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Rylee Barnsdale's Feature Article: New Ypsi artists' hub offers workshops, gallery shows, youth programs, and more
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU, I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. The Washtenaw-based non-profit publishing house, Dzanc Books, has offered writing and literacy-focused programming throughout its 20 years in service, but, just recently, has expanded its offerings to not only writers, but all creatives through the opening of Dzanc House. This expansion comes as both a desire on Dzanc's end to have a more physical presence here in Ypsi and an overall hope to bolster the creative community that resides here. Today, I'm here with Dzanc House creative director and residency coordinator, Amanda Moore, to learn more about Dzanc's mission and what folks can experience when they drop by the house. Hi, Amanda! Thanks so much for being here today!
Amanda Moore: Thank you! Wow!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, when you walk or drive by Dzanc House over on South Huron Street in downtown Ypsi, you just see a nice house from the outside. You may not know right away that this is a community space for artists and writers to connect, gather, and create together. What might a first-time visitor experience when they walk through that door for the first time?
Amanda Moore: Yeah. Well, my hope is that they experience a sense of belonging and that they also are just energized by the community of creative people here.
Rylee Barnsdale: Programming that you've been offering recently is vast, both in terms of the variety of experiences folks can attend but also the frequency in which it's offered. There are a number of events that happen weekly. There is, I feel like, at least one bigger art gallery style show, at least once a month. What was the process of deciding on what that programming would look like, so it could best serve the community here?
Amanda Moore: Yeah. Well, as someone who was running a former gallery and studio space myself, I believe that it's important to have consistency. So, with a consistent range of offerings, it just allows the community to know that there's stuff happening. And if they miss it one time, they can come another time.
Rylee Barnsdale: And Dzanc is not just offering this free programming for the community, there's also a revamped or renewed residency opportunity as well. Can you tell us about that?
Amanda Moore: Indeed, yeah! So, for the local community, if they're not looking to stay overnight, we do have day rates for residency where you can come and work on a project, whether it's writing or art. And my hope and goal is to also work with residents with the resograph, so looking at artwork and translating art or poetry into another form of print would be really, really delightful! Also, besides just the local opportunity and rate for people to not say the night, there's also the general residency where we hope to bring in writer and artists from all over.
Rylee Barnsdale: And, as you mentioned, this is not your first foray into arts community building and education. You were the co-owner of Bloom Studio also in downtown Ypsi, which, unfortunately, did close this past August. But I'm curious about how that experience impacted your perspective on what the Ypsi arts community really needs the most. And you mentioned consistency being one of those things, but I wonder how much did that experience change or help your perspective evolve.
Amanda Moore: Yeah, that was a difficult thing, or difficult decision, that we made with closing the space downtown because it was like a very much needed space for the community here. And i just don't think it was the right time but also like keeping a space open downtown is quite expensive.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Amanda Moore: There was a lot of overhead. So, with that being said, having the space available for artists to work and create and be in community with one another is ultimately the goal, especially when we are experiencing such tumultuous times here, just having a sense of community and being able to express our creative voice is just necessary.
Rylee Barnsdale: Are there any aspects from the experience of running Bloom or challenges you may be encountered throughout that process that have now maybe shaped your approach in building the programming there at Dzanc House? How did that experience now lead to experiences and opportunities for artists that maybe feel a little bit more sustainable or achievable maybe?
Amanda Moore: Yeah. I think that, for sure, more sustainable is something that I like to measure, that I'm not over-exerting myself, in terms of the hours we offer. We do have quite a bit of programming, but it isn't demanding in the sense that I have to be in a physical location for a set number of hours each day, and I'm partnering with the artist that's exhibiting each month for them to also co-host gallery hours with me. So, just having like a little more co-hosting opportunities with all that I do here really valuable, because it's easy to do a lot and also run out of steam. But I will also say i think that having it done what we set out to do at Bloom that it was a heavy thing to close. A lot of people were very upset to see it go, and maybe that gave them a sense of urgency to, for sure, participate in more of the creative things happening in the community because we need it. And if we're not showing up for it, it really is difficult to sustain. So, I think that people realize that more so now after experiencing that closure.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I feel like that really also just emphasizes this desire on your part, and on part of Dzanc House as a whole, for community and building community, rebuilding, bolstering that community, bringing folks together in this really unique and specific way that feels, to me, a bit....I think the best way to describe it would be low-risk, but high reward, right? You know, there's a lot of space to explore with the programming that you're offering and allow folks to try out new things and meet new people in this space that is, like you mentioned, very welcoming.
Amanda Moore: Yeah! Absolutely! I agree! Thank you!
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On The Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Dzanc House creative director and residence coordinator, Amanda Moore. So, Amanda, programming and events over at Dzanc House really kicked off back in January of this year with exhibitions, workshops, a handful of other community events. What have been some of your favorite events or collaborations so far?
Amanda Moore: Ooh, that's an excellent question! Well, we have had so many wonderful events first off. Currently, we have a fabulous exhibition called "You Are a Work of Art" with Sarah Nesbitt. And the show is not complete without the community. And so, she's been drawing people in the community, and they are part of the live portrait gallery wall So, that's been a really wonderful thing here, as well as last week we had, perhaps not last week, the week before now, we had Poetry Town here. Cam Finch hosted a wonderful open mic with many, many people in attendance for Poetry Month. Really wonderful! And I'll say last month in March, we had a big celebration for the 96th birthday of Yayoi Kusama, a contemporary artist who lived in Japan--phenomenal artist! And I simply wanted to do that here because I wanted the community to know who she was and how cool she is and that she is 96 and still creating. And I have now a group of people and friends that I call Team Tentacles because they were very dedicated and that kept showing up day after day to help with this large paper mache project of creating these tentacles for the installation. But, yeah, it's this metaphor I have now in mind for people who consistently show up and want to be a part of things and help. An octopus has eight arms, and eight hugs a day is good for the health.
Rylee Barnsdale: And I'll wrap up our conversation just by asking Dzanc House, in this iteration, is still relatively new, but if there are any future ideas or plans that you can maybe give us a sneak peek into of what's to come this summer and hopefully even beyond that.
Amanda Moore: Oh, yes! Oh, yes! I have many dreams and visions for Dzanc that I'm hoping to see through. With the residency, I do hope to see volunteer opportunities with the school and also the Gilbert residence is just a block away. I want to reach out to them and see about partnering but also like just more fun opportunities for artists and writers in the community. I would like to coordinate and facilitate a little backyard neighborhood art fair at the end of the summer, where, very much like in Ann Arbor, they have the Westside Art Hop. It would be similar in that nature, but for our community here.
Rylee Barnsdale: Well, Amanda, thank you so much for being here today! The arts really do seem to flourish the most in the warmer months, and I'm excited to see what Dzanc House has to bring to Ypsi this summer and, hopefully, for many years to come as well. It seems like things are moving in a really positive direction there!
Amanda Moore: Oh, thank you so much, Rylee!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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