Agreed. Shortly after moving to NYC in 2005, the first one-woman show I ever saw was @staceyannchin's Border/Clash down on Bleecker Street at the old Culture Project. The arts make cities, and the people living inside them, alive and connected.
@staceyannchin When arts spaces close, it's like when a language dies — we lose a way of expressing ourselves & understanding the world around us.
In Chicago, I lived at @mcachicago & @SteppenwolfThtr. In NYC, @MuseumModernArt & off-Broadway shows. In Amsterdam, @rijksmuseum. In DC, @woollymammothtc, @Studio_Theatre & @smithsoniannpg. Without the arts, the world would be more dreary.
When I was younger, they were my escape. When/if things weren't beautiful, happy, and healthy around me, I could always take a journey to someplace that was — via books, film, shows, etc.
Now that I'm on the other end of things — actually creating stuff by writing, performing one-woman shows, etc. — I hope my work provides the same opening for others ... a place to feel seen, heard & understood.
I want folks to feel like they belong — no matter how "imperfect" they are. Because we all are.
Independent art spaces perform a great service — they uplift, support, and welcome voices that are sometimes kept outside by gatekeepers. When/if these spaces close, it's not just the audiences that suffer. It's the artists, too.
For example, Stacey Ann Chin is a Black/Chinese, queer woman from Jamaica (the island, not the one in NYC). I'm not sure Broadway would've put on her show back in 2005.
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