Arts Activities Support

Achieved artistic and audience goals. Saw representation of audience members identifying as Lebanese, Somali, Other Arab, European Americans, Latinx, South Asian, East Asian, African American, and Caribbean. We were very happy with the artistic outcome of our project. We wrote plays that delved deep into issues of "I Come from There" in terms of immigration, home, exile, and community. We worked with local community members to cull stories and present stories on stage. The actors came from our communities and many acted for the first time in their own stories. The audiences were representative of our communities and we had heartfelt conversations with them. It was an amazing experience artistically for all involved. We were so happy with the outcome. What didn't work: There was not a lot that didn't work, actually. I guess the only feedback would be that everyone wanted more in every way. More time to explore together, more performances, more connections and community. The experience was fantastic. I don't know that I would do much different if had the opportunity to do it again - maybe run the plays for two weekends and hire a stage manager. The only difference in the expected community and the actual community was the participation of Somali Americans as audience members. We did not predict so many Somalis would come to our show and participate in our audience. That was a great surprise. Also the Lebanese community, who almost never shows up for arts events came out in full force. The reason for both of these welcome surprises is that we involved members of both communities in the process of research and presentation, and we did some targeted outreach. It was a great surprise.