Sierra Leonne - Executive Director, Home of Urban Creative Arts

Rodney Veal interviews Sierra Leonne, the Executive Director for the Home of Urban Creative Arts, about her creative life, exploring family roots, artistic passion, and community building in Dayton. From childhood journaling to producing groundbreaking cultural events, Sierra shares insights on creativity, resilience, and the power of storytelling across generations.

Follow Sierra on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/poetsierraleone/

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Ad, Rodney Veal, Sierra Leonne, Speaker 1

Sierra Leonne  00:00

You have to be willing to execute, to fail and learn or learn, right? Yep, eat back and get back at it, whatever that is, in every single art form, and every single, I think, in every endeavor if you're looking to achieve, especially outside of the metrics and scope of a nine to five where you're working for someone.

Rodney Veal  00:31

Hello, everyone. My name is Rodney veal. I'm the host of Rodney veal is inspired by and this afternoon, I get the pleasure of talking to someone I consider family, because she's my sister, crime with creativity and art, but she's also so much more. She's a phenomenal producer of dramatic content and and events, poet laureate, sage, truth speaker, just all around awesome lady, and she's just, I cannot wait for you to guys to kind of get to know her through this podcast. And so welcome Sierra. Leone, finally, yes,

Sierra Leonne  01:18

yes, yes. Good afternoon. Rodney, it is an absolute joy to be here, coming from our beloved Dayton Metro library. I know it's fun or commandeered a space, and so

Rodney Veal  01:36

we make it happen. We make it happen. So I love it. I love it. And so I'm, we're going to dive in. It's going to feel a little bit like we're going to the time machine. But I think people need to know, you know, your creativity and your awesomeness and your brilliance didn't happen overnight. I think that that's kind of the reason why I love having you on this, on the podcast. So let's go back. I mean the I mean as a child, what did you see yourself doing and being because where you're at now is so fast. If you could imagine, I could even imagine as a child, going, this is how fabulous my life is gonna be. Curious, what kind of child were you?

Sierra Leonne  02:23

I was a very, very curious child. I was born with an extreme amount of common sense, and it has carried me through. My grandmother reared and raised me. I didn't get in a lot of trouble, you know, because I was sharing with adults what I thought at a very young age, and it did not always work out for me. And so by the time I was in the third grade, my mother she, she was so, you know, such a such, such there in the tacitness of mothering, just present in it with me. She decided to purchase a journal for me. It was a gold it was a green little journal, and it had a lock on it with one of those fake keys. And I just knew the lock was real, but I learned later it wasn't, but, but nonetheless. And she purchased a journal for me, and it's been journaling was one of the things that I never put down, and that journaling turned into me understanding that it became a research tool. I use it in my work to date from the third grade, and so when I received it, it was to express myself where I didn't have to say so much all the time, I could express my views and opinions without consequence in my journal. And then that grew into me writing stories about what was important to me. And it grew into me wanting to share those stories and have other people speak those words. And then I found out that's a play, you know, you know,

Rodney Veal  04:03

never think about like you. You're writing down your most thoughts, and especially growing up in an African American family, you know, there's a hierarchy. Sometimes children are seen, not heard,

Sierra Leonne  04:15

from that generation of the scene and not heard. And my mother is from, you know, the Toledo, Ohio area, and my father, born and raised and still today, lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And so I grew up in both worlds, you know, and having parents divorced at a very young age, you need a place to voice your opinions, because nine neither one of those folks were traveling or getting on those planes. I was in Louisiana, seeing the landscape in the world completely different than the world in Ohio. Oh, that's two different worlds, and it really shaped and framed who I am today. And so I took that journaling and brought it on with me. Uh, into the world of doing ethnographic research, and brought it into my world of, how am I searching to show up and to take notes and to shape stories and to be a reminder for me, I would say I have maybe about 40 journals.

Rodney Veal  05:15

Um, you sound like me,

Sierra Leonne  05:18

just, of just writing words, thoughts, keeping in sync and in order. I don't journal as much now, maybe a few times a month, but it is a habit that has carried me. But I do journal through research, and it's very supportive.

Rodney Veal  05:34

I love that. I love the fact that you talk about journey, because I've talked to so many non like artists who are not and, you know, using words and language, but they journal like they are observation. It's like, it's a really great tool for how you put on your thoughts and your observations.

Sierra Leonne  05:51

And there's many ways. There's many ways. Rodney, you have travel journals, you have food journals, you have I've had time journals. I've had journals to sort of examine my relationships. Journals for poetry, there are so many ways to do it, and in a journal I had some years ago where I where I was able to really dive into being from an extremely large family. You know, it is said to be that my grandmother had 22 kids, four sets of twins, and I went to high school with 12 of my first cousins, and so for me, family and community and characters were already present in my storyline, you know. So I've been when people ask about my community work and how am I able to do it? I tell them all the time I was in training from four or five years old of my my section of the clan, the peers that were my cousins that were my age. And so when you grow up in a community, um, a very large community, you learn how to share, you learn how to be resourceful, you learn ingenuity. You learn all of these skills, soft skills that support you as you age. And so for me, I had to deal with those things, day in and day out. I had to consider others along with my own personal needs. And so it was an intense, humble, really, very, very humble beginnings.

Rodney Veal  07:21

Oh, I love that. But that was a funny thing, because in our conversations, we talk about family, and when you just just described it, I'm like, Oh, my God, I grew up the same way. I mean, I had a lot of first cousins on my mother's side, and we grew up together,

Sierra Leonne  07:35

like everything within

Rodney Veal  07:37

the within a, you know, geographic region, like we were within the same couple of blocks. And that does teach you that that sense of like you said, like, how do you get along with others? How do you kind of navigate and be a voice and be your own person within that? Because there's a family identity, and then there's you identity, you know? And so you figure like doing that, and effectively, you're traveling. I remember you telling me about traveling back and forth between Louisiana and Northeast Ohio. I mean, describe that world, because I don't think if people understand Southern Living is real different than how it's portrayed.

Sierra Leonne  08:19

Oh, you know, because

Rodney Veal  08:20

I like, I traveled to Georgia quite a bit to make in Griffin, that's a different world,

Sierra Leonne  08:27

yeah. And I think Rodney, you know, I, you know, being in Toledo, in the urban landscape of inner city life, sidewalks, a small gate in a community where my grandmother's home was part of the yard grass, the other part dirt, you know, so many moving parts, small, four bedroom house with a penny candy store at the top of the block and a Community grocery store a block away, and a basketball court across the street, and maybe a couple of folks gambling on the corner.

Rodney Veal  09:07

Oh, that's a real

Sierra Leonne  09:11

and then you have the library just at the opposite end of the block, near one of our local King Elementary Schools and and they're being able to spend many days in the library, never feeling unsafe. You know, the things you I grew up when I studied, studying in sociology and studying and criminal justice, hearing about the crime and all those things, just really not feeling that way. You know, going to the pool and being a community was right there. I didn't, you know, I could go to the barber and see my grandfather's reflection. I could go to the, you know, playing double dutch in the middle of the street, and a person that reminded me of an aunt could drive by and say, stay on the sidewalk, you know, or, Oh, that's. For the librarian who was there, and just providing summer reading programs where we would win bikes and books and prizes for completing those programs. And so it was not all beautiful, because folks needed jobs. We recall that being the the the A major part of the story and culture and heritage throughout the 80s, the 90s, with, you know, the drugs and so many different things. All of those things were there as well. But being in Louisiana in the summer, on Christmas break, and I'm having an opportunity later in my in high school to actually attend school there, but for the most part, being there was very calm. We we didn't have sidewalks. My grandparents owned a lot of property, and our home was was lost. It was huge compared to anything I had ever been in my my grandfather was a construction worker, and my grandmother was home. It was just my dad and his sister, one of my older aunts, she lived to her late 90s, and she walked to work five, three or five miles. Just, just, she just lived so long and and was just an amazing soul of talking and teaching us about history and heritage of our family and Louisiana, the West Bank, where our family was, and it still is located. And so I had fun summers, but I thought they were boring, until I looked back on them and and experienced I was somewhere where you I hate to say this, but you were, you were driving. Folks were driving at 14 to drive the tractors and things like that, working the farm. So they received their license. Folks had their license early or didn't have their license and were still driving, still driving. Anyway. There was a place where you see signs in New Orleans, you know, 18 to drink, 21 to buy. You know, it was, it was, it was a hoot, but the folks there, the heritage, the culture, I learned what poverty really was in Louisiana. I didn't know what that was for, right to live on the street, and I learned so much about humanity and resilience and respect for slavery, to see the markings, to see what the folks in New Orleans and Louisiana or the South in general had endured. One of my dear mentors and anthropologists, Angela Steiner, she's from Lafayette and so but she is up here at the University of Toledo. And so it was wonderful to have those links educationally, culturally and socially. And so I visit maybe once every other year, but my father comes up a few times a year to see us, and we get there when we can. And now that the boys are older, my sons will travel with as a family, Robert and I and the boys, we try to get there every other year to see them, to spend time and to learn about that rich heritage as it's ever changing.

Rodney Veal  13:04

And you know, and it also I, I look back now on how that nourished and kind of shaped me. And I know you, because even you describing it, you describe it in such an eloquent, beautiful language that I just said, I'm just sitting there like this my hand. I'm just like, yeah, just take me back. Take me there. I can see it

Sierra Leonne  13:29

not during August, though. Rodney,

Rodney Veal  13:35

very clear to folks out there, do not go down to the south. You will hate, you'll hate, you'll hate everybody around you.

Sierra Leonne  13:41

You'll hate us. You won't be able to breathe. It's terrible. Don't go in. Don't go don't go in

Rodney Veal  13:44

August, because, because making was the same way. Because, you, you know, once you get down into Georgia, it was like, ooh. And I used to think about that when my my parents like you, because they, you know, they're part of the great migration. And I just remember going down there, going, there's a lot of things down here that can kill you. So,

Sierra Leonne  14:03

yes, it was so different. I'm like, Oh, this is just rain. We'll we'll be fine. And everything was flooded. Parts of you couldn't get places. You couldn't go places. I didn't go home until three weeks after I was supposed to return because of hurricane and Andrew. But in the moment, I didn't realize how serious it was. And so I had so many moments like that, growing up and getting to be in Louisiana, you know, visiting stores where there were signs on some of our little community stores that said, you know, no colors allowed, no black people allowed in these spaces. And so I then coming to the north and not being in Toledo and not seeing that or knowing or reading about it in books in school, but then never living it and knowing now that my father, my mentors, artists and poets that I look up to and love now their life was full of that. That was you. Normal to face overt, racism and challenges like that on a daily it wasn't. It's not an abstract overt, yeah, yeah. It was, yeah. It was overt. It was there, it was right in front of you, and

Rodney Veal  15:17

clear as day. This was not a and so and when you encounter that as a young person, as someone who was such a creative and inventive mind that, you know, I, you know, that's the fuel, you know, this underpinnings, it's always and the thing is, it's not that you because, you know, we will get to poetry and writing and spoken with creative writing, but it's just, but that, to me, that's important. This is, I think a lot of people dismiss the upbringing. The upbringing, to me, is always the underpinning to anyone's work.

Sierra Leonne  15:48

You know, I tell young working with students over at DECA or Rodney, we just did a piece, a closing piece, around a creative process, but examining, actually our true identity, this self awareness, if they want to get to I think being able to make life the choices and decisions you have to understand so much of who you are. And so one aspect of this final project that they had was interviewing their parents to learn more about themselves with a series of questions, and then they had to design a beautiful art piece. It could be poetry, it could be visual collage, mural, any but they had to design this based on the framing. And as I said to them, when we had a guest speaker come in, Dr Eric Jones from the base, we had him come in speaking to students who wanted to go in arts and engineering, the first thing he did was talk about his parents, his heritage, who he was and where he was from. And they were thinking that project ship was not important initially, and then when they began to peel back and understand that anyone who is looking to grow exponentially is looking to understand who they are and whose they are and where they're from, and bring that into their story. Pull those those elders, those ancestors, those who have paved that way, like your parents, migrating from Macon, Georgia, understanding, you know that green book path that they took, and you may travel back down and visit some of those spaces as you navigate the world, or pull that into your storytelling or work in some way, shape or form. So it does matter that you take the time to know, for me, my family is Tuareg. You know, from the you know, from, from Africa. When you're looking at they're the blue people, the people who, when, when I went back and did that research for myself to understand matriarchal side, you know, understanding things that I see in my family right now, it's because we're Tuareg, you know, where to send desert people. You know parts of parts of Africa, and that that matters when I see things that my family are doing to date Nomad people, people who move in a clan and live together, who coexist, do not have a lot of outsiders involved in their family dynamics. That's not new, that travels back to

Rodney Veal  18:25

back then. And I mean, because that's one of the things that, you know, I always felt like that people you know, especially like, God you said about young people. I think even I think that's a that's that thing that a lot of older people who may not have had the opportunity. It's like the students at Decca with you, to do this exploration. They get older in life, and then they want to figure this out, because they're still that's why they're still trying to figure themselves out at an older age, because they never really, at a young age, made the connection early. You gotta, you know

Sierra Leonne  18:58

you have to, you have to. And they're doing it freshman year. And so we created that program for those students. And where I did it, created this program because I I'm seeing young people of all, all types, many schools, great schools, all good schools, whatever, however we want to label high performing schools, whatever you want to say. And they, they have honor roll, they have the scholarships, they have all grades, and then you figure out a year or two in, they're dropping out of school, or they're facing challenges that they can't deal with. And I'm thinking, why are we waiting till you graduate to prepare you to ask really tough questions, and you ask better questions, you live a better quality life. Oh, and that's, you know, that's real first name, but it's quick. Is his last name? Who that that quote? That quote belongs to him. But you ask better questions, you live a better quality life, and teaching young people to do that. And to understand who they are, or now it was this piece around understanding your mathematical genealogy. So many young people hate math, and I'm telling them, they're in they're in class, and they're struggling with math, and they're struggling with balancing checkbooks or the skill, life skills you need to be in the world. And I'm like, figure out what your parents did, and then you have a whole group who are excellent. They're like, Why? Why am I not? Why don't I do well in these particular subjects, find out what happened in your family, what trauma was there, what separated them from achieving in these areas. And then, in turn, you can close the gap by understanding why no one wants to talk about a particular subject. May it be English, writing, math, science, whatever that is, or Yeah, bottom of that.

Rodney Veal  20:45

And education is always a fraught thing. So because you know based upon you know, and that's why it's important to especially in this conversation about diversity, this conversation about people being people of color is that that our relationship to education is a different relationship. And so you saying that it's like, oh yeah, especially that, especially because I love it. You said because maybe they didn't have the opportunities, or maybe one parent did, or versus one who didn't. I thought I found it very interesting. I would say it's not pitting a parent against a parent. My mom is a different way than my dad, and it's all it's two different paths of genealogy, but it all comes together in you, and then your brother, and then we're and we're unpacking those things, and that's why I said it's like, yeah, I'm so glad you're saying, like, do it early, because it just kind of informs and so, like, your natural curiosity. I mean, I'm My thing is, like, you studied so many other things because you did, you know, let's be honest. Like you, like me, and I think a lot of others, we all, we all, we all knew how to work to put the roof over the head and the food on the table. So talk about because I, because I met. I'm trying to remember when, before we this podcast, how and when we met for the first time.

Sierra Leonne  22:15

I think you were writing for maybe a local paper, or you were working with Kristen wicker, or

Rodney Veal  22:21

someone, was it? Was it Kristen wicker that we could introduce? I I'm not

Sierra Leonne  22:26

sure, but you were, you were in the world of writing about the arts and articles, you were guest featuring, or there was a doubt. Remember, I think Dayton Downtowner had a blog,

Rodney Veal  22:38

yeah, I think I felt like I had done a like one, like one or two, one

Sierra Leonne  22:42

and, oh, you know what it might have been. Peter, where you you know what it you know it may have been with, with chapon. Remember we did that?

Rodney Veal  22:51

Oh, blue sky project. Okay, yes. Remember we did,

Sierra Leonne  22:55

we did the, we did the, the piece where shapong Lou came and she did it for Austin and violin for a project with you guys. But then she came back and featured at the signature of poetic medley show, right?

Rodney Veal  23:14

Yes, and that's how, that's what it is I could, okay, see this is folks, this is what I love

Sierra Leonne  23:19

about. And you were you, and then at that time, you were still dancing. I was still dancing, I think a Nina Simone piece, we did a four women tribute, and you had on a black suit. It was, remember that, yes, black and white suit. It was, it was pretty it was pretty powerful.

Rodney Veal  23:40

I mean, I mean, I mean, I was, you know, that was, it was such a nice invitation. So I, first of all, I thank you for that invitation, because you invited you and Robert invited me into this product. I was just like, honored. I was like, Oh, I get to be with these cool people. How am I rating? You know, I be, I always, because I never think about you know, because you know me. We've known each other this long. I'm not, I don't chase, I'm not chasing gold. I'm not

Sierra Leonne  24:09

sure. Yeah, we asked, and you said, Yes, I just said you were attending. You were planning to just

Rodney Veal  24:15

attend the show. Attend the show. My goodness,

Sierra Leonne  24:19

you're still dancing, because you were sharing with me a huge piece you were doing with paint. Oh yes, that's right, paint or something. I can't remember that that was an installation or something. And

Rodney Veal  24:31

that was a part of the blue sky project where it was always it was a collaboration with artist Catherine Mann, and it was folks. It was like this. It was this warehouse building was three stories, but the basement had been excavated on the first floor, so it was kind of an open pit. And so her process is to throw the paint, or kind of spill it, or, I mean, she called, we call it, it's a spill. But in this as she was, she had scaled up to do an entire room, and she was going to throw it into this. Hit from the top first floor into the into the basement, and I said, Well, can I dance in the space while you're throwing the paint? That's why I learned I needed to wear protective goggles. But I didn't get that process that smart in many ways, and paints in your eye. And I just remember just like that, that sense of of like, that was a what if like I didn't say no because she didn't say no. And that's when I realized, take when somebody says, Do you want to do something? Go for it, especially if it's another creative spirit. So when you ask, I was like, I'm in. I'm in. Because I just, you know, I was a fan of because I was so amazed that you and Robert had created the signature series and done something that people didn't think there was an audience for in Dayton, Ohio,

Sierra Leonne  25:50

and we had no clue. You know, you know when you have, when you decide that you just are going to do the work. We knew that creating the signature porting medley show in partnership with the Victoria at the time, but now Dayton live, and we grew into that partnership with the human race Theater Company and producing that show for 10 years, and having an engine, you know, we did 10 years, a decade of our lives. We gave to six to eight shows a year. Yeah, you did. And it wasn't until the last two years where a two or three years where I met with Sheila Ramsey, which the great, late Sheila Ramsey living Dayton legend. Oh, was a lie, genius. I mean, genius. I met with her, and when we did our first show, she came to the first show, and she wrote me this note, and to this day, I mean, her blessing was, I can barely even put it into words. I would have to search our files for that note, but it's just to have her blessing. And she became ill shortly after attending that show, and had never been out. Had never she never made it back out much after that. But to know and for her to say, I think you should move to four shows a year, one a quarter. I think you shouldn't put this much pressure on yourself. I think you need to get your room to write your poetry and to make space for other ways for you to create. You've given close to a decade of your life, your money, your time. You know, by the time we won a Governor's Award. Our children had never taken a family vacation together. I would take one here, one there. We would piecemeal time together, producing many shows and working for me, I produced, you know, which? That was about 30 hours a week. I work a 44 worked a 44 hour work week for the Academy. And then, you know, mothering, wifeing. And so for me, when my children it Rodney, it was so bad when we took our children to Disney World for the first time in Florida, my children went to Disney World with $250 a piece and came back with $200 they didn't even want anything. And then when we asked, Why didn't you guys spend your money or buy anything, they said, We just wanted to be with you and dad. And that is when we moved over into how can we produce things, not only a signature, but with just as much of a footprint, just as much that would bring joy,

Rodney Veal  28:39

unpack and joy, and all of those things,

Sierra Leonne  28:43

we're away to a point where we do not have time to even take a family vacation. And so that is when we moved and produced, to produce Nina, I remember, yeah, with Michelle Hayford

Rodney Veal  28:57

folks, this is how long we've known each other. Just know, you know, but you know. But when you talk about that like a family vacation, I don't think people understand, like people who are not artists and creatives, we will sacrifice the thing everything to do this thing. I mean, because it's like, because we, we know nothing else, like we this. We know we got to do it. Something just compels us internally.

Sierra Leonne  29:25

We see what we see, the way that it serves the community. Yeah, and the signature came on. We were in a we were in a really bad recession. You remember those home? Yeah? 2009 Come on. Yes. You know, folks were losing their homes. They were being evicted. They couldn't pay those mortgages. You know, it was, it was a tough time. And I remember, for many Americans and for many daytonians, let's, let's be clear, clear, it was, they came as an outlet, as a moment of reprieve and a break away from. What they were dealing with in a day to day life, in day to day life. And so for us, it turned into this healing space, this space of connection and community. And it got so bad, we would tell the audience, you all, you have to put out and promote that we're having the show. And they said, No, because this is just wonderful. We only want it to be us, 230 people,

Rodney Veal  30:23

selfish. People are selfish because you gotta share with the world. This is how this how special your shows were. I remember we came out in a snowstorm, oh, and people showed up. I remember that show was

Sierra Leonne  30:42

John good, Vanessa, hittery and shapong, chapon, shapong, Lou and that moment, Rodney, for us, that was the day we truly grew as producers and presenters of art since that day, weather is not a part of my storyline. It's not a part of the storyline for me, when you have eight to 10 inches of snow and you have a person in a wheelchair, a person on a cane, a blind person, when you have a theater full of people and it is eight inches, eight to 10 inch of snow outside.

Rodney Veal  31:21

It was still snowing, people. I mean, we all still

Sierra Leonne  31:25

wasn't Chuckie, the choir, the choir, the acapella choir. Yes, they were phenomenal. That was an amazing that was an amazing time.

Speaker 1  31:38

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Rodney Veal  32:27

That, to me, was that that show like for you, it kind of showed me that people want this. They need this, and the community needs this in their lives. And you, I think it's you inspire people to come out for spoken word. Let's be very clear. But it was not just. And it was like, because, you know, people have a tendency to kind of think spoken words like, Oh

Sierra Leonne  32:52

yeah, it's a medley. It wasn't it was a mentally music, every dance and movement of every kind. And then we did a we took the time to allow cross because that was a big part of our mission at the time, where we were integrating fine artists with folk and non traditional artists, you know, and their relationships really began to grow. And then we would partner those folks with national and global artists, talking about every major um poet alive, so many came through. We're talking about from Legends um, like The Last Poets, the entire crew, you know, here in David,

Rodney Veal  33:35

because they were on, they were on HBO, and it was like, Yeah, you

Sierra Leonne  33:39

Jessica Sunny, Georgia, me black ice. We're talking every color run. We're talking every we're talking so many amazing poets. You know, I remember when we brought common to town, you know his, he is poetry, right, right? He really is. It truly is, yes indeed.

Rodney Veal  33:56

And I challenge people, and you help challenge in Dayton, this notion of what rap is, that rap is spoken word, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's intelligent. You cannot create rap verses without imagination and

Sierra Leonne  34:10

thought. And there's such a huge underground scene here. I'm not on the rap on the rap scene here, but from my from my understanding, from my friend, oh, that's here too. The scene is extremely vibrant and strong, and so if you're a young rapper, please reach out to Rodney. If you need any information, I'll get it from the guys that I know. If Yeah, I'm curious, pass it on to your community, because it's vibrant. It requires skills. And they're also educating those guys on the history of hip hop, and it's impact, ever evolving impact here in Dayton. But if we think about it, that's what the gem city does for many. I mean, so much innovation takes place here. If you don't know anything about grit, if you do not know anything about creating from What does not exist, you don't know Dayton. You just don't know. You just don't have no idea. Because we because this is what goes on all the time, and we also leverage so much of the art that has come before us. When you think of relationships like Baba beans and James, James paints, that's intense, that's a beautiful relationship. When you think about the communal relationships of how our library is celebrating so many and in like the stories that I think Barbara Crow and his wife are doing that are now cataloged here, or we're thinking about the ongoing love for funk every time I'm near the orchid district and I'm down funk row, or I can't remember the name of the street over there, taking pictures every time about the history as if they're like, Mom, I've already been over here, 20

Rodney Veal  35:50

enough already. I love like, I got it, I got it, I got it. I know who was talking about. It was really funny when you talked about that, because I remember when I, when I, they asked me to direct a show of dance for city folk, which a lot of people would never thought the city folk would do a show. And so they asked me to direct it, and it was based upon the through line to West African dance and Creole movement and the emerging hip hop, for lack of a better term, street dancing scene. And it was really interesting, because it was one of these we had. It was a crumper from and a crew from LA and they came in, and there was a pop locker, and there was, is

Sierra Leonne  36:41

that the show you guys did over at Stivers?

Rodney Veal  36:43

Yes, yes.

Sierra Leonne  36:46

And so dancers on that show as well,

Rodney Veal  36:48

absolutely, we were tying it all in because it was a through line. And I just remember because one of these was, like, I started showing the movement from William Forsythe modern dance move. But they're like, this is just like, what we do. I said exactly. Don't ever think that this is not an art. This is this is it. We have a tendency to think that the art, I honestly believe the art does come from the people and it comes from culture and community. First, you may, yeah, you know, saying you, you might, you might see it in the in the museum. You might see it in the fancy space in the theater with the seats and the tickets and all that. But really,

Sierra Leonne  37:23

this grassroots is grounded. It's totally grass. And I think that's what he did in centers. He did a great job in that scene. Oh yeah, the history of Native movement with African heritage movement and dance. And you know, Mama Brit a over at the McClendon Institute, they keep that alive, as far as that culture, heritage and dance, and it's very impactful and powerful. And we have, you know, Juneteenth coming up Rodney, where we're going to be working with joppo, a Cultural Institute coming from Cleveland, which they traveled the world. And we have one of their original members, is actually from Dayton shamba, and he is a drummer, but they're bringing African dance and all of that in on June 19, down at the Levit and so. But the movement is how movement is really big this year, for Juneteenth, Rodney for us, because movement is is truly a way forward. So if you have people troops or boots on the ground, you have people doing fine arts dancing, you have folks prompting in the streets, doing African dance, doing street dances through tick tock with young people, it's a first step toward choosing to move, and someone can introduce something else, like for us on Juneteenth, we will have several different forms of dance, including DC, African dance and ballet, all of these things. But we also have Rodney on display on a screen, on the Jumbotron. There true boots on the ground, people who have done the work in Dayton and people who have done the work globally. So we're storytelling as well as our fans and doing move, make, doing our movies, right, community, getting exercise and across cultural, cross generational, I mean, experiences are born and harnessed from movement.

Rodney Veal  39:17

And that's, and that's, and that's what I love about what you do and like, you know because you it's because it's not just like there's a tendency to believe Oh, Sierra Leone is the poet laureate. Sierra Leone is the Oh. She's you. She is you. When I truly say this, the multiplicity of thoughts and ideas and a creative expression that you possess in your body is just awe inspiring. Because I gotta you know one of the things that's like having known you for so long, because you just, because you just, you guys created the vignettes from the becoming. Project

Sierra Leonne  39:57

belonging, belonging. Project, sorry,

Rodney Veal  39:59

belonging. Project. I had, I have Michelle Obama in the head. Sorry about that. But what I loved about it was like you talked because you had done the play with Nina Simone, and the evolution of the play, Nina to this is such a galactic leap, evolutionary step in your evolution as an artist that I was, I sat there, I remember, I said, I just, I just envisioned, this is a full length work. I envisioned, dying to see it as a full of, like, I'm chomping at the bits. I think it could be a book. I was so, like, in awe, and I'm like, so that process, like you, because, you know, families leading to this, you've had this 10 years of experience in that you you've always had these you've always it's kind of guided you to this moment. I mean, what's that like?

Sierra Leonne  40:59

Yeah, I think it has guided the journey itself. And first and foremost, I would say, Dayton being a place where it gives you the space to grow. Many cities do not do that, where they give you an opportunity to slowly flower, to slowly grow into building relationships that will help you develop all of who you are, a whole body experience. And I think working with Sharon Davies at the Charles F Kettering Foundation, working with Joni Doherty, and this collaboration with the human race Theater Company and Emily and the crew over there that is their artistic director, really ground having an opportunity to ground myself in a process. And so this piece is different. The belonging piece is different because what we're what we did, is that we had a vision of producing a play, and a play that would help us really examine the conditions of citizenry or just being a citizen. You know what it means to collectively coexist, and how do we want to do that? And how are we shaping our democratic systems for the future, and one way of doing so is through belonging. How are we? How do we go about doing that and and examining what belonging looks like? And so through listening sessions of every walk, type, economic status, demographic, human being. We had an opportunity to interview many people in groups, individuals, small groups. They were able to write in their responses. And from those listening sessions, I was able to not fully lean into verbatim theater, but verbatim theater ish,

Rodney Veal  43:07

but that was the but you the hybridization was what it's that's what got you hooked me, yeah, that it wasn't like, Oh, I'm gonna make this dramatic. No,

Sierra Leonne  43:18

we made the drama in the piece, which I'm which I'm growing to appreciate. One of my friends, Chris, we were talking about this. But the conflict is not person to person. There's only a couple. There were only a couple of the vignettes where it was person to person. The conflict is with person to society person. And they're bigger, which is bigger, and that's what we're saying. This is about our democratic society and how we're othering, including, excluding, and how it's happening in everyday life. And let's talk about that right here in Dayton. And so what we did was we pull from those stories. We that we pull from their lived experiences, and we were able to gather a calm, a conversational dialog, through vignettes, through discussion and through meaningful, I think, upset and folks being pulled out of just being, I think, sleep and walking through the upset, the anger and understanding that you must be an active participant in shaping the future of democracy,

Rodney Veal  44:34

how you because your life depends on it and the lives of your friends and family,

Sierra Leonne  44:38

family depending on how you choose to contribute, and your contribution as Sharon says. Sharon Davies says you don't have to be Superman. You know. You choosing to even participate and share your story. You choosing to go and read books to children at a library, going to volunteer. Fear somewhere, helping out with, you know, navigating the youth violence. You know, whatever it is you're wanting to do coming on rodneyville, inspired by whatever you're choosing to do, reaching out to your local politicians to talk about libraries and PBS and things like that, being on a brink of being canceled. You know, doing the work in some way, shape or form, however you can do it, but actively participating in community. And so this is to help to galvanize that, to give folks an opportunity to peer inside themselves and know what other other daytonians and residents are experiencing.

Rodney Veal  45:38

And you know. And the thing is, I was thinking, because I thought about, I mean, once I saw this, this, this, this reading, I thought I I kept thinking of Ann Deaver Smith,

Sierra Leonne  45:49

oh, oh yes and yes,

Rodney Veal  45:53

and you got me. So that's what I was like. He came to me like a day after. That's why I'm so right responding to this. And I think sometimes we think of because of one of the things that what I love about you is the fact that you have always fearlessly, just tried things that weren't not in the comfort of the wheelhouse. Do you know, say, like a lot of people wanted, I mean, I remember because it was somebody because it was somebody, it was a thing that panel discussion I was on, and someone said, Well, can you tell me how to get started? I said, I can't tell you how to get started. You have to decide that you want to start right here and now and make and put pen to paper and make that first drawing. Quit seeking perfection. That was my phrase to

Sierra Leonne  46:41

them, and that's that's imperative, and that's important, Rodney, because it the moment that I decided that I was no longer going to seek perfection. Person that is willing to go and actually execute that grows into the success that they want to be. You have to be willing to execute, to fail and learn or learn, right? Yep, eat back and get back at it, whatever that is that every single art form, and every single, I think, in every endeavor, if you're looking to achieve, especially outside of the metrics and scope of a nine to five, where you're working for someone, but if you're working for some, working for an organization or company, and you're thriving and successful, that's wonderful. But if you're saying you want to be an artist of any kind of any you have to get your work out there. And I must say, let me not sit on this podcast. Oh, as if, though I didn't fall into the crack of that. When it came to my poetry, my dear friend Scott woods, I was was, was talking with him. He's a poet and curator out of Columbus, out of Columbus. I met. Talking about this thought. Scott woods, we were talking about this thought of the iterations, and I think Farah as well was in on this conversation. But we were talking about this notion of your poetry books are just, what do you call? It? A marker in time as to this is where you were, right? This is what you were creating. This is this is who you were. It's just a snapshot. It's just a snapshot. And so for me, I have several missed opportunities where I should have taken bodies of work and created a book, created a book of poetry with them, and I didn't, and it wasn't. And I didn't do that work because I was waiting on it to be perfect, to have the perfect through line, to have that golden thread, to have the time to do all of the research, to have all of the time to write every word perfectly. And that time never came. And so I'm saying to young artists, it's just a snapshot. And so you may look back at that work. You should go that. You should go read and listen to interviews from so many prolific poets, those locally, those nationally. But if you all yes, and you'll see where they're saying, if they go back and look at work, oh my God, when I look I was mortified by what I wrote them, but I was so proud when I wrote it, but now I've evolved. And so I don't have the true footprint of having collections of work because I was wanting it to be perfect. And so I'm saying to that, you know, Oh, dude, oh, do not do that. You know, being Take, take. What happened to me, um, and now I'm just truly preparing to put out my first book. Here is the poet laureate, where this is something I should I should have done many years ago, many years ago, but scared nervous thinking it's not going to be accepted because of that divide in literary or spoken word arts. Or how is it going? Be celebrated? Will it be accepted? We all struggle with those things, and so get out of your own damn

Rodney Veal  50:06

way. Thank you on that one. Oh my God, because I'm glad, because I remember, because you, you know, because you and I talk about that, because what gets in the way? And I know there were times, there were opportunities, there were things that I did choreographically that I didn't do because I was looking for the perfect moment for it. I was like, they know perfect moment. Just go on and go out here and dance, yeah, go, go create. Just ask somebody to join in on this process. And I can testify to what you're saying is the truth, and that's the kind of truth that I think our audience needs to hear. But I wanted was it was good. What you made me think of is something that I remember, remember, remember this like a two years back, and that we were in the process of making the Bing Davis documentary, and being giving you the advice, because this is real. He said, Sierra, catalog your stuff, organize your material. And I was like, I because I remember, and I thought to myself, because, and then I realized there's a reason why, as an elder, he's saying that, because sometimes like to your point, we're just doing like you are such a doer, like you keep going. I mean, you are the perpetual motion machine. And I

Sierra Leonne  51:19

learned how to be. But you learned how to be. I did learn how. I did learn being. And you know, Rodney, being is this journey of really working through forgiveness, passion and then love. And so if you can work through whatever it is that you're not forgiving yourself from you're not forgiving others, your past, your parents, your community, or whatever your regrets are, to forgive and release those things. It was through that that I then found the compassion and in compassion, which is the pathway to how we see connect and experience love and so in that love for myself, I began to be, which was, I need to create intentionally. I need to as like being the artist in residence for the Kettering foundation. I need to create where there is support there to help harness those visions. And we just now I'm really excited about this. Rapney, this is what can come out of when you have an opportunity to when you have an opportunity. Voices, yes, digital voices. And our piece was the storytelling piece, storytelling, yes, poetry. And so we did that a frastic poetry event in February. Yes, I was there. Yes, in New York. Oh, God. Was probably a tear. Oh, that was such a we're going to be out on the Kettering, um, the Kettering Foundation's website,

Rodney Veal  52:51

though, people go see it. Yes, people, you gotta understand. But

Sierra Leonne  52:56

now we have our book. Oh, my God. It came out today. And so, oh,

Rodney Veal  53:04

come on now. Okay, how do I get a copy? Come on, I was I better get a copy. Sierra, that was such a beautiful Sunday in the black palette gallery in February, in February on a Sunday,

Sierra Leonne  53:23

yes, the second

Rodney Veal  53:24

it was, there were people who said it was, it revived their spirit and their souls. It was going to church.

Sierra Leonne  53:34

Just a little after the inauguration, just a little after things that had, you know, started to kind of, yeah, the, you know, we were in the trenches of of executive orders. We were, we were dealing with a lot as community. Everyone was and it was like, Wow, here is you're, I'm grounded. It grounded our community. And so it's projects like that that, that you have the support

Rodney Veal  54:00

in this community to do I mean, and that's the thing I mean. I tell people all the time, it's like that. That's what makes Dayton special on the cultural arts and cultural component, is that he allows you said that slow burn, to discover voices, the opportunities where no one is sitting looking at you side eye, going, why did that person won't get that paint thrown at them? Or create this signature poetry series, the signature signature event, and have people trudging through eight to 10 inches of snow to experience it is a real thing, creating things in lobbies and spaces that people never thought could have performative elements in it artists coming together. And you brought together some powerful voices, and then you had Scott Jones doing throwing down with the music. I mean,

Sierra Leonne  54:51

that was Chris Ward. Chris Ward, yeah, Chris Ward, who was on, but we love G Scott Jones now he's

Rodney Veal  54:58

got say. So, so exciting. I'm emerging events there too. Yeah?

Sierra Leonne  55:04

Because I think he had one there as well. But Chris, Chris Ward was on that. And then also, Devin, I can't remember, Devon slash, dc, dc, company, one dance, yeah, Devin, it's absolutely amazing. But

Rodney Veal  55:17

that's, that's, but that's the power of you in your

Sierra Leonne  55:20

ability. Devin Baker,

Rodney Veal  55:22

Devin Baker, there you go. Yes indeed. And that's the thing that, that's the power that you possess of bringing people together. They once you, the you, the you, the you are. You are one of the few people that I when I when you call and ask for something, I try to figure out a way to make it happen. I'm sorry, folks, I hate to burst your bubble in the universe, because there's a, there's a reason why. There is a reason why. Because it's, it's, I feel safe to soar. Oh, that's lovely when I'm with you and I'm creating, this is when you ask. And so that, that that kind of, that's kind of the spark that you got to have as an art maker and a creative you have got to beat this, that this kind of energy and spirit

Sierra Leonne  56:12

you're describing that in such a beautiful way, especially at a time we just did a tribute to Nikki Giovanni that, you know, we, You know, for Raha and I traveled to her services, and I mean, to her viewing, and we went up to see to see her, but what you're speaking to, for me is so important, because in her poem cotton candy on a rainy day from her 1978 collection, It was a piece dedicated to her father, but she says in one of her lines, and it made me think of it when you were speaking what this decade will be known for, there is no doubt it will be loneliness. You know, if loneliness were a grape, the wine would be vintage. If it were wood, the furniture would be mahogany. But since it's life, it's cotton candy on a rainy day. And you know when you think about, when you think about right now? She wrote this decades ago. I know big movement, the big talk, the talks, the movement around really trying to support people and feeling loneliness in their spirits right now in America is so major, and so that very thing of knowing you can find a way to tap into community to be inspired by you can find a way to visit a space like the Levitt for free concerts. You can go to one of our 17 libraries. You can turn on the television. You could go have coffee, coffee show. You can you can do an experience. So you can stop by the Dunbar house, you can, you know, visit and explore the west side and all of the gallery the galleries across Dayton, you know, in general, I mean, but we have things for folks to do. We have places for folks to go and ways for them to connect and find their people. And I think that work, even though it is not always welcomed, that's what we're saying, even though folks don't want to do that work to share space in a democratic society, it is being done right here in the gem city. And for that, we're so very grateful. We're so very grateful.

Rodney Veal  58:43

You know what? You know I am. I am grateful for our friendship as well. And I think it's I know, I know, like, people don't understand. It's like, because we know we go start walking.

Sierra Leonne  58:56

We're gonna do these summer walks. I know that you've been doing them for a while, but we're

Rodney Veal  59:00

gonna do we're gonna do them together. Because, you know, the thing is, what we're is, what, what, what you have, what you demonstrate you constantly. And I'm hoping this is an inspiration for people when they listen to this podcast. Is that the manifestation, the manifestation of generosity of spirit and talent and creativity and community. You are an ambassador to humanity, and that's how I see you, and I can't so thank you for being on my podcast. Thank you

Sierra Leonne  59:33

I am. I am just so honored, and it means so much. I know there's always so much more to cover and to talk about and to explore and to watch you as an artist grow into a world renowned producer celebrating the arts and folks like Baba bean Geraldine Blunden, you know? I mean, yeah, you know. Celebrate. Inviting folks that I know that she's coming up next on one of your major documentaries. And you know, yes, if it happens and that works out, but you celebrate folks through your show. You've celebrated us through the signature, through the life, through community work. You, you, I'm telling you, you and Anne, your powerhouse team over there, ensuring that we know every form, genre and type of artist. It may be beading, it may be sewing, it may be manufacturing. It does not matter. It can be voice. It does you all you want the world to know what is in Dayton, what is connected to Dayton and what is going to continue to pull Dayton forward. I would like to close Rodney with a poem. Oh, and it's not my poem. It is a poem that I am currently with. I'm not sure if I stole this book from one of my friends.

Rodney Veal  1:00:58

You gotta bring it back.

Sierra Leonne  1:01:00

No, I'm not okay. Oh okay. I return all my books, but this one, I don't know who gave it to me or who it belongs to. I know I didn't buy it, but I have it and I'm happy. And this piece is Daughters of Africa, and it's edited by Margaret Busby and so but this poem here is by amabua bucia, and she's, uh, she's retired recently from Rutgers University. I think she's from Ghana, Accra, um, her childhood. But I came across this poem by while doing research on the belonging project. I was researching some stuff on Ida B Wells and the her history. I know much of it, but was researching some stuff on her and and the word colored, and just things that went into that, the vignette series. So just taking and I found came across this poem, and it's entitled liberation. We are all mothers. We have had the fire within us of powerful women whose spirits are so angry we can laugh beauty into life and still make you taste the salty tears of our knowledge, for we are not tortured anymore. We have been beyond your lies and disguises, and we have mastered the language of words, and we have mastered speech and no we have also seen ourselves. We have stripped ourselves raw and naked, piece by piece, until our flesh lies flayed with blood on our own hands. What terrible things can you do to us, which we have not done to ourselves? What can you tell us which we did not deceive ourselves with a long, long ago? You cannot know how long we cried until we laughed over the broken pieces of our dreams. Ignorance shattered us into fragments, into such fragments we had to unearth ourselves, piece by piece, to recover with our own hands, such unexpected relics, even we wondered how we could hold such treasure. Yes, we have conceived to forge our mutilated hopes into the substance of vision beyond our imaginations or imaginings, to declare the pain of our deliverance. So do not even ask. Do not ask. What is it we are laboring with this time dreamers remember their dreams when we are disturbed and you shall not escaped what we will make of the broken pieces of our lives. Black women in America, I love that poem. I love that poem, and I just recently came across it, and it's powerful. I don't know, I don't have, I didn't have the rights or permission, but I love it, and I wanted to share it, just as a human being and a mother as we all do the work. Rodney do the work as we all do the work for the future and for the present that will continue to.