.: Getting a KICK out of Curtis....

Friday, March 03, 2006

Getting a KICK out of Curtis....

Tonight In my continuing series to bring you interviews of people who are taking leadership roles in the black gay community I bring you Curtis Lipscomb the executive director of Kick - The Agency for Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Transgender African-Americans.
I first met Curtis through my friend from Men of Color James Drain in the early 90’s. Curtis had just moved back to Detroit from working in the fashion industry in NY, and as he was also a creative type, we clicked immediately. We both belonged to M.O.C. (Men of Color, a motivational group) and at the time they had begun to expand and the organization needed to have a communications plan. Curtis and I started the M.O.C. Motivator a monthly newsletter to keep members up to speed as the organization continued to grow, often covering trips to DC for Black Pride on Memorial day weekend, and other people and events...

Curtis and friends at Banneker Field/ DC Pride

Curtis and Detroit play-write Patrick Burton

We approached that project with a great deal of zeal… not settling for just a “members only” newsletter we began to create something more akin to a magazine. I added my design work and photography to the project where Curtis handled the content and words. M.O.C. was just the stepping-stone for this project which Curtis would later transform the work into a magazine called KICK!

The M.O.C. Motivator... our first collaboration

KICK! Magazine....

The magazine primarily targeted the black gay audience, with commentary, fashion, and lifestyle content. The Magazine grew from a small “zine” style rag into a full size glossy in just a couple of years, and had subscribers from all over the country. Aside from the magazine Curtis and I participated in some of the first years of “Hotter than July” the annual black pride festivals. Over the years our friendship has evolved… and like all good friends we have not always agreed. Curtis and I are both opinionated; while with M.O.C. some of us (with a great deal of humor) dubbed Curtis the “Arbiter of all things Gay and Good” because we could always count on getting a review or opinion about something from him!

Curtis and Willie and I in front of Toronto's Eaton Centre

Classically dressed and coming from the fashion industry we learned quickly that the GAP was where it’s at! Curtis’s love of music and extensive collection would always keep us up to speed on what was good! Secretly I think he liked the title!

Curtis and I at KICK!'s fifth anniversary presentation in Detroit

But one thing I have agreed with and continue to connect with Curtis is the work that needs to be done to bring the black gay community together. To that end I continue to design for him and support KICK! in any way I can. In preparing to publish my photography book FIERCE! Being black, Being Gay in America I approached Curtis to write the preface… Not just because he is black or gay but also because after 14 years he understands me and what my images bring to the subject at hand. Though he’s younger I have sometime thought of him as a big brother…

Mycal, Curtis at my 40th birthday party!

So now on to the interview…

Epiphany: Good! Well Curtis thanks for coming on to the blog!

Curtis: You are welcome. Glad you invited me.

Epiphany: So Curtis we have known each other since what? 1993?

Curtis: Yes.

Epiphany: During that time you have been through an evolving process that started out as a newsletter and has morphed in to the KICK! organization... How has the process been for you...?

Curtis: The process morphed, as it should have been. There were many times I didn't understand it, but in hindsight it all made sense. The root to it all is variations of communication and connecting with like-minded people. That question is pretty deep, now that I thought about some more...

Epiphany: In deed...It’s always been about communication, but more importantly about communicating to people about the black gay movement? Why has this been so important to you? Besides the obvious you’re black and gay...

Curtis: I have been blessed to know some people in my youth that has influenced me, and help shape me culturally and morally. Many of them were black, gay and lesbian folks. I like talking to members of this "movement" ... they inspire me, and I've learn to tell and publish stories about their life experiences.

Curtis at Palmer Park...Hotter than July

Epiphany: So in away it’s about giving back...

Curtis: That's part of it. It's also about self-reflection, and therefore self-improvement. The good news is that you can learn about yourself in the process.

Epiphany: Absolutely! We have seen the rise and fall of a few major organizations in Detroit, Men of Color for instance... Do you see this as being evolutionary or do you see sustainability issues?

Curtis: I've seen people with good intentions fail. I've seen people with bad intentions fail, also. I don't see the failures as evolutionary. I see that some people are not ethical to run a business. What saddens me is the lack of regional concern when a organization that important to many, isn't saved by many.

Epiphany: Communities like NY have had organizations that have spanned decades now... is this a mid west thing you are talking about?

Curtis: Detroit has had organizations that've spanned decades, too. When I lived in NYC, I've seen organizations fail, too. It's not a regional thing. People run organizations, therefore it's a professional issue, or lack of.

Epiphany: You have run KICK now as an organization for about three years now... what has been some of the unique challenges??? Does it help for the group to have a goal?

Curtis: It's definitely a challenge to run Kick - The Agency for Lesbian, Gay, Bi & Transgender African-Americans. It's also the most satisfactory thing I've done in my career. We definitely have goals, and a mission. We are very aware of the goals, and we verbally state our mission every month during our board of directors meeting. The biggest challenge is that we are a black gay organization, and America is homophobic. How we decide to live has a lot to do with public perceptions of us.

Epiphany: I know one of KICK's goals is to open a center for Black, gays, lesbians and transgendered people... what would the center provide for the community

Curtis: The Detroit Lesbian and Gay Welcome Center will provide a safe space for our unique population, and provide services to improve our quality of life.

Epiphany: Excellent! Its time for a place like that in Detroit... Do you find you have a good relationship with other Gay organizations in the Detroit area? Affirmations etc., which have a whiter constituency? Is that important?

Curtis: There never is a specific time for change. It just has to happen. We have a great relationship with Affirmations. The executive director and I are good friends, and we both know we need each other. Both centers are not race driven, but I do know that many whites and non-whites will come to the DLGWC. (The Detroit Lesbian and Gay Welcome Center) It's really about making the City of Detroit a place where gays can gather.

Epiphany: Well Curtis it seems like you are making steady progress to your goals... Its funny this morning I heard a song from Madonna’s bedtime stories...and as you gave me that disk for Christmas several years back I soo had you on my mind! Aside from KICK What keeps Curtis going everyday?

Curtis and Willie

Curtis: I really enjoy living, and I got a lot to do in life.

Epiphany: I remember several of us used to tease you as being the arbiter of all things good and gay... Do you still fill that roll?

Curtis: Certainly ...

Epiphany: Hahaha good... so is there anything you would like to say to some of the young brothas and sisters who read the blog?

Curtis: Be focused on being a great contributor to life, and always persevere ...

Epiphany: Is it possible to volunteer? How can people join KICK ?

Curtis: People can become a Friend for $35 USD at www.e-kick.org

Epiphany: Ok great...There ya have it folks! Well Thanks for coming on tonight.

Curtis: You are welcome, thanks for having me ...

KICK sponsers several events through out the year including a musical review called Gentlemens Preferred.. For more information about Curtis and the KICK organization check out http://www.e-kick.org/

1 comment:

Morisset said...: Great interview and beautiful reminiscing through the photos.

I know Curtis from many years ago in New York and two years ago, I ran into him in Miami where I had to REMIND him that we kknew each other. LOL! Of course, he had amnesia that day and probably still does! LOL!

Curtis is you readin' this, I got one question for you: WHASSUP WIT DA CALVIN AND HOBBES COLLECTION??? LOL

Great post! Curtis is was/is always a man doing things for the good. Keep up the great work you guys!

Peace,
Ocean; 1:03 PM

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Through New Eyes: The Photography of Christopher Cushman by Rinaldo Walcott

The Black male body remains an enigma despite its over representation in the public sphere. The dominance of hip hop culture globally, driven in part, but not exclusively by the innovative sounds of rap music have made Black men a standard by which Black men and other men judge themselves in contemporary culture. However, there is a paradox, because despite the prevalence of hip-hop’s popular global impact, Black men are also still some of the most despised men in Western culture. Stereotypes of criminality, disease and danger still abound and organize Black men’s lives, even within hip hop culture. Thus representations of Black men tend to be much more restricted, than open-ended. The struggle to bring Black men into complex open-ended representations has been an on-going historical struggle. One of the most potent forms of representation in the last one hundred and fifty years has been the photograph. Photography has offered the promise to represent the real in a manner that has both seduce its viewers and baffled them with its artifice. Black male photographic representations in the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have promised to rescue Black men from the confines of mis-representation and stereotype. One of the most difficult and complicated circumstances of Black male representations has been in the realm of representing their sexuality. Black men’s sexuality is still over-burdened by a perceived threat and danger, especially now in the hyped-up era of the downlow. Then along comes Cushman. I first hear of Christopher Cushman’s photography from my boyfriend. He told me of a guy who was taking photographs of black nudes based upon how they wanted themselves to be seen, not how he posed them as his models. When I met Cushman he confirmed that he did indeed work from the models’ suggested posed and not impose his own. The idea is a great one because it allows the models agency in choosing what they believe to be an adequate representation of who they are. While it is now true that in contemporary culture subjects have learned to play for the camera, offering us artifice on command, this artifice can be understood as exposing inner senses of self and being. Cushman’s photography captures and reveals those inner desires. Look at me, many of the models seems to say. But look at me anew, is also what they seem to project and insist on. Cushman’s eye lavishes these Black male bodies with glimmers of light revealing their nuance personalities. While most of the men are naked their individuality comes clearly through. And yet, their eyes too reveal that they belong to a community, a family and possess desires, fantasies and needs. In these photographs, as viewers we are given new eyes to see beyond our inner voyeur. Cushman channels, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and many other artists, commercial and amateur photographers who seek to rescue the Black male body from the disastrous depths of mis-representation, and who almost always fall short. The conversations that his models create between his work and others whether unconscious or not reveal the profound influence of the image in our time. However, in Cushman’s eyes the Black male body is not being rescued, instead it stands on a self-made pedestal, not arrogantly announcing its existence but coolly (its signature) singing its own praisesong as swathes of light and behind the camera love washes over it. In each moment a small but significant revelation is made. Each revelation offers us the opportunity of an Epiphany – to think a thought about a Black man that we have not thought before. Professor Rinaldo Walcott is a cultural critic and Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto. He lives and writes in Toronto.

FIERCE! Being Black, Being Gay in America

"What Chris has done with this important collection of images, Fierce: Being Black, Being Gay in America, A Photographic Essay, is to seek, lift, and affirm the identity and visibility of men-who love-men and express it in many ways. His photographs display Midwest American men from the outlandish and flamboyant, to the subdued and subtle. You’d think these were “ladies who lunch;” muscular men dressed for the “Park” in lace, and floppy hats to give effect for all to see. Brothers connecting in places we know are safe, such as our nightclubs, the discos, and special events targeting our interests.

The importance of Fierce is paramount: all men are created equal, and share a space on earth. These portraits of men have to be recognized as God’s beauty and not His damnation. Time will thank those who were strong and dared enough to express themselves for all to see and appreciate in a manner that’s loving and creative. Time will also thank us for not living in a paranoid state of mind, and afraid of our own shadows. Remember, this cluster of work isn’t Robert Mappelthope’s approach to black imagery, but the approach of documenting men as they wanted to be seen: with and without sexual stimulation, for shock value."

Curtis A. Lipscomb
Executive Director Kick – The Agency for L-G-B-T African-Americans
Detroit Michigan / 2005
www.e-kick.com