Our Collective Capacity to Manifest Change: Skywatchers, Featuring Shavonne Allen, Joel Yates, and Dazié Rustin Grego-Sykes

Today, I’m joined by Shavonne Allen, Joel Yates, and Dazié Rustin Grego-Sykes, three members of Skywatchers, a performance ensemble based in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Skywatchers is an interdisciplinary, intergenerational, mixed-ability, and multicultural performance group that aims to amplify the voices of Tenderloin residents. Their mix of movement, music, visual art, and spoken word get to the core of what the Tenderloin is, which, despite the despair that is visible on the streets, is a place of abundant generosity. In Dazié’s words, community members in the Tenderloin have been given a limited view of themselves based on what outsiders see on the surface. The Tenderloin is an inclusive neighborhood where people support their neighbors and forge social spaces despite the hostile architecture that discourages social gathering in the area. Skywatchers performances explore the real, raw, lived experiences of ensemble members and life in the Tenderloin, but also share a vision of how things could be. Shavonne, Joel, and Dazié highlight the impact their art has on the neighborhood and reflect on how their lives have changed since joining the ensemble.

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Topics Covered:

●      The history of the Tenderloin neighborhood and how it became a containment zone for the city’s biggest unsolved social issues 

●      How Shavonne, Joel, and Dazié were introduced to Skywatchers 

●      The story behind the ‘Opulence Portraits’ and ‘Towards Opulence' pieces 

●      Examples of what hostile architecture looks like, particularly in downtown San Francisco

●      What Shavonne, Joel, and Dazié have gained from being part of Skywatchers

●      What other Tenderloin community members gain from the work of Skywatchers 

Guest Info:

●      Towards Opulence, the Opera at The Cutting Ball Theater  

●      Skywatchers Website

●      Skywatchers on Instagram

●      Skywatchers on Facebook

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