Ferguson Artist Gathering

The Ferguson Moment is not an organization. It is not an event, a play, a poem, an article, an idea. It has no shared agenda, just a shared community, and a shared desire to respond.

On Saturday August 9, 2014, Mike Brown, an unarmed black teenager, was shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. Artists from all over the United States quickly began connecting by phone, email, and social media over the ensuing militarized police action, protests, violence, and reconciliation taking place. Over the weekend of August 22-24, two weeks after Michael Brown was killed, five theater artists traveled from Ashland, Oregon; Boston, Mass; and New York City to St. Louis and Ferguson where they volunteered, created and saw work, and met with members of the community. The evening of Sunday, August 24th, over fifty artists, activists, and citizens met together to share their skills, stories, and artistic responses at the Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis.

St. Louis-based theater artists Jacqueline Thompson and Don McClendon participated in the #FergusonMoment gathering and workshop. In the workshop, Don's story of a recent moment of racial profiling was the basis of a short play that the group created and investigated. On Tuesday, September 2, Jacqueline interviewed Don about his experience in the gathering.

Jacqueline Thompson: How has the artist gathering impacted you artistically?

Don McClendon: At first, I thought this meeting would be like other meetings I have attended during the tumultuous time after Michael Brown's death at the hands of a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer. That this would be another well-intentioned gathering of artists, where vocal venting could be the only item on the unofficial agenda. But the Artist's Gathering at the Regional Arts Commission near the popular U City Loop on Delmar was more extraordinary than I ever imagined. I don't want to go into detail about every aspect of the different exercises used during the gathering/session, but I will say that after spending more than three hours with these talented artistic instructors and artists (like myself), I came away not just thinking or saying, “I've got to do something,” to more “I did not know I can be that expressive and effective in a group setting; that I can contribute to the brainstorming process intricately, bringing about creative development of a play, song, or movement.”

Jacqueline: What revelations or inspirations were discovered during the meeting?

Don: Connectivity was very prevalent with everyone involved or engaged in the exercises during the presentation. Almost everyone had a story to tell, a song to sing, a person they wanted to meet. There were also a few surprises; a well-known artistic director was there, whom I had never seen in an informal setting. That was a major coup as far as I was concerned, for him to be there and allow himself to be social and approachable, somewhat. Also included were a popular actor/professor and a theater critic of the city's only major newspaper. I discovered also, that I can sing a little bit, under the right conditions. I've always been very shy about singing and never really desired to. But after everyone was given the right to be comfortable in the space with new energy and positivity, I felt very comfortable, enough to try singing a few bars of opera—if, and only if, I knew a few bars.

Jacqueline: How were you impacted personally from the forum exercise?

Don: Personally, I felt closer to my colleagues that I had worked with previously on other performance projects, as well as those individual artists that I had never met. What could have been (and could be in the future) a huge networking opportunity in the artistic sense. Discovery was also found on a personal level, from tapping into those talents that I have not yet explored, and I hope to do so in the very near future. The development of a play was one of the standouts of the workshop. Little did I know that my experience with an “injustice” would evolve into a full-scale short play. It was the first time I really got a good look at that situation. Everyone played it out and contributed so well to the piece that I was almost brought to tears from seeing it come to fruition.

Jacqueline: Do you feel a stronger connection to the community from the workshop?

Don: Yes, I do. I feel a stronger connection just from being with like-minded people, who happen to be artists, who feel deeply and passionately about current events, and how those events affect the global community. How we can use our extensive talents, individually or collectively, to make great changes and an indelible difference in this new century. I believe from this tragedy will bring a wellspring of creativity in spoken word, dance, film, and stage. I hope to see more workshops of this kind come to St. Louis with more frequency. Workshops like this should be done on a regular basis to keep artists in touch with the community at large, our artistic counterparts, and colleagues.

Jacqueline: What projects are you working on or do you want to start as a result of this experience?

Don: I've started working again on two screenplays I'm trying to develop: one based on personal accounts of a family situation; the other based on my imagination dealing with a girl, a bag of money, and a painting. That idea came from a desire to write a great work of fiction. I also want to film a short based on my “injustice” and expand the film into a series of “injustices,” just to keep the conversation going about cultural differences, how and why we perceive one another, and what strides we can take to help this world that has become so disconnected from the human condition since 9/11. Technology, legislation, policy, and fear have been big contributors to the current state of our social relations with other human beings. There is no one leader in this case, but several acting in one unified effort to bring about positive results, minimizing or preventing another “Ferguson Moment.”

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All photos by Mica Cole.