power to influence and pull from the streets and pull from these different areas to supply that for the people who needed the most and that is of course the underserved communities to the the areas that city government local and city government intentionally divesting and not investing right you're right because I work in a school district I wasn't a principal about I worked in a school district and I just observed what was going on in Oakland Unified School District and I'm like these poor kids with the type of leaders that they have and I wonder everything is all screwed up they are not good at all not good so I'd like to say something I I I want to just support everything that you all are saying and I want to say when we put good paint and good brushes in the hands of incarcerated youth in Camp Sweeney which is part of Oakland these are kids who are given a chance to hopefully not end up in in a jail jail they feel like artists I mean we are enhancing them and they are feeling that their voice is now going to have a national stage and I tell them I'm taking your panels to Chicago I'm taking them to you know to San Diego to LA and that that lifts them up and and the same with the kids in Chicago you know they're responding to the kids in Oakland all through these 18 by 24 inch panels so I want I'm I'm hoping Joan that you'll use some in St. Louis and I'm excited for the ACT connection but I want to put out a wild idea to all of you we know that the any that the NRA is running this country and I have met so many people who are working just alone on gun violence so alone on racial you know equality why cannot we join ourselves and how would we do that and become stronger than the NRA it's all about connections and we're doing our individual things very well but how can we really become more powerful than the people who are oppressing all of us I will say I love that idea but it's also money it is money and resources I mean that's really what it comes down to we can unify and unite and I really really wish we could but at the end of the day if we do not have the money to do this and actually move forward nothing's gonna happen we can be a million against one which it kind of feels like right now but if we don't have the resources it's not gonna happen so although this is Claudia I I I always do this in a conversation where I'm like I 100% agree with you but I also disagree just a little bit I go yes yes yes but also one of the powerful things we have is our decentralized movements you are all doing amazing work that has had national impact Tiffany had an idea and posted something on Twitter and suddenly people all over the country were engaging and they were engaging with tools that she spent a lot of time gathering she they were engaging with tools that Kerry and dad spent a lot of time gathering so I go oh we need to find ways to stay true to the work that we are doing keep doing that but also find ways to share that work make it more accessible to others so they can amplify connect um so I'm not saying no to anything anyone just said but I am saying um I I I think there's more hope um in what we are doing right now actually I I feel hopeful um no please go right ahead oh sorry just because you had asked earlier too about um successes and steps forward so it's been woke up so sorry um is that um uh you know one of the two of the two of the initiatives that we started are are ongoing and the one that we're focusing right now is to get out the boat plays and um if anybody is interested in those are one to three minute monologues or plays they're nonpartisan and their whole focus is to is to encourage your audience to get out the boat and they're designed to be done before a production so at curtain before your before your hey here's our here's our program and here's how you become a member and oh here we've got this little one minute three minute piece that we picked we have over 20 pieces available they're royalty free you can write your own we're just trying to get Peter I love the dance that um that Jonah's talking about that's amazing and I would love to see video of that so I'm going to be researching is that is again we're just trying to to like you said it it is decentralized you can make it your own what we have power in numbers so let's all let each other know what we're working on um and so so the get out the boat plays we're just trying to get as many people as possible to participate because I think theaters especially established theaters get nervous about taking a political stance everything's politicized and we don't want to alienate our members we don't know we don't want to lose money and we don't want to lose funding and everybody's so paranoid about all of that and it becomes you look at these places that are established and they are locked in and sorry and then you look at and you look at smaller groups or or theater makers who are working independent of of larger institutions and we have more freedom we don't have the money we don't have the resources like um like we're earlier we were just talking about but we we have the freedom we have the mobility I don't own a theater space but I can go to the park I can go talk to the bookstore I can work with a gallery I can put these in places where my target audience is because if I'm doing gun plays I'm not probably just targeting an established theater audience I want to go talk to the people who aren't active or unengaged and maybe have a different opinion than I do and so I I agree I think the decentralization thing is a huge asset but it is so important and so impactful to be able to come together in conversations like these and gain courage and strength from what other people are doing and then to also connect and say how can we work together like how can we work with take back our streets I'm in Iowa right now but how can I get involved and what can I learn from you and how can I support your mission and those kinds of things and the other initiative that we're doing that has been really successful is a heal the divide initiative which we six different colleges across the country worked with their playwriting students to write plays about their community and then we exchange those plays with the other campuses to try and read and share share different communities perspectives and this is our first year that we did it and I'm still talking with those faculty and getting feedback from them and figuring out how do we how do we make it better how do we make it more open and inviting but again this idea of like how can we use theater to give voice to community so that it's not just all plays coming out of a big city coming from far away but coming from where you live right now what's happening and to you and how do I get that somewhere where then the community can communicate across zip codes and across geographies so so I really appreciate listening to everybody this week I mean today this week it's we just moved so my brain's a little rough but I really enjoyed listening and I feel heartened by your passion and your dedication everybody that's spoken today so thank you for involving and inviting me to participate can I say something I think Kathy says something about that you had all these religious groups why not do it in the churches I mean every Sunday there are thousands of churches take it to the take it to the people yeah well and I want to say that in Oakland next Monday night at the first African Episcopal Methodist Church in downtown Oakland on Telegraph they are having a panel of religious leaders and this topic is gods and guns guns and God sorry and they're doing things for the whole month of June because June is National Gun Awareness Month and their youth group made vision quilt panels so they're going to hang them in the sanctuary and and they also are thinking of taking vision quilt panels and marking different parts of Oakland where homicides have taken place so we want to support that they're going to put them on stakes I mean these are visual representations of tragedies and calls for action so Claudia asked what can you do for us go to our website www visionquilt.org we have all kinds of things that you can download for free and we will support anything that you want to do so yeah be in contact with us please thank you thank you for this wonderful I'm I'm going to catch a plane soon to Oakland so thank you for creating this so we we have about five minutes so we're going to start wrapping up our conversation the Carla talk no no no Carly doesn't have a chance to talk so I'm about to hand the mic off to everybody else to say some final observations I appreciate Carla's awesome listening and I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get to hear from her from a participant perspective as well as just hearing if there's any sort of resonance around the environmental issues as well in environmental justice here's the good news though this is the first of many digital discussions this problem is a national problem it's a worldwide problem but let's just stick to our country for right now it's a national issue that we are all working on and I look forward to us continuing to share the places where we have commonalities the places where we have shared practices the places where we can support each other and the places where we need to educate each other there is a reason why they took away our drums there is a reason why we were denied the right to read there is a reason why we were denied access to higher education when I say we I'm talking about women I'm talking about people of color I'm talking about people from marginalized communities so this right here this is us using the drum this is us activating people their voice for calls to action just write on any final observations I'm going to encourage everybody and the need who possibly close us out but any final words of encouragement or observation please feel free I'm still waiting for Carla to speak Carla sorry sorry in this case as an artist and as a woman I feel like I am gaining so much from listening to you guys so that's that was my first goal in this conversation I take so much inspiration in my work from hearing you guys work your your butts off it's amazing to see what you guys have accomplished and I think that for me the the the biggest thing that I worry about in my work now is equal access to healthy food because that's something that our communities are seriously lacking and there's places like plant and justice and permaculture action network that are trying to draw in people from all over the country and specifically you know in Oakland as well to get people to have health healthier lifestyle so that they can be more active in their community and more clear-minded and just also more willing to work together because if you're not a healthy well-fed happy individual it's going to be a lot harder to do the work that we're doing in our communities there's a lot of stress every day and so I'm hoping to bring that more to the forefront is how important environmental justice is alongside social justice I was thinking that some of us who are in the Bay Area can certainly meet in person and and have a conversation about how to work together I've been you know directing plays since 1989 and producing plays since 2002 and I'm exhausted and often I also really want to appreciate Carla who does said design lighting and Susie who's a vocalist and an artist because often you know we jump into projects frankly I do it at the last minute if there's a need for it and often with very little resources so you know my request is really for partnership and support around doing more of the every 28 hours plays in the Bay Area because what we did was just the tip of the iceberg and we need to take this work out to more actual schools and communities you know I also want to say that I feel both despair at what's going on here and in the world but I also feel it's not well I feel a lot of empathy and compassion for everyone and for our group and for other artists and individuals who care so much and the need for like giving ourselves empathy and each other empathy and like holding each other with kindness because it is exhausting we have a lot to deal with so I'm just appreciating and thanking everybody for this conversation yeah thank you I appreciate that I guess I'll go next I do appreciate being included on the call my brother had to step out congratulations to him he just had a baby not too long ago so you know and his dad thing and then plus he's still at work so I think he may be outside if he hasn't driven off I just want to kind of encourage everybody to whatever it is that you know you're doing whether it be theater whether it be just action in the streets or you know being a positive vibe wherever you go just do whatever you can and take that to the next level those of us that how many of us are not in Oakland okay okay perfect so okay three I don't know I don't know where you guys are individually but we have this they the government I guess has this thing called the black identity extremists and it sucks because it kind of put especially in the Bay Area it kind of puts people up with their backs against the walls because you know regardless of the you know the the collaboration if you look like if we all look like each other we're all black identity extremists you know but we're more to get we're more we're more we're more of a force together than we are divided if anybody's going to be black identity extremists let us all be black identity extremists fighting for right of course I think we all can agree that supremacy racism and police violence intercommunal violence human trafficking domestic violence somehow we gotta deportation all of that it has we gotta get a handle on us as a people so you know I I encourage everybody to you know step up our efforts myself included and really push what we do over the top to make our dreams come true and that's for all of our people to be liberated liberated and we all live in unity no matter what color you are thank you great because a lot of people that came into this country were considered black when they came here however they have now become white you know the irish the italians the greeks whoever they now all of a sudden they're white which is you know then they disconnect from how their grandparents were were treated and that's not right they need to remember who they are also hmm I have a closing thought about money may I may I say can I say something about money my favorite subject yes I think that we all need to get our hands on some money and I feel that some of these foundations should be giving us money to do the advocacy and the creative work because I'm just thinking Claudia and I both worked on we worked on every 28 hours for two years for free pushing and I'm thinking about the invisible labor of the work that we do same thing with after Orlando I produced it three times invisible labor I feel like there are these foundations that don't they want to do good but they play it safe you know and so they give it to these big theater companies and maybe the theaters put out of play and the real work is in the community it's not that I don't love work at a great theater I mean I've done work at theaters I do work at theaters but I feel that the important work that's being done by so many of the people who are on this call is not being supported and then we burn out right and so I want to think creatively about how we can access resources so that we can really do this work because as you know we're good with we're able to do things very well with not a lot but we still need to be given something in order to to sort of manage our labor does just make sense when I'm saying yes you like this idea I see everybody nodding their heads this feels like a perfect way to close out our conversation I think we should agree on I think we should agree on our next our next live stream to talk about this I action to the field to the community we need support to do this work you are all doing this work and I'm actually super deeply aware of the sweat equity I see you all investing in this work the performers who are on this call who have been producing who have been performing for free for the love the writers who have donated their words that are creating actual impact in communities that are creating change this needs support Thank you all so much for joining us for this conversation your time is valuable it is deeply appreciated Vidhu Thank you for inviting me to have this conversation with you I feel energized for the continued work even as I'm reminded by the disappointing necessity for it Thank you everyone A lot of love to each one of you a lot of compassion, empathy and strength and courage for all this beautiful work Thank you Thank you Let's have a festival Let's do a big festival Okay Indian food Come over I'll cook it Okay Cook events drop your links drop any follow-up questions drop places where we can possibly donate funds to continue to support your work drop all that information Have a great rest of your day Thank you all Thank you Thank you This is waving goodbye So I don't know if we're still recording or not