Episode 37: Joe Goode Performance Group

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A transcript, lightly edited for clarity and length, follows.

Show Guests: Michelle Lynch Reynolds, Executive Director & Joe Goode, Founder & Artistic Director, Joe Goode Performance Group

Voices of the Community Introduction: Welcome to voices of the community which explores critical issues facing Northern California communities. We introduce you to the voices of community thought leaders and change makers who are working on solutions that face our fellow individual community members neighborhoods cities and our region. This is George Koster your host. 

Series Introduction: This episode is part of our series exploring COVID-19’s impact on nonprofits and small businesses in San Francisco. Back in April 2020 when we decided to create this ongoing series on Covid-19’s impact first on nonprofits and then on small businesses in the San Francisco Bay. We like you had no idea how long the pandemic would go on and what the health and economic impact would be on our community. Going into 2021 the pandemic is now killing more people, shutting down more nonprofits and small businesses, along with wiping out the lively hoods of families, neighborhoods and communities.

We will continue to shine a spotlight on the nonprofits, and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community along with the founders and staff who are struggling to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their operations, services and sustainability until we can all get to the other side of the pandemic. Along the way, we will also share with you all the amazing solutions that our nonprofits, small businesses, foundations, and government leaders are working on to help us all get to the other side of the pandemic and come together to rebuild our communities with more economic, social and environmental equality.

Show Guest Michelle: Many of whom have been really struggling during this time and have you know, as, the news has indicated, lost a lot of work and a lot of stability. So as much as we can do to uplift one another and to take care of one another, I celebrate that. And many of our events, especially for local artists, includes ways to contribute directly to them. So, we're hoping that we can spread the wealth if you will, as far as possible.

Episode Intro - Show Host George: In this episode our featured voices are Michelle Lynch Reynolds the Executive Director and Joe Goode the founder and artistic director, of Joe Goode Performance Group. Over the last thirty plus years Joe Goode Performance Group has promoted understanding, compassion and tolerance among people through innovative dance.

We conducted this interview in December 2020 at the beginning of the City of San Francisco’s latest shelter in place which has now been extended indefinitely. Our interview includes Michelle discussing their end of the year fundraising campaign to support the development of upcoming creative work, their ongoing virtual educational programs and the funding needed to cover basic overhead to help sustain the theater’s operations through the pandemic

Show Host George: I'm joined remotely via zoom by Michelle Lynch Reynolds, the Executive Director and Joe Goode, the Founder and Artistic Director of Joe Goode Performance Group. Thanks for being here, Michelle, and Joe.

Show Guest Michelle: Thank you

George: Michelle, I would, love it. If you could provide the audience, just a, an overview of who Joe Goode Performance Group serves and your key programs.

Michelle: Sure, I'd be happy to. So, Joe Goode Performance Group began 34 years ago. And our mission is to promote tolerance and compassion through the innovative use of dance and theater. We are a proud legacy business here in San Francisco. Our programs fall into three major buckets, the creation and presentation of new dance theater work.
And that includes work by Joe as well as a new Biennial Festival we started this past May called GUSH, and other co-productions and presentations that often have been at our theater space, the ANNEX, we have education programs for both adults and youth and that includes in school residencies at local high schools.
A partnership with the SFVA to bring gentle movement classes, to local veterans as well as open classes for adults often non-dancers that includes a weekly program for individuals with Parkinson's and their caregivers and loved ones. As well as other classes and workshops. Um, and then finally, as I mentioned, we are the proud home of the Joe Goode ANNEX, which is a studio black box theater in the mission.
And under normal circumstances, we host ah and have over 90 artists each year at our space holding hundreds of public events. And under COVID we are mostly closed in our home space, especially now with the new, stay-at-home order, that's under effect right now. But we're starting to offer virtual showcases and other activities so that we can continue to be a platform for local artists to share their work.
And all of our, educational grooming now is done virtually over zoom too. So, our roster of, teaching artists is getting very good at camera angles and becoming cinematographers in their own home, bringing our movement, education, and methodology to the world as well as in performance.

George: So much of what the organization has done over the decades is really amazing performances. So, do you feel Michelle that's been the Joe Goode Performance Group's response to COVID?   

Michelle:  Right now, everything is online. We shared new performance work in May at the very beginning of the pandemic. And we have pivoted for lack of a better word, all of our education, and kind of virtual performance space offerings.

We are planning for our next major production to be in person, knock on wood fingers crossed in September 2021, which will be, created by Joe in addition to local artists and Melecio Estrella Chibueze Crouch and Gabriel Christian. And that we are planning on having in person hopefully entirely but making lots of plans to be as flexible as we possibly can. Our ANNEX space was reopened partially. But, as you know, we are not able to invite the public in for performances just yet. So, we're creating dance films and planning with a lot of heart and flexibility for a future where we can all gather to get together again.

George: Well, I was interested, you did have your virtual festival in May. I imagine that might be another idea to bring back, because it seemed like that was very popular. And then you have your kind of virtual meetups. I like the virtual lunch, and virtual supper. Can you kinda share a little bit about that?

Michelle: Yeah, of course. So, both our festival and we have a few upcoming events that we're calling either dance for lunch or dance for supper, depending on what time of day they are emerged from an idea of supporting and being in collaboration with more local artists, and two artists in particular, JIA Jackson and Jocelyn Rayez.

We we're planning on co-producing shows of theirs at the ANNEX in April and providing resources and helping to get their work off the ground. But that had to be postponed. So, we got together, and we brainstormed, and they had the idea of co-curating together and coming together and bringing artists in that they're interested in learning more about.

And so, these events, which right now they're planned for the month of December, but we have ideas of bringing more in 2021 are really casual activities where audience can hear from artists, see a little bit of dance, film work but be in conversation and in dialogue as well.

So, it's sort of part lab space, part conversation, part showing to try to bring to life the form in ways that sometimes zoom, or virtual activities can fall a bit flat or not have that same live dynamicism. So, we're trying to play around and experiment and really create as many opportunities as we can to uplift the voices of local artists.

George: Thank you, I'm going to turn to you Joe, over the decades that you help create this amazing organization. Could you please share a story with the audience, perhaps one of your favorite stories that you feel exemplifies the impact that Joe Goode Performance Group has had on the San Francisco community?

Show Guest Joe: Well, you know we've been really involved with this kind of adult education of bringing people back to their bodies and kind of befriending their bodies and understanding that if they take a sort of punitive fix it, approach to the body that often that doesn't really work very well. So I developed this thing called movement for humans, and I love teaching it and we do it just about every Saturday morning and in this moment where it turned to virtual you know, we had people joining us from Canada and from Florida, New York. And it was wonderful to be able to translate it. I mean, now I'm doing it from my living room. But it’s very gentle movement mostly lying on the floor and very simple exercises and some kind of, you know, vision work.  And I've really been enjoying that. I've really felt like preaching the gospel of the gentle body. And it is really reaching a lot of people and changing, changing their attitudes and making them feel better about aging, making them feel better about disability.

And that, feels like a real contribution aside from the art, which I've been doing for many years and which I love doing. And I hope that that moves and transforms people. And I have evidence of that in certain, places, but this is a real mission for me right now. I'm really, really enjoying it.

George: Thank you. That was great. So, turning back to you, Michelle folks who are watching or listening to this interview, how can they support the Joe Goode Performance Group? Do you have a, a special end of the year campaign or something folks can do to get ready for the next year projects?

Michelle: Yeah, thank you. Like all other nonprofits, I think on the planet earth, we are doing an end of year fundraising campaign right now to raise funds for our upcoming creative work, as well as our educational programs and to keep our theater going, despite the uncertainties of this time.

So, we welcome donations at any time, but I also wanted to say that I think art of what the pandemic has brought to light that Joe mentioned a bit is how important it is for us as an organization to bring something back to our communities and build community in this very unusual time.

So, I think a lot of what we can do together is be together in as creative space as we can. So that might mean learning about our class and coming to join us lying on your living room floor on Saturday afternoon. Taking a dance for Parkinson's class, which we offer every Sunday, or if, you’re listening or watching and you know, someone a loved one who's suffers from that disease to, share that along, and to tune in to our Twitch feed and our zoom feed, and check out our website for virtual events where we're showcasing Joe's work as well as work by artists in our community.  Many of whom have been really struggling during this time and have you known, as, the news has indicated, lost a lot of work and a lot of stability. So as much as we can do to uplift one another and to take care of one another I celebrate that. And many of our events, especially for local artists, includes ways to contribute directly to them. So, we're hoping that we can spread the wealth if you will, as far as possible.

George: Thank you. Here we are Monday December 7th and it's our first day of shutdown again. And it doesn't look like it's going to get any better anytime soon. What do you feel Michelle could conceivably be the positive things that come out of the COVID crisis to support performing arts and engagement with youth and family and the whole person as Joe would say?

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. I will say that during this time it has been very challenging, in all of the ways that it has been for so many of us, but it's also been incredibly uplifting to see how many of our supporters, how many of the people who are long-term followers, of the artistic work and the educational work, have really stepped up and gotten closer to us in some ways, you know. We have a community around us in the Bay area who want to make sure that the older organizations like Joe Goode Performance Group continue, but also the culture continues and that at the end of this, there's a vibrant community where artists are here, and artists are making this city and this region ah vibrant and curious and creative and weird place that it's always been.

So, I think that some of what's come out of this time is, a clarity of like, this is what we want. And the performing arts has always been, you know, walking a bit of a fuzzy, [laughter] a wobbly line in terms of viability in this very expensive region. And I just want to acknowledge that there has been a tremendous outpouring of support, towards the performing arts to get through this really difficult time. And I think a lot will change and a lot will be lost, but it's certainly, a beautiful thing to see

George: And Joe, from your perspective, what are some of the positive things that could come out of this pandemic?

Joe: I'm all about the inner landscape and looking inside and reflecting and spending time with yourself kind of noticing what you feel and where you want to go and setting your goals. And this is a time for that. I mean, in a certain way, I feel busier than ever, but I think there have been moments where I've really been able to look at my life and look at my values and kind of place them.

You know, how do I want to set this for the future? And I think, you know, there's a saying that if you can transform yourself, you can transform the world. And it really starts with that kind of inner questioning. And I've been enjoying that and doing a lot of reflecting and writing and sharing with others, how I'm thinking about things. So, I think that's a positive.

George: Well, thank both of you Michelle and Joe for joining us today. I'm going to make sure that everyone who's watching and listening has your contact information, your website, social media, et cetera. So, they can continue to support Joe Goode, Performance Group's, productions, and get engaged and support your mission along the way.

Joe: Thank you, George.

Michelle: Thank you so much.

Episode Outro - Show Host George: That’s it for this episode of voices of the community. You have been listening to the voices of Michelle Lynch Reynolds Executive Director and Joe Goode the founder and artistic director, of Joe Goode Performance Group. To find out more about Joe Good’s virtual classes Arriving with Joe, Movement for Humans, Dance for Parkinson’s along with upcoming virtual performances please go to joe goode dot org

In our last episode 35 with Intersection for the Arts we focused on both the importance and sustainability of our arts in our community. We discussed the efforts to support the arts on the local level through the City of San Francisco’s Creative Corp and the national efforts of Save Our Stages, as well as Americans for the Arts working with the new Biden Harris administration to not only include more funding in the next CARES Act. But to embed their Putting Creative Workers to Work program into our national policy and to include arts in the business models of our private sector. For more information on these programs please go to George Koster dot com Click on voices of the community and our resources page           

Series Outro: We hope that you enjoy the insights, points of view, and personal stories from the voices of change-makers and their nonprofits and small businesses featured in this series. To find out more and get engaged with the nonprofits, small businesses and staff members, featured in this series please go to my web site george koster dot com and click on Voices of the Community to find links to the extended versions of these interviews and to listen to the entire series. After listening to these stories we hope that you will consider making a donation and volunteering to provide a hand up to your fellow community members.

Series Credits: I want to thank my associate producer Eric Estrada, and Kasey Nance at Citron Studios, along with the wonderful crew at the San Francisco Public Press and KSFP. 

Voices of the Community is a member of Intersection for the Arts which allows us to offer you a tax deduction for your contributions. Please go to george koster dot com and click on the donate link to make a donation to help us provide future shows just like this one. While you are on our web site you can enjoy our archived past shows which feature community voices working on solutions to critical issues facing Northern California communities, and sign up for our newsletter to find out about our future shows as well as shows and events from the organizations that our included in our episodes

Take us along on your next Covid walk by subscribing to Voices of the Community on on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow us on twitter @georgekoster and we’d love to hear from you with feedback and show ideas, so send us an email to george@georgekoster.com. I'm George Koster in San Francisco and thank you for listening. 

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