The Details of Fountain Waters, Inc. - Our Taking Action

Fountain Water, Incorporated

Goal:

To provide an authentic, rich, safe environment for KC teens seeking positive recreation. Our intention is to foster recreational creative interaction between diverse populations of young people in our city such that they can cultivate a sense of ownership in its future direction. Through creative expression and invention, this space will allow teens to experience and articulate a sense of community within young Kansas City. Direct involvement with center programming will cultivate leadership skills with an immediate positive impact on city tensions.

Impetus:

Young people in Kansas City are crying out for help, and their cries are being met with handcuffs and ugly rhetoric. Kansas City is now home to - arguably - an updated version of a Jim Crow law, its Plaza curfew. Though not targeted at young African-Americans in its language, the plaza curfew has the effect of criminalizing young blackness on the plaza. What the community fails to recognize is that urban youth need safe places in which to be young. Their neighborhoods, increasingly, are not those places. If Kansas City wants to make being young and black on the Plaza a crime, it should first work to make sure that all young black people have a truly engaging and exciting place to choose to go. When we’re sure they have options, we’ll know the intention of those who still choose to cause “trouble”.

Assumptions:

A space for young people must walk a fine line. Control it too much, and it becomes Chuck E. Cheese’s and is quickly depopulated. Provide no guidance or control, and typical youthful exuberance and/or dangerous negative influences can tear a place to pieces.

Teens must be included in the creation of anything targeted at them, and this facility will have to be flexible enough to change in response to feedback from its users.

Creativity as an outlet has many positive benefits. The facility needs to encourage and cultivate teen abilities to express and create. The benefits of this creativity can be seen in many areas.

Many young citizens of Kansas City feel disconnected from their community. They see nothing the community has created for them and see only the places and spaces they are excluded from. This space can serve as an initial step towards making Kansas City a place that nurtures its youth in the hope that in the future that youth will nurture its city.

Opportunities for artistic expression will attract teenagers from all corners of the metropolitan and can foster a wider sense of community amongst teens who currently rarely interact with each other.

Target

“Citing police statistics that he called “alarming,” Councilman Jermaine Reed said 34 curfew citations were issued last year between June and December and all recipients were black.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/24/4200098/plaza-curfew-discussion-put-off.html#storylink=cpy

Though this proposal grows out of response to Plaza curfew discussions, our purpose is not limited to African American teens. The center should be located in an area of the city accessible to its broad youth demographic.

The center will be staffed by educators and volunteers who have expressed interest in creating a safe space to facilitate difficult conversations about Kansas City—specifically, its racially-charged development and stratification. We seek additional educational and programming support from leaders who share our commitment to community growth.

Potential Contributing Organizations:

• Kauffman Foundation
• Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery
• Kemper Museum of Modern Art
• Gates Foundation
• American Jazz Museum
• Google Fiber
• UMKC
• Rockhurst University
• Kansas City Art Institute
• Plaza Merchants
• City of Kansas City
• Kansas City Missouri School District
• Surrounding school districts
• Missouri Repertory Theater
• Local theater companies
• Sprint
• Science City/Union Station
• Area public libraries
• The Writers Place
• Greater Kansas City Writing Project
• Local Television Stations

Facility Design

We conceptualize the space as a storefront based on the 826 National model (http://826national.org/chapters/). Based on future level of interest and commitments of support, we will flesh this concept later.

Potential Program Needs

Large monetary donors will be represented in literature and with prominent logos. We would open the center up for their marketing and PR teams to use in advertising at will.

The center will provide:

Poetry workshops,

Poetry slam competitions,

Poetry open mic reading nights,

Hosting poetry events involving nationally recognized poets,

Creative writing workshops,

Open reading events,

book signings,

tutoring and academic writing workshops,

music performances,

jam sessions,

private music lessons,

music composition workshops,

open ensembles,

singer/songwriter workshops,

visual art workshops,

gallery opportunities,

art history lectures,

film-making workshops,

documentary workshops,

screenwriting workshops,

therefore, we will cultivate relationships with organizations and people with the expertise to provide these sorts of opportunities for youth for free.

Our Mission

The city cannot truly move forward until we confront the problematic structures that have built and continue to support its present divisions. Many residents are unaware of this history, and we envision the creation of this center as an occasion to educate community members who want to participate in progress.

While Kansas City currently benefits from several arts institutions, there is none that seeks to encompass “the arts” holistically (writing, music, drama, media, etc.) and caters specifically to teens.