Doyce Deas and Shawn Brevard

Recorded March 12, 2021 Archived March 12, 2021 41:49 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: mby020493

Description

Doyce Deas (76) and Shawn Brevard (63) share a conversation about the evolution of the Link Centre, an arts and social services organization in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Subject Log / Time Code

DD talks about the impetus behind starting the Link Centre.
SB talks about how she became involved with the Link Centre.
DD discusses how they found different organizations to take up residence at the Link Centre and how they secured some of the Link Centre’s first funding.
SB talks about how the 2008 economic recession affected the Link Centre.
DD and SB talk about the safety and openness provided by the Link Centre.
SB and DD talk about the difficulty that the Link Centre has faced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
SB and DD discuss what the Link Centre has brought to Tupelo, Mississippi.
SB talks about artist residencies at the Link Centre and about the relationship between the Link Centre and the Tupelo School System.
DD talks about her daughter, who is the Executive Director of the Link Centre.
SB and DD discuss how they see the work of the Link Centre over the past twenty years and what they hope the Centre will continue to achieve in the future.

Participants

  • Doyce Deas
  • Shawn Brevard

Partnership Type

Outreach

Subjects


Transcript

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00:01 I'm Doris Day's. I am 76 years old and today is Friday, March 12th, 2021 and I'm calling from Tupelo, Mississippi at the lake center.

00:15 And I'm Shawn Brevard. I'm 63 years old. It is still Friday, March 12th, 2021, and I am here with Joyce at Link Center in Tupelo, Mississippi.

00:33 So a little bit today and share the history of link so very special. I guess ask Joyce the question and let her go and now here we are today, but let's go all the way back to the very beginning which is it came from you. So just tell us about that after you're like this, but honestly, it was about 1998-99. I think this building to give you a little history first is a former Baptist Church Harrisburg Baptist Church and its congregation decided that they wanted a bigger and

01:33 Facility that was perhaps in a more desirable location more parking in that sort of thing and they went on and built their facility and they still have been unable to sell that the former Church campus. So one of the church leaders came to our family Foundation that we have that time and wanted to ask would we be interested in purchasing the facility for Sawyer Mission church or something or whatever. It's a little history there. The family had gone to this church for a number of years. I have not been here in the Baptist Church for a long long time. But the rest of my family members they're my parents were strong supporters and financially and otherwise of the church so they came to the Family Foundation.

02:33 And ask what we want to purchase it and I said, well, not really. I'm not interested in that sort of thing. But have you ever thought about this, you know as a used for this facility and at that point it was just as if this idea had just kind of Come Into My Mind tour Blaine and I suggested because you know, what church facility has a kitchen it has a it has a sanctuary his classroom to have a performance hall some kind of food Ministry teaching facility. The rest of the building perhaps could be released Dallas office space and be a place that would house social service and arts agencies and that's really basically the way the full idea came to me.

03:33 And also I went home and called my dear friend Sean and the rest is history after that because she makes things happen and we started having a conversation out of that. Wow. That's that's interesting and then I'll let Chantel you. So my part of a blank Center began with the phone call from Joyce. I guess it was was a 2019 white night.

04:15 So we have this wonderful conversation called me on an evening. It was after supper and presented this idea. And of course we know each other quite well, so it has spent many years working with our community theater and involved in our school. So I'm sitting here and it was it was not being well treated by the community but was starting to get vandalized.

04:48 Anyway, I just know we talked to seemed really really let me just ponder that for a little bit and let me call you back. I just this is a brand-new and this is a big idea.

05:01 So that was maybe 8:30 that night and write the very next morning at I'm pretty sure it was very close to 8 in the morning my phone rang and it was a woman named Lisa Percy from from the delta, Mississippi and she was a contract worker with our state our students who was doing some groundwork to see if they could find Grassroots support all around the state to support a request. They wanted to put together to go to our state legislature to request bond issue money for Arts agencies that needed infrastructure support so that came out of an awareness that with the the money that the Arts commission had like most State Arts commission does have that money for Kroger, but they are not even money for infrastructure for for bricks-and-mortar and over and over they would find that the Arts organizations really couldn't do the programming because I didn't have the proper infrastructure.

05:59 So, you know, first of all, that was the most stunningly strange less than 12 hours or maybe about 12 hours apart phone calls. I never had it was it was eerily connected eerily connected and I hung up the phone anyway, so I told Lisa, of course, I'd help her she called me because it was connected to the Arts commission. And of course I helped her get together Town Hall. So you are not going to believe this.

06:48 Like how does this even happen? This was so the stars aligning and honestly truthfully if it's so got my attention to this day. I knew I was supposed to work on this that that was just I just didn't make any sense that was described as a faithful person. Sometimes God just hit you over the head definitely got my attention so fast forward over that. That exact phone call from Lisa generated a program called the building fund for the Arts and millions of dollars in in Grant and bond issue money at the state and we overtime got two different rounds of funding that actually helped us. That was the money that helped us renovate our former Sanctuary into a beautiful performance space. Absolutely the best acoustical space in this community hands down. There is no other place. No other facility like this 500

07:48 Gorgeous and it's always about how we began with what I call a condo in about structure from the initial conversation Sean and I had until we were able to put everything in place and get the buy-in from different agencies and get to the point that we had a charter. We became a 501 c 3 organization and registered with the state of Mississippi and all of that put together aboard in the meantime during that. Of time. We contacted every arts and Social Service Agency that we had all work with where I have been involved with our

08:48 What language is quite amazing and also at that time was working with the Salvation Army and was and various other things. So I contacted everybody ought to mention that there is an adjacent building on the campus. That is a Family Life Center of Jim which my father and actually funded for the church prior to that. So it was it was very nice Jam.

09:18 So I talked to the Salvation Army about maybe being a part of this the overall thing and then using the gym because they have a lot of problems if they used and at that time, we're not as interested in being a moving anything to this facility, but they were interested in the gym program. So it takes a long time to get anything through the hierarchy and Salvation Army so it took us a year and a half or so to get approval for the Salvation Army to purchase that part of the cell is is Sean said we put together a condo concept One Wing of the building ended up being purchased by the area of Girl Scout Association, and they had their Regional Offices there for a while the rest of the building we were able to get some other arts and social service agencies to

10:18 Move into the symphony was very interested at a particular because of the concert hall concept and and open their office here. And so over. Of time we were able to put together a core group of interested in the meantime. And this was when you could do pork loin Correctional Appropriations bad Cochrane, and it was some help from Rodger wicker put together a a bill and ask for us. I believe it was happening in Dallas and it was a a HUD Grant if I remember and they got the funding for us to come in and run up to some point. We did not have an elevator in this entire building and it's multi-level and we needed to be able to

11:18 Access the upper levels, so we can you use that money to put in an elevator to do other renovation to put on a new roof. Just someone to be the executive director and manage all the construction and that we even had a doctor who came in and plan to open a medical clinic here, but then she decided that she would move somewhere else. And so we never did get that part of it open but there were all sorts of other groups many of which are still here are some or not and we have other agencies, but the balance of everything is still as we conceived the idea basically arts and Social Services in Under One Roof. There is a facility in Jackson that was is an old ball there just called the medical mall. So I went to see that and it gave me some ideas.

12:18 Other tenants that we might attract but nevertheless things have evolved over the years but we had either we had a good strong mixed. I ended up that the Girl Scout their organization was changed. Everybody had problems, you know financially earlier in our to partner organizations. Yeah, it was hit quicker and harder because not only did their donations drop they had so many more people in need so they ended up having to sell a couple other places in town that they shrunk back to their original smaller space in the good news for us in our Evolution the to the city of Tupelo stepped in a little while.

13:18 We bought that building and they brought their very successful Police Athletic League, which is National program for at-risk Youth and they actually put a good bit of money in renovated that today's so and there is very sympathetic and we've done some bowls and platters and they're doing their empty bowls lunch and preparation were Pottery Works, but they just said understandably. They just couldn't handle the overhead. So that worked out again to me. It's a God thing, you know one one good organization goes in the next good organization comes in the Girl Scouts took a little longer, but also the recession affected them and Girl Scouts the chapter that was here merged with three other chapters and they moved their headquarters to Memphis and one notch.

14:18 Happened. They had a fifteen thousand fifteen thousand square feet for a two-story wing of this campus and they when they were in there beforehand, they were using it. All kinds of stuff going on and towards the end of their tenure here. They were barely using a quarter of the space. It was it was sad. So that was a little different situation because unlike the Salvation Army where that building was free standing across the street the Campbell on the back of our main building there at the wing was in a we shared walls and there was a great deal of concern with separate 501 c 3 nonprofit, you know, who would come in there would they be sympathetic the Police Athletic League was so great. That was fine. But we were also realize that if for any reason we ever down the road wanted to sell our space it would be a whole lot easier if we had the whole property that it would sort of make a very awkward depending on whom I come in.

15:17 So we were very fortunate at that time. The Girl Scouts had had a real friend in a community bag in a little candy called Ripley Mississippi up the road from Tupelo to Bobby Martin who we lost this last year wonderful wonderful philanthropic Community Banker had been a supporter of Link Center, but also very much of a girl scouts. So we went and had a wonderful visit with body noise and I can remember that visit take the remaining note with no money down and just transfer it to us and we restructured the debt so that we were able to do a monthly payment that would include interest and principal.

16:06 And it was just a bad as easy and need a process nothing. Thank God forever for Bobby Martin and we were able to take that over in pain one of the things that did for us as long as well as we are concert Halls of 500 seat space but it does not have a proper for Yer. It's really did not have a proper space for during intermission for people to go and buy taking over this swing the main entry into our concert all came through that side on the front side. And so we were able to overtime renovate that portion of that to have a proper foyer and really gave us a better Revenue stream. They better concession area and just just spaced that we can use for other rentals. So and then we kind of brainstorm and came up with the biz link work sharing space.

17:06 So that in the evolution of this property that was another big evolution for us that we went through. The recession was very damaging. It was also a. When I think it was during recession toys, we were so struggling with our utility bills and we were able to get some federal funding to redo our utilities state of Mississippi through the MDA and we were able to apply for an amazing grant that enabled us to replace boilers and HV AC in lighting and twice with more energy efficient units. We were able to replace all of the light in the main parts of the building that have you know, it's really assisted us with the cost.

18:07 And realize that this was sylheti the the the area that was the sanctuary that is now the performing arts building was built really right after World War II then another Wing was built in the fifties like in the fifties another Wing in the sixties another one in the seventies as well as the Family Life Center. So it's an aging structure very well. It's curly bill, but it Rambles and it is just, you know there lots of trees and that difficult challenges from a utility and a management stand for it, but we've been able to cope with that for the most part.

19:07 Is both our greatest strength and to some degree our greatest weakness because the opportunity to use creatively the unique and it has allowed us to do things and be partnered with so many organizations on individuals around the town. We rent our spaces. We have three largest space. We have a 200-seat reception hall with a raised stage in a full commercial kitchen and then we have the original is downstairs and it can become a but a hundred people and we turn that into our black box theater. So we have wonderful space and we have some other conference spaces everything from birthday parties to meeting spaces to you name it.

20:06 What kind of like a coral reefs are we doing? We are out and about is the fact that we are us acility that is very open and accepting of everyone and there's no discrimination here. It is not allowed and we've been a real leader in that in our community. That's that's always a challenge and and I'm really proud that we've been able to do that and we provided a safe space over the years for various organizations and just various people.

20:55 I tell people this was a former church, but it's still Sacred Space in a church setting but they're not comfortable with various denominations. So they have this wonderful space you still at the stained-glass number of years ago when we needed to replace the old fuse and do some lighting and some structural work in the concert hall and we was the moment when we had the decision to make and we go to Theater seating or do we replace pews and for better for worse we chose to keep the pews and the bee as I call at the Grand Ole Opry of people out and still maintain that sensibility Sacred Space.

21:55 Neil Harrisburg Church, you have a fancy big old property out there and west side and someone still want to come back here and get married that we still have that opportunity for them. And I agree with the way it is there really isn't another place until I say maybe the library or City Hall where you know it in a in a world where we are divided we connect with people through your family for your work for your church through you know, your your extra to activity.

22:31 You know, I always said in the initially when you have the symphony and the Salvation Army in the same facility, you kind of know least from an economic standpoint. You have some of the wealthiest people in town and some of the poorest people in town all coming together Link Center that's in the message right from the start. So it's it's a it's a very powerful model. It's and it ain't easy though. You know, if I said I'm greatest burden is the structure of the large space to maintain, you know, it's hard to keep the cash flow going to help tenants. We do have cash flow with trenco then I'll bring us up to where we are evolutionary now.

23:14 It's been a terrible year for our troops. Especially Performing Arts. Terrible year places are closing. It's awful. We are Holding On by our fingernails and part of it is we do have tenants paying rent. We've been fortunate to get some of the federal support. We've had some very gracious community members, but it's an interesting moment to be talking right now because in March of 2021 will look back we know that the tide is turning with vaccines and such and we are starting actually tonight. We will have our first program in mostly virtual but with allowing a little bit of on-site next weekend. We are having our first concert will head in over a year and again limited seating wearing masks social distancing no concessions so that we don't get people to close together chatting and drinking wine.

24:14 Quite ready for that, but we're trying to crack the door open and

24:20 We're excited. We're nervous. We're desperate.

24:25 Fabulous performance facility is it is Sean mentioned Acoustics are phenomenal and we have a beautiful Steinway grand piano that the symphony purchase several years ago raise the funds for that and it's home is here at the link center. So keep it the humidifier and all of that but we have such a wonderful space for this sort of thing. Everything was out for the last year and it's really been it's really been sad and fortunately we we we had we managed to get enough grant money to kind of scrape by and we are just really eager to return to usage for usage and heading our friends back.

25:25 Sponge Sean's leadership has provided a lot of support and we've tried to be in a baggie this year and do a little bit of programming but it's been robbing movies or something has something has opened something has happened and there have been many times when we have been down to the penny. Just they just keep moving forward.

26:06 So, you know for my standpoint sitting here with the voice.

26:12 I give her so much credit for for her idea and she was the right person in the right place. You had the family history you had the connection to this place and it it's important for us to say to

26:26 The location is demographically centered in town. It's not downtown. But if if you see where the population is in Tupelo, we are demographic Lee Central the area around us from the standpoint of housing is a high rental and low income and we act where we faced Main Street right on Main Street at the block block down from the Walmart at one of us find us another church a block away.

27:07 Weird important

27:09 Piece of infrastructure in institution in this part of town are downtown which is beautiful and I honored and it's great that we have a good time. But we have a lot of activity around here and we are an important organization physically emotionally socially spiritually all angles, and there's nothing like us

27:38 Going almost anywhere. I was a little bit a little bit because I knew what we do. We're just but we're kind of a perfect example of what the Arts can do because you can't put the Arts in a box and we're all interconnected and I think when we think about critical thinking skills and creative approaches and diversity and recycling space, I mean, I think we are.

28:30 I don't know where we're at. We're Shining Light. I think we're Shining Light and we try to be bad quality certainly in our program and we were very intent on on quality.

28:44 Although we don't do a lot of big-name stuff because we can't afford that and we're in Mississippi and people are looking to pay so much for ticket prices, but we brought things here that make a difference and and also with the powerful as a non-profit to think about that are bored and we're 21-member board with seven subcommittees and every board member service on the subcommittee and it's a wonderful bringing together of different people in the community different facets. Just let me have served on this board are subcommittees number of them bring non-board members in to be involved in in the work here, so they would not have survived and supports and one of the things that I want to ask her to talk about. She and I both have had

29:44 Tupelo School District board membership over the years and we're both committed to the public schools are cheap a lot. But one of the things that she has really been the instigator and supporter Ops over these years. It is the relationship with the schools and the the the workshops that we have provided that link center provides for our Public Schools every year. I will ask her to tell you a little bit about that was you work with a national I had to get more involved and aware of the whole school district 210 the work that our state Arts organization was putting into our cinegration and I had begun back when I was with the theater.

30:44 Residency program because I was so involved in the schools. And I know that just came naturally walk with me over here and we do have an annual Link Center artist residency program that in the core of that is bringing talented artists of all different genres puppeteers and storytellers musicians and visual artists and writers and you name it into the schools to do arts integration work to connect those Arts tools to their various curriculum and that would change every year from what what grade level was are related to health and science.

31:44 And then based on who that artist is we will make Community connections. So we we will bring it artist in for 5 Days 7 days and one one year. We just three weeks. I deduct building not all the time, but most the time I how's the artist in my home? That way we can cut costs and I'm just fully involved in it and it's just easier to take them places and I love it. I love being with these functions to such Joy.

32:12 But over the years those connections Partnerships Lee County Library the Police Athletic League Boys & Girls Club Art Museum all different connections where the artists are conducting programs with different institutions. So it's it's likely Center is multifaceted. So that's been one of our signature programs. We have a monthly music next series that we invite all different as you can tell by monthly music mix a mix of different genres. So we bring Opera we bring

32:52 Bluegrass Blues we do singer-songwriters

33:02 All kinds of different Grammy award-winning April 9th so Irish

33:17 So those are some of the things which we developed a few years ago just to finish the artist residency. We brought us from New Orleans who was such a hit we brought her back the second year and brought more spoken word before it's cuz that was really kind of open the door to that one form and subsequently Asia raining this morning, so

33:48 I do want to backup and where else wrote Joyce a question then we're probably running clothes run time here.

33:55 What is had a rather remarkable executive director for a number of years? Would you like to speak a little bit of this is our wonderful day. And so suddenly we were without someone and shown in that both music could or wanted to do all the time. And so we started we got someone to help us to begin search. Well my older daughter at that time. I was continuing to she been in Boston and and lots of experience in arts and profit management. So the board thought was a good director and they reached out to her.

34:55 When She interviewed and she had always said that she would never come back to Mississippi only a Pigs Flew

35:04 Did you get the pics in Flight like that?

35:08 But amazingly she agreed to leave the Northeast and come back home to Mississippi. Thrill my mother's heart myself myself my mother.

35:29 I'm very very involved but I don't vote on anything cuz we've really been such a stalwart contributor to link center and she gave up her her her life to come back and do this and I'll forever be grateful to her for that and Mission worksheet drama theater in particular from her time in in the Harvard and she went to Yale drama school. So she had she had strong educational credentials, which sounds like

36:29 It's not.

36:32 But nevertheless she she came back and he's really sacrificed a lot and in and worked tirelessly for us. And and if you know, she cannot tell you how much I appreciate that a lot and she's very resourceful and she's been able to get a lot of money and one thing I wanted to say that link center when we talked about it someday. She has a question about something and wants to know how to find so-and-so or what how you can do this in Tupelo.

37:28 It's just a source that we got the reputation for being such a conglomerate and mix of things that everybody thinks once it's happening. It's probably happening there and I'll sometimes it's not and but she is normally able to refer them to someone to do that stuff.

37:52 Bro coming back. I'm coming close to being ready to be to finish up our conversation. So I'll let you have the last word my last words.

38:01 Cuz we could go on for hours or so many stories. We can honestly badly but it's Parker Palmer and he's talking about a woman. He interviewed at like the Catholic and workers Society in New York or something Irish. People are just seems like for the myth of Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill. There's no and it just whatever and she said you don't understand.

38:42 Just because something is impossible doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

38:50 Absolutely. That's my last word with 20 years as far as in the bility and but there's always creativity. There's always someone willing to help out and when I think about what people would be without a real hole in our community without it and it it it certainly gives you the energy to continue the the struggle that it requires and you're always looking

39:34 Around to see you know, what you can do next what you can do better because over the years to come and gone Partners to come and gone but it's John said there's always to just when you think it's the darkest something always presents itself out there and it it's very it's very heartening. So there is anything ever going to change but it does and it's the whole process from the from the very odd the conception of the idea. I don't know where in the world it came from. It was just as if somebody is open my head and poured this idea and I never thought about anything of that sort. It came to be a full-blown honestly and that's that's been a very intriguing thing to eat to watch the development of the years. It's it was is John said if it's very providential it is a very God dang it.

40:34 He said that it all worked out and we hope to continue for many many more years. And again, I can't say enough about the leadership of Sean and supported her family and some many people in this community have had it brought the community get together another group get a subculture that we didn't know anything about so we've done lots of things over the years that have been very educational to Sean into me.

41:22 I'm more accustomed to the barbecue festival.

41:28 But it was fun. And we appreciate the opportunity to tell the story of the week Center. We're both very proud of it and

41:39 We appreciate the opportunity.