The first $10,000 raised will be matched by Mary Ford & Rob Lewis!
Imagine this…
You enter The Flight Deck and see a gallery show made up of boxes. In each box is a story about leaving. Performers approach wearing miniature black-box stages. Inside each one is a whole world. You are handed a paint brush and invited to express your thoughts about leaving on a wall. You hear music in the theater and enter to join in a celebration of The Flight Deck and creative resiliency. Eventually, you are swept up in a wave of people exiting the space and spilling out onto Broadway, singing, dancing, drumming, wailing and rejoicing.
At the end of March, 2020, Ragged Wing Ensemble will leave The Flight Deck, a space that it birthed, grew and shared with hundreds of artists and thousands of community members over nearly six years. The Flight Deck is the only black box theater in Oakland, and if another group does not step up to take over the lease, it will close. Read the Open Letter and FAQs for details on this transition.
When artists lose their space, what do they do? Make art about it, of course! And because art is dialogue, we want you to join us in creating...
THE ART OF LEAVING
...a multi-layered, participatory project engaging the whole community in what it means to leave this space. It will be a ritual celebration of The Flight Deck’s legacy, culminating in a ceremonial exit from the space on March 29, 2020. After this event, we aim to bring The Art of Leaving to multiple venues around the Bay Area to continue this story beyond the physical space of The Flight Deck.
Click here to share your thoughts and/or participate in the project.
We will not exit quietly.
As we let go of the physical space of The Flight Deck, we will continue the momentum of its community. As we leave, we join so many of our artist friends who have already been displaced.
This story of leaving is bigger than Ragged Wing. Bigger than The Flight Deck. Bigger than Oakland.
Join us in cultivating The Art of Leaving.
Please help us raise $50,000 by the end of the year and a total of $75,000 by the end of January in order to produce this important project and transition out of The Flight Deck and into the next chapter gracefully.
