SPEAKER_02 1:45

Welcome to another exciting episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we are thrilled to have Xavier Blake join us for an insightful conversation. Xavier is the new executive director of One Columbia for Arts in Columbia, South Carolina. With a rich background in public media and the arts, he brings a wealth of experience and passion to his role. Xavier Blake is a veteran of SCE TV, PBS, and the Nickelodeon Theater. We served as a community programming and engagement coordinator. Over the course of two decades at the South Carolina Educational Television Network, Xavier worked tireless tireless tirelessly, why can I say that? Worked tirelessly in the nonprofit public media, arts, and cultural sectors as both operations manager and assistant producer. His dedication to the arts is evident in his commitment to amplifying representative content and facilitating meaningful community conversations. Xavier is highly skilled in programming, creative ideation, and organizational development, making him a perfect fit for leading OneCombia's mission to support the arts and culture community in Columbia, South Carolina. OneColumbia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advising, amplifying, and advocating for a unified arts and culture community. Some of their primary goals include improving the quality of life for citizens, attracting tourists, and highlighting the vibrant historic landscapes by fostering collaboration within the arts community. Join us as we delve deeper into the art sector with Xavier Blake. How are you doing today, my brother?

SPEAKER_04 3:23

I'm doing all right. You know, it's you know, it's uh we're in the first week of November, so elections are over, so it's a trying time for a lot of us.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Like this. Woohoo! You know that's over with.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

You know, also on November 1st, you know, Sacliner uh executed Richard Moore. Yeah. You know, so it's it's it's you know, I think as a as a content, I'm an artist myself, and so as a creative, you know, it you have sometimes gotta take a step back and and rest. Um, you know, so yeah, so I was resting this week for sure. That's a good thing. Something for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

When I first woke up this morning, I was like, dang, this was the hardest week in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

It was bad.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Like in every Monday Wednesday, I'm like almost didn't make it past Wednesday, too y'all too.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

There's some other stuff going on outside. Almost did not make it past Wednesday. That was gonna be the end of my butt, but you know what?

SPEAKER_04 4:09

I think this is also the time when artists create.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

You know, I think it's a time when artists work. I think it's a time when artists kind of um you know tell our stories and shape, you know, the the world we want to see. So it's also an exciting time.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah. So we've seen you at a ton of events out here um in the art community, um, part events that you've supported. But um a lot of our audience don't know exactly about your background, your upbringing. So tell us what it was like as a child growing up.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Yeah, I grew up in a small town called Bamberg, South Carolina. Bamberg, we got two stoplights, you know, one of those like one of those flashing stoplights, you know, so you can get past that one pretty easy. Um, but uh, but I was a middle child.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Um it's the middle child and the stoplights. The stoplights, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

No, no, today. That's what we're saying.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

Um yeah, so I you know I had a really, really good childhood. You know, my parents were fantastic, and uh, my grandparents were around for most of my life, um, real small, close-knit community. Um, I do it a thousand times over again.

SPEAKER_05 5:08

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 5:09

Um played a lot of sports coming up through high school. Um never really thought about what I want to do when I grew up. I always thought I'd be a professional baseball player. Um of course those things don't ever work out the way they should. Yeah. Um but um but I'm happy with the path I've I've I've come down for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Excellent, excellent.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

How's your rotator cup? You know, you're gonna be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

I tore my uh quad, my senior year of college. And so um that kind of Where'd you go to college? I went to Newberry College, small school in the upstate. Great baseball school, though. Yeah, yeah, I loved it. It was great, man. I like I said, uh it was a fantastic time. Actually, I had homecoming this past weekend, my 25th anniversary. Um, and it was wonderful. And so um, and I learned a lot there too, and uh learned a lot about building relationships uh at school, too, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Awesome, man.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Awesome, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Well, all right, so I know you said you're a middle child, so you you have siblings. Yeah how many?

SPEAKER_04 5:57

I got an older brother and a younger sister, um, uh Greg and Felicia. Um they're uh fantastic. Uh my sister lives here in Columbia. Uh my brother lives in Buford. Uh he was also in the Marines, so always thank him for his service. Oh, amazing. Actually, my uh my partner's also a retired Army veteran. Oh wow. And actually, both of my kids are uh in the Air Force, and so we're kind of a military family. Shut the front door. Yeah, yeah. Um so my daughter actually just uh got orders to go to South Korea where she just landed this morning. I talked to her just before I came in here. So I'm really excited about that. Yeah, really proud. And my son's in uh North Dakota. Uh he's uh doing fantastic, and um I'm just really proud of both of them as well. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Man, that's man, that's awesome, man. That's that's so cool to hear. All right, my fault. That's one cool thing about being on this podcast. Of course, we we're trying to focus towards uh millennials and younger, older young, don't matter where you are in the spectrum of millennials, try to listen to see how people live life, how you deal with with certain aspects, how you even be an adult, right? Sure. Yeah. And it's always cool to hear people who have matured and are raising a family, and put because a lot of us be like, how do you do that again?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, because I'm like to your bio, you seem very structured. Where does the creativeness come in to play?

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Um I'm not very structured, my partner would tell you. Um I'm very very all over the place. And so so when I joined ETV out of college, uh, my first job, um, I joined the floor crew, and so I was kind of a cameraman, floor director, you know, audio lighting, and I kind of progressed through that career um and kind of became kind of a producer, shooter, a lead lead videographer. Um and so I really fell in love with storytelling. Um I I think there's really a there's really something that happens when you tell somebody's story um genuinely and with care um that gives you an introway into that person's life to make sure you understand that person a lot better. Um the the power of storytelling is something I think can really unite us as a people. Um, I think it can really calm a lot of the world's ills. Um I think uh art and storytelling kind of was the tie that binds us all together. And so I I really kind of fell in love with that. So that's the kind of the creative where the creativity comes from for me. Just the uh the the joy and being able to put somebody's story out there and tell it.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

So you really know all aspects of storytelling now.

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I really um I was fortunate to work with a uh a lady named Beryl Dakers who's a is a star worth in the public media sector. Um and she was one of the she was actually the first black news reporter for WIS back in the day. And um, she worked at PBS for a long time. And so I would go on a lot of shoots with her and sit, you know, interviews she would do with people and watch how she told their stories and collected information, and it was just beautiful. Um so I take a lot of how I try to capture stories from her. Um, you know, I I think sometimes when people try to tell stories, you want you have an idea of what you want to talk about. You know, you have a a plan, you have a story you want to tell, and you go in kind of with those preconceived notions sometimes. But I've I've found that when you're trying to really tell somebody a story, you have to listen first.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

Um I try to be a really, really active listener, which has really kind of helped me in this role at One Columbia because um this past year I've been doing a lot of listening about needs for the community and what people um think we hit need to have to help. Um, go to the arts and culture sector here in the city. Um so active listening is something that I think is also a big part of storytelling, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Man, uh with you saying that, and this is interesting, because what what's one of the things that you've learned when you're telling, like trying to tell somebody's story that using active listening that you need to pay attention to to make sure you get the most impact?

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Um I think caring about their story, like care and empathy is something I think um humanity is something I'm really big on as well. Um, you know, seeing people who they are and where they are. Um, not trying to put yourself in on that person, but literally walking in their shoes. Um, you know, uh we did a project uh a while back when I was at ETV, it was um called the Rule of RSC. And so we were doing this story about all these arts communities in these rural towns. Um and so we went to Allendale County, um, really poor area, um, internet not great, you know, a lot of issues. Yeah, you know, food deserts, you know, all the other areas that small um towns have. Um but they had created this wonderful program where they were having kids come to this one house and and uh use the internet. They were getting tutoring. Um and I learned telling that story that you can't think about what people don't have. You have to think about what people do have and how they've used those resources to um to prosper. Um a lot of times we think the worst of things are areas that, you know, and y'all talking about two notch earlier, you're about to talk about two notch, right? But I thought to Tony's point earlier, I think there are there are plenty of things on two-notch that are fantastic. Yeah. And so we have to look at it not from a deficit standpoint, from a scarcity standpoint, but from a from a from a uh abundance. Abundance standpoint, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Is the cup half empty or half?

SPEAKER_04 10:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. But but I think that helps a lot too, even with resources for you know arts and culture, right? You know, I think a lot of times we all try to grab our our resources and keep them to ourselves because we don't want to not have them. Um but for me, I feel like the more we share, the more we communicate with each other, the more we connect and collaborate, you know, we kind of build that web, that spider web, and that's really uh can buoy us all.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

The ecosystem. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

We've had our own ecosystem in the arts. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Is that one of the hardships that you that you faced and trying to overcome is trying to create that ecosystem?

SPEAKER_04 11:21

Yeah, I think sometimes I said it's it's a mindset thing, right? I think when you've when you've always not had enough, you always think it's never gonna be enough. Yep. You know, and so and I think trying to change that mindset for people to really build true community and real community um and collaborate. Like I said, I'm I'm you know, I I I never thought about being an artist administrator. I never thought about being an executive director. Um, because I worked in public media for two decades um in Columbia, South Carolina, and then I took a job in upstate New York for a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

It was in Troy, New York. Um so um I was the uh content and engagement manager. Um so literally it was a job description that I had written when I was in town because um, you know, uh during the pandemic in 2020, I noticed that a lot of content um for public media wasn't very diverse. Yeah I felt like you know, public media is supposed to be public media for all. We should be telling everybody's stories. Um and so I I did a lot of audit of a lot of our content, and I there were a lot of voices missing, you know, women, people of color, you know, LGBTQ. Um and so I I decided that we needed to create a position that managed all of that and kind of watched our content and made sure we were including everybody. Um so I proposed that position to my my station here in Columbia. Um they liked it, but they didn't want to do it quite yet.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Funding. Well, when you hear that funding, where is that money gonna come from?

SPEAKER_04 12:40

Yeah, right. Um and so a buddy of mine had gotten a job in New York. Uh he was he became the vice president of content at the station in New York. I sent him a job description. Um they really liked it. They flew me up for an interview.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Wait, hold it, hold it out for an interview.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Hold it, hold it. I you gotta say this part, all right? Because again, processes. What do you mean? I wrote a job description and sent it to because like first of all, that blows their mind. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Well, because I think, you know, I got I do a lot of career days, right? And everybody wants to like what do you want to be when you grow up, right? And and I think I had decided after being there for you know a couple decades that I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I got to know exactly what my North Star is. I understand like why my my my purpose for being is, I think. And that came from through a lot of processes and self-reflection. Um so I think when you can decide, like when you understand what you want to do, you figure out how to make that something people will uh pay you for. You leverage what you what you're good at. There's a there's a a Japanese thing called Icky Guy, and it's a reason for being. And so it's like what you're good at, what the world needs, and what somebody will pay you to do, and what gives you joy. And it's these these four principles that decide how you go about your life. And um, and so that kind of really stuck with me. And so I I I realized that there was a a a space that needed filling. Um, so I wrote a job description. Yo, so you alright, so you wrote the job description.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

I mean, but you're at the time you were unemployed, so you're not like consulting or something.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

No, no, so I was I was still in the floor at the station at ETV here in Columbia. Um but uh but I was not wanting to hear this process. But I was in the building and like I would I was going in these shoots and I was doing all this really great content and I was telling all these wonderful stories, and uh, we had taken a trip to Africa in 2019 to do a documentary. Uh-huh. Um it's called Gulla Roots, and we talked about the connection. Yeah. So you worked on it? Yeah, I was producer of that.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

He's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Okay, my fault.

SPEAKER_04 14:46

Oh wow. So we we went over there and we came back and and I realized that you know these are the stories that I wanted to tell, and this is the this is the the things that I wanted to do in this space. Uh-huh. And because it wasn't exist. Didn't exist. Um and so yeah. So I I I said, I want to start shifting towards storytelling this way because the world needs to hear these stories. Um I wrote a job description.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

It's gonna blow our audience's mind and just write a job description.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

But but but you can.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

Like you can why why can't you not?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Oh, because they're always missing pieces in someone's company.

SPEAKER_04 15:19

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

But like who how do you know who to give it to? I gave it up.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

I gave it, I gave it to the the HR, the senior vice president of HR, I gave it to the assistant journey manager by the station, and I gave it to the station manager.

SPEAKER_06 15:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

Um and and I and I had a lot of I don't know, credibility built up in the station because I haven't been there for decades. Yeah, it matters. Um I I'd been doing really good work. Um and so they understand and I've and I've been kind of preparing myself to be in more of a leadership position as well.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Um and so I'd I'd taken the you have you have to take a leap to kind of bet on yourself sometimes, I think. Yeah. And so I had kind of done some leadership training. Yeah, I'd done some leadership training, and I've done some things that I that I knew I could provide, and I knew what my my value was.

SPEAKER_06 16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

And I knew my value wasn't in the job that I was doing, but in the job that I could do. Um and I guess also, too, it wasn't even about me getting a new position. It was about something that needed that needed to happen for us to be a better place for everybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So even if the job wasn't mine, positioning needs to be a thing in this space. And you're making a make basically making an opportunity or making a way for anybody. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

So do you get paid for that for creating an opportunity?

SPEAKER_02 16:27

I did not.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

I did not. Honestly, though. I didn't. Um, so so that's when I decided I needed to think about maybe going somewhere else. Um, you know, I you know, I I I wanted more for myself because I knew I had more to give.

SPEAKER_06 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:42

Um, and I didn't think I was gonna be able to give it in that space.

SPEAKER_06 16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Um, so again, I got my buddy got a job in New York. Uh he said, hey, I said, what do you think of this job prescription? He said, I think it looks fantastic. He gave it to his CEO. Um, they called me, asked me to come up for an interview. We flew up for a couple days, interviewed, talked with everybody in the building. Um, by the time I left to go to the airport to come home, they'd offered me a job. Dang.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

That's what I'm talking about. He raised the bar so high on the flight there and to the flight back.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

They know if they were the they weren't gonna find anything else that can fit.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

Man, and literally I never I never lived out of South Carolina, I never worked anywhere else in my life. That was the first time. I packed up and moved to moved 14 hours away to Troy, New York.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Wow. And since then, how has your life changed? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

It's been great because it I think the the main thing it taught me again, I think, is sometimes we all don't know what our value is. Um you can get really comfortable in a place um because I was really comfortable. My job was fine. And I didn't it was it was fine. No, yeah, I mean it was fine. Um but I was in need of growth. Um and I think sometimes you have to, you know, step out sometimes to find that growth. It was terrifying, you know, it was hard. But that's the beauty when you make yourself uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah. I moved, my family stayed, um, you know, so they all kind of my wife would come up, my partner would come up. No, she would come up for a couple weeks at a time and then come back down. Our kids stayed here. Um so it was difficult.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah, I was about to say that has to be a hard decision.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

But it was it was the it was the best thing in the world. The station I went to was called WMHT. Um mostly white area, but they were so welcoming and they were so willing to listen to my ideas. Um, I remember being in my first meeting, and I and I said something, and everybody's like, yes, we're gonna do that. I was like, wait a minute. I said something and they're gonna do that. I don't have to fight you? I don't gotta, I don't give a, and so it was amazing. So um they were thirsting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I stayed there for eight months. Um uh we moved back because we had some family things going on, and we needed to move back to South Carolina, and so I decided that I was gonna move back regardless of whether or not I found a job or not, because we just needed to be back in South Carolina. Yeah. Um and so we we made the decision to move back. Um, and then I was the uh the board chair of the Nickelodeon Theater for a little while. Yeah, the Nick Theater, yeah. Um and so I knew they had a need. They needed a content and engagement person too. Yeah. So they had a job opening that I kind of helped craft, reached out and came back for that job in Nickelodeon because I knew they needed, they needed a person that could engage the community in a different space that they hadn't engaged in before.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

So, content creation, there are a lot of jobs for it. Can you explain the difference in those jobs?

SPEAKER_04 19:16

So it was content creation, content management, like Yeah, so you know, content to me, content creation is I I'm a content creator, so I I I produce, I shoot, I edit. But but content management was more like the job in New York for me was I had five producers that that worked my my uh direct reports. Um I would talk with them about their stories, and then they would bring a story to me, we would talk about the theme, we talk about why the story was, we talk about who the voices were in that story. And so I helped them manage their stories in terms of what that story would look like. Um being a complete story. You know, where you're not just one-sided, you're not just talking from you know point of view.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Correct.

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Okay. So that was kind of the content management part of it. Okay. And then I also engaged the community in terms of like going out and doing events. Um we did this really cool event um uh under this bridge where they painted this incredible mural to kind of bridge some of the communities. We had you know five restaurants from different diverse uh backgrounds do food, we showed a documentary, and we had a conversation around documentary. And so like that's also kind of that's content uh management, engagement, all that stuff kind of wraps up into one. Because I think that is where the beauty of content creation um makes sense, right? I agree with you. You create content from the community, right? Yeah. You create content from the community, for the community, and then they engage in that conversation around the content. Right, right. Um and I also think that you know when you're when you're creating content, if you can have the best idea in the world. It can be it can be the best idea that anybody's ever come up with. And you can take that idea to a community, but if they haven't been involved in coming up with that idea, they can care less about it. Zero buy-in. So if you're creating content or if you're trying to do something for a community, and that's kind of where this that helps me and this role I'm in now, because if I'm trying to do something for our community in Columbia, I can't think about the arts and culture space without first engaging my community to see what the community thinks we should have. What kind of mural should we make? What kind of public art should we create? What kind of spaces needed to kind of make it a better place for for all people? Um, you know, and and coming from a public media background, you know, public media was created because everybody couldn't afford cable, right? Good point. Yeah, that's what I was saying. So you could get you could get Sesame Street with your antenna. Yeah, right? Yeah. So access. So to me, also, you know, access is something that's really, really important to me. I'm from Bamberg. Accessibility. Ain't much happening in Bamberg. No, no, they don't want to put high speed up in there. Like I never knew, no, I never knew like being a producer or being an arts administrator or being an executive director was a job, let alone you know, something I could do for a living. Yeah. You know, so it's really important to me to make sure everybody has access to understand what you can be if you can if you want to be. Capability. Yeah, yeah. So when New York came back and came back to Nickelodeon, uh, and New York job was fantastic. The people were there were great. Um, they really embraced um some of the changes I wanted to make in terms of their content and storytelling.

SPEAKER_05 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:07

Um, and I'll tell you the best part about it was when I got there, there was this young lady named Nicole who was on my one of my direct reports, and I sat down with her for my first meeting and we talked, and I said to her, they didn't need to hire me. You could have been doing this job. Right? Say so. Full circle. When I left, the job had been created, so it was there.

SPEAKER_05 22:26

Oh get that job.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

Nicole got that job.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Yeah, I hope her salary was raised. It was. That's all good. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Yeah, and so like and so that to me is the idea of like when you create space, it did create an opportunity. Created an opportunity, right? It's not your space. Yeah. Right? Yeah, and so and that and that's that's how I try to move about the world where you get to a space, it's not yours. You're there for a moment. You make it, you make it a place where somebody can come in and fill that space up. A person of color, a woman, whoever. Um, but I think that's important to realize that the space you hold is not yours.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah. Because we will think, you know, that's when you get pigmented. I created this, I did this, all this work I put in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Yes, yes. I mean, I'm I'm a huge believer in man what you put in, the things you get out of it. Um, and so yeah, so anyway, I came up to Nickelodeon, I was there for six months. Um, and then one Columbia, um, Marjorie, who you know, yeah. Um uh they called and said they had a job opening, job been open for almost 11 months. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah, yeah, because she was an interim.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Correct. They've been for a long time. And so it's like, hey, do you want to apply for this job? And I said no. You said no? Absolutely. I had changed jobs, I know I I had I had changed jobs three times in tomatoes' face right now. It's killing me. Four times. I was like, I'm not interested. Oh, you didn't want. I I said, I didn't I don't too much change. I'm trying to find out where we're gonna live. I'm good. Um hung the phone up, called back again. Oh wow. Just send us your resume.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Please.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

I sent him a resume that wasn't even updated. Like literally, I was like, trying to say something. Um I interviewed with the board chair, um, and then Margie and I sat down and we talked about what it would mean for me to be in this position. Um Margie's been doing arts administration for over 40 years. Um and she talked about the lack of diversity in it. She talked about the lack of uh different perspectives in it. She talked about lack of you know, black men in university. Um and literally, you know, she talked me into taking this job because I thought it could be a good space for me to create space in Colorado for others. Wow. That's a true story. Like I like literally, I I mean, and I hate to, I'm not the I didn't need this job. I'm really I'm really glad I'm here because I've I've been able to really meet some incredible people. Um, you know, I I I've watched your podcast and some of your guests, yeah. I I know because we met through me having this job. Um, and I see the incredible work that people are really putting in um to make Columbia a space where everybody's welcome, first of all. Yeah, yeah, where all voices are being heard. Um and it's a vibrant, you know, bustling, hustling um arts and thriving community. And you wouldn't think a lot of people don't think it is. Oh man, man, there is so much going on in Columbia. And because everybody invites me to everything. So that's how I know there's so much going on. So literally, if I wanted to go somewhere every night of the week, I could.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

You're the real plug. He's the real plug. Because let me tell you, everybody wants Columbia to promote their event so they would send it to him.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

I'm telling you, there's something every night. And it's not just something that's just like that, it's something dope. Um so event. No, no, no. There's so many incredible creatives in town. And I do think part of what I'm hoping to continue doing is to open that door for more creatives. You know, a lot of stuff happens sometimes in downtown or on Main Street, and sometimes that place is not always as diverse to many people as you want to. So trying to open that market to other people and people understand what's going on is something I'm really, really interested in.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

And I like the fact that you guys are, you know, creating certain projects for people, artists to work on, the murals and stuff in Columbia. That's all one Columbia.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Yeah, yeah. You know, one thing we did, so the city, uh, the city, there's an old police substation on the corner of the Taylor Street Garage on Assembly and Taylor.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

There was an old police substation in there where they had like a police substation where cops would sit to kind of make sure everybody wasn't doing anything wrong. And so it was been empty for like over two years, maybe longer than that. And so the mayor and I talked about it. He's like, hey, well, it's empty. Do you do you think you could use it? It's like, yeah, we could use it. So the city leased it to us for free. It's about a thousand square feet. And so we we put a call out and we turned it into an artist incubator. So we put three artists in there that are working and creating work. Um, and they get to be in there for a year, no rent. Wow. Because the city gave us the building for free. Wow. We found sponsors to pay the light bill and pay the internet and furniture for us. And the artists get a space to create for a year. So we got that building for five years. So you're talking about being able to serve, you know, 15, 20 artists over that five year span. Um and it and and the one thing that artists told me when I first started was like there was really not a lot of space to work. Yeah. Space to shut down, closed down. Yeah, oh, but I've heard a lot about T. Um, but but I do think it shows how if you want to think about supporting artists, maybe it's not always money, right? It can be a a partnership between, you know, city government, yeah, City of Columbia, you know, a nonprofit, one Columbia, and private businesses to sponsor sponsorship to pay for some of the stuff inside. So it's not a one-prong approach to kind of tackling this problem. Um we're really trying to figure out really, you know, creative ways to kind of serve our really creative artists in town.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Yeah. Yeah, you gotta make Columbia exciting, you know, like Greenville and New York and Yeah, I'll tease.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

I'm gonna tease this. And I'll my wife she likes to say this too, but she's right. She's like, Columbia's one of the wackiest capital cities. She's like, all the other capital cities got public restrooms and places you can bring your family to, and you don't have to like try to. And I'm like, it's gonna change. It's gonna change.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

And I've been really um pleased with the support I've gotten from the city. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Um, I think that's how when you said free.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

I'm like, and it was kind of the Mary Rickman's idea. You know, like he you know, he's like, oh, we've got this space. Like, well, let me get it. But I realized that the one thing I also realized is that you don't have to have all the ideas, right? Like, if you give an artist an empty building and let them fill it up with their creativity, their ideas, they'll turn it into something spectacular. Now then you gotta fight the justification of it because sometimes when you I mean I'm just being honest, like sometimes you give somebody a space in the in the neighborhood, like even like in Tunach, you can just find the space in Tunach and they turn it into this Mecca and restaurants pop up and then all things pop up, then all of a sudden price values go up. And then somebody else wants it. It happened in Brooklyn. You saw it in Brooklyn, it happened in Ment Stock. You know, it happens, it happened in New York, a lot of places in New York where these areas that they they gave to artists because nobody wanted to be there, they turn them into these ground zones and everything. They turn them into these crowded places. And so that's something to try to fight against when we start doing these things in Columbia. Because I I feel really excited about what the future looks like. Um, you know, I I I believe this this one little small one we have is gonna be really, really good. And I can use this as a model to show the city or to show private business owners they have businesses that they want to, you know, do this sort of thing, maybe not free, but maybe, you know, half price to rent. You know, kind of subsidize subsidizing.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Or the same way you would a corporation or any other entity that's out to make business.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

No, we're talking. And and and I think we don't always see arts as economic drivers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

But it is. It always has been. It's a hundred percent economic drivers. And you go back to ancient culture. Correct. That's why people would support and you would have donors or funders for artists because they knew that the artists would bring in other economic drivers. Absolutely. You know, when somebody comes to town and they like, you know, uh my good friend Dr.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

John Dozier at Columbia College said last week, you know, when people come to town and they have a little bit of money, the first thing you want to do is go see a show. Yes. They want to maybe buy a piece of art. Uh-huh. Um, so you have to have those things in place to support that ecosystem as well. Uh-huh. And our artists do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Do you know any of the data um about arts in Colombia? What's the numbers looking like?

SPEAKER_04 30:20

I do, but I I I don't have it on my brain. Um, but the numbers are there. Um there's there is there is data that shows um how much um the arts infuse our uh business uh our economic uh ecosystem in Columbia. There's numbers there. Um, I can maybe get a couple of those numbers later on, maybe we can share some kind of data on your website or something. But there's numbers there. Um the arts commission did an incredible report about the state of South Carolina, and those numbers are incredible. I think it was in the billions of dollars that the arts bring in to South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

It does it elsewhere.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

So the problem is that money is not always uh reinfused back into the arts, right? Um, you know, uh the budgeting process of the state such that the arts only get, I think, three million dollars to the arts commission every year for their budget. I think that maybe you're right, don't quote me on that. But it brings in, but it brings in a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

But it brings more than what they put in. That's the point. Like you should feed it more based on what it's giving you.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Right, because y'all that means you don't value us. Technically, when you think about it.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

You sound like right now you sound like Cornell West when he says your budget is a reflection of your moral and you're a thousand percent correct.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

You put your money where your your value is. Yeah. Um, and I think that is the kind of the conversation I'm trying to have with with artists. You know, I've been to more city council meetings in the last year than I'd like. Um but but I do think I think more people should come to city council meetings. Yeah. Um, you know, I think artists should come to city council meetings.

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I learned that in Charleston. When I I um I was very politically involved in Charleston uh before I moved up here. And there's a gentleman down there, works in one of the neighborhoods, Earth Frazier. Um, and what he used to tell me, I think he used to be making honor because I would come to meet and he said, You always out here walking in the street, fighting these people, hugging trees, laying down against cops and stuff like that. He said, Why aren't you at these meetings on Tuesday? I said, Because I'm in the street. He said, Get your behind to these meetings on Tuesdays when I'm talking about these things. And when I ask, hey, who's sitting support with me, you can actually stand up and show them that I actually have support for what I want to do in the community. And I realized what he was saying was so real. I would go to these meetings and his side of the, he'll be talking about things, I'll stand up and stuff and give him support. And they'll have other groups from there from different boroughs in the city. And a lot of the, I guess, more well-off boroughs, the folks would talk about what they wanted, and they would have a whole group of people there supporting. Yes. And the city will go, all right, we're gonna give them the money. This is true.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Just like that. Just like that. And support.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

You can sign up and speak for three minutes at City Council anytime you want. You can talk about whatever you want to talk about. You know, so if you know, if 10 artists came and signed up every Tuesday and talking about the importance of arts for Columbia.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

So, how does One Columbia partner with other organizations like maybe the Ernest Finney Center?

SPEAKER_04 32:58

Uh yeah, Nikki's a good friend of mine.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

I've heard of Gemini. Have you heard of Gemini?

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Yeah, I heard of Gemini, Gemini and Ron Hagel, yeah, I know John, I know, I know all those folks. So so we, so, so One Columbia um, we will partner with most anyone. Um, we do a lot of stuff with um uh other organizations around town because we don't have a ton of funding. So we can promote your organization, we can certainly provide support for that kind of thing. Um and so we we are open, because like I said, like I said in the beginning, the one thing that I realize is that if anything gets moved in any space, it's gotta be together. Um so so we're certainly open to um uh having those conversations with people to see how we can help. Um we got some things we're we're we're tenderly planning in the new year that I think will be um I don't want to talk about it quite yet. Why not? Why we can't get the draw? I want I won't talk about it quite yet, but um, but it but it's uh it's it's in the spring next year that I I think. Will you let us know about it? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Don't forget about us. I think it'll be good. Um and it's gonna be a it's gonna be a really, really, really collaborative effort. I'll put it like that. Okay. We'll wait for it. And so and so I and so I, you know, because one Columbia, when I joined, like it we are called One Columbia. So when I think about it, like, okay, one Columbia, like everybody, because we do have the ability to touch all disciplines and all spaces, right? We're not necessarily a theater company, we're not a dance company, we're not a um visual arts, we're not poetry. We are we are all everything, yeah. Artists and cultural individual artists, organizations, all that stuff. And so we have the ability to be able to bind all those things together. And so that's the one thing we I'm really trying to lean into is to try to let people know that they can come to us, we can talk about your ideas, and we can see how you can work with everybody else to make those ideas a reality.

SPEAKER_06 34:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

For sure. Man, that's awesome. That's awesome. I guess one last question before we get into the point of letting you just, you know, do your socials and stuff like that, shameless plugs. And we didn't get to ask anybody else's question, but I gotta bother you with this because Lee, I know this is gonna be a good one. Yeah, how do you balance work and personal life? Because see, this is a question I want to have, because we want to be able to go home and chill and relax. Um, how do you do that? It's hard.

SPEAKER_04 35:03

Um, especially in this work. You know, uh my work is really steeped in you know diversity and equity and inclusion, and that work never stops. Um but you have to really, really prioritize, prioritize yourself. Um, and I think sometimes that's still difficult for me. Um my partner will tell you that I don't always, she's fussing at me this morning when I was headed over here, it's like you need to be resting. Um, sorry. No, no, no, no, no, no, because this is important to me because I think y'all like I've seen y'all's podcast and I'm a fan of it, so I was really honored to be a part of it. Thank you. Um but I think it's a it's a matter of really being selfish with your time. Um I I think the older I get, you know, I turned 47 last month. Um Black don't cry. Um I re I I realized that, you know, life is short and and I do enjoy this work and it does give me energy, but I can't do it if I'm tired.

SPEAKER_06 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

Um, I you know, I I meditate almost every day. Um I'm not afraid to take a nap. Um I bought me one of those eye mask things, those blackout eye mask, and I'll put it on at 12 o'clock in the afternoon and get on the couch and go to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

And you're also a runner, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Uh yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

We have a runner.

SPEAKER_04 36:10

Well, you know, I pulled my calf about three, four months ago as an old man healed slowly. So yeah, so I've been jumped, so I'm I've been walking, trying to get back into it. But um, yeah, I used to run a half a marathon on my birthday every year. Wow. And so I and I I did that for the last because I hadn't done it in the last two or three years, but I used to go out and run 13 miles every year. And um and running does help. You know, I do think it is important to to get outside. Um people always say touch some grass. Yeah. Grounding. Yeah, grounding. Super important with the electricity run through you. And and no breathing techniques, I use a lot of those. I love breathing techniques. You know, because like I said, it it you know, when when you know, and I'll I'll I'll backtrack on that, I'll wrap it up. But like when 2020 happened and the pandemic happened, I realized that I've been spinning and spinning and working and working and working, and then the world stopped. You know, and and and I really took that to heart to kind of take the time and appreciate, you know, where I was, you know, what I was, why it was. Um, and I really dove into like, like I said, why I wanted to be and what I wanted to do in this world we all share. Um and so I and I always tell people my my North Star is very clear to me, and so that's why I'm really comfortable like being in different spaces whenever I need to be there. Like I, you know, I this is gonna sound terrible, I'm not quitting one Columbia, but a space doesn't define me. Job doesn't define me. Yeah, um I define myself and I take that wherever I go, right? And so that's why I was really comfortable kind of changing jobs three times in a year, because I was like, you know, I am who I am and what I am, I infuse that into the place that I go. Yeah. Um and so yeah, I and then it took a, you know, like I said, it took 47 years to get here, 46 years to get here, but um I'm extremely comfortable in self. I like that you say that.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

I'm glad he said your age because you said you changed jobs three times. By that time, usually most people are already into their career. So are stay where they're at so they could get that social security retirement and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 38:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was a state job I left. You know, I literally, if I was stayed five more years, I could have retired at 50 and been drawing money out of it. But again, my fault look like this. Yeah, but but again, it was a it was a really tough decision. But and this is for young people. I I think if you're at a place, this is for every people, if you're at a place and that place no longer values what you contribute, you leave. Immediately you leave. Um and Kendra. And I and and I and I just and I think that's I think that's true, and I and it's and it's so hard for us, especially um you know black people as well. Like I it was a by there that don't you quit that ghost thing. We all yeah. And so and so, especially for us because we feel like you know, we have to hold on to what we have, but there's some things that are way more important.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

And better.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

I think it goes to what you were saying earlier with us having a scarcity mindset instead of an abundance mindset. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We got to have that. Well, I always say people people know your worth. They just hope you don't.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Ooh. Kind of that's the mic drop right there.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Yeah, we're gonna put that on a shirt.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

But um if you don't.

SPEAKER_04 39:07

Yeah, it's just true. It's true. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Just to wrap up, how can everyone's get in contact with you, follow you, support One Columbia?

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Yeah, it's good. So we are about to start our end of the year fundraising campaign. Um so we we we're we're gonna uh uh have some some fundraising letters going out, some donation calls going out, which would be great. Um onecolumbia.com is our our website, um, which is also getting the update. It needs a new update, but anyway, um my uh uh OneColumbia on social media, on Facebook, on Instagram. Um I'm at Zay Blake on Instagram, uh Twitter, and threads. Um I you know, uh you're welcome to have my cell phone number. I don't know if I should give it on a podcast, I might get in trouble, but like I'm accessible. Like I tip all the time.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

I ain't got no problem.

SPEAKER_04 39:49

I'm accessible. It's 803-528-1791. Boom. Um, you know, I I'm maybe not on the weekends, but uh, but I but I do believe you can't build community unless you're in it. Um so that's where I'm at. Well you're real dealing with it.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah, I like that. This is a good episode. We got to bring you back.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Yeah, we got to bring you back. We'll we'll talk about some other things. But um as we wrap up today, um, I do want to let people know that we're so so uh grateful um to be hosting this show at Celeb Studios at 224 O'Neill Court, Columbia, South Carolina. Uh, we want to thank Chef Jay and Nate for allowing us to be in this space and use this beautiful space to uh give light and bring light to a lot of cool folks in our community and the the makers and shakers of of what goes on with what we like to do and what we like to see. Um just as a heads up, be sure to reach out to them if you do want to use the space they do, uh run out and use it for event and and catering as well, which is done out of this space. Um, good number to call is gonna be 803-665-5262, or you can also call 803-667-I'll be 9058. Um, and other than that, I'm gonna let you know, man, I'm DJ and what?

SPEAKER_06 41:00

Tamaya in the background.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Screw up. And we got now you're gonna we're gonna populate, we're gonna double the interns. We got Kendra and Anthony working with us today, and also our esteemed guest, Xavier.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

I will add real quickly, thank you both for doing what you do. Like I said, I'm a fan of the podcast. Like I watch it. You guys have great conversations, you bring on people that are really doing amazing things in the city, and I think these kind of spaces build the kind of world and community we all want to have. So thank you both. No problem.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

I appreciate you, man. We feel good, man. Golly, man. If I was, if I was light-skinned or white, man, I'd be blessed right now, be all red in the face. I'm horrible, man. You already know that. You watch the podcast. But man, I love my people. I'm gonna let you know, like this. Man, tell somebody next to them that you love them, that you appreciate them, and that you cherish them. Until the next episode, it's the Hilltop Glove Podcast signing out. Peace.