Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Syracuse Stage will be hosting an immersive performance addressing housing insecurity, an issue that impacts millions of Americans.
Syracuse Stage will receive a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support “The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe,” which is led by Mark-N-Sparks, consisting of artists and activists Ashley Sparks and Mark Valdez from Los Angeles.
Collaborating with national advocacy organizations and arts organizations in three cities, Marks-N-Sparks will both address and influence policy decisions concerning housing insecurity. “The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe” comes to Syracuse Stage June 15-18.
We have heard repeatedly that there is a lack of imagination in policy spaces. The thinking gets smaller and smaller, while the housing crisis only get bigger and bigger. Solutions to our crisis will require the arts. —Mark Valdez, artist and activist.
“The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe” is one of nearly 1,250 projects to receive nearly $29 million in funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category. It is produced in coordination with Syracuse Stage; the Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center; and the Roy and Edna Disney/ CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in Los Angeles, California.
“The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is proud to support arts projects like this one from Syracuse Stage and its partner organizations that help support each community’s creative economy. ‘The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe’ is among the arts projects nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts,” says Ann Eilers, acting chair for the NEA.
Logo for the play “The Most Beautiful Home…Maybe.”
Workshops were conducted with local and national audiences. Policymakers, government workers, commercial and non-profit developers, activists, advocates and individuals experiencing housing insecurity were among the stakeholders.
“The engagement process and the performance are intimately woven together. By fusing story, imagination and policy discourse together, we’re creating space for transformational change in how housing policy can be generated,” adds project co-creator Ashley Sparks.
