Can performers really inspire the world to change?
You bet you can!
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By: Krista Saab
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Have you ever felt your art could make a difference in the world but find yourself too intimidated to get the ball rolling? Follow the journey of this professional dancer from NYC and the group of artists at Create Providence as they overcome intimidation. Here’s how they’ve stopped waiting on the world to change and taken action themselves.
Hilary Rushford is a talented dancer/singer/actor living and working in NYC. She’s a Theatre graduate of Pepperdine University who has gone on to tour with the Broadway 1st National tour of 42nd St. and has performed with the Radio City Rockettes for 4 seasons. Like most performers, Hilary also considers herself a “starving artist” and has spent her fair share of time auditioning and working day jobs to make ends meet. So what happens when a starving artist is inspired by a big idea? In Hilary’s case, the result was Create Providence.
Create Providence
Create Providence is a group of dancers, singers, actors, musicians, visual artists and songwriters who are using the arts to empower communities in extreme poverty.
Hilary was moved by the story of an orphanage in Nigeria called Susana Homes. Susana Homes is a facility in Southern Nigeria that rescues children who are in life threatening situations or have been orphaned in either childhood, adolescence or at birth. The orphanage then provides them with basic necessities as well as education, medical treatment and spiritual guidance. Susana Homes and it’s founder, Dr. Chi Ekwenye, touched Hilary’s heart and inspired an idea in her but it took 2 years before she had the courage to manifest that idea into what is now Create Providence.
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| Hillary Rushford - Headshot |
The Vision
Hilary’s vision was to gather a group of friends and like-minded artists who shared her passion for Africa to create an arts camp at Susana Homes. project:Nigeria was born.
She wanted to inspire children to explore a broad spectrum of art as a form of self-expression. Empowering them to create art and develop their talents far beyond their time spent in the arts camp. She also wanted to honor the children not only by teaching them her ideas of art, dance and music but by asking them to share their own unique music and dance with the visiting artists from NYC.
There is brilliance inside all of us and Create Providence hopes to help the children of Susana Homes recognize those brilliant possibilities within themselves.
The Obstacles
Hilary freely admits that the idea of starting this organization seemed daunting at first. “I wished I could visit the orphanage, but I had just never been able to wrap my mind around how you would raise the funds to do that.” She says. The idea of asking friends and family for help and money didn’t sit right with Hilary. (A personal hang up which she attributes to being a starving artist and feeling as though finances were a delicate, challenging and personal area) She’s learned however, that it never hurts to share your passion with people. If they are moved and able to help they will and monetary help is not the only way people can contribute. By putting your own needs out there, you are in turn inviting others to share their gifts in any way they can.
It’s amazing how many doors can open to you when you simply take the first step, put your needs out there and wait. "When you extend the invitation to be involved, the right people will raise their hands," says Hilary, "And then it's just about finding the right way to use their time and talents."
Between auditioning full time and working a day job to pay the rent, Hilary also faced the challenge of finding the time to pursue all the different avenues necessary to get her vision off the ground. Luckily, artists by their very nature are resourceful people and Hilary used her amazing network of talented friends and contacts to get the ball rolling.
Making it Happen
With her heart set on what she knew she could achieve, Hilary got started.
“I picked a name, wrote a mission statement, asked 3 mentors to be on our board of directors, had conversations with close friends I hoped would be involved and created a website.”
Those were the easy parts simply because they were the obvious steps but often when we open a door and walk through, a world of opportunity can open to us that we never would have expected.
Hilary began investigating the world of grant proposals and fundraising. The latter became a way to raise awareness about Create Providence and utilize the gifts of her talented friends. Who else besides a group of artists can put together a cabaret evening of music and dance to raise money for their cause?
Expectations
As far as expectations go, Hilary likes to keep an open mind and an open heart.
"Maybe Create Providence will continue our relationship for years to come with Susana Homes or go on to work with different orphanages. Maybe our role in the bigger picture is that we inspired other communities of artists. Or maybe it will become a conference where artists come to dialogue about how to use art for the broader good. There are plenty of doors we could walk through, or the path could taper off. We're open to wherever this leads."
Baby Steps
You might be wondering as you’ve read this article, how Hilary has the time to pursue her own professional dance career while organizing and operating Create Providence. Being a performer myself, who’s had her fair share of good ideas that never get off the ground I wondered the same thing. The answer, it seems, is being patient through the “crawling stage” and not expecting too much to happen all at once.
“I try to do one thing for Create Providence every day.” She says. “Today it’s this interview, yesterday it was starting a group on Facebook but tomorrow there’s a chance I’ll be crazy busy or I’ll just be having a lazy, unproductive day.”
Her point is…that’s ok! Staying focused on the “baby steps” keeps the project moving forward and builds momentum in the right direction.
Change your World
We all want to do big things and as artists we have big ideas and even bigger dreams. Often however, we’re discouraged when those good intentions threaten to become too overwhelming. We give up on them before they even get started or we push them to the back burner for that elusive moment when we’ll finally have some free time to get things done.
What’s inspiring about Hilary and the artists of Create Providence is they’ve acknowledged that the life of an artist is in fact overwhelming but they’ve committed to fulfilling their vision one small step at a time.
“Don’t get discouraged that you can’t change the world. Give what you can, what you have. Because if every person did that, honestly…we would change the world. Okay, I’m getting off my soapbox and going back to watching the finale of So You Think You Can Dance”
Well said, Hilary!
Hilary and the artists of Create Providence will travel to Susana Homes Orphanage for project:Nigeria in January 2009. If you’re interested in getting involved, donating financially or with in-kind donations (dance shoes, instruments, digital cameras etc.) Or if you’re inspired to host a Create Providence Fundraiser in your own city, please visit www.CreateProvidence.org
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