Weekly Dispatch #25
A sign-off til 2022
Friends, colleagues, and supporters-
I hope this finds you well and safe in what are increasingly unsafe times. This will be the year’s last dispatch, before we pick up again in 2022, a year that sounds so impossibly futuristic to me. I want to recap some highlights of this semi-inaugural year for House Lights, tell you a little about what is coming in the new year, and share some final thoughts about this whole experience and project.
And because I have been nudged to include some more images, or videos, or anything really, I’m going to embed some videos to some of my favorite Christmas music here. Hearing the same 20 songs endlessly through speakers around the world (they play the same ones here in Barcelona!) can get exhausting- think of these as a reprieve:
For new readers:
Welcome to our newsletter! This weekly dispatch details the process of building a nonprofit, the House Lights Fellowship.
House Lights exists to solve two related problems in one stroke:
We have a huge number of unemployed and underemployed artists in America- their talent, energy, and empathy remain a great untapped national resource
Social and public service organizations face a huge personnel shortage in the wake of the pandemic. They need people with talent, energy, and empathy…see where I’m going with this?
So here’s what we do:
Offer a 10-week intensive program for artists, supplementing their artistic training with a crash course in community building, fundraising, grant writing, and what we call Creative Community Infrastructure. Think of it like an abbreviated mix between an MFA and an MPA.
Place graduates of that program in funded residencies at partner organizations (anything from a library to a community health center to a department of transportation) where they use their unique talents and new skills to amplify that organization’s mission, engage new people, and illuminate key issues.
Some Highlights from the Year
This was a big year for House Lights- we moved from an idea I’ve been kicking around in my head to a real, tangible organization in the world, poised to do big things in 2022.
There are three highlights worth noting:
We officially incorporated as a 501c3 organization in California!
We ran a summer pilot program in Delaware, in partnership with Americorps, the Delaware Division of the Arts, and the New Castle County Public Libraries!
We met and learned from hundreds of leaders in the fields of service, the arts, community organizing, and higher education
Those many, many conversations are the main reason we are where we are today- Sarah and I have learned so much from our friends, advisors, and supporters. The great gift of this often very frustrating year, when I look back on it, is the generosity and encouragement shown by so many of you. I am eternally grateful. When House Lights takes its next steps into the world in 2022, I want you to know that we wouldn’t be doing it without your help!
What’s Coming in 2022
What can you expect from us in 2022? Well, come on, what can any of us expect? If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that we should be humble about our clairvoyance abilities.
That having been said, here are our four key goals:
Fundraising: we want to establish a financial base for House Lights, allowing us to work full-time on critical launch needs. You’ll hear more on this front in 2022, but if you’ve ever thought about contributing and supporting our work, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Alex@houselights.org
Organizational Structure: As we build out what House Lights is in practice, we hope to recruit several key board members to share their wisdom and insight and guide us in the right direction.
Partner Recruitment: We have had lots of interest from potential hiring partners and higher education partners, and while things are obviously quite scrambled at the moment given the virus, we hope to have agreements worked out and signed in the first half of 2022.
Online Programming: Sarah and I have been prepping some online program offerings I am really excited about, including workshops for upcoming college graduates, panels, interviews, and (hopefully!) some exciting in-person events.
I will also keep trying to put more photos and things in the newsletter, I do solemnly swear.
A Reflection
I of course had several thousand words lined up here to unwind what it has been like building this from the ground up over the past year, what I’ve learned, what I’ve felt, all that. But consider it a holiday gift: I have distilled it down a bit, to a quote and a little exegesis.
The quote, from Dean Young’s terrific poem “Whale Watch” (you have to scroll down the page a bit to see it):
Do not confuse size with scale:
the cathedral may be very small,
the eyelash monumental.
I’ve quoted these lines twice in the past week, to my students at Global Citizen Year, and once more to my poor quote-suffering fiancee. I love these lines so much. They are a reminder, to myself, of something easy to forget in the sometimes-elating, sometimes-despair-inducing process of launching House Lights. It is kind of obvious, when stated flatly, but this is the thing: things that may actually be big can feel small at the time, and things that are small can feel quite big. It is, obviously, a matter of perspective, an ongoing effort to see things for both what they are and what they might be. It’s hard to do, keep a sense of perspective! Sometimes (ok, it’s really just you and me, down this far into the newsletter, hardly anybody reads down this far) it feels like it just might not happen. Sometimes it feels like, while House Lights might be a great idea, it just might not become a working reality. It feels impossible to do. But, yes, there is another Dean Young quote for that:
Just because a thing can never be finished
doesn't mean it can't be done.
Happy Holidays, to you all- stay safe, be well, find joy, share joy-
Reach out whenever, I will always be glad to hear from you!
A