Finding Home: A Conversation with the Bushwick Starr
From left, clockwise: Sophia Harrison (Art’s House Schools), Noel Allain (The Bushwick Starr), and Lauren Miller (The Bushwick Starr)
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For small not-for-profits, city building ownership can be a daunting but hugely rewarding endeavor. As we move forward through the massive changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, community-oriented not-for-profits are looking closely and creatively at rebuilding and reclaiming spaces that can boost engagement and increase the vitality of their neighborhoods.
Join the Neighborhood Preservation Center for a conversation with one such organization, The Bushwick Starr, a theater in Brooklyn. This program will highlight their journey from leasing a small upper story space, to purchasing a 5,000-square-foot warehouse, to embarking on a massive construction project which will greatly expand their reach and create a cultural anchor for their community.
Moderator: Sophia Harrison (Founder and Executive Director, Art's House Schools of Music, Dance & Fine Arts) was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and at the age of seven, migrated to Brooklyn, NY with her family. After receiving her B.A. in Fine Arts from Hampton University, she established Art's House Schools, Inc. (AHS), which incorporated as a not-for-profit in 2006 and is the only art institution in the Coney Island community that provides formal music, dance, and art instruction to children, ages 3-17, and senior citizens year-round. Sophia has created partnerships with the City and State of New York, including working with the Department of Cultural Affairs, Youth and Community Development, Education and the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. These partnerships help create, support, and fund programs and services for Coney Island children and senior citizens.
Sophia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and a member of the 2018 Class of Hampton University's Forty Under 40 Society. She has been the recipient of the Shore Front Toys for Tots Surrogate Mother Award, the Future of Coney Island Award from Urban Neighborhood Services, and the Brooklyn Borough President's Award for African Americans Making a Difference in Brooklyn. She is also the recipient of several city, state, and federal citations for her work and dedication to Coney Island and Southern Brooklyn.
Sophia strongly believes that every child should have the opportunity to study and experience the arts. She knows firsthand there are valuable lessons and disciplines in the arts that instill and cultivate positive traits in children and teenagers. With these thoughts, Sophia launched AHS and continues to serve throughout New York City diligently.
Speakers:
Noel Allain (Co-Founder/Artistic Director, Bushwick Starr) is a graduate of Skidmore College and the Juilliard School’s Drama Division. As an actor, he has performed in various theater, television, and film productions in and out of New York City. At the Starr, he has programmed artists and companies such as Heather Christian, Jeremy O. Harris, Dave Malloy, Raja Feather Kelly, Daniel Fish, Clare Barron, Ayesha Jordan, The Mad Ones, Phillip Howze, Erin Markey, Flako Jimenez, David Greenspan, Haruna Lee, Diana Oh, and Jillian Walker. He has helped create the Starr’s workshop Creating Performance at El Puente Bushwick, and the after-school program Big Green Theater. He has served as a panelist for NYSCA, LMCC, The Shed, Sundance Theater Lab, and HERE’s HARP Residency, appeared as a guest artist for the University of Iowa’s New Play Festival, and as a guest speaker at Colombia, NYU, Hunter, Bard, Skidmore, the Prelude Festival and Sarah Lawrence College. Noel is currently serving as a board member and the Chair of the Panel for Interdisciplinary Artists for MacDowell.
Lauren Miller (Advancement and Alliance Director, Bushwick Starr) is a theatre director, producer, and development professional. She brings to The Bushwick Starr her experience in fundraising for the Irish Repertory Theatre and TACT/The Actors Company Theatre and her passion for contemporary performance-based work. From 2011-2015, Lauren worked to develop 20 original plays as producer of the newTACTics New Play Festival, and she continues to collaborate with theatremakers including The Amoralists and Amios.
The Bushwick Starr is an Obie Award winning not-for-profit theater that presents an annual season of new performance works. They are an organization defined by both artists and community, and since 2007, they have grown into a thriving theatrical venue, a vital neighborhood arts center, and a destination for exciting and engaging performance. They provide a springboard for emerging professional artists to make career-defining leaps, and they are a sanctuary where established artists come to experiment and innovate. They are also a neighborhood playhouse, serving the Bushwick, Brooklyn community's diverse artistic needs and impulses.