Supporters, and Patrons:This is the story of a young female entrepreneur who built a really amazing creative event space in Brooklyn from scratch. Extraordinarily fearless, Faith Blackshear, has been hustling and struggling extremely hard for the past two years to keep her space going, despite non-stop, back-to-back business and personal challenges. Last year around this time she was heavy in the construction process, dealing with difficult contractors really is a normal thing, so Faith had been pursuing other ways to get what she needed done without the run-around. She was talking with her brother Gerard, who was an electrician, about him coming up to New York and getting her back on track with outlets and other electrical things for the space. She had just reconnected with him and two days later Faith got a call that he was in an accident didn't make it out alive. This is the kind of unusually challenging experience we've seen Faith handle being as strong as humanly possible. She still carried on when her brother's death was also just two months after her financial backing was cut off by the investor.The three of us are among the people who know first hand how much Faith deserves a large blessing. We know that with your small blessings lifting her up, we can definitely make this change.We also know there are many people out there who do not want to see this place go down and have it's potential not realized. Already just over the past 18 months, a decent handful of artists in all career lanes have graced our walls and space with so much beautiful work and good energy that it's created an everlasting, love spreading feeling.We are the only young people of color in our corner of Bushwick doing what we do, which is actually providing a lot of opportunity to other young people who would otherwise not have access to space to curate for the first time or to have their first solo show. We've been giving our supporters a chance just as they have taken a chance on us. So, this campaign is also a way for us to "pay it forward" and give more chances to artists who want to be involved with us. If you are one of those artists, please leave a comment to show that we need to stay open! If you know an artist who needs support or a space to show their work, please consider a contribution for us to stay open, we believe in young artists so much and have two residencies pending to begin a new program here. Since she completed the space, Faith has actually spoken with and shown the space to the head of a large museum in Manhattan who asked Faith how and why she did what she did, Faith explained and now the musuem has purchased two buildings neighboring Faith's space. It can go without saying, this is a huge opportunity.With the money raised here, you can be confident that it will go to exactly what is necessary to stay open. We have plans for a new name, a new partnership, and a cleaned up direction moving forward without the problems of the past. The story of how we got here, how Faith did this, and why we need help now, in a nutshell, is this: From August 2013 - June 2014 with the assistance of financial backing, Faith transformed a basic garage into a beautifully renovated raw space in the heart of trendsetting Bushwick, Brooklyn (before it was actually trendsetting). Then all of a sudden in Sept. 2014, before she really had a chance to get the business part going, the finances were cut off, serving a huge blow to what we had started. This is the cause of the problem we face today.We believe the most abnormal things that could have happened, really did, and you only have to hear the stories straight from Faith to really understand, but in hopes that this will be a good start, please continue reading.In July 2013, Faith was working a regular job, living a pretty normal life when one day at work she was approached by an individual who would completely change her life forever. It was known in their workplace that this individual had a lot more money than the average worker like Faith, so it wasn't a normal thing for them to come up to anyone and say anything non work-related, let alone point out that they liked the way Faith worked and thought she could probably successfully run any kind of business she wanted. It was even more abnormal that the individual then proceeded to ask for her advice on what kind of business she might choose to open if she had the chance and about $100,000.This is exactly what happened, and as she is known to do, Faith went with the magical flow that is her life and responded to the question with inspiration seeded from our February 2013 visit to the Basquiat opening at the Gagosian gallery : She said she would probably open up some kind of space where people could come to show off and do the best thing that they do. To clearly illustrate her ability to smoothly operate large, recurring creative functions, Faith showed the individual a few marketing videos of an event she helped to launch into success in previous years. The videos surprised the individual, and confirmed their suspicion that Faith could do anything. They were sold on her passion to create this idea, and urged for her to find a place to do it. On her lunch break one month later, Faith found the building at 301 Ten Eyck and sketched out a design for what it would soon become.Our story continues to be a triumphant tragedy today, as we sit in this lofty, white-walled building with ideas boiling over our heads but not a dime to make them real. We're young entrepreneurs of many colors with futuristic values and a love for people that spreads further than we can reach.The next series of events that took place were some of the most devastating and the most glorious of happenings that could occur, and Faith has stood up to it all. She's been happy, sad, frustrated, disappointed, crazy, but she's also been blessed and highly favored, and the time has come for us to gather around her and let Faith shine her light for the world to see. In August of 2013, renovation begins on the building and the company named "Studio 301 NYC" is incorporated.- September 2013, renovation continues but things begin to get dicey with the first round of contractors as they suggest that Faith, being a lady and all, shouldn't be so involved in the construction process. Faith handles this the best way she can to maintain professionalism. Our good friend and amazing artist Tee drops in to take a look at what she's been hearing about. Tee painted the large colorful cut out panels Faith and her grandmother are standing in front of in our profile picture, she's also been a founding supporter. - In October 2013, things have only gotten worse with these contractors and a construction fail emergency requires that Faith quit her job earlier than planned to see that the project gets done right and her design is followed correctly.- November 2013 quitting her job proves to be a challenge as renovation comes to a standstill. The weather turns colder and current contractors have committed to causing Faith extreme frustration, so she searches for new companies to call.- December 2013 new contractors are hired, damage repair begins. The construction process continues, taking longer and more money than allocated to this part of the business. - January 2014 colder weather and holidays put fear into hearts of men, renovation delays are attempted, but Faith does her own research and confirms that what she needs done can get done when she needs it done. Plumbing is laid, and construction continues.- February 2014: As we battle the cold temperatures in a barren warehouse, a long four weeks pass. The contractors prep for the new concrete to be poured. - March 1, 2014: Faith and I walk to the building to find concrete mix poured and smoothed down across the entire building floor. The rest of March proved to be productive. Knowing she would have less contractor issues with a 6'7 offensive lineman by her side, Faith recruited Oscar to assist her in completing this phase. Oscar also assisted in correcting and finishing some of the contractor's work. Money is still around at this time, so things move along and the space begins to take shape.- April 2014: Progress continues on the space as Spring starts to show us signs that we really are on the right path. Film production trucks in the neighborhood are definitely good for business, and a successful funding campaign today will make sure we can provide the perfect studio for these clients.- May 2014, having challenging experiences and conversations daily, Faith still confronts issues with contractors head-on. Luckily she always keeps herself up to date with research, keeps track of receipts and deliveries, all the while making appointments with city departments and programs to prepare for the space to be operational and compliant with New York State.After 10 months of tribulating construction, 30 lbs of weight lost and a job really well done by Faith, Studio 301 NYC is finally ready for a public showing just in time for Bushwick Open Studios.Now we can get into to the good stuff on why we need your help, but first a huge thank you to everyone for all and any support you've shown us and this space since opening in 2014. Accompanied by the photo series above, I'd like to humbly and honestly suggest to you that we've been facing extremely challenging circumstances as a start-up business. Some rather unique challenges that exceed the universal "usual" or "expected" that any start-up may experience, and even prepare for, such as website glitches, logo tweaks, staff selection, or competition. The kinds of challenges that are prepared for and expected so there's money set aside for those hiccups and redo's so that the start up won't collapse. No. Not the easy challenges for us. The challenges we have come to know so well exceeded our preparation and are crippling us to the point that without your help, we will absolutely be forced to close down, and the space will be up for grabs to another business that can afford to take it to the next level and finish what Faith started. You may be thinking, "Ok, that probably should happen because if y'all can't do it, you can't do it, why suffer more than necessary?" Well, because this space the way it looks today is the result of a supreme effort and extenuating sacrifices that another company with no financial woes won't really care about. In the wrong hands, this space will be stripped of all the integrity built into it. In closing, this song lyric from Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" sums up how I feel about Faith right now, and why we think you should donate:"Tell me why are we so blind to seeThat the ones we hurt are you and me" - CoolioWe can't wait to see this be successful and see the potential of Faith come true.From the bottom of our filled hearts, thank you very, very much for your attention, Alicia, Rem, and Ryan(And everyone else who has ever helped Faith with the space--thank you)
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