HITS AND BOMBS: A 2019 RETROSPECTIVE
Happy 2020!! Can you believe it’s already mid-January?! Time is already zooming! Everyone keeps saying how lit 2020 is going to be, and I believe it! I came into the new year hanging out with some friends at a bar in Wisconsin playing Hello Kitty Uno for dollars, and I lost EACH TIME! Whatever! 2020 is still on its way to being the best year ever! Anyway, despite bringing in the New Year losing to Hello Kitty Uno, I'm coming into this new year peacefully, and the only thing I want out of the year is to be chill and in the moment, but that comes after a bit of reflection. So I wanted to share with you the Hits and Bombs of 2019, a new title that I stole from the podcast “Happier in Hollywood”. 2019, was a year of transition for me. If you can picture a girl just hanging off the monkey bars with one arm... that was pretty much me the entire year! I was switching apartments and moving studios, and it took a while to get settled. But now that I'm settled, let me share with you some Hits and Bombs of 2019.
Hits of 2019
I REBRANDED MY BUSINESS AND WEBSITE
My friend Caroline has a class called "Better Branding Course," where she essentially helps you think like a designer and brands your business. I spent a couple of months of 2019 going through this class. I'm generally not a fan of online self-study learning, (I like to talk and giggle with classmates) but this class was so well done, and I came away with a new brand as well as a new website that I laid out myself! It wasn't easy, and I'm thankful for a few art friends (Shaina, Sarah, Deirdre, Cassie, and Nikki) for being there for the random "hey, how does this look?" text. Thanks, ladies! For my friends that are in the design world... I have a newfound respect for y’all. I felt like I was a branding designer in those few months Caroline's class had me CONFIDENT.
I SHOT FOR COMPLEX MAGAZINE, A DREAM CLIENT.
Complex Magazine is a dream client of mine, so I was stoked when they called me to help them shoot some promotional material for Complex Con. I was so excited.
I PERFORMED AS QUEEN ELIZABETH IN JOSEPH SCHUPBACH'S "ALL MY POSSESSIONS."
When my friend/director hit me up, inviting me to be in his staged reading about Queen Elizabeth, I was excited and afraid at the same time. As I mentioned last year, I’ve been interested in pursuing more performance aspects of my practice, but I hadn't been in a play since grade school! I was super nervous, but Joseph is super friendly and talented so I gave it a go, attending rehearsals, working with legit actors, with agents and even learned choreography. I mean, I was full-on Billy Porter out there, and it was such blast! I'm legit!
photo by Evan Hanover
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ENOUGH ABOUT ALL THE HITS GOING ON IN MY WORLD. MY FRIENDS HAVE BEEN MAKING MOVES TOO, AND THEY HAD SOME HITS OF THEIR OWN IN 2019!
LaKeisha launched L'Louise Arts Foundation because she wanted to see more black and brown folks at artist residencies and other costly professional development opportunities. I say hell yeah to that.
Which btw, if you’re all "I'm a black or brown person that needs to be at more artist residencies and other costly professional development opportunities, you need to apply for the L'Louise Arts Foundation Career Growth Fund. The deadline is January 19.
Jessica received a New England Film Star Award!
The New England Film Star consists of access to equipment to produce the series that Huggins pitched to the New England Film organization: Black Women Shine (working title!). This series is a 4-part digital docuseries highlighting Black women in Boston who have been doing incredible work within the arts and civic engagement. The series is currently in production and will not be released until late 2020. To stay updated on the series' progression, follow Huggins's artist page. Huggins hopes the series will live on a digital platform (Ie PBS Digital).
Kameko did an ENTIRE shift, left her high-profile fancy design job to move to Portland to pursue other adventures, and CUT HER HAIR!
My friend Christina had a wild year getting engaged, married, and booking a lead role on the tv show MixedIsh as Auntie Dee!! When people say to you, "A lot can happen in a year," Bissshhhhh, Christina is a testimony to all of that, okay!! I mean, pretty freaking wild! It makes me so excited just typing this out to you.
Kaira got certified as a spin instructor at Bikettle
And Amir received a Chicago Media Production Fund grant for his short film "Silence of Clarity," a short experiment about the anxieties of people who live with stutters and the use of alternative techniques to embrace their impediments. The film will go into production this Spring!
Bombs of 2019
I WAS NOMINATED FOR A 3ARTS GRANT BUT DIDN’T GET IT YALL.
3Arts is both a hit and a bomb for me. Probably more a hit, but I needed to balance out this letter some...This is what happened..
3Arts is an art organization that supports and invests in artists in Chicago. They are terrific and have helped several of my art friends. They reached out to me saying I had been anonymously nominated for an unrestricted grant of $25,000.00, and I was like whaaaaat! I liked to have fallen out of my chair! What a blessing! a dream! Who in the world is out there supporting me to this level to nominate me?! The letter about the nomination is a gift in itself. There was an application process, and I spent a lot of the Summer working on it. The stakes were high. What an honor!
But I wasn't picked, and that was a bummer a real bummer. I mean 25K?! Need I say more? However the 3Arts award recipients did go to some real rockstar artists, and when I learned about the recipients I was just happy to be in their company. To be considered with them, I was in great company. #puffchest.
I'm beyond stoked for artists Norman Teague and Santiago X; they are amazing. I'm a big fan of Norman Teague; he is super lovely and made stands for my Golden Kids in an exhibition I had this year. Super kind, and I hope I get to meet Santiago X this year.
I WAS CALLED FOR JURY DUTY, AND I DIDN’T EVEN SERVE!
I'm an internet sleuth, a murderino. I believe in prison abolition. I wanted to be put on a team! After sitting in a waiting room all morning, I was let go after lunch and paid $17.20. I mean.. WTH. One of the guards at the building said to me, "well, at least you got it over with." Sheesh! I don't ever want to be a person on a jury that wants to get it over with - that's cold-blooded. People are fighting for their lives - that's serious. Anyway, I didn't get to do it, and I was excited too! Bummer!
CHURCH DRAMA
I was a member of Harvest Bible Chapel, and they had significant drama this year with their senior pastor being terminated. The church leadership handled it poorly, and I hated all of it. It made me question the structure of the church, the who, what, and why, but it NEVER made me question my trust, love, or belief in God at all. It just made me understand others' criticisms of church leadership and how some say eff it and leave the Christian faith behind altogether! Because my faith is such a big deal to me, I left that church and everything with it, and I'm currently on a church tour seeking an honest place that is charitable, Bible teaching, and fun. On to bigger and better, and I'm super excited for growth in this area of my life.
Whew, chile!
Well, that about does it folks, 2019 is in the books. I learned so much about God's timing and patience this year. I'm excited to apply those lessons in the new year, making more time for rest, joy, and collaborating with people on world-changing projects. Let's Cheers to taking 2020 more slow, purposeful and joyful!
-Stephanie