The Truth In This Art: LTYC Founder Dr. Dermell Brunson Interview

Welcome back to The Truth in Us Art. Thank you for joining me for my conversations bridging arts, culture, and community. I am your host, Rob Lee. And before we start, I'd like to remind you to visit our website, thetruthinhisart.com, for more episodes and to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates. Today, I have a special conversation with a special guest who serves as the founder and president of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center, that is LTYC, an organization dedicated to empowering youth through arts and education.

Please welcome doctor Dermell Brunson Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for having me, brother. I really appreciate this, opportunity to speak with you. Your your your work, brother Lee, has been, you know, making its name for itself. And so I'm just really excited to to to talk about the arts world with you, man.

I I I appreciate it. Thank you, so much. And, as as I'm one to do before we get to the crux of it, I gotta make the acknowledgment, you know, since I add the video component to what I'm doing these days. You know, whenever I see someone is 2 things. Right?

Whenever I see someone who's an Aquarius and I find that out in the conversation or if I see someone wearing glasses, So you for wearing your glasses, brother. I always got acknowledged it before our brothers.

Yes. Thank you. Yeah. It keep it. It just I wear them, when it's time to have screen time and time to have reading.

You know? You know, like, it just helps me, keep my focus. So So yeah.

You'll you'll love this. So I I do this thing where I have 3 pairs of glasses currently. These are my pretentious art guy glasses. Notice the circular picture of them. So I do that.

But, and, again, thank you for for coming on. And as we we get started, I I like to, you know, start off with sort of kind of a softball, but I think it's a setting the stage question. Before we dive deeper into, like, the deeper topics, I'm gonna give you a space to introduce yourself. And I do that. It feels, you know, backwards.

But I do that because I'm working off of a online thing. I'm working off of a bio sort of cut and paste. And I find that artist statements, bios, all of those things always kinda fall short of capturing who the essence of the person is. So I wanna give you the space to introduce yourself.

I mean, listen. I'm I'm I'm Derek and Tammy's boy. You know, Darmel, they're a male man. They're a male male. I'm a kid from West Baltimore, man.

I just, been thankful and blessed to be able to spend the majority of my the years on the earth that I had been blessed with to do stuff that I care about and do stuff that I love. And it wouldn't be anything without my parents and the family, the larger network that as they use, you know, they say about the village, you know, I'm definitely one of those village kids, You know, my parent my parents as great as they are, now and then were raising me. They they don't even have the clue of what it the things that impacted me from other people that they put me around or that was community or church or family or friends or whomever. And so I'm just blessed to be a part of that type of lineage and vibe. I have good people that I come from.

And so, that's who I am, man. It's really those people. It's West Baltimore. It's the heartbeat of the city. It's, you know, family and friends and being surrounded by, you know, a bunch of different people who were, you know, inspirational to me, and they were artists.

Yeah. You know, and there was in in churches, you know, my mom's singing the choir, so we've been been around the choir, you know, a lot of my young life. My friend, you know, I was just always drawn to that. And so those people, that's who I am. You know, it's just I'm an accumulation of the deposits that people have made into my life.

You know, that's what's that's what I consider myself to be connected to. You know?

Yeah. Thank you. I have a I have a secondary question that relates to that. You're you're kinda touching in that area, so it's great, as far as sort of youth, and I and I got a comment. So I'm originally I'm like, I'm east Baltimore heavy.

Right? But originally west Baltimore even though k. Like, I'm not even from Baltimore. Right? But, you know, like, Argyle Avenue, that over there.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Argyle. Yeah. I know Argyle.

I I remember, you know, this this is kind of funny. It it sets the stage a little bit for maybe the type of person I am as an adult. I I remember we had, like, you know, a, a housing situation, right? My my parents and, we we had some dispute with the the landlord and I remember being maybe 3, maybe 4. You know, when kids say things they're not supposed to say, like, yo, what are you doing?

So we're Right. At the court hearing and all of that. And I was like man, he's a liar. I'm saying about the landlord. That's one of my earl is like yo So it's it's one of I got so much trouble, but it's how to think about that now you mentioned.

In court. In court wise. Right. Hilarious.

A 100%. And that's that's probably one of the earliest, earliest memories that I have that I can, in some ways, connect. You know, we mean calling things out, being there, almost performing. Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

But it was a performance aspect with it. And, so I was singing a song about him being a, like, liar liar pants on fire. I believe it's what I did. And, so for you, you know, having your background, and we're definitely gonna dive into that early, in a bit in a bit, later. But what is one of your earliest memories growing up in Baltimore?

Oh, man. It could I mean, that could be a bunch of different things. I mean, I guess the earliest memory growing up still gonna have to be something family related. You know? It's just so tough to think and pinpoint what the earliest would be.

But you think about, like, for me, I remember as a kid, you know, it was only a couple of things that make that matter to me. It's music, you know, and and and basketball. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's all I cared about. So, and, that's the kind of I just remember being a kid that wanted to go out and play basketball, work on my handle or, you know, go play 50.

That was our game. And, we go play 50 or 21. You know, those were the games you played with. It was just 1 or 2 couple of guys, you know, and we so that's that's my my best memories and earliest memories, I would say, growing up in Edmondson Village, is just being outside with my with my my friends in elementary and middle school and and and really experiencing the the vibes, the scents, the, you know, the smells, the energy, the fear, the everything of the city. Yeah.

Just experiencing that as a Baltimore kid because Trump city is one of those melting pot, but as a city of neighborhoods. You know, from one neighborhood to the next, you get a total different experience even if you're in the same ZIP code.

Right.

It's literally the neighborhood can change, and you'll know it by, you know, how how the lawns are kept or if there's trash out or who's on the corner or if there's a corner store, if there's a blue light with the corner door, it's a, you know, the many cars outside, what type of cars. And just through walking, looking for an Edmonton Village, looking for places for us to play ball, whether it would be a school or a playground or something like that or people's backyards, friends we knew, that's my early memories of of getting to know, you know, the vibe of the city as a young a youngster.

Oh, thank you for that. I mean, it sets the stage. Like, you're out there. It's it's something about growing up your outside, and you're just hanging with the your friends and you're seeing these different things and you're right the neighborhood component. I I live over east.

You know? Yeah. I I saw the real Baltimore right there for the first time ever.

Yeah.

But I live over east and

Over west over east. Yeah. Over

west over east. East. And I'll I'll go, you know, I'll take, like, a a stroll or what have you. You know, what feels like it's just like the the 20 minute walk or what have you and just and you'll see sort of the the the distinction that changes sort of the flow of what's there and what's not there or even the types of houses too. Like, I know when I go over west, those houses are huge.

Right. It's just townhouses heavy over here. So Right. Go to that that difference as well, and I imagine that leads to a sort of different setup when you have space. Those big houses, you have like a lawn, you have backyard, you're able to do these different things a little bit more space where when, at least I know for my house, got, like, the sort of row house set up.

They got a little space in the backyard, but not really. I can't put up a I can't put up a hoop.

Right. Right. Right. Yeah. You can't.

Yeah. You You gotta had a hoop. You gotta had a hoop out there or somebody's gotta have a hoop. I didn't have one in my yard. But my homeboys did.

And so we played, you know, in their yard. Yeah. Right? Or especially that was when we were younger, and we would go to the court. If the court was already taken up by bigger, older dudes.

Yeah. Right. And you didn't have a spot to get in. You say you got next or somebody in front of you or you couldn't get in. Then we started breaking out and doing our own thing till we were old enough to be able to get in those those games, you know?

So you always look for you made friends with the dude who had the core, the goal in his yard. That became your bud. Once you once you realize he had a goal in the back of his yard, you're like, oh, yeah. This is this is our new homeboy.

Oh, yeah. So you we're we're talking a little bit about youth. And in a way, to segue to the the larger chunk of the conversation, let's talk about leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center. Like, what is it? What was the inspiration in in in founding it and some of those key milestones?

Like, give us set the stage for us.

Yeah. I mean, you know, what I what I noticed as an 18 year old, because I really, you know, myself and, my close friend at the time growing up, Ronald Fitzgerald, he and I cofounded, I founded and named it and created it. It brought him on, and it was his, I guess his confidence in me that the idea I had was great and that he wanted to be a part of it because he was a no nonsense type of dude. He just didn't do anything that he didn't wanna do. And so him wanting to do it really gave me the confidence, and it started from, I was youth pastoring at a church in Owens Mills, under my mentor, doctor David, and he allowed me to get some of my ideas out.

I said, hey. What can we can we do a summer program, you know, and, you know, include the arts and have all these things? He's like, yeah. That's a that's a great idea. Some shit.

You know, let's do it. Let's figure it out. So I, you know, I went and grandma, and Ronald was the first person I brought on to my little team at the time. I'm, you know, I'm 19 years old. I'm 18, 19 years old, A team what I thought was a team.

I put folks together, and we did a successful summer program, that, you know, brought in, about 70 young people within a 2 month period, leading up to the summer. And from there, I felt the call, the vision of summer program. Initially, we were thinking summer and then maybe grow into after school. We started doing workshops, you know, pro bono with city schools and rec centers. And I named it, and decided that we would go to a different route for school based.

At the time, my full time jobs were working in, DJS and working with DSS through foster care agencies and group homes. And so when I would do my visits with the young people at their schools, I just noticed that they didn't have any arts. And it hurt me, and it it it it it made me, frustrated. And I'm the kind of person where it's like, if I'm inspired impacted by something that's frustrating me, that that mean we need to do something. Like, we don't just hold the frustration.

It's like, what are we supposed to do next? Let's go. So I didn't wanna be one of those cats who just, you know, pointed and stared and didn't have any action. I thought, well, what if we start identifying a way to take arts into schools and communities where there aren't any arts? I remember being a kid at Baltimore School For the Arts as a twigs, young person in middle school, and then as a a theater major in high school and knowing so many people, Rob, so many people in my school, my my former school where I grew up middle school elementary, kids from my church, kids from my family neighborhood, who I thought were talented.

And in a lot of cases, more talented than me that didn't get into BSA. They had tried to get in and didn't get in. And it really just showed me that there wasn't enough opportunities to kind of hone in and and and and introduce young people to the arts. So that's what it ended up being, man. It really started from that place of identifying a need and wanting to fill a void that I thought was existing mainly in Baltimore schools.

Yeah. Thank you. You know, sort of those those changes, that identification of there's a lack, there's something that's missing. And it's it's one of those things where when I have conversations with people about sort of what their experience is, I think there are a few things. When you hear something that has that mission, that call, as you mentioned, the the sort of vocation component around it, Vocation is not not just a job.

It's a calling. There's something more deeper about that. And, you know, it's it's the challenges and all of these things that present themselves. I do this. There is there's a calling component to it.

Yeah. I could just get on, you know, and talk about movies and enjoy that and have a good time with it, and, you know, I've done done that. Right? I've, you know, been in the podcast space for at least 16 years in February. And, you know, but the last 5 have been in this lane because I felt that call.

I had a response. And this this notion of I'm from here. I think there are a lot of talented people here. I think there's a lot of people who, because they're from here, get this erroneous and incorrect sort of, you know, vibe. It's an underdog thing, but, also, it's sort of this weird it's all of the things.

It's right. It's all of these different things that are attached to it. And the message is our stories don't matter, so our creativity doesn't matter. Our, getting access to things doesn't matter. So wanted to use my little influence and background or what have you to try to change that, and that's what it sounds like as part of the the ethos and the DNA for what you do.

Yes. Can we impact? Can we change? You know, we've been we're blessed to be a blessing. All of those things.

It's like, what can we do to deposit, create lanes of opportunity? And all you can do is plant a seed. Yeah. I guarantee that what it is that we're doing over this stretch of time that God has afforded us an opportunity to do it is somebody's gonna be impacted. Yeah.

And we will spark the the brain of the the young person that'll that'll change the world in some form of fashion, whether it's the art world, maybe. Maybe we spark a brain creative creatively that, you know, helps a young person find that real cure for cancer or sparks that creativity to find that that that new, you know, anecdote or that new, you know, herb Yeah. You know, in the in the that's already in the earth that we're missing that can help a bunch of different diseases or is that that person that's creatively able to, you know, expand beyond trying to touch the moon and Mars and go into some other places in the galaxy and see what's out there. So we, you know, that's what the arts are, just the creative outlet, social interpersonal skill building. And so that's what it is, brother.

We we wanna plant that seed.

Yeah. And it's, you know, I mentioned one of the conversations I had not not long ago. And, you know, at times, we we have sort of the you see it. Once you see it, you can under unsee it where it has to have the biggest impact. It has to be this specific type of impact.

But sometimes getting in and creating the thought and having that thought spread, that's the impact that most people miss. Like, again, in in doing this, you know, I try to keep the concentration and the focus, you know, as much as interest is, but also is is baked in of talking to folks who are underrepresented, talking to people who are in my city. And, hopefully, it's spreading and having other folks realize, like, damn, that's a lot of talent there. That person makes that that person's from there. I didn't know anything about the place.

That's the point. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

So So I I I read I I think this was in your bio. I read this this quote. Leadership is not a title. It is a way of life. Can you expand on what that means to you both personally and with your with your work at, I like to say the acronym, LTYC?

Can you speak with that?

Yes. Yeah, man. It's just not a title. You have to be engrossed in it from a molecular structure type of point of view. Yeah.

And And that's what I was inspired by years ago. It just it hit me like a ton of bricks, I think, would say. It was real impactful to my to my psyche that, oh, okay. This is tough being a leader in a role that has some type of expectation. But in life, you are a leader.

Right? You can be a leader in your family. You can be leading your friend circle. You can be a leader in the community. You could be the one walking by the trash and decides to pick it up and change the instead of leaving it there.

I guess so many little things that we all get led by each other as humans. And so, but I saw a hyper, I guess, the baby boom generation. And before that generation, I'm not sure what the what they're called. I forgot the name of that the generation before the baby boom. You may know.

But, they always seem to me to be real hung up on what what their title was. Yeah. You know, the the the the title meant something more in some cases than the actual walk and the and the work. Yeah. So, and we're suffering for it right now in in in the world.

We know we're suffering for this false ideology about, you know, status and clout and, you know, recognition and name recognition and title and all these things. And nobody wanna pay the stripes on they back. Nobody wanna nobody wanna carry the the burden. And so that's what, you know, I've always, you know, just thought about it that way. It's like, so we started teaching that in our leadership trainings with LTYC some years back, and I was actually, you know, drip slow dripping a a teach of that.

And when I was youth pastor and for, ministries here in the Baltimore Greater Baltimore area, I I would teach that to the the kids. Like, you know, leadership is not a title, it's a way of life. You gotta choose a whole way that you're living and choosing to be, in a parallel process that comes with that. Because then people get to see you, and they wanna critique you, and then because you're the leader, and you're the one but leadership is not always about being outspoken. It's not about who's the most articulate.

It's not about, you know, the prerequisite for leadership is not about for servant leadership is not about, you know, your family name, how much money you have or how many degrees you have, letters before after your name. The real prerequisite is humility. Right. It's just like, I'm I I know where I've come from. Meaning, I didn't create myself.

Somebody made the way for me. Yeah. And I know where I'm going, which is to continue to to trailblaze that legacy and move it forward. And so if I think that way, regardless of temperament, regardless of characteristics, regardless of personality, all of us can still have and carry a humility of I'm about serving other people. What can I be doing in any capacity to help others and not myself?

Yeah. And I I hear that, and I I I relate to that. And, you know, I think there is a mix, and I always play this sort of game as to the the different, like, generations or what have you. We have sort of, like, you know, maybe our parents like, my parents are both boomers or what have you. And so that's an idea that's that's there.

And we we didn't have, like, money and things of that nature, so it was, you know, and it it was definitely be self reliant, and I and I'm that we were definitely with that focus. But I would imagine a lot of folks were not. You know? And I think when we look at, like, social media and how things are rewarded, those mentalities, they're coming from those are the people that have the money and the leadership and all of that that are running these Right. The, quote, unquote, value.

So Right. In some in some respects, in some regards, there are folks who believe that that's the way you go about it, the the bang, to get your name out there, the the the cloud, all of these different things.

Right.

It's it's a thing I've been playing with with one of my friends about, yeah, there's there's work here that we have to do.

Right. That Right. And it's

you can't just skip over the work component. That has to be doesn't have to be hard, but it has to be something that you gained and you've learned some some reps, some adversity. And, you know, I think that's that's a part of it that gets lost in the the conversation a lot of times. And, you know, when I'm doing, you know, any of the education stuff that I'm doing, I always come from position of helping. Even I do this, it's from a position of helping, and I get thrown off at times.

And I I wanna I wanna get your take in in this area, especially with, you know, background in in in mental health and in in the arts and so do your work at, you know, l t y c. The the this this dynamic of, okay, we're connecting. You know, like, I do this. I look at this as a way to meet people, connect with folks, make some friends, and so on. And if me and you are friends, whatever I have in terms of exposure connection, that's what I'm here to try to help with.

It's like my position is how can I help? What is your take in sort of those interactions, especially when it comes to, like, the consideration around mental health, the sort of arts community, because it's you know, we have our different disciplines that get smaller. The arts community and the education in arts community isn't as big as space. And as you were touching on sort of the ethos, it's the thing that's wasn't always sort of treated right here.

Exactly. I think that, Yeah.

I know that was a lot, by the way.

No. No. It was great. It was great. I I've been I'm letting it wash over me.

I think that it's just, the mental health component is important for every every person, You know? And that's what I'm glad we we're we're starting to over the last, you know, really few decades, but it's definitely picking up speed speed as you, you know, we go along and recognizing that, you know, sometimes it feels like people think that the, the, the mental state in the brain is outside of the body And and we forget that it's it's in our body. Right? Yes. The thoughts can be overbearing in the senses that God gave us, all the, you know, touch Chase Nelson, all that thing.

All those things can be, but it's really in your body. And so the fact that we would spend a lot of time about 6 pack or, you know, this and all these other things. Right? And all of these other aesthetically pleasing things

for

cosmetic surgeries and the track and all these things that folks are doing as their writing prerogative to do. Yeah. For years, it was all the hyperemphasis even with physical getting to a gym. You know, the gyms became popular and and making sure you get your walk in and make sure you get your bike riding. All all of these things have in place and they and they are important, but nobody talked about mental health.

And so in the arts community, typically, the artist is emoting through their work. Mhmm. Right? Whether it's their songwriter, their their music musician, their, visual artist, their graphic, whatever they've been, their mode and modality or medium of, of, of, of art expression, they're normally emoting that way and getting their thoughts and ideas. But it's really important that we hyper focus it with artistic expression, especially for young people.

Yeah. Right? Because we can we can do so much good with paying attention to the creativity in young people and using it as a conduit for them expressing themselves and finding out things about what's happening in the mind of the young person so that they need another level of mental health support. They can get that quality mental health support. And I'm an advocate for and it's not just because, you know, we're running the arts organization, but I'm because I worked in the mental health field for a minute specifically through foster care.

And then we had a practice that I started and we were doing some cool work, you know, provide therapy. I just noticed that play therapy and expressive therapy and these other forms of therapy that weren't traditional talk therapy were better for young people. Yeah. You know, I could see it in real time. I don't have any metrics.

I don't have any. I don't know what it, the numbers I'm sure it's out there. Somebody's collecting the data. I did. I'm just the odd test.

Yeah.

These kids are are more excited to come express and receive, not just receive and not just express, express and receive when there is a joint collaboration. Yeah. That's not just some therapist. And normally, when I'm working with the community, you know, the black community, not some some non black person Mhmm. Right, talking at me or to me about what my issues and my thoughts and feelings are.

Yeah.

It's a disconnect. But when there was plate therapy for the younger kids and expressive therapy for the older young people and preteens and teens progress by the leaps and bounds. Right? They get it. The idea clicks.

And so I'm a heavy, you know, supporter and cheerleader for us making sure as a community across the board, urban, rural, suburban, that we wrap our arms around each other and adults as well. Of course we know what, you know, Frederick Douglass is easy to build strong children and to repay a broken man. Like, we know that one. And that thing is so painful to realize when you look at ourselves as we're getting older, but also look at people that came before us.

Yeah.

And be like, wow. You know? These folks are not gonna change. Right? These folks are gonna be who they are at this point because trying to repair the brokenness at the later stages in life is just, it's not impossible, but it's virtually almost nearly impossible.

And and and we wanna make sure that we build strong children, and a well rounded child needs play. They need art. They need hugs and kisses, positive reinforcement, but also they need mental health support. You know? They need that other thing that balances it all out.

Yeah. Like, I do, and thank you for that because that and and that that aligns and makes sense. I so I I'm a I'm a data analyst in my my day job in the real life, right, and on the podcast life. I'm I'm just a character on the podcast. But I play with this idea, and it affects how I think, this notion of sort of the root cause, right, root cause analysis.

And, I find that we have folks who, you know, it feels like we just, and you kind of echo in it a little bit, we just got cool with even discussing mental health, discussing those sort of and, you know, with things that are kinda new, we don't know how to discuss it discuss it a lot of times or even engage in it. We identify something, but we're almost trying to see, yeah, is the is this it? Is this it? And there are some folks who in that, you know, sort of figuring it out and knowing that we need to talk about this, knowing that that there are things that are affecting how affecting one's happiness, affecting one's mood, one's sensibility, one's overall mental well-being, Mhmm. They will say, oh, people are so soft these days, and they're so weak.

And it's it's so odd to me. And Yeah. Going with the and and instructing when you mentioned that the Frederick Douglass quote, I I was thinking, like, you can't rebuild them if they're, like, building. Try you can't rebuild a good man. You might be able to put a little, you know, caulking in there.

You might be able Yeah. Kinda get I like that. Can't fix the whole thing. Yeah.

Yeah. You can renovate. You can you can do some yeah. You can do it, but it and it's not again, I believe that all things are possible to him who believes. But so it's but so I don't I don't wanna say it's impossible, but it's it's impossible.

Yeah. It's basically you know, it's almost, you know, that and so that's why we do what we do. That's why, you know, you're spreading the joy and the love in conversations around the arts.

And lastly, even in in this thing where I I know the importance, and I wanna get your sort of your your take on it, the importance of an education in the arts, sort of the not just knowing the creative stuff, but knowing the life skills on all of that stuff that's attached with being a person that's in the arts. So I wanna get that from you, but I'll just say this, you know, and and being there and having time removed, like,

you

know, some of my students, you know, reminded me. It was like, oh, you're as old as my dad. I was like, thanks. Appreciate that. And especially not having any kids, I was like, alright.

But Right. Being able to observe and see the students through senior year for a whole year and see sort of the changes, the moods, and the sort of different considerations that are now in that high school experience. And at arts high school, it was something to behold. And also for me to check what, you know, as an as a first time educator, check Yeah. I thought I knew about my thing.

Like, when you're in the pocket and you know your stuff, you're just

like, man, alright. Here.

Here's the lesson. Do it. And it's just like, no. Maybe not that. Maybe it is having expectations and holding folks, young folks, accountable for doing their stuff.

You guys know what you need to do, but also knowing when to kind of pace things differently, knowing that they're all the doldrums. It is late in the day. It is these sort of different things that are there and sort of what the temperature is mentally in the class. Like, people are stressed. We got midterms.

We have finals. We have all these different things. So people have the space for that and checking that as sort of a first time. And, you know, non I guess non real educator, I always joke about, like, I'm barely a teacher. But, you know, that sort of component.

So in that, I I think I helped, you know, just give folks some of those, like, life's lessons because I'm coming in as an outsider, not necessarily an educator. So could you speak on the importance of, you know sort of the life stuff as Someone who is is an artist and who has the artistic background and who works with you know, young people, sort of the importance of those life lessons, those essential life lessons, those leadership qualities, especially in working with folks who are artistic.

Yeah. I think that's where where I believe, you know, for for me, my inspiration and and god's blessing for me was merging that leadership with the arts, you know, where we get the leaders of tomorrow, you know, thought process connected to the arts and that we can teach leadership development and skill development through the arts. Because the arts teaches you about community. It's a reflection of oneself, but it also is a reflection of the world around you. That's what's special around about the arts, brother, is that the arts give you both things.

It gives you the the real work within yourself if you allow it to, but it also, if you allow it to, gives you the outer, you know, awareness and observation with what's happening around. So, I think that that part is real. You know? And the life skills portion that really impacted me directly, but also impacted the way we are building leaders of tomorrow, is that at BSA, we got the conservatory model, you know, education, which was that we had educators. Then there were, you know, academic teachers.

Then we had some, you know, arts folks that had all of the level of credentialing and certifications and that thing. But then the, the bulk of our instructors at all disciplines were really just teaching artists, arts practitioners, people that were actually working in the field of the thing that they're teaching about. And so it automatically, Rob, just connected us to the life skills aspect because just like anything else in history is passed down initially, it's through storytelling. Right. It's through narrative.

So to hear the stories of our favorite teachers talking about their work in the field or what it was like for them to be auditioning or what it was like still some of them at the same time that they were teaching us were still in place. They would tell us, hey. I'm, in the, I'm in the Shakespeare play at the Shakespeare Festival. If you're around, come check. You know?

So we got to see them in real time. They were in the TVs and movie things that came through town, the wire in the corner and the host of other dozens of movies that have been filmed in Baltimore. Yeah. What do you want to call it DC or some other place? They'll shoot it in Bolton hill or shoot it in Mount Vernon, Baltimore and call it, you know, DC because of the brownstones.

Right? And so we our teachers, man, they were in that shit. They were in it. Yeah. So they they we we knew about it in real time when we would 13, 14, 15, 16 years old.

So that's automatic life skills and applying it to the arts because we were saying, oh, we we're watching you walk to work every day, but you're still an active artist. Mhmm. So that's it it just changed it really, you know, impacted me, I would say. I'm not sure about what other people would say, but for me specifically, it is the catalyst for what we do. It's Donald Hicken who was, you know, my theater, department head at the time and my and my teacher for a class in 9th grade and then another and then set a few courses in 12th grade.

Mhmm.

He's the one that over a conversation in his office at BSA that really inspired me to go a different route with building LTYC with the charter that BSA had to allow teaching artists to teach and be able to still give kids grades. And so he was the one, man, that inspired me to take it from thinking of just summer programming or after school and workshops is could we go into school systems in Maryland, DC, Virginia? Could we impact other cities similar to Baltimore in the school day, in the school based milieu? It was Donald Hicken that inspired me to think about the impact that the teaching artist had on us.

It's it's important to have it. It's it's important to be able to get that context from folks. I I would say in in in teaching and and talking, I would, you know, not in a bragging sense, but in a sort of real sense of this is what it looks like in the real real life. And it's like I'm not just some dude here just talking about it. I I do this and getting that across and, you know, that's the thing.

And I think done in done in a way that it's like, here's an avenue that you might not think it's even something you could do. You should do. It may not feel cool. It may not look cool. What have you or even trying to demystify it and it's just like, hey, you know, I'm on a billboard right now.

It's one of the things I would say. I was like, yeah, I'm out here like and and I'm doing this and I'm connecting with folks. I'm connected with other faculty that's here really trying to, you know, speak on what I'm doing and then connect it to sort of maybe the lesson and maybe what that experience is to make it applicable versus just theory. Right. And then putting it into practice and just giving examples that feel really real world.

And I find that that sort of approach because initially, I was just like, yeah, I'm not cut off for this. This is gonna be bad. But eventually, I started getting through and there's, you know, I I talk about it in a way that it's just like it was sustaining. It felt good. It was an extra thing being added to the plate, but sort of the education component of it, I got a lot out of it and Yeah.

That these students got a lot out of it, you know, in that short period of time. And I think that approach that you're describing, I think it builds up and lays a strong foundation for folks to be well rounded.

Yeah, man. We're trying to all be I'm still you know, we're still pushing for well roundedness even, you know, now that, you know, the days of moving faster and we're getting older is still about well rounded. It's about getting better. Can I can we get better? Can we do it better?

Can we serve better? Can we figure it out better? Can we give better? Can we love whole holistically and well rounded, which includes tough love, not just, you know, pat on the back, but sometimes kicks in the butt. Right?

All of that's love. And so can we do it better? And so that's that's what we're about, Rob, and we love the opportunity to keep creating lanes for young people to be exposed and experienced and engaged in the arts and getting them to see themselves in a new way Yeah. And to be strength based. You know, it's always a pleasure to, for any person, you know, older, young, younger, old, to be able to identify then the thing that they're doing, doing good and start from there.

Again, even sometimes still having to to to do the tough love part. Right. You, you know, as a teacher with the high school, isn't it? Probably, you know, it's like always gonna be a knucklehead or 2 or the bunch that needs it. That needs a little, a little tough talking to.

But at the end of the day, we're redirecting people to who they're supposed to be based upon their strengths. You know, it's like, yeah, we've been tough right now on you because the expectation of who much is given much is required. We want you to be this in this lane, and and you knucklehead enough. So you gotta be tough. And so that's what it really is.

That holistic, well rounded, whole child possibly has the best opportunity to become the whole adult. Systems are changing in our country. Laws are changing. Regulations are changing. AI is increasing and dominant right now, and legislation coming down the pipe for that and saw what happened in Hollywood with strikes and that kind of thing, and it's gonna happen.

And with music, the the industry, there gonna be some push backs and things that'll happen, and we should all be concerned about what world we're shaping and creating for those generations coming behind us and if we're making it better. And better doesn't always mean increased technology. Doesn't always mean that it could mean going back to the bare bones of the basics. And just like you mentioned earlier so eloquently about the mental health and physical, and that's not real chicken. And then McDonald's chicken nuggets.

Right.

Just as thinking about growing up, we thought we was doing something when my family stopped eating pork and beef and he was like, you know, we poultry and fish, and then we eat more of that. And we go to McDonald's or Burger King. You thought you was doing something because you weren't getting the burger. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not gonna get this burger. We're getting chicken nuggets. This is better chick how devastated was I to become an adult and realize they wouldn't need to given us real chicken. Well, that no.

No. That that's it's one of the things where, you know, in in and I got I got one last question I wanna ask you, and but before I get to that, I yeah. It's definitely that. And as you were describing it, I I was thinking sort of, you know, they have this something called, like, a, restriction diet or elimination diet. Yeah.

That it's just like we do these things that are easy, and then somehow these things that are easy just leads to us having these things that aren't necessarily good for us. Like, AI applied in certain ways, and I deal with it every day. AI in certain ways can be helpful, but an overuse of it because it's quote, unquote easy, dangerous, doesn't quite work. And I think it takes away from sort of one's creative identity. Yes.

Yes.

So these value meals and these quick meals, you know, maybe you, you know, you should have chicken nuggets. You should have, cheesecake. You should have pizza. You should make it. Yeah.

Yeah. If you make it, it's you learn. You learn something.

There we go. And I love it because you're gonna be doing culinary arts next month with with what you're doing. So this is great. I so that's that's exactly it, man. You're spot on.

Can we make it, can we teach about label reading and ingredients and the fact that you can make it at home and, and still have the, the the impact of how it feels to taste and enjoy because you must have pleasure in life. It's that's a part of the deal is that pleasure is built into life. You know? So that's it. But maybe you shouldn't be grabbing it from this drive through, at least not as many times as we thought it was okay to do.

Like it wasn't every now and then it was like multiple times, you know, every day after school, like who, like you with your home was like, how much you got $2 how much you got dollar fit? How much Like we're going to put together and see if we can get a 20 piece so that we can share while we're on a basketball court. And it's like, that's what we ate. And I read Gatorade, and I'm good. You know what I'm saying?

We're talking big back origins here. So, actually and I and I think I got that last question I wanted answered, so that's that's good. I wanna move into if you don't mind, and and, move into the rapid fire portion of the pod because, I got a couple questions for you, and you know how it goes. It's like, look. I said what I said.

This this is my answer. I'm I'm not, you know, hold my hand up to this answer. Alright. So I got 3 of them for you. Here's the first one.

What tool do you use to most the most to stay productive? You know, like some people pull out, like, I'm always in my phone. That's what keeps me on points when my calendar is at. What what do you use to keep stay productive?

That, that the phone has definitely become a big one, even though I'm, I'm an anti phone guy. My phone stays on silent. I check it periodically during the day when I need to. I've even semi trained my family and friends and and and team to know to leave a text or email, best or voice mail because I'll respond that way. But I'm I'm still old school.

You know? Like, you know, we have l t like, I'm like, I we still I still write notes

Yeah.

At my desk. So we got the LTYC branded sticky notes. And so I'm an I like to jot. I'm a jotter. Yeah.

That my jotting keep and again, jotting still has turned into thumbing and jotting it. Right? But I'm a jotter, and that keeps me productive. And the other thing that keeps me productive is I'm always gonna have on some music. You know what I'm saying?

Like, it's gonna be a big part of my day in some form of fashion. Like it's definitely in the car getting ready in the morning if I'm going, you know, I have a big day coming up with things I'm doing. Sometimes while I'm working definitely independently, and the noise, my staff, but sometimes in the office, like it's got, you know, something on, if it's guests, I'll probably just classical jazz. If it's our team or family, because, you know, it's going to be my regular R and B hip hop, you know, you know, pop music, you know? And so I need to have something on that keep that's gonna keep me productive with music.

Okay. Here's the next one. I I was joking earlier about when I'm in certain scenes, I wear certain accessories. Like, I wear this when I'm doing an arts conversation.

Yeah.

What what is one article of clothing that or or accessories clothing, what have you, that you have a lot of? I remember talking with 1 dude. He's a good dude, curator, and he was like, y'all got a lot of scarves. So it's like, as one does. Right.

Right. I'm a, I'm a hat and sweatsuit guy.

Okay.

So, you know, and I and my my my, you know yeah. That's probably the easiest quick rapid fire. Yeah. I'm having a sweat suit. You know, I got one on right now.

As you can see, I'm a artist our artist's life, which is a, you know, part of our lifestyle merchant brand apparel that we're building into an apparel brand that helps us to raise money to offset costs for field trips and master classes and art supplies and resources for young scholarships for the young people. And so I'm always gonna be in that for the most part, but if it's not this hat, it's gonna be a hat. My my most comfy flow that keeps me again, back to your first question probably also helps me be productive is I'm trying to be in a sweat suit, yo. Like, you know, like, going up like we did. I love suits.

Like, if I gotta do it, if I wanna do it, I'm gonna do it because I really want to. I'm the kinda cat that I'll show up in a suit when everyone else is in shorts and sweat. Like, it it I had to be inspired to do the suit, but the regimen of the dress up the button up. I've had jobs with a button up and a suit that was important or, you know, working young in the church, you've had been in the community. I had to, but once I broke out of that bondage because of of of because it again, it's the same thing.

Like, leadership is not a title. It's a way of life. There's a thing that ensues that and it's nothing wrong with, you know, your your equity in how you present yourself. Right? And it's important to have that, but there was a hypersensitivity around what you have on.

Right. Right? And I thought that maybe we could change the tides of that, and some people that I knew inspired me out in LA, how they ran their company, you know, and it's very comfortable dress. Yeah. And so I decided, yeah, it's okay for us to be comfortably dressed if we're knocking out work and we're being smart and we're being working as a team.

Let's be comfortable. So that's probably all of a sudden now, Rob. That's the thing that's now dominating my closet. Sweats. Sweatsuits, man.

I love it. Sweatsuits.

Alright. So here's the here's the last one. This is the this one might be the degree of difficulty one, but it's the last one. Describe your work in one word.

Love. I mean, it really is. It's love. It's it's yeah. It's love.

And we can, you know, take that all different places. You know, you asked me early about growing up. That love that was put into my my heart by my family. Yeah. People that my family introduced me to and raised me around in neighborhoods, the churches, the rec centers, the schools they chose to put me in, camps, and all types of stuff.

That's the thing. It's it's love. That's what's driving it. It's love.

It's a great answer. And, that's kinda it for the the hot seat and the the rapid fire portion. So, so there's 2 things I want to do as we we close out here. 1, I want to thank you for coming on and and spending some time with me and talking about LTYC and your story. And 2, I wanna give you the space and opportunity to, you know, tell folks where they can check you out, where visit the website, social media, all of that good stuff.

The floor is yours.

Oh, you know, ltyc.net, is our website, for our ltyc shop merch, that I've just mentioned as a separate site on ltycshop.net. So the main organization shop, I mean, website again is ltyc.net. Ltycshop.net is for, artist life and other ltyc branded t shirts, hats, hoodies, sweatsuits, sweatsuits for sure. The folks that cop for the fall and winter. We actually have a summer sweatsuit as well for artists like, and our, we're branded across social media as as ltycarts, ltycarts, ltycarts.

That's where folks can can check me out. I'm not personally on social media, so, I stay away from it. But, the organization is, and, we'd love to hear from you and love to work in new communities. There are folks that have schools, churches, rec centers, YMCAs, boys and girls clubs, that are in need of arts enrichment. Right now for the summer 2024, but the fall, the next school year, 24, 25, we are open for new relationships communicating.

We currently serve 3, I would say, service areas out greater Baltimore, which is Baltimore City, Baltimore, Howard, and Hartford County, Anne Arundel County, DC Metro, which is Washington DC, Montgomery County, two corners of VA down there, Fairfax and Alexandria and in Arlington and that whole corridor, Prince George's County, Maryland, and Charles County, Maryland, our DC Metro service area, and our newest service area as of, 2019, 2020 is Hampton Roads, Virginia, which includes Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, you know, Portsmouth, the whole the whole area. So we're we're out here spreading this love, brother. We're wanting to make sure that every young person has equitable access to the arts. And then again, it's urban, suburban, rural as private public school, Montessori Charter, 7th day Adventist Archdiocese, yeah, early learning centers, child care, anywhere there's young people from the age of 3 on up to 19, we believe that they should have the option of arts enrichment, music, theater, dance, visual arts, creative writing, fashion and cosmetology, culinary arts, martial arts, graphic arts, all the performing and creative arts, we believe strongly that it will change lives.

Thank you. And there you have it, folks. I wanna again thank doctor Darmel Brunson for coming on to the podcast and sharing a bit of his story and the story of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center. And for doctor Brunson, I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just got to look for it.