Shout-Out: Fort Wayne, a public art and community engagement initiative that celebrates local neighborhood histories & identities is dedicating its newest mural installation Monday, in the Fairfield Terrace Belmont neighborhood on the city’s south side.
It all began in the Fall of 2023, when Shout-Out: Fort Wayne started working closely with the neighborhood associations of the historic Harvester and East Central neighborhoods.
The system calls for each neighborhood, through the project, to complete two phases of art exhibitions: temporary (Year One) and permanent (Year Two) installations.
Community activities are also created to generate interest in both phases and galvanize the spirit these interactions instilled in the participating neighborhoods.
Here WBOI’s Julia Meek and team members Bryant Rozier & Paul Lefever discuss the evolution of Shout-Out Fort Wayne, the dynamic new artwork by artist Brandon Coley and the initiative’s fast-building momentum.
Event Information:
Fairfield Terrace Belmont Mural Installation
Restoration Center Church of God in Christ
5522 McClellan St.
Monday, November 16
Find more information and connect with Shout-Out: Fort Wayne here.
This is a transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Bryant Rozier, Nate Lefever, welcome.
Nate Lefever: Hello.
Bryant Rozier: Hello.
Julia Meek: It is great to see your public art commission initiative, Shout-Out: Fort Wayne working overtime these days. Very, very briefly, what is your point and purpose over there?
Bryant Rozier: Well, Shout-Out: Fort Wayne is a public art commission initiative. We work with neighborhoods.
We actually collaborate with neighborhoods to create art projects to help them sell their identity. If they have trouble developing their identity, we actually help them develop their identity.
It's a two-year project. First year is a temporary art project, and the second year is a permanent art project.
Julia Meek: It is art, and it is public. It's also about the history of our great city.
Nate Lefever: It is, yeah, and according to the Public Art Plan that was put together when the commission was first formed, there's a portion of, it's a minimum of 35 percent, but it really ends up being more than that of public art that is specifically geared towards neighborhoods.
Shout-Out has proved to be the mechanism for that, and we're finding out that a lot of people in Fort Wayne are very interested in celebrating their specific neighborhood instead of a citywide history, and this is a perfect outlet for it.
Julia Meek: I hope so, Nate. That makes sense. And every community should be proud of their hood, their nabe, their home court.
Ours are historically significant. (I may be prejudiced, that's for sure.) How does your core mission over there directly fuel this flame then?
Nate Lefever: I think on a city capacity, we have been able to help get several associations or organizations that represent neighborhoods to either get a reestablished or centralized government for that neighborhood association or form a new one.
And if they're willing to take the steps to do that, usually over about a year process called Fortify, and then they have the opportunity to work with Bryant and work through Shout-Out to celebrate all that hard work that they've done to reassemble that.
And then through years beyond that, they end up with a piece of temporary artwork, which is a loosely based thing. It could be all sorts of mediums to something that will endure.
Julia Meek: Very, very importantly, you are turning people on to their own spirit of their own space, their exact space. How satisfying is that as a job?
Bryant Rozier: Oh, it's great. A lot of times with these neighborhoods, they're like drive-by neighborhoods.
You know, you go in someplace else and you drive by the neighborhood without even realizing that there's a huge community that's there.
So, it's been prideful for me to hear stories from the residents saying, "Hey, I come out, I walk out, I drive around, and I see art in my neighborhood."
Almost all of it is reflective of the neighborhood residents. We go into the neighborhoods, interview residents. We're at block parties, we're at libraries, we're at churches, businesses, etc.
We're getting all this feedback. So, what they see is a reflection of them in the truest sense.
Julia Meek: And do you find yourselves sometimes being the catalyst that makes them realize how cool their neighborhood is--that they are in a neighborhood that they should be proud of?
Bryant Rozier: Oh yeah, definitely. It's very interesting. I, it's one of those things where everybody's artistic, but nobody has the time for it.
One of the other resources that I used was a man named Reppard Horne. He used to run the East Wayne Street Center, and he said that art's a luxury for a lot of people.
And that's something that I didn't even think about until he said it. So, when you're going about your daily business and you're worried about life, you know you'll always have time to stop and smell the roses or to appreciate art.
We found a way to kind of make art part of their story, part of their everyday routine.
And that makes it for me as an artist myself, who has been kind of not marginalized, but is kind of like the phantom menace, the presence where I just kind of behind the scenes get stuff done to bring those stories out into the forefront.
Whether it's a sculpture, whether it's a mural or the banner, whatever it may be, it does feel pretty good. It does feel amazingly fulfilling. It's probably the most fulfilling I felt doing this multi-hyphenate job that I've always done.
Julia Meek: And it turns them on to their own cool self.
Nate Lefever: And I think too, like what you've done through the phase one and phase two in all of our neighborhoods, is not only be able to hear what people want for art, whether that is literal or something that has, you know some really deep conceptual factors to it, but also how people really want to be able to enjoy that art, right?
So, you were mentioning like East Central saying we don't really have time for art. The mediums and the end project results for those are really things that honestly people, they don't have to necessarily stop to enjoy, right?
So, like Julie's mural, you can absolutely enjoy that from a car driving slowly. You don't have to stop and really get up and interact with it.
Or Brandon's banners and the FM transmitters in that neighborhood. You're going past the Jennings Center and Hannah Homestead and African-American History Museum.
And so long as you've got your radio on, you're able to enjoy that artwork. It doesn't have to always be a framed canvas on a wall.
Julia Meek: And it can be a surprise, and it can be a revelation. It often is, but even to those people in the neighborhood, a sense of pride as well. And you did hit the ground running just three years ago.
How easy was it to get the neighbors, their hoods, your initiative all organized and in sync with your program? You had to work fast because you come a long way in these three years.
Bryant Rozier: Well, it helped that they already had a foundation. They went through Fortify, right? So, they had that foundation.
So I come along, and I'm the fun guy, right? I'm the art guy. So, Fortify was the you know not-for-profit status, the website, the logo, etc.
Julia Meek: That was really establishing the structure.
Bryant Rozier: Absolutely 100%. I come along and said, okay, let's tell your story. Let's extend that, but let's do art with it. You have your identity now.
You formed your identity. Let's tell that identity story to the next steps. So, they've had that structure. So, I come along, and I'm again—I'm the fun guy.
So, they understood. Every neighborhood was on board when we started the phase one of Shout-Out: in phase two, everybody is excited.
They see the growth, they see the progress, they see the rough drafts, they see their input in the rough drafts. They see something written on the paper, and it becomes this physical thing or digital thing that they had a hand in.
And then we take it into the year two. Everybody's been on board. It's been really encouraging.
And even when we veer away from what they want, those strong neighborhoods, because they have that strong identity, will tell us, "Hey, we don't like this."
We listen to their feedback, and we can take it to the next step. And it's been a wonderful experience.
Julia Meek: There's trust, and there's interaction, and real connection going on with you all, just to get their story told, and then it actually reinforces the whole infrastructure, the netting, if you will, that holds the whole city together, neighborhood by neighborhood?
Bryant Rozier: Yeah, it was something that Paul said. That's a phrase that I absolutely repeat as much as I can.
This is feedback loop--of you know, you walk into a room, like I may come up with an initial idea, but by the time we're done with the first year, that 100% Bryant Rosier idea is maybe 15-20% because I've used all these resources.
The resources of the residents of the businesses, the churches, whoever Nate, Rena, Paul, whoever at the city.
By the end of the first year, it's a true collaboration. It's amalgam of all these ideas, spearheaded by the neighborhood association.
Julia Meek: You have just described the point and purpose of all of this--it has to make your heart sing that it organically works out this well. I didn't say it was easy, but in the end, working out well?
Bryant Rozier: Yeah, I'm one of those I'm one of those people where you start small and end big. So, like I'm loving the idea again.
It starts on a piece of paper, and this is a two-year process. And by the end of the two years, you cannot say that we have not invested into the community.
Again, I've learned so much. Nate's learned so much. Just the people working at the city, we can do our job better because we, we know Harvester better, East Central better, et cetera, et cetera.
You know, I can do my job better just as just as a freelancer doing whatever. I know the city better.
I'm understanding the city better, and hopefully, and I think, God willing, the residents are learning more things about themselves.
Julia Meek: In fact, they can be better neighbors in better neighborhoods.
Bryant Rozier: Exactly, that's kind of the one consistent thing. It's not even a surprise. The one consistent thing is that you know neighbors want to be neighbors.
They want to have that sense of community. It doesn't matter what religion, what gender, et cetera, et cetera. They want to have a sense of community, whatever that means for them.
They'll say, "Hey, there's a lot of renters here, but I want to get to know them." You know, and there's always there's always seems to be a barrier for that.
Whether it's getting know somebody, language barrier, whatever it is, there's always something that gets in the way. But like art can be kind of a universal thing.
Nate Lefever: Makes a great icebreaker.
Bryant Rozier: Yeah, absolutely, 100%.
Julia Meek: Indeed, that's its point. Yes, yes, yes, and you are living proof of the grander the scale, quite literally, the grander the results.
So, we are following your trail that leads through wonderful inroads and city streets that you've been connecting, to be sure.
This year's project in the '07, the Mount Vernon Park and Fairfield Terrace Belmont neighborhoods. What can we expect to see at your unveiling of one grand mural over that way?
Bryant Rozier: Yeah, so we commissioned artist Brandon Coley to do the mural on Restoration Church of God.
It was one of those things where Brandon lives in the Maysville area, so he has no direct connection to the neighborhood. I live down the street, right around a corner from the neighborhood, but my artist does not.
So, we walked around the neighborhood, knocked on doors on a Saturday morning. Tell me about the neighborhood. That was one of the many things that we did to get and get to know the area.
In addition to the stuff I did the first year, which was I was able to bring that the first-year stuff to the second-year project, we met the residents.
He's talked with the neighborhood association president. He's done all these things to kind of understand the neighborhood. He met with the church and the congregation there one Sunday morning.
Brought his family and said, "Hey, I'm Brandon, and this is the artist." Got to know the story of the pastor. Without intentionally trying to do it, we end up telling the story of the church and the pastor through the mural, that's for everybody.
So again, truly immersive, integrated project, and we're really proud of it. It's a huge canvas for Brandon. He's had obviously himself, but he's also had members of his family out there working.
As he's working, he sees neighbors coming over and said, Hey, this looks great. They've seen the progress. These are the same neighbors that he asked for feedback about a month ago.
They're coming over and they're seeing it from, from the root to the fruit. They're seeing it from nothing to something.
Julia Meek: And what a story! What a story to tell!
Bryant Rozier: Exactly, and it's going to be this amazing thing that they get to wake up, walk outside, and see this art every day with their feedback.
Then we said, "Okay, what type of art do you want to see when you walk out the door?"
One guy was like, "No bright yellows." We're like okay, that that's a note. We're taking that you know taking that to heart.
It is reflective of the community, reflective of that church, reflective of Brandon, the artist, which is also important. And I think it's a great testament for the project.
Julia Meek: What a story that you tell! And on that topic, storytelling--It is an ancient custom. So are murals.
Shout-Out: Fort Wayne does carry those ancient traditions on via 21st century technology, which is something wonderful.
What's the biggest challenge as well as the biggest pleasure of telling that great old story through modern-day execution like this?
Bryant Rozier: Well, I talked about how the communities they want to be the neighborhoods. The neighbors want to be neighbors.
Well, it's really hard to do that when there's so many things pulling against that. There's so many distractions. That's the hardest thing.
How do you define? How do you maintain? How do you corral? How do you galvanize community when everybody's so separate? That's the hardest thing.
Nate Lefever: I think too for when we are searching for like the ideal phase two location opportunity that Bryant and I will talk through the I guess you would say or assets locations buildings whatever the things that may be available.
But what's happening for Fairfield Terrace Belmont is the first time where we're doing a Shout-Out! project that is not on a piece of city property, right?
We are doing it on the church but it is in the heart of the neighborhood. It's not on a commercial corridor where it can be misconstrued as an advertising or something along those lines.
That says something too about like you're on a quiet street where the folks who live there or can walk their dog or kids can play, and they are actually going to be much more interactive with that art on a home basis.
So, all of this active listening is not only steering the artwork and the context for it, but also that that location. So, when you're in Fairfield Terrace Belmont, not everybody might realize that the cutoff is Calhoun, right?
So, like you've got a ton of walls over in Southgate that you could put a mural on, but it's not in the neighborhood, so...
Julia Meek: No, and it doesn't make a statement like that, a wonderful place like that.
Nate Lefever: Right? Exactly.
Julia Meek: And are we going to see more in 2027? What's next for you and yours to Shout-Out about?
Nate Lefever: Well, Bryant is actively working right now in two neighborhoods on the north side of town, up in North Highlands and Hamilton.
Which is, I think, for a historic preservation aspect, because I have to serve both of those. That's part of my job description now.
You know, you have the Hamilton neighborhood, which the south end of is incredibly old. Up to North Highlands, which on the north end of it, it's a lot of national homes and John Worthman homes and post-war construction stuff.
But these neighborhoods end up being so tightly knit to each other because they share, you know, they share a lot of shared experiences just because they're connected.
But they are also interested in potentially doing something together to create a beautiful, lasting, permanent piece out there. We're working with those neighborhoods.
Bryant is figuring out that you've got folks who are you know retirees at Dana that hold specialized skill sets that they might not recognize that they're actually an artist.
But they're also dealing with really interesting cross sections of history of like, hey, our neighborhood used to be a golf course, and like this site was considered for the Coliseum at one point.
So those are all an interesting departure from the neighborhoods that have had kind of specific themes in the past. Maybe one's dealing with disenfranchisement.
One's dealing with an industrial base that's now gone, and one is such a huge melting pot that everybody wants to be able to have introductions with their neighbors through art.
Everybody is getting a completely different story told. One, I think incredible partnership that was formed mainly through the East Central mural, but is now honestly like flourishing is our relationship with the Miami of Oklahoma.
And what we look forward to working with them on in future projects is going to be incredible. I have no doubt about that.
Julia Meek: Well, you bring up a good point too, because we are uncovering new parts of everybody's past that make more connections, neighborhood by neighborhood. Is that exciting for you?
Bryant Rozier: Yeah, I get to work with neighborhoods. I get to work with strangers. I get to work with, you know, communities that you know I've always driven by.
I've heard things about. I have a deep history with Harvester Neighborhood, and to help them tell their story, whereas I can reflect with my relationship with my father, who's passed, who I can say my dad used to work at the Harvester factory.
My dad took me to the batting cage in the Harvester neighborhood. You know, he would tell me about the park, et cetera, et cetera.
He would tell me about Rea Magnet, Rea Wire buildings. For me, it's just like I love telling these stories of these neighborhoods and these communities.
Like, if nothing else, I get to tell stories about marginalized groups of individuals. It's almost like a baseball team, right?
I'm a baseball nut, so like the type of stories that I like to tell are stories about these misfits that all come together with a shared purpose, right? [all chuckle]
Like you know, like you have, you have a kid who can run fast. You can have the kid who's a baseball player. You have the nerd who can't barely throw a baseball.
They all come together and they, they're trying to win the championship. And I grew up that way. That my dad taught me about life by explaining through sports.
So, I get to tell these stories of these communities, these nontraditional families, and it really makes me happy.
Julia Meek: One public artwork at a time.
Bryant Rozier: Exactly.
Julia Meek: And meanwhile, as Shout-Out: Fort Wayne continues to tell that story one neighborhood at a time, what should everyone remember about this city we love and every "nabe" in it?
Nate Lefever: I think that from our conversation that we had even before we hit the record here is that this city has a certain magnetism and a way to draw people home.
Or even if it's a regional draw that makes you recognize that we're the the second biggest city in the state of Indiana, but we certainly have one of the warmest hometown feels to it, right?
And I think that everybody, regardless if they're coming here, just found a job in Fort Wayne, and they're going to be a first-time home buyer, or they've been born and raised multi-generational families here.
Everybody finds a neighborhood that makes them smile, and that's one that they want to call home for years to come. And having lived in other cities around the United States, it's a rare thing. It really is.
Julia Meek: Bryant?
Bryant Rozier: The fact that there are more artists around than most people realize that people are themselves; they create their own art.
Whether you're a painter or you cook very well, like cooking in and of itself is an art form. There's artists everywhere, and it's one thing I've learned.
Around every corner, there's somebody who has a defined point of view. So, everybody has a strong point of view.
From that strong point of view, you can create your version of art, and that's the one thing that I want people listening to this: Don't think again that you have to like go to school to be a filmmaker.
You got a phone. Be a filmmaker. Use what you like and don't like to make your art.
Julia Meek: Bryant Rozier and Nate Lefever are project manager and city staff coordinator, respectively for Shout-Out Fort Wayne, thank you so much, both of you, for sharing your story of our story, carry it on. Good job.
Bryant Rozier: Thank you.
Nate Lefever: Thank you. Thank you.
