INTERVIEW: Can’t stop the ‘Forward Movement’ of inclusive Liberate Artists
Photo: Geri Brown is the CEO of Liberate Artists. Photo courtesy of artist / Provided by Press Play with permission.
For Geri Brown, CEO of Liberate Artists, the organizations’s upcoming digital dance experience is a passion project. From July 27 to 30, this benefit corporation will welcome many high-profile dance instructors who will host free and inclusive online dance lessons. Students and parents can expect many different types of classes, plus talks on self-compassion and inclusivity, conversations on anti-racism and community dialogues.
“We’re really excited,” Brown said in a recent phone interview. “It’s really going to help a lot of students and then set the course for breaking the economic barriers to access that students have to deal with in order to participate in arts education.”
Liberate Artists is a corporation built upon providing opportunities to dancers and performers of all races, genders, religions, body types and ability levels, according to press notes. The genesis of this idea came from Brown’s own performing-arts background and family. Her mother, Dee Bryan, and her grandmother, Geraldine Prillerman, were both dancers and performers on Broadway. Prillerman was actually on Broadway during the time of segregation, and Bryan performed in shows in the 1970s and 1980s.
“What they both fought for was equity and equality in the arts,” she said. “When you really start to look at the inequality in the arts specifically nowadays, it really has to do with the financial barriers to access, so it’s not just the tuition. The reason why these organizations aren’t as inclusive is because it’s the additional expenses, so that’s the flight, the travel, the meals, the accommodations and the tuition.”
These additional expenses, which have kept many dancers out of competitions and away from several opportunities, is one of the reasons Brown founded Liberate Artists. They have been able to do a lot with the money they’ve raised — providing thousands of dollars to dancers for these expenses. But for Brown, it’s not enough, and that’s why she created a new organization called the Always, Enough Foundation.
“We were able to provide access to a lot of families that didn’t have it prior, but it’s not enough because there’s still those economic barriers to access,” Brown said. “There’s still those flight, travel, accommodations and meals, so the Always, Enough Foundation has been something that I really have always wanted to do as soon as I realized what the problem was at Liberate Artists. And so this year I was like, OK, we’re just going to do it because right now at the forefront people are talking about these barriers. … People are talking about how to make their spaces more inclusive, and it’s really for many families a financial issue as opposed to them not wanting to participate. They literally can’t participate, so I created Always, Enough Foundation as a solution because there’s lots of things that need to happen. Once the kids get into these spaces, then the space needs to be accommodating to them. The space needs to be inclusive where they feel safe, where they feel seen, where they feel heard.”
The plan is for Brown to run both organizations at least in these beginning stages. She added that she will always run Liberate Artists, and once Always, Enough gets its footing, they will hire an executive director. Right now she serves as the executive director and president of the foundation.
The result of this brainstorming and planning has led to the creation of this summer’s digital dance experience. There will be classes for “Movers,” who are dancers from 4 to 8 years old. Then there are the “Shakers,” new and beginner dancers 9 and older. Then there’s the creator schedule for more advanced performers.
“Our teachers and educators are from So You Think You Can Dance and have worked on Broadway and with artists like Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Cher, really, really great artists, so our educators are at an exceptional level in the industry,” Brown said. “We have choreography and classes that meet the needs of every student no matter where they are, so we’ll have the beginner all the way up to the dancer that probably wants to go to college or be a professional performer.”
In addition to the pre-professionals, Liberate Artists works with families who simply want their young performers to become great humans in society. They teach self-compassion through dance, inclusivity and anti-racism — to students and parents alike.
“As a Black woman business owner it’s always been a part of what we’ve done,” she said of Liberate Artists’ focus on inclusive training. “To everybody who has attended our events, they’ve seen it. They’ve been a part of it. … Colorfulness means that we’re always working to be more inclusive, more compassionate, more kind, so we’ve always been that way.”
Although the two organizations have accomplished a lot in a relatively short amount of time, there’s still a great deal of work that needs to be done. Brown is motivated to keep working, to keep promoting inclusivity and to keep opening up more and more opportunities. For her, it’s deeply personal, and she herself has been on a journey of overcoming the odds.
“I dealt with a lot of racism as an artist,” she said. “Once I graduated college I thought that me as a Black individual would never be enough, and I tried to kill myself. … That’s why this matters so much to me because when I created Liberate, I was like arts education can be safe. It doesn’t have to be breaking down people and making them feel like they’re invalid or that they don’t matter. It can be safe, and we can grow. And I created this thinking about little Geri. What would little Geri have liked? What would little Geri have thrived in? And with that foundation, Liberate Artists saved my life because I realized after saying, ‘You are enough,’ to kids every single day that I finally started realizing it about myself.”
Brown, who is trying to bring positive awareness to these issues, added: “It’s not a success for me until a dancer can walk into the room of any dance competition and convention and be safe and welcomed and heard and seen. … But it’s not enough, and I don’t think I’ll ever feel like we’ve accomplished goals until it’s an industry standard.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Liberate Artists presents Forward Movement, a free digital dance experience, July 27-30. Click here for more information. If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
