song in this world you only need one song to live your life like you visualize a
philanthropist I take it nothing never giving up on the love tip let your light
shine like the sunshine a celebration no separation you got a love song I got a
love song we in the love song
Hello lovely people.
This is Stacey Frazier pronouns are she and they I really appreciate you tuning in
to Koope radio co -op radio and the monthly show That I host called racism on
the levels this is part of the Austin Cooperative Radio Hour collective and the
purpose of the show is how
to explore how the man -made construct of race operates at the internal,
interpersonal, cultural, institutional, and systemic levels with a focus on
creative possibilities for a liberated future.
I am a justice movement weaver, a facilitator, a guide, a Kingian
nonviolence trainer, and mother to a radiant five -year -old named Rumi.
This show's purpose is to hold space.
for storytelling, information sharing with greater Austin area folks who center
equity, liberation, justice, and solidarity.
Be they healers, guides, storytellers, experimenters, frontline responders,
visionaries, builders, caregivers, and or disruptors.
Shout out to Deepa Iyer for framing these roles within the social change map.
So the views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Co -op Board of
Directors, staff, volunteers, or underwriters.
We are broadcasting recorded on stolen indigenous land and indigenous people, the
Tonkoa, the Coiltacan, Comanche, Sana, Humanos, and many other peoples faced
inconceivable losses and attempted a ratio due to violent settler colonialism.
and this show centers justice.
So I want to take a moment as I do every show to acknowledge that truth and to ask
you to think about how you can engage in active reparations and join me in those
reclamation efforts.
So my show today, I originally had two guests.
One guest is here in spirit.
Hi, Rochelle out there.
Hopefully you're tuning in.
So I'm gonna be the messenger for an announcement that Rochelle wanted to make
and also to play one of Rochelle Tyrell's songs and later in the show.
Sitting here in the flesh next to me is Tyra Clark.
So Tyra, welcome to the show and thank you for coming and holding space with me
today.
Peace and blessings.
Thank you so so much Stacey for having me and it's an honor.
Thank you.
So we're going to dive into your work, Tyra, momentarily, but I do want to put on
folks radar a couple of upcoming community events and announcements.
The first actually came from Rochelle Terrell, who again, couldn't be here today
in person, but this event is happening tomorrow.
It is HEAL.
It's the first annual health.
Equity Advocacy and Leadership Summit.
And that's taking place at H .T.
Houston Tillotson University from eight to five.
It's free for the public to attend.
And the focus on this summit will be.
Health Equity Advocacy Leadership, Cultivating Authentic Collaboration for
Health Equity Initiatives within Medicare and Medicaid, with emphasis on
implementing practical strategies to address disparities in healthcare.
So I invite you to take a look at that.
You can register online, hcdi .com forward slash heal.
hcdi .com forward slash heel.
So that is announcement number one.
And then number two is one of my organizing homes, OUSA, which is Undoing
White Supremacy Austin is hosting an evening, a screening of Ava DuVernay's
Origin, which is a film inspired by Isabella Wilkerson's cast, The Origin of
Our Discontent.
And that is taking place on April 24th, which is a Wednesday, next Wednesday.
Doors open at six.
The movie starts at seven.
We'll have an hour of conversation and community gathering before the film
starts.
It's at East Side Cinema on Hargrave Street here in East Side.
You can get tickets at eastsidescinema .com.
If you are tickets are $12 if we don't want that to be a barrier from you for you
to attend so Go ahead and feel free to email me and then I can link you to ways
to to get Subsidy for for that don't want anyone to miss out if they want to be
there and be in community with us My email is Stacy ST AC IE at ko op dot o RG
All right, so let's move into our conversation, Tyra.
So please introduce yourself, the pieces of your identity that you think are
relevant to today's conversation.
We were just having that talk about, all right, well, I am, all right, which parts
of my identity am I gonna wear today?
So share any parts of your identity that you want today.
as that will serve our conversation.
Excellent.
Thank you for this gentle space and time.
So yeah, which part of my identity do many hats?
But I do want to start off saying that I'm Austin, Austin Rays.
Shout out to my Maplewood Mustangs, Oh Henry Mustangs.
I'm also Austin High alumni.
So.
deep roots in Austin.
And I sort of hail from what used to be called the Blackland community.
That's where my ancestors come from, my grandfather.
And then as I've grown and the family has evolved, we're still doing work in that
space.
How can we uplift people?
So for those of you who don't know,
the Blackland community once upon a time was a predominant, I'm sorry, a prominent
space in Austin where Black business owners and leaders could thrive and take
care of their community in a reasonable way without inflation, right?
And so, but we, it took a village and that's what we had.
Gentrification and displacement has taken place since Blackland was thriving in
Austin.
back in the day.
So since I come from that, I'm trying to rebuild what once was to sort of give
people who are, you know, their quality of life has been compromised, sort of give
them a hand up, you know, because that's just, that's my ancestry.
So just sorry, I have a long route, but I'm from here and got roots here and ready
to keep on rolling up my sleeves and get to work.
Yeah, if you hadn't said it, it would have been my next question.
So what are your Austin roots and what is your connection to place here?
Black land neighborhood.
I am reading a very interesting book that I encourage folks to check out.
It's called Shadows of a Sunbelt City, the Environment, Racism and the Knowledge
Economy in Austin.
It is by Elliott Treder.
It's available at Austin Public Library to check out.
And they, the author,
talks about the Blackland neighborhood and how the University of Texas acquired and
was responsible for developing most of the land by eminent domain and displacing a
lot of Black folks from that specific neighborhood.
So yeah, Shadows of a Sunbelt City.
I'm reading it right now.
So yeah, absolutely.
So you said you're...
Grandparent, grandfather.
Yes, yes.
Long line here.
And then my mother, who's a phenomenal woman, spiritual leader.
She's a pastor here in the city and licensed professional counselor, does
spiritual work.
She took on his mantle.
You know, I kind of took on hers as with the entrepreneurial spirit that we have.
But for sure, it started with the grandpops, the grandpappy.
set the tone for, you know, how we're supposed to conduct ourselves in this
village, you know, and take responsibility and be the change we want to see.
I appreciate that.
So let's turn to your organizing interests and your activities and go ahead and just
start jumping wherever.
Absolutely.
So I'm kind of a
As far as interest goes, I'm a hybrid.
I, by trade, do mental and behavioral health work.
I've worked with, and I apologize for the outdated term I'm about to use, but I've
worked with probationers of the state in my line of work before.
I've worked with at -risk youth.
So I guess my interests are people, and specifically those who need to...
who need help working out the knots.
Maybe there's something in their life that they need help unpacking and I, for
whatever reason, have a knack for that.
And also enjoy help, you know, because when we serve others or help others, or at
least for me anyway, it also helps me.
I'm learning and stepping into my calling as I serve.
So I'm interested in people, mental and behavioral health, and then I'm also
interested in film.
production of a mid -career writer producer.
I didn't used to be a name dropper, but I've noticed I'm doing that more now, but
I've, I work with Martin Jones.
He's the studio director here and for Austin Studios.
And certain lines of work that have interned for director Rich, director
Richard Linklater and just a lot of really cool stuff in the community to sort of
bolster the production, the film production work that I do.
So film production, mental health, behavioral health, and maybe gardening
every now and then.
But those are for sure the interests.
And they're heavier interests, they're deep, and it sounds like more of a job,
but those are what helps me, you know, help my heart and my mind grow for sure.
Yeah, thank you for that.
I'll invite a reframe on the name dropping because I do it myself.
What it is, really, it's also giving flowers to evoke Kydada and Shaka from
Writers Against the Store.
Flowers for the Living.
I mean, let's give flowers for the living, right?
And so that's it.
And now, since we're waxing here, because I also am...
a plant parent to a lot of plants and I use a lot of garden metaphors.
So, you know, I show up as a human being as a cross pollinator.
So I am a busy bee and I am like spreading the pollen around.
And so that's also part of this quote.
name dropping is cross pollinating.
And we have a lot of audience members and listeners who are very into film and we
have a lot of programming dedicated to film.
So thank you for doing that because you're bringing them into the conversation by
mentioning.
I love that.
Ooh, I like that reframe.
Hey, we're just handing each other gifts.
The master at work.
All right.
So, so the show.
Yeah, go for it.
Feel free.
I have an open source Creative Commons.
The, now we're having too much fun, I gotta focus.
So this show is called Racism on the Levels and you know, racism is a
pervasive, sticky, seemingly everlasting, I can't wait to not have a show called
this, everything of the past, but what in your racial identity, in your racial
background, in your communities, why do you,
feel the need to do what you do and how can that address some of the ills that
racism has brought upon people?
Definitely, it's such a good question.
So I've actually firsthand personally experienced racism.
And I hate to say this, because I love my city and this town, and it's growing and
redesigning itself.
But Austin has, it's come a long way, you know, but in this particular town,
especially since the 1928 master plan, which I'm not sure too many people are
familiar with that.
But the structural racism and then, you know, just on a personal level, I've
experienced, and when I say structural racism, I'm talking about the displacement
and the gentrification.
In fact, my family, my grandpa, he used to have a Piggly Wiggly, he used to have a
Piggly Wiggly shop where he played his piano and gave people food.
right there off of Mayna Road.
It's now the Salty Sal, but that used to be our home, you know?
So little things like that, right?
And then of course, racism was also just recently, Austin made racism a public
health crisis, like an issue.
They've acknowledged that.
It affects our health.
So, um, I know you have to, I mean, it's absurd that that had to be recognized.
Yeah.
I mean, formally, right.
That oppression is obvious, right?
Captain obvious.
When you, when you are shut out of, you know, resources and, um, you, there's,
there's things, there's things taken from you and your life, your quality of life is
compromised.
Like we talked about.
It's heavy stress, you know, it's actually, it kind of reinforces trauma,
which is also where I step in with that mental and behavioral health background.
And, you know, strokes, high blood pressure, because you don't have the
access to resources or you've lost your home or you've lost your job because of
some discrimination.
And of course that's extreme, but that's, that is what happens.
And,
And what do you do when racism is the insidious underbelly of these things that
are happening in our lives that we are muted on a little bit, so to speak, or
just trying to be like, hey y 'all, y 'all see this, this is real and don't Nobody
likes to talk about racism in a party.
Like, hey y 'all, let's talk about racism tonight.
But we're gonna talk about it.
Yeah.
As long as we have access to bikes.
Right.
That's what we're doing here.
Right.
Yeah.
So it's in there.
It's a fabric.
Yeah.
It's here.
And I, yesterday I went to a rally and I got to give Brother Cornell West a 90
second bear hug.
And that was so filling to my heart.
So I'm going to use his words on this because he, he, he, he says, you know, it
doesn't just.
affect the chocolate community, it affects the vanilla community.
And I am a vanilla flavored person.
And so this racism is toxic to everybody.
Everybody, it's different ways and I'm not saying it's equal.
So I'm just gonna like be very explicit about that.
But in order to not confront and work to create actively alternatives, that...
is absolutely toxic to a vanilla bodied person.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
There is no humanity in racism at all.
Solace.
Yeah, there is it.
I'm glad you brought that up too, because it's not, yeah, we all have different
vantage points and perspectives and I can't diminish or, or minimize someone's
experience just because of the color of their skin.
We all have
most of us have been through some type of process where it violated us and racism,
although it's kind of elusive sometimes, if you're not educated or aware, it might
roll right over you.
And that's why I saw, actually another reason why I've just, as I've grown, I'm
becoming more civic minded because you can't, at some point you do have to
challenge it.
you know, and say, hey, like this is, this is happening.
And it also might be happening to my sister, my brother, or my friends, no
matter what we look like.
And we, we have to stand as a united front and, and be, um, if we can't do anything
like monetarily or depending on your circumstances, then we could at least
like, in my instance, I've, you know, we're me and myself and, uh, another young
lady who's awesome here, Maria Brown Spence.
we came up with a project that will tackle some of these issues that you just, you
know, we just didn't see people trying to tackle racism through the grief law space
like we have, but you know, that's our solution, that's our resolution.
Hey, can't do the work on a national scale maybe, but on a hyper local level, here's
our take on sort of combating racism.
on all sides, diverse perspectives.
So tell me if I came up with this terminology on the way over here or if you
use this in your narrative about your project.
I was thinking, okay, for social media, what is this?
What are we talking about today?
And I was like, we're talking about grief justice.
Yeah.
Do you use grief justice as, as a terminology because
It's a social justice issue too, but yeah, for sure.
So for sure.
So what is, what does racial justice look like in grief and healing?
Racial justice and grief and healing.
Um, I think it's a bit of, well, with grief, it's disenfranchised.
When you experience grief, it can feel disenfranchising.
Um...
You can feel left out and looked over and depleted and, cause grief is so
multifaceted.
So the grief justice work or the social justice work is really just like
illuminating, suppressed, repressed voices that have experienced certain levels of
disenfranchisement.
that are sometimes most times connected to racism and exposing that talking about it
getting some therapy in place or tools equipping the folks that were serving
through this project giving them tools to be able to Fight back for lack of a better
term, but just do the work through the grief and to overcome some of the stuff
that's
sort of blowing in the wind with all of the challenges they're coming up against
with the racism.
Yeah.
So, um, or maybe in other words to reclaim their power, reclaim their power.
Absolutely.
That that disempowerment may have happened due to racial trauma.
So it's, it's yeah.
Reclaiming power in that way.
Absolutely.
And another big grief justice work, a part of grief is now more than ever, because
homelessness is exploding, but displacements and gentrification.
And then the loss of financial resource or economic resources has been the biggest
compromise with the grief social work.
Because with grief, grief is you can lose anything.
Oh, sorry, grief, you can lose anything.
You can not just something tangible.
The intangibles are there too.
So yeah, we try to give them what they need to have the talking points to with
the trauma that they're trying to unravel and recover from and then give them some
hope.
Like I think with this work, you need to be anchored in hope and then you need to
know that there's some restitution coming.
you know, there's some type of healing coming.
You just have to, you get it.
You get that healing when you're in the trenches doing the work, you know?
So yeah, this is.
Yeah.
The work is the medicine.
Yes.
The work is the medicine.
If you're just joining us, you are tuned into racism on the levels.
And my guest today is Tyra Clark.
And Tyra is, Tyra and I are discussing, well first went through Tyra's deep, deep
roots.
back to her grandpa who ran a store on Maynard and Blackland and man that sounds.
Robert Fudd Shaw, Texas Bear House Blues player if y 'all ever want to look him up.
Yes, thank you for that.
So we are talking about you talked about your film interests and backgrounds.
So tell me how Change Grief came about as a project and what it is.
For sure.
I think we kind of did cart before the horse on that a little bit.
So what is change grief?
Yeah.
And this is great now.
So change grief and shout out to Maria Brown Spence who's my partner in this
change grief project and and really the lead Maria is she's a veteran here and she
owns the locally.
Uh, she, she owns the, um, nonprofit, I'm sorry, the grief loss nonprofit chain, uh,
hearts to heal.
I was supposed to call it change.
Um, the founder, the, she's the founder of hearts to heal a local, uh, grassroots
nonprofit here in Austin.
And in fact, I want to say, and I could be wrong on this, but I think she's the only
black owned grief loss, uh, nonprofit resource here.
I could be wrong, but she, or she's one of few.
Um, so that's another, uh, really.
pivotal reason why I wanted to connect with Maria, just because of the space
she's in.
I know the grief loss landscape, especially for communities, for
underrepresented communities and communities of color, the grief loss
landscape is, there's lack there, there's lack of supplies, there's lack of
resources, there's lack of information and education.
So we teamed up to sort of build the capacity in this space and her and I met
back when.
2020 when the pandemic hit and did some community, really community counseling, we
did just an open forum for folks to join as a pain when the pandemic hit.
And I think when snow bed hit, we just, through the black leaders collective,
which her and I are a part of, we were able to open up a space where people could
just vent about what's going on with them.
And that was nice.
And then through that process, her and I decided to,
I guess stick together.
She reached out to me and said, Hey, I have this idea about a change grief
project and I really, you know, I think you should be on and we should take it
here.
And, and so it was her idea because she's in this space and we've worked together
before and then we're aligned both her and I do mental health and behavioral health
work.
So it just made complete sense to, to stick with this, uh, you know, latch onto
this, stick it out and then build on it together.
And then Change Grief Project is really about, it's an organic community grief
project.
It's about meeting people where they're at and changing the way we talk about grief.
So, you know, not, it's not, it shouldn't be taboo.
You shouldn't be grappling with the nuances of grief individually or alone.
It should also be in community.
And,
A lot of us have gotten away from that reality because we've been stripped of
community because of the pandemic.
Thank you, pandemic.
And our, and our worlds have been shattered and we might not know how to get
back to community the way we should to sort of, you know, just, um, help
conversations like this grow and strengthen us.
Yeah.
And there's a racial overlay on that because who didn't have access to the
testing, who didn't have access to the information when the pandemic hit.
So.
You just hit on something right there relevant to the show.
So we're going to be right back.
We got to pause for station traffic and we'll pick it back up.
Awesome.
you
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We fight for state policies that prevent maternal mortality, ensure kids have
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Music
Welcome back.
You are listening to KOOP radio, HD1, HD3, Hornsby, 91 .7 FM.
And we are streaming on our website, koop .org.
My guest today is Tyra Clark.
And we are talking about grief and loss and racial justice around that and the
work that Tyra is doing in the community.
in collaboration with Hearts to Heal and the Change Grief Project, which I want to
continue to shine a light on and elevate for folks.
So prior to the break, but also I want to give a shout out to my friend Shoyinka
Rahim, who has from the get -go provided as a gift her music for this show.
And so you were just listening to Yum Vibrations by Shoyinka Rahim.
Shoinka and you can find Shoinka online.
She is her project is Bebo Love, B -I -B -O Love and that's short for Breathe In
Breathe Out, Bebo Love and it's meditative and it's powerful and it's guttural and
you're gonna keep hearing Shoinka's music on my show.
So the Change Grief Project we were...
we were at the origin and we made it to the pandemic and where did you go from
there?
Yes.
So we started the creative development process project, because I'm laughing
because if you know anything about grief, it's a life.
It's a life.
long things sometimes, that there's no time limit on how much you how long you
grieve for something.
And it's a heavy topic.
It's a it's heavy subject matter.
So like racism.
Yeah.
Like you don't show up to a party and say, let's talk about grief.
Exactly.
It's both laugh or cry.
That's right.
Laugh and cry.
And that's the full spectrum.
The joy and the pain, which is the bedrock of grief.
But yes, it's heavy subject matter.
So the creative development process we took on this project has been extensive,
you know, like three, four years into or two, three years actually into the making.
And we're finally at a space where we can, we just recently, we're about to launch a
kind of like soft launch promo, promotional portrait spotlight series for
this project.
But portrait light series, we took pictures of community members who had deep
repressed stories that we wanted to highlight.
And we worked with Lita Harrison, who's a great photographer here in town.
who helped us get that done.
But through the creative development process, we've been able to launch, soft
launch a portrait series and then finally dip into or start the docu -series portion
of this changed grief project, which it should be, it's gonna be about four part
series.
And we're just going to, and this is all since the pandemic up until now, Maria and
I have.
really chiseled it down.
Like, you know, this is how we're going to tell this story and highlight voices and
faces.
And it's going to be, you know, a portrait series so people can can talk about it on
their own time.
A docu -series so they can watch it on their own time.
And then we're also we also have community connections.
So throughout the year, people could come and actually will do grief work, will hold
space for support groups for free.
You know, this is extremely accessible.
Because that's one thing not just grief or racism will do is it will it's a barrier.
It will shut you out of things and the downward spiral is initiated.
So, you know, to combat that and to make a positive turn spin on things we have
different points people can connect with with the projects.
And that's just through the creative conversations.
We're like, hey, we want to make sure that everyone gets a taste and a.
piece of this, no matter what time they come in on the project, they'll still be
able to get the healing conversations they need and heal through art, which is
another thing we're trying to sort of highlight.
Art is a form of, it's a form of healing, yes, but it's also when you can express
yourself in a raw way, in an unapologetic way, you'll be able to...
You know thrive become a high functioning citizen and turn your life around Yeah, so
um and to Or help the next person, you know, yeah, because I think that's when we
do Survive through what we've been through and can give back This is a part of that
process to the project is meant to sort of empower and liberate and give people the
courage to
Tell their story and then from there the chain reaction is You know each one teach
one, you know, we'll lift up the next person and then the recovery begins each
one teach one I love that.
So, um, I was looking over to my comrade michelle manning scott who's running the
board graciously as always, um for these conversations and uh rachelle terrelle who
was
going to be on the show today is a great example of what you're describing because
this show's concept, this episode's concept came about through me casting
Annette out to my network saying I'm looking for a guest who centers BIPOC and
disability justice.
And since music is one of my other concentric circles of communities, Pat
Bukta said Rochelle, Rochelle New Music.
So Rochelle and I connected and Rochelle told me about, and I'm not gonna tell
Rochelle's story, I'm gonna let Rochelle tell her own story when we can reschedule,
but it was out of grief, grieving and caring for her father that was the
catalyst for a lot of the music that she is creating and putting out in the world.
And so right before we went on air, she sent me a track and I want to play that
right now.
It's a small track.
I'm not sure if it's a whole, if it's an excerpt or the full track, but it's Bevo
Blues.
So let's give that a quick listen.
This came out of grief, this creation.
I think I know better
Just a little while, just a little while...
Sitting close at me, they got a rollback.
Got the monghorn sitting cold side and snake got a rollback.
Just a little while, a little while longer
just a little while a little while longer
Hmm so
That was so good.
That is a salve to the soul.
So, Rachelle, you can find Rachelle, the Instagram handles Bevo Blues, B -E -V -O
-B -L -U -E -S, and Rachelle runs Bevo Blues Coffee Shop, which you can also find
online and...
And I'm gonna, I hope that we can reschedule and then Rachelle will tell the
fuller story of that.
Alchemy that we just heard right so um Yeah, so yeah, so do you um so What is
your connection with Rochelle?
Perfect.
Yeah, I was just about to say rest in power to her father T -bone But our
connection was and I know that I know her father also just passed as well because
she was a part of our portrait spotlights series and
for change grief and just a beautiful soul Rochelle is awesome woman and the way she
told her father's story and you know, just kind of how grief has shaped her.
It was absolutely profound and I'm so glad we were able to reconnect through this
way.
I think after she did the project, she might have just connected the dots between
what you needed and.
But yeah, Rochelle's amazing.
And I just am actually just learning her extensive music background and her
father's.
Her father's, he did, he was a poet.
So I've learned.
And of course, you said she'll share her story.
But yeah, we've connected through the project and that's the way it's supposed
to be.
We've connected on a deeper level through the project.
And I cannot wait to share.
space and heart space, my, you know, everything with more people to build
community, community like that.
You know, we met, you know, on a, on this tipping point and to, and to a whole space
for each other.
But now that we are, have grown with each other and know that about each other, we
can sort of look out, take care of it, you know, just be the eyes and ears that you
didn't know you needed.
You know and that's what community is and we hopefully we'll get back to that.
Yeah, or maybe maybe we do know But we have no hope or a bright and earlier like
we we know we need people we need each other and we need community because things
are some things are too heavy to hold by yourself, right and every person Walking
around is holding crushing Chama crushing
Beliefs.
Yeah that You know, man, I Believe mostly are untruths right and this but but but
those are heavy and so Collective care is what this is about collective care.
Absolutely.
So this is an antidote I think the project what you've described to me so far to what
is
what the way our society is structured is trying to make us isolated and
individualistic because then that disempowers us.
And then we can continue to row the boat.
And be oppressed.
It's like, what world?
Right?
What dystopian nightmare are we living in?
Because we are in it.
And my favorite word is love.
My second favorite word is hope.
And I cannot remember and I'm going to bring it up later online to whoever said
hope is a choice.
And it's the only choice to engage in.
revolutionary, radical organizing work.
You choose hope.
You choose love because love is here.
Love is everywhere.
In this conversation, there's so much love.
Right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Like deep in, you can't really affect change.
I feel like if you don't, you know, I've been trained and taught and conditioned
to...
To know that you have to change the hearts.
You can't just change things on paper You have to change the heart and that's you
can't do that in a silo um, but yeah, I I it just maybe it's the repetitiveness of
it that we need to actually but it's going to boil down to the to the essence of you
know us being people and humanizing ourselves and centering our humanity.
Yeah.
Yeah for sure
Um, so.
One step at a time though.
There's a, yeah.
One step at a time.
And also, well, that also brings up for me something that I'm really glad that I took
this jacket off recently metaphorically.
And that is this notion of scale and impact, right?
Like the idea, because the dominant narrative is impact.
And how do you impact?
Impact is more people and more and bigger and productivity and growth and all of
that.
And sometimes impact is an,
really what feels right is impact, it can be one thing that you said in love to
someone else and then that turned their whole trajectory into a different
direction.
And so I no longer believe that narrative that impact means wider versus deeper.
Right.
I am certainly at the point of deeper versus wider in my life as a 44 year old
mother.
Yeah, I love it's deep.
It's not for sure and maybe so We're so aligned because I am a firm believer in
small but mighty like that's the phrase, you know, that's the phrase Small and
mighty and yeah and and small Is big small is the new big I feel like but you're
right, but and so that's connected to the the depth These are about deep
conversations and one -on -one connections that
And one person can do so much, can change the world.
So honoring that exchange, you know, and just not taking lightly how big, small can
be.
Or, you know, and...
Well, even centering that...
Decentering impact means scalability.
And centering...
Impact it's hard to quantify sometimes right right quality Yeah, yeah Yeah, I
just Reframing one one one minute at a time for folks.
Yeah.
Thank you for setting that up I think change grief is definitely a quality We
there's impact there, but it's more so rooted in quality.
We're trying to slowly
roll things out organically and because we're seeing that that is what is actually
working and matters and you know rushing things or trying to keep up with the
industrial you know whatever non -profit you know just industrial crying.
I mean it's just like you've got to rein it in.
Calm it down now.
But seriously yeah so so um on that note.
who are your supporters?
And also we're trying to create this new, we are creating this alternative future
for ourselves, but while also operating and surviving within the constraints of
the system that's oppressing us.
And so funders, I think of timelines and grant amounts and all of that system is
still here and we're still going on.
And so,
I appreciate the concept of two contradictions being able to survive at
once.
Right.
And so your project, let's route it.
Let's map it a little bit for people to see who are your funders, who are your
supporters and what's your model.
And then maybe folks can start thinking about how they can plug in.
Absolutely.
Oh, that's good.
Such a rich conversation.
Appreciate your time again today, Stacey.
Yeah, so our supporters, our funders, right now, since we're still organically
growing and it's a hyper local project, we currently have the City of Austin Economic
Development Elevate Program supporting the project, which is amazing.
And we appreciate their support.
So City of Austin funded, we could say.
And then we also have a space that really is kind of in its resurgence stage.
And a lot of people forget about this space.
So the space is called African American Cultural Heritage Facility.
It's off of 11th Street, which is the cultural district here in Austin.
And it's a phenomenal space.
We're in the Dedrick Hamilton House, which.
Dedrick Hamilton used to be a freedman.
He was a freed slave that came here and built that house there.
So that, well, that house is a replica of the house, the shotgun house is a replica
of the house that he had here.
So there's a lot of history in the facility that supports us where we take
the pictures and we're doing the docu -series at.
That's the facility we're holding these things at.
And then the community activations, those are in that space as well.
And it's intentional.
It's a space that is that needs to be highlighted that the African American
cultural heritage facility is a space for projects like this and not enough people
know about that.
So and then it's accessible.
It's it's it's I say this all the time, but I guess but hopefully it doesn't get
lost on the wonderful viewer listeners.
But it's it's accessible.
The bus line is right there on the 11th Street so people can.
walk there, they could be dropped off there.
Depending on their transportation situation, you know, we're, there's some
flexibility and understanding and compassion for that.
And so that space allows us to be able to extend that compassion and understanding.
So that's the two main places that support us right now.
Of course, I own my own production company.
So that supports and then Maria.
Maria's of course, Hearths to Heal supports the project.
So we have those four core supporters.
What's the name of your production company?
Strange Wisdom Entertainment.
Yeah.
So, and can I ask you where that name came from?
It's so cool.
Yeah.
So I am a PK kid, preacher's kid, and it's just, it's just a faith based no, you
know, moniker that I was tossed in my spirit and I went with it, but.
It definitely plays a role.
The name is connected to the hard work that I do and the wisdom that takes place
in the heavy work that I do with the projects that I take on like Change Grief
and some other.
I did a project called Catharsis, A Journey Through Anger.
Shout out to Deborah Valcin, the director on that and Austin Film Society sponsored.
But that was about anger, you know, so just different things like that.
But yeah, we between.
us, Maria and I at the city of Austin and the African American cultural facility,
that's what that's the foundation of the project right now.
But we're hopefully can branch off, you know, if you're listening now and you're
open or you want to sponsor a project, definitely reach out.
You can find me on Instagram, Tyra T Clark, and then the change grief project
on Instagram to change grief and reach out and let us know you know how we can.
how you want to support or how we can collaborate or how we can help you really.
I'm a firm believer in adding value first and then seeing how you can help me.
So we'll start that conversation and then go from there.
But yeah.
Did, um, when is your next, um, event or, um, activation?
Yes.
Oh, great question.
So remember I said we're slow rolling.
Um, I know judgment assigned to this question at all.
So urgency is not a bone in my body that I like to highlight.
They're quiet that down.
Bless you for your grace.
We plan on gently tackling our portrait spotlight series exhibit, which will be,
we hope, open to the public end of April, May.
And it'll be the exhibit will be in the cultural heritage space that I mentioned
earlier off of 11th Street.
So that's the next date end of April and exhibits and then our docu series kicks
off in May the end of May and and then we have one I'm gonna be online.
Are you gonna have a an event that's or both?
Well, the that'll be you talking about these the exhibit the docu series docu
series will well that's gonna be oh, we're out what's gonna live.
I'm sorry.
Yes online streaming platforms.
Eventually, we're still working out the kinks of when we do finally get it done.
Where we wanted to live but it'll first it'll be on our website and then or a
hearts to hills website And then it'll be on streaming platforms for sure YouTube
things like that and then we'll do community screenings and it'll be it'll be
great looking forward to attending and sharing widely
All right, Tyra.
Well, we are out of time today, but I wish you so much love and blessings and success
with this project and the work you're doing in lifting up our collective
community.
And we're going to keep holding each other for a long time, I think.
Thank you so much.
I, the feeling is extremely mutual.
Thank you for your precious time today and shout out to co -op.
Thank you.
Yes.
Shout out to co -op.
Um,
Coop .org, we stream all of our shows.
I'm gonna be archiving this online and sharing it on socials.
My email once again is stacey, S -T -A -C -I -E, at k -o -o -p .org.
Thank you for tuning in.
The music you heard at the top and mid and going out on was from Shojenka Rahim.
Up next is Writing on the Air with Mindy Reed and remember in all things and
always, love is the highest level.
in this world you only need one song to live your life like you visualize a
philanthropist, I take it nothing never giving up on the love tip let your light
shine like the sunshine a celebration, no separation you got a love song?
I got a love song, we in the love song
Travel the world, sharing your time With the young and the old and the rich and the
poor The conversation, let it move your soul
You got a love song, I got a love song, we in the love zone.
You see, I'm a gift, you're a gift Together we create melodies with harmonies
We're making peace for the world to see You got a love song, I got a love song We
in the love song