wake up the masonic block! (arts & culture hub)

hey y'all -- my name is jess lamar reece holler; & i'm asking for your help fundraising to rehabilitate & reopen the historic masonic block on the public square in downtown caledonia, ohio: my family's hometown, &, for those not in the know, a once-booming 1890s railroad village on the far eastern corner of marion county.

the building is slated to reopen -- with your help! -- in spring of 2025 as the masonic block arts & culture hub: a brand-new arts, culture, & exhibit space serving caledonia & the north-central ohio community operated by beloved community arts & history non-profit marion voices folklife & oral history. the masonic block arts & culture hub will feature three storefronts with an intimate all-ages performance venue for music & spoken word poetry events, a workshop & teaching space for arts workshops & summer camps, a "artist's aggregator marketplace" gift shop, & -- our favorite yet! -- a certified commercial kitchen anyone from the community can sign-up to use, serving a local foodways café, with an exhibit & gallery space to browse; plus an open upstairs space providing artists & small business co-working space, studios, & the marion voices offices!

here's more of a sneak peak about the masonic block arts + culture hub's offerings:

READ MORE about the project here!

the masonic block restoration project has been a decade-long effort of caledonia cultural organizer & historic preservationist jess lamar reece holler, whose family came to own all three parcels of this historic masonic hall & retail building by the late 1990s. the building was listed to the national register of historic places in 2021, was awarded ultra-competitive historic tax credits at the federal and local levels in 2022, &, to date, we've invested over $130,000 in the project!

we're already thru phase 1 of this three-phase project; & now are re-opening the fundraiser for phase 2 + 3: roof replacement, & exterior façade, mechanicals/electrical/plumbing, & interior work!

we have $400,000 in historic tax credits tax credits committed on the project if we can complete this restoration, but can't access those funds up-front (& may not be able to use them at all unless we can find someone to syndicate them): & we need to be able to show full financing for the project by july to be able to secure our tax credits & proceed with next steps!

marion voices also has an ask in for a capital budget appropriation of $400,000 to help cover costs for phase 3 & specific build-out to get the masonic block arts + culture hub opened to the public in 2025. but we don't find out until june, & have a $250,000 roof project in the meantime ... & the village is breathing down our neck with a new nuisance ordinance, & threats of demolishing our beloved masonic block ... even though our work is already underway!

WE NEED YOUR HELP! LET'S WAKE UP THE MASONIC BLOCK!

the temple (L) & masonic (R) block buildings, built in 1897 on the southeastern corner of the Public Square in downtown caledonia.

WHY BRING BACK THE MASONIC BLOCK?

vacant for decades, the masonic block -- along with the attached temple block (today's reece's market) -- anchors the southeastern corner of caledonia's monumental,historic Public Square.

bringing the masonic back to life would not only bring three street-level storefronts back online as retail spaces for local businesses & incubators for caledonia entrepreneurs with big visions, but would catalyze a revitalization of downtown caledonia: shifting us from "majority vacant" to "majority occupied."

donations made in this phase of the project will support:

BUILDING HISTORY

architect’s sketch of the new temple & masonic block buildings just before they were built in 1897. courtesy of the archives of the marion star.

built in 1897 as the home (upstairs) of the oliver lodge #447 of the free & accepted masons, & host to a rotating slate of caledonia staple businesses -- including the long-running kelly/shocklee/trout drugstore (#107), the original reece's cash grocery (#109) from the 1930s-1950s, & the family florist from the 1970s-1980s (#111), the masonic block played a critical role in the vibrant civic & commercial life on the public square for most of the 20th century.

here’s the masonic block, for instance, around 1910 …

and again (courtesy of john kightlinger!) in 1954:

in the '90s -- when deindustrialization swept the region, changes in rural life & the "get big or get out" push in up-ended local agriculture (the core economy in the countryside surrounding caledonia) -- downtown caledonia fell on hard times. at the same time, people became more mobile, with cheaper automobile access. caledonia had once been a commercial lodestone: a magnet that pulled in rural shoppers from fifteen miles around — from claridon, kirkpatrick, iberia, martel, new winchester: everything between galion, mt. gilead, bucyrus, & marion. but, by the 90s, big box stores & low-cost leaders who could afford to sell at prices that mom-&-pop stores couldn't moved in on the fringes of marion, & began to erode the commercial cores of our small villages.

the masonic block building today: #111 e. marion street (L); #109 e. marion street (middle); & #107 e. marion street (R).

for the first time, our public square had vacant storefronts: & the masonic block was one of the first to suffer that fate. murv's pizza (#107) had gone out in the late 70s; the beauty shop that had taken over the former reece's cash grocery space closed in the 70s as well. one store -- linda's country crafts, which replaced the noggles' long-running floral & craft shop -- stayed on in the eastermost storefront until the late 90s. in 1996, the masons -- who had occupied the upstairs lodge space in the building named after them since they helped build it in 1897 -- moved across the street to share the oddfellows' hall with caledonia's I.O.O.F #229, at the end of their historic 99-year lease of the masonic block. after that, the masonic block sat empty.

and that's, more or less, where i come in.

THE REECE FAMILY & THE TEMPLE & MASONIC BLOCKS: A DECADES-LONG FAMILY AFFAIR

grandpa jack reece with baby jess at the checkout counter of reece’s market, 1989. photo: debby sue reece holler, courtesy the reece family archives.

#109 e. marion street — the middle storefront in the masonic block — today. #109 was the historic home of the original “reece’s cash groceries,” which operated from the 1930s-1950s.

my great-grandfather, warren reece, opened reece's cash groceries in the middle storefront (#109) of the masonic block during the great depression. warren was an community man: a dairyman, butcher, jokester, & a caring spirit, who loved animals deeply & people even more. family legend says that the devoted dairyman -- who drove a small huckster on a milk route to make ends meet during the depression -- would deliver milk to families that couldn't afford it for free when times were hard. reece's cash grocery -- his first grocery store, back when grocery shops were "clerked," & the grocer shopped your order -- was a labor of love, & a real family business. my great-grandma velma would sell her home-made cottages cheese out of the rear storeroom, while my grandpa warren prepared orders.

in the early 1950s, warren -- who'd left the grocery world for a few years, to work in real estate -- had the opportunity to purchase the attached temple block building, historic home to the knights of pythias order of calanthe #116, & to turn its two historic storefronts (one, a restaurant; & the other, a grocery) into one giant, modern supermarket: a new concept out of memphis, which gave customers the then-unheard of chance to shop & inspect their groceries for themselves, using a brand new invention at the time: the grocery cart.

caledonia’s temple block — better known simply as REECE’S MARKET — today. warren reece rehabilitated the original two storefronts in the temple block into one larger 50s-style supermarket, which opened in 1955, & closed to the public in 2010.

warren jumped at the chance; & gave the temple block the vernacular midcentury modern streamlined look it still has now, completed with the iconic REECE'S MARKET letterboard sign ... plus a fresh coat of pistachio-green interior paint! caledonia's new grocery store -- reece's market -- was the first real supermarket in the region.

warren reece’s son, jack reece, who took over reece’s market following his father’s death in 1979, slices meat at the butcher counter at reece’s market, mid-1990s.

when my grandpa jack -- warren's eldest son -- came home from time overseas in the korean war, he went to work for his dad at the new reece's market. he became warren's right-hand man; & learned from his dad the heritage art of running a greengrocery & meat market.

while reece's, by volume, was primarily a grocery store, it was, by reputation, a meat market. warren, at the time, smoked all of his own meats from animals he had raised in a smokehouse out back. jack became a wizard of sausages: with his top-secret loose sausage recipe & prized bratwursts drawing fans from around the region. with everyone dressed in crisp white aprons, the reeces were big believers that visiting your local grocery shop should be an experience: your meats & cheeses would be sliced to order from huge blocks; & tied in white paper with string.

reece’s market // the temple block, mid-90s. courtesy the reece family // debby sue reece holler.

my great-grandpa warren passed away in 1979; & my grandpa jack & grandma barb, along with my uncle teddy & unclecraig, took over the market. in the late 1990s, jack had the opportunity to buy the two other storefronts in the masonic block; & joined both the temple & the masonic block building together in ownership. by the 1990s, thanks in large part to my grandma barb's decorations & antiques displays, reece's market had become a sort of homage to the institution of the country store itself.

barbara (L) & jack (R) reece goofing at the check-out counter at reece’s market, with penny candy. courtesy the reece family // debby sue reece holler.

with buckets of penny candy, rare heritage brands like chick-o-stick & cow-tail, & a bevy of local & regional brands & food varieties -- from ballreich's chips to colby-jack cheese & pickle-piemnto loaf fresh from amish country -- reece's market was "buy local" & "food with a story" decades before those things were ever made cool.

an unknown customer eats a klondike bar leaning against the ice cream cooler & penny candy shelves at reece’s market, c. 1990s. courtesy the reece family // debby sue reece holler.

had my grandpa lived, & had reece's market made it to 2015 -- the era when farmers' markets & old-skool experiences became the hub of a rabid new “foodie” scene -- i know it would have been a heritage tourism destination: the kind of place people drive across ohio just to stop & experience.

WHY ME? WHY THIS REHAB? WHY NOW?

downtown caledonia’s public square from e. marion street in the sunset today, feat. the temple block (L), built in 1897; & the union block (R), built in 1884. photo: jess lamar reece holler.

i grew up in reece's market. as the child of the only one of jack & barb's five kids who had "moved away," caledonia was magical to me -- & reece's market wasn't just a grocery store. it was simultaneously a museum & a community center: the hub & the glue of small-town life.

since i can remember, reece's market has felt like home: especially because the place that i grew up -- the countryside now known as new albany -- doesn't exist any more. i grew up watching an ultra-powerful billionaire, l*s w*xn*r, determine the future of a once-proud working-class rural community: what highways went in, what buildings got torn down, what houses were saved & spared. i remember distinctly -- watching highway 161 cut thru the field behind the gorgeous 1850s house i grew up in, that my parents spent a decade restoring -- the feeling of being powerless. as a kid, every day, i wondered WHY everyday people couldn't protect their own heritage, fight for a neighborhood's rights, or determine their community's future. and when my childhood house was wreckingball'd when i was 12, i vowed to spend my life learning how to organize around heritage resources so that the our communities could determine their own futures.

community members hang out, smoke (!!!), & talk at reece’s market’s famed stool & gumball machine, c. 1990s. reece’s market was more than a grocery store: it was a community center. courtesy the reece family // debby sue reece holler.

reece's market became that cause. as the one "home" i had left, i wanted to steward the family business: to guard our legacy, & to mobilize our rich heritage, in caledonia -- the place where i am "deep from" -- to not only preserve our "sense of place" in caledonia, but to build more abundant futures.

in 2010, my grandpa jack was suddenly diagnosed with stage iv cancer. the news was devastating to all of us. i was 21; & was very close to my grandpa at the time -- i'd just left college on a spiritual journey, & started working on farms; & connected deeply to my grandpa's life-long love of gardening, the land, & nourishing his community through the work of his greengrocery.

disillusioned with the phony world of college & wealthy families on the east coast that looked nothing like the world i’d come from, i found a hero & a set of role models, instead, in my grandparents — & in their little grocery store, which so humbly formed the backbone of caledonia. when everyone else in my life was telling me, at the time, that, to “make it,” i’d have to leave ohio, & leave my roots behind, here, in caledonia, i found an alternative: that honoring our roots, indeed, can be our futures. reece's market taught me that a life-well lived doesn’t have to be showy, like hollywood: it can be deeply local, & can come thru service & investment in the places we live & love.

my grandpa jack -- as those of you lucky enough to know him surely felt -- was a visionary in alot of quiet ways: he woke up every morning before dawn to work in his garden -- an organic garden that he'd never call organic. years after others had stopped doing it, he still accepted grocery orders on credit, for anyone having a hard time. reece's market was more than a grocery store. we took care of people. but, as a part of that work, my grandparents didn't get to take care of themselves. my grandpa had hardly taken a day off in his life; so, without ever getting to retire & enjoy his time, reece's market closed abruptly in march of 2010.

my grandpa died in august of that year. my grandma inherited two big buildings -- the entire south-eastern corner of the public square -- that needed alot of love. both had had their upstairs held in 99-year leases to fraternal organizations; &, by the 1970s, downstairs building owners & shopkeepers reported leaks, water damage, & other issues. because of the unique lease agreement, however, they couldn't get upstairs to access the spaces or make repairs.by the time both upstairs leases turned over to my grandpa — then the owner of both buildings — in the late 1990s, the buildings needed some serious work.

my grandpa loved history; &, i like to think, took seriously his role as steward of these buildings. before he got sick, he'd poured alot of time, & money, into trying to take care of the temple & masonic block as best as he could -- all-new vinyl replacement windows upstairs, & a new roof on the masonic block, since the old one leaked. unfortunately, my grandpa was a trusting man; & trusting people sometimes get taken advantage of. the person who'd put on the new roof was a "fly-by-night" contractor; the roof almost immediately started leaking. when my family called to report it, the number was disconnected, & the contractor was nowhere to be found. & then my grandpa got sick. the rest is history.

WHO ARE YOU?

hi! i'm jess lamar reece holler -- jack & barb reece's grandchild, debby reece's child, & a cultural worker, historic preservationist, & public historian serving north-central ohio! i run a non-profit, marion voices folklife & oral history, that documents & amplifies local culture in marion county & north central ohio while building more abundant economies & better jobs for artists & memory-keepers; & i am a non-profit consultant, oral historian, & preservationist through my own studio, caledonia northern folk studios.

i've made transforming our diverse north-central ohio heritages into abundant futures my whole life, basically. i love it, i believe in it ... & hope you will, too.

i've always known, since i was a kid, that my future is wrapped up in these buildings. and i've readied myself for the work, as much as i can, with dedication, tenacity, & love. i've worked, since my grandpa passed, to get myself ready to bring the temple & masonic block buildings to their next chapter, & to spend my life working for caledonia. i've dreamed & schemed new businesses for the storefronts, learned how to nominate buildings to the national register of historic places, gone to grad school for public folklore, community cultural organizing & historic preservation,& have spent years consulting for & running non-profits to learn how to write grants & campaign for funds. now, twelve years hence, we're closer than we've ever been. but i'm facing the biggest -- & most important -- campaign of my life: fundraising to do this work.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR?! IS THIS REALLY GONNA BE REAL?!

projection of restored 1897 façade for the masonic block building (R), by marika snider — snider architects.

although it may look like not alot is happening at the masonic block building, lots has happened since we first opened this fundraiser in 2022!

while we've made amazing progress, there have also been many bumps along the way. we paid lots of money for a set of schematic drawings we ultimately can't use, since the drafting contractor ended up being unavailable for phase 2. we spent almost $30,000 on a construction lawyer negotiating a contract that a contractor walked away from. changes in ohio permitting extended permitting times to 12 weeks: making it almost impossible to get on a contractor's schedule; & illnesses made it difficult to hear back from architects in timely fashion.

through it all, we're still persevering ... & working hard to get going with our phase 2 roof replacement bidding as soon as the weather breaks this spring!

we have at least $500,000 to raise: a daunting amount. i've got more energy than most people, but i can only work so many jobs. even though we have $400,000 in committed tax credits, they're not available until after the project is done. so we have to find some way to get the working capital needed to pay the team to get this work done! and that is where you come in! <3

SO WAIT ... YOU'RE ASKING US TO ... HELP WITH THIS?!

the masonic block building today: awaiting its facelift, a few surgeries, & some internal cleansing!

yes.

every time jeff & i are at the farmers' market, we hear people say how much they LOVED reece's market. or how fondly they remember the businesses of the masonic block next door -- whether it was phyllis & ted noggle's family florist, murv's pizza, or, waaaaay back in the day, grabbing an ice cream soda or sundae at the drug store.

this project is bigger than just me or my family. i'm living my crazy dream of trying to rehab & revitalize these buildings -- & with them, our public square -- because caledonia needs it. can you help us make this crazy dream possible: to bring back — & build forward — the vibrant downtown caledonia deserves?!

the masonic block, after restoration, will be placed in a long-term lease to marion voices folklife + oral history: north-central ohio's regional folklife & public history organization, based right here in caledonia. the completed building will include teaching space for artists, workshop space, an all-ages performance venue, an "artists' aggregator marketplace" & giftshop with unique local artisan-produced goods, an exhibit space & gallery hall, & a certified commercial kitchen & café to showcase our local foodways vendors! we're calling the future space the masonic block arts & culture hub: it will be an economic development engine for the region, & will not only create jobs & expanded arts livelihood opportunities for north-central ohio artists, but will bring year-round experiences, opportunities, performances, & entertainment to caledonia's public square, suitable for kids & families alike!

WHERE WILL MY MONEY GO?! HOW WILL YOU BE SPENDING THESE DONATIONS?!

100% of funds donated here will go directly to the rehabilitation budget for the masonic block, as governed by the plans we submitted to the state historic preservation office.

your donations will help support, however, the following critical rehabilitation expenses:

so, to recap: rest assured that all funds donated will go towards critical, necessary building rehabilitation -- which would not be possible without your generosity.

WHY ARE YOU CROWDFUNDING THIS?!

… because baby jess can’t do this alone!

i've tried everything in my power to fundraise for this project. i've never worked fewer than about three full-time jobs since i was 21, because i knew this was coming. i work 18-hour days many days, & take on more contracts that i really should, to be able to scrimp away to try to make this possible.

but, i'm a cultural worker -- there’s a limit to how much people value the work i do (which is a whole ‘nother conversation); but, most importantly, i’m learning that there's a limit to what i can do alone: a limit to how much i can work, & to how much i can make, without inheriting wealth or already being a billionaire developer (which i am not).

i'm now up against that limit, so i need help.

i'm absolutely nervous asking others to throw down for this project; i run a non-profit, & consult for several others, & i know, first-hand, how tough it can be to be asked to give money to something. i know, because asking for money for other projects, other organizations, & other causes is what i do for a living. so i felt strange about asking for something that might be construed as being just for me, just for my family.

but finally, i realized: this project has always been bigger than me or my family: it's about the heritage & legacy of our beautiful, monumental caledonia Public Square; & its about our collective futures. it's about the vibrant downtown we all deserve. it's about the possibilities of a reactivated masonic block; & about the new businesses & shops the storefronts can incubate down the line. it’s about the future we want to see.

so thank you all, x infinity, for being a part of this.

LET'S WAKE UP THE MASONIC BLOCK, & GET (RE)BUILDING!

in solidarity & SO much gratitude,

jess

**

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

here are some questions you might be asking, with answers from me!

HOW CAN REHABBING THE MASONIC BLOCK KICKSTART ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL OF US IN DOWNTOWN CALEDONIA? WHY SHOULD I CARE?!

the #1 enemy of vibrant downtowns are vacant buildings. vacant buildings are eyesores; &, worse of all, they’re sad — they remind all of us of failed potential, & stalled dreams. vacant buildings publicly signal to the community: “hey! something once great now was here. but we don’t got that anymore.”

on the flip side, rehabilitating & waking up sleeping vacant buildings has been shown, by studies from historic preservation economic development firm PlaceEconomics, & countless downtown Main Street American Programs, to be the single best way to bring back our downtowns. getting windows back in buildings, restoring the historic character of storefronts, & opening storefronts back up to commerce & public life, not only brings one building back to life … but shifts the sense of “aliveness” in the entire downtown corridor.

the masonic block, as calculations would have it, also stands to be what we’re calling a catalytic project for downtown. currently, there are 11 viable storefronts on the public square, spread across the temple block, masonic block, underwood block, union block, & class of ’55 building. currently, six of them are vacant, & four of them are occupied. rehabbing the masonic block building would take our downtown from four to seven occupied storefronts — meaning that, instead of the majority of our downtown being asleep & inaccessible (vacant), the majority of storefronts in our downtown would be alive.

we’re confident that the rehab of the masonic block will shift the felt sense of pride & revitalization on the Public Square, & will inspire other building owners — both by example, & by sharing what we’ve done to make it possible for others! — to rehab & open their historic storefronts, too! the masonic block rehab is a critical step in the larger revitalization of downtown caledonia.

JESS … YOU’RE ASKING FOR $100,000. THAT'S NUTS. WHY ON EARTH DOES IT COST THIS MUCH TO REHAB A BUILDING?!

fair question. countless studies have shown that historic preservation is the catalytic thing main street communities can do to bring back their downtowns. historic preservation is the best option for economic development, it’s the most sustainable option (i.e.: reusing & adapting what is already there), & most importantly: it preserves, protects, & stewards sense of place: that ineffable sense of local character which shapes our own identity.

but it’s also true that historic preservation is expensive. almost any time anyone takes on a major historic rehabilitation project, the cost of what’s required to get things up to contemporary code exceeds the market value of the building. that’s what’s called “the gap.”

preservationists, government officials, & our allies know this — & this is why legislation, beginning in the 1960s, started to offer what are called historic preservation incentives (like historic preservation tax credits!) to help close the gap, & to make historic preservation a viable option for people like me, who care about the legacy & built environment of our downtown.

unfortunately, sometimes, with public & governmental programs, you have to have money to get money. one of the key ways i can get our points up, for the highly-competitive ohio historic preservation tax credit competition, is to show full financing on the project, minus our tax credit ask, by the deadline of september 30th.

that is why i am fundraising now, to try to bring a critical $100,000 onboard for this project, to help “close the gap,” & to show that our community can do this.

our project would be the first ever historic tax credit project in caledonia; &, with a (knock on wood) future historic district for the whole downtown & the water street commercial corridor in the near future, could pave the way for dozens of other downtown commercial building owners to invest in transformative rehabilitation & revitalization of our unique downtown.

YOU’RE SURE THIS MONEY ISN’T JUST GOING TO YOU TO BUY PRINGLES? I CAN SEE YOU USING THIS TO BUY PRINGLES.

i promise. i don’t even like pringles. also, that would be defrauding public goodwill & wildly irresponsible. this money is for the masonic block building rehab, & the masonic block building rehab alone. i can buy my own pringles.

in all seriousness, though, i’ve worked way too many jobs for the past decade to try to scrap together resources to make this project happen. i’ve worked as hard as i could, & harder than i knew i could; but, as a cultural worker & artist, i just can’t do it all on my own. that’s why, with alot of initial hesitation, i’m inviting the community in to help make this crazy thing possible.

i assure that 100% of funds raised will go directly towards budgeted, necessary building rehabilitation — as outlined in a detailed budget developed with our contractor, which will be submitted along with our ohio historic tax credit application.

also, that would be sooooo many pringles!

WHY ARE YOU ASKING FOR OUR MONEY FOR YOUR FAMILY BUILDING, THEN?!

yes, you’re right: this is “our” building. but the temple & masonic block building are also public buildings: part of the critical infrastructure of downtown caledonia. the masonic block’s three storefronts, & the upstairs masonic lodge space, hold a big history — something hundreds & hundreds of people, beyond the reece family, have contributed to & taken part in. if you have a memory of the masonic block: being a part of a ceremony or dinner upstairs at the masonic lodge, grabbing a slice a murv’s pizza, getting silk flowers from the noggles at their flower shop, or even tanning in the short-lived 90s tanning beds that came in later … then you’re a part of the masonic block’s history. and you can be a part of its storied future!

we're not rehabilitating the masonic block to make money. to be real, we’ll probably lose money, for a while, to sustain this, before our downtown really wakes back up. that’s always the case with “pioneer projects”: i.e., catalytic early or first rehabilitation projects in a neighborhood, downtown corridor, or community, that are the ones that have to take the hit & “build it,” so the rest will come.

we're rehabilitating the masonic block because our community needs it. and deserves it.

we deserve a revitalized, vibrant, cute, thriving downtown — the kind that we’ve all witnessed glimpses of on saturday morning, at the booming farmers’ market that mayor april morrison started, or on monday nights, during friends of caledonia’s new food truck & music events. we can all feel the revitalization happening in caledonia.

we deserve a downtown with accessible, beautiful historic storefronts with contemporary amenities, that can help give our growing network of local entrepeneurs a chance on their dreams.

and we deserve places we can go: to shop, to eat, to socialize: ways to “activate” & enjoy our downtown — just like all the stories we’ve all heard about, from back in the day, when things were really hopping.

the restored masonic block will be a community space, run by a trusted community non-profit. i see it with dining tables out on the sidewalk, lights between the trees: a place to grab a cup of fresh-roasted coffee in the morning, grab a soft-serv in the sticky-hot afternoons, maybe buy a book or gift, drop off your kids for a transformative & fun summer camp experience downtown, or take a class with a master regional teaching artist. what goes into the storefronts, & what happens upstairs, is up to us: & that process of determining the future we want to see, alone, is enough to motivate me. because we deserve it. caledonia deserves it.

that’s why i’m crazy enough to try to rehabilitate the masonic block after all these years. & that’s why i’m asking for you to be a part of it. because this is our community — & this is your masonic block building, too. we’d be so honored to have you be a part of making this happen. <3

WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS TO EVEN DO THIS?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE AN ARTS ORGANIZER // GRANT-WRITER // RAN MARION VOICES, &c.?!

another fair question. and, to be real: you’re right to ask it. i’m not a big developer. in fact, i’ve never rehabbed a building before.

i’m a cultural worker, a non-profit executive director, a consultant, & a scrappy arts & heritage organizer, who has worked, over the past five years, to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for artists, community events, festivals, exhibits, & unique programming all over marion county. i know how to fundraise, how to tell a story, how to manage a team, how to document history, & how to make an argument — but i’m not an architect, a contractor, or an engineer. i’ve never hung drywall or sanded floors. i’m a storyteller & a grant-writer & a community organizer. and one thing i’ve learned is that those skills are essential for this process, too. so, i’m bringing what i can bring & what i do best; & leaning on my comrades to bring their talents & knowledge.

but yes, absolutely: this is new for me, & it’s big, & i’m learning alot. but you can bet your bottom dollar i’ll be there, masked up & in some weird neon 90s t-shirt, every step of the way, putting in sweat equity along with the team to make this exciting thing happen.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS YOU’D LIKE TO SEE ANSWERED?! HERE FOR YOU. REACH OUT! EMAIL JESS AT OLDELECTRICITY AT GMAIL DOT COM & WE'LL POST TO UPDATE!