The Who:
Artstillery mounts 1-2 original immersive productions a year throughout the region. We intentionally embed ourselves within the community and perform in different locations to engage different audiences, we choose to meet people where they are at.
Artstillery also hosts year-round community programs inside our West Dallas space, and we lend our space to partner creative organizations.
We do not outreach, we engage - we are not helicoptering into communities, putting a quick fix on a problem and then leaving. We empower everyone to walk through our doors, we have created a platform that fosters true inclusivity and equity beyond socioeconomic barriers. We do not expect to be invited to the table, we ask to be included and take time to make connections.
The How:
Building the narrative with community stories - Artstillery provides individuals from marginalized groups with a space and platform to make their voices heard. We do this by working directly with community members by helping them share their own narratives. These interviews are incorporated into an immersive production, also known as an immersive experience. The community narratives we collect are weaved with research, original written pieces by our team, historical documentation and current events to create one original script. This script is our baseline for the immersive productions we create.
In our work, the location where the production occurs is just as important as the script. Elements of storytelling, projection mapping, live music, puppetry, sound healing meditation and mixed-media are woven to create the final experience.
Our production times typically run 1 hour and 50 minutes. Audience members will walk through our performances over several location sites, or be situated in one location where they are welcome to walk around, or view the production from any seat of their choice. Post show discussions occur every evening as community members share their experience working with Artstillery or our directors share the process of creating the work and uplift community partners in our description. Audience members stay to re-examine what they just witnessed and speak to the Artstillery team and community.
There is a Narrative Therapy which occurs naturally through storytelling. As it offers the space to reflect upon and move past traumas, the ability to relish in the beauty of moments passed, and ignites a desire to unite with ourselves and community to create change for the better.
Artstillery is a multidisciplinary arts and social justice organization that uplifts marginalized voices through original immersive productions.
This year we are reimagining of a multi-disciplinary, site-specific “social sculpture” that debuted at the Nasher Sculpture Center in 2017. See the Arts Month '24 tab for more info.
We are currently looking for partnerships & sponsorship in monetary, in-kind and narrative support to aid in the development of this piece. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PART OF THIS PRODUCTION? email Ilknur Ozgur at ilknur@artstillery.org
Our Arts Month Fundraiser goal is to raise $10,000 for this production.
To exist as a Theatre of Color is an act of resistance. We use the power of art to demand that our communities are seen and heard. Our art cannot exist in a silo. Our demands for narrative change are inherently politicized. Therefore, our efforts to provide voice demand that we engage in collective learning, community building, value sharing, and mobilization. We sit on the intersections of art and activism.
Our work, as individuals and as companies, will and must speak truth to power. We demand an end to the violence against black and brown bodies. We feel the pain of these communities because we are from these communities and this is why we serve. We served yesterday, we serve today, and we will serve tomorrow.
"Artists have the capacity to have a more dominant role in shaping social thought. You've got the platform to say something, say something worthwhile, say something that helps the social condition." - Harry Belafonte
Organization name
Artstillery
Causes
Arts & Humanities
Operating Budget
Less than $100,000
Counties Served
Dallas
BIPOC Serving
Black or African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latinx, Native American
BIPOC Leadership
Both the Executive Director/CEO and Board Chair
Address
3843 Bernal Drive 723 Fort Worth Avenue, Dallas, Texas