Know where you’ve come from, believe where you can go
#CreativeUplift: Amid COVID-19, the Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project finds innovative ways to celebrate L.A.’s groundbreaking Black artists of the past and contribute to the community’s creative future
As we live through a global health pandemic, soaring racial tensions, divisive ideologies, and frequent natural disasters, hope has become a seemingly evasive twinkle of light in the distance. But in the midst of the chaos, art revealing the power of our imagination and the power of our voices has always been a soothing hum of creative energy, a train of optimistic potential chugging along to meet the “new normal” with an unwavering confidence. Unlikely communities have forged close bonds, distant industries have created bridges of support, and there has been an overall refocus on assistance, compassion, and care.
It is from these glimmers of resilience that the Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project began. Developed as a creative place-making effort between the Amazing Grace Conservatory, the Gailen and Cathy Reevers Center, and the USC School of Dramatic Arts, the synergy between these community partners and nonprofit organizations has resulted in a number of programs and initiatives for enjoyment and participation on a local, state, and national scale.
The Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project (SHARP) is a multifaceted initiative that sheds light on the rich arts history of well-known African American entertainers who resided in Los Angeles’ Sugar Hill District during the 1940s and ’50s. SHARP implores the community to engage with art, culture, and history through multiple mediums and platforms with exciting avenues for cross-generational participation, in order to preserve history and expand the opportunities of future generations. Each of the project components serve as educational vessels, allowing us to recognize the persistent effort of an illustrious group of groundbreaking African Americans — courageous leaders who stood up against injustice and forged paths for others to do the same.
Each of the project components serve as educational vessels, allowing us to recognize the persistent effort of an illustrious group of groundbreaking African Americans — courageous leaders who stood up against injustice and forged paths for others to do the same.
The focused awareness and art-centered education provided by SHARP contributes to the renaissance taking place in urban Los Angeles right now — a revival of art, architecture, literature, culture, style, and history. Though the pandemic has temporarily halted in-person activities and events, our incredibly steadfast team quickly adapted to the new restrictions and found a way to blend arts and technology to create a virtual museum.
Students from the USC School of Dramatic Arts and the USC Gayle Garner Roski School of Art and Design served as artistic, research, and design interns in the development of the museum, under the supervision of Anita Dashiell-Sparks. Performers from the Amazing Grace Conservatory are featured, under the artistic direction of co-founder Wendy Raquel Robinson, as they dramatize the lives of Sugar Hill’s historic figures to showcase how these artists and activists from the past are inspiring and impacting the current and next generations of artist scholars and leaders.
The virtual museum leads participants through a guided interactive tour of seven icon-specific rooms (Hattie McDaniel, Loren Miller, Ethel Waters, Louise Beavers, Ray Charles, Butterfly McQueen, and Little Richard). As viewers explore each room, they are prompted to click the “wall art” that includes short infographic blurbs, portraits, video clips, and audio recordings. The museum also has a correlating music playlist of songs from artists who lived in, or frequented, Sugar Hill.
Furthering the “from home” entertainment and participation opportunities, our innovative AGC interns collaborated with a USC alum to create a new social-media-based activity that could bring fun to the whole family.
The #SummertimeChallenge exists to provide a source of comfort and connection during a time of physical isolation by tapping into the universality of music, serving as “a little chicken soup for the soul.” With five easy-to-follow steps, the challenge invites people to listen to the jazz standard, “Summertime” — with versions of the song performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Billie Holliday, Sam Cooke, and Fantasia, among others — and asks them to submit a video capturing their own artistic interpretations of and inspirations from the song.
The #SummertimeChallenge has superseded expectations by garnering participation from people of all ages, backgrounds, and a diverse range of talents. There have been videos submitted that include digital art, singing and dancing, cheerleading and tumbling, spoken word, even a young LEGO master! AGC has been working on its own special contribution to the challenge by performing the classic “Summertime” with a modern twist — a blend of contemporary music, art, and culture. The level of artistic commitment and community productivity highlighted through the #SummertimeChallenge is a testament of the triumphant flexibility that has only grown stronger over the course of the year.
Beyond its wide-reaching and inclusive nature, and its special ability to unite communities, the Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project challenges each of us to embark on an internal quest of self. In doing so, we are able to discover our greatest potential, and all the skills and capabilities that have been placed within us to overtake the world with goodness. In the words of Hattie McDaniel, “You can best fight any existing evil from the inside.” If we each individually work to overcome our own bias, fears and doubts, we can make great strides toward eliminating those same barriers from the world around us. In this, we become the torch bearers of the flame ignited by those who have paved the way before us.
The Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project challenges each of us to embark on an internal quest of self. In doing so, we are able to discover our greatest potential, and all the skills and capabilities that have been placed within us to overtake the world with goodness.
And this is only the beginning of the SHARP journey. There are more entertainment and educational opportunities in 2020–21 created to uplift our community, including I See Me, a series of arts workshops in theater, dance, music, and visual artistic expression; Know Your Rights, a series of interactive programs focused on civic engagement, activism, and entrepreneurship; plus health and wellness fairs, discussions, and community engagement events.
The Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project affords community members the opportunity to relive and reimagine the rich heritage of common ancestry. It provides a platform to celebrate the African American pride so deeply embedded in the hearts of the Sugar Hill legends, brave leaders who fought for our rights to live, work, and flourish in the professions, neighborhoods, and countries of our choosing.
It is a privilege working on such a culturally relevant and timely project, with such incredibly passionate multigenerational collaborative partners. Being able to provide the community with truths about proven resilience and creativity through multidisciplinary art and technology is a distinct honor and of great importance.
We had to tell these stories, to empower and energize our youth, and to remind our seasoned leaders of the power of the human spirit. Because if you don’t know where you’ve come from, it can be hard to believe where you can go, and the infinite possibilities that lie ahead.
The Sugar Hill Arts Revival Project is funded in part through a California Arts Council Creative California Communities grant. Click here for more information about the SHARP Planning Committee.
About the Partners
Amazing Grace Conservatory is an NAACP award-winning program whose mission is to train and develop emerging artists and at-risk youth in the performing arts by offering well-rounded, culturally enriching educational programs in an environment that is nurturing for their personal, artistic and professional growth.
The Gailen & Cathy Reevers Center for Community Empowerment promotes and strengthens families and communities by offering education, health, recreation and cultural enrichment programs. GCRC envisions a community that provides a nurturing environment where family needs are met and family unity, self-sufficiency, educational attainment and community pride are encouraged.
The University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts is a leader in dramatic arts education. The school uniquely blends artistic training in a conservatory environment with outstanding faculty and the full academic experience found only within a major research university, and bridges the classical foundations of the dramatic arts with all of its contemporary and future expressions.
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Creative Uplift is a California Arts Council series celebrating California’s arts and culture community. We invite you to follow along on social media as we share the inspirational work of our creative communities far and wide, using the hashtag #CreativeUplift. And we welcome each of you to share your own experiences of art as a source of change, compassion, comfort, healing, and unity in your own communities using the same hashtag.
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