Happy New Year! To start off the year, we’ve asked our staff what they’re looking for in 2024. Here are their #goals. Favorite staff shows to look for? Both Bob and Chas are looking forward to Jesus Christ Superstar, Frank is excited about The Greatest Love of All, and Julia wants to see Step Afrika!

Pictured is Joe (left) with Macon Film Festival volunteers shortly after re-opening The Grand after COVID-19 closures in 2020.

Joe Patti has served as the executive director of The Grand Opera House since 2018. He will be leaving The Grand on June 30th for new endeavors. This blog is his reflection on some of his time spent in this role.

Back around 2008 I heard someone read the poem “The Secret” by Denise Levertov. Since then it has been something of a personal value statement for me.

The Secret
By Denise Levertov

Two girls discover
the secret of life
in a sudden line of
poetry.

I who don’t know the
secret wrote
the line. They
told me

(through a third person)
they had found it
but not what it was
not even

what line it was. No doubt
by now, more than a week
later, they have forgotten
the secret,

the line, the name of
the poem. I love them
for finding what
I can’t find,

and for loving me
for the line I wrote,
and for forgetting it
so that

a thousand times, till death
finds them, they may
discover it again, in other
lines

in other
happenings. And for
wanting to know it,
for

assuming there is
such a secret, yes,
for that
most of all.

This idea that someone can find a secret in a creative work that the creator didn’t even know existed, and can potentially rediscover it over and over again, is something I hope everyone experiences. It is something I have tried to provide while I have been at The Grand.

As severe an impact as Covid made on the normal operations of The Grand, the need to explore creative alternatives resulted in projects our staff created at The Grand, of which I am extremely proud.

A month or so before Covid hit, we met with Storytellers Macon about partnering to present a curated storytelling series that would be recorded for a podcast. The original idea was to host small sessions in our front reception room, where people passing by the large windows facing the street could see something interesting and exciting happening inside.

Instead, due to the pandemic, we ended up having the event on stage so we could socially distance the audience seating. People may have had to sit at a distance from each other, but seeing the stories of Middle Georgians depicted on stage brought them closer together and changed perceptions about The Grand and who the space is for.

From there, it felt like the momentum continued to build with other programs, before touring productions resumed, with the fire escape cabaret series, Macon Art eXplosion arts fair/fringe festival, and Healing A Haunted House, which revealed the past and of Macon’s Pleasant Hill neighborhood and reflected on its future.

Over the last couple years, more people have discovered secrets while visiting The Grand than ever before. I expect that number will increase in the coming years, as The Grand continues to work on being a place where people feel they belong. Because, as Levertov’s poem says, once a creative work is out there, its secrets belong to everyone to explore.

So my wish for all of you as I depart from The Grand is that you find secrets no one else has and experience delight with every discovery.

In anticipation of announcing our new season, we’re doing a look back at some of our favorite events over the past season. Come back to The Grand’s website and social channels on July 15th to hear why “The Grand is a place for me” for 2022-2023!

The first annual Macon Art eXplosion (MAX) was, appropriately, a mishmash of ideas in itself. The staff had mused over several years about a grand festival to welcome people back to the space after the COVID-19 pandemic closed doors. We had often thought about types of programming that would make people feel more welcome at The Grand. We had discussed site-specific art and the need to show off all the amazing spaces hidden in the building. Finally, we talked about the balance between being a premiere presenting facility in Middle Georgia and our role in the community to push the arts and cultural scene forward in new directions. The culmination of all of the ideas ended up in the 1st Annual Macon Art eXplosion, a radically inclusive art & performance festival.

What if The Grand belonged to anyone who wanted to walk in, and what if you could find yourself in the middle of a concert, on a first date, or creating a painting instantly?

Supported by an On the Table mini-grant by the Community Foundation of Central Georgia and the Knight Foundation, we made MAX happen with just $1000 in seed money. I was inspired by my past experience producing ensemble theatre at Fringe festivals, an aesthetic that embraces a quirky, DIY culture where anyone can participate. We wanted to open up The Grand as widely as possible for a weekend of art, and to encourage work that was risky or experimental. With that in mind, the festival was led and juried by a group of volunteers who were all practicing artists themselves, called the Artist Council. We allowed people to apply to the festival with any level of experience and with zero application fees – this was vital for it to be as inclusive as possible. Additionally, the process was vetted by a blind jury, so artists would be judged by their work samples rather than by their names. This led to a variety of submissions from high schoolers to professionals from other cities and even other countries.

We pretty much had one rule – nothing can be hung directly from the walls of our Artists could submit as many times as they would like for different projects across a couple different categories. One was Maker/Merchant Spaces, which were table and booth spaces to sell art and goods, like homemade ceramics, or do interactive cultural activities, like a chalk art demonstration. Another was Guerrilla Grand Spaces, a way to activate spaces around the facility with a mini-concert, gallery show, play, or interactive performance. We ended up with musical revues in dressing rooms and installations in stairwells.

And how did it go? Well, this video gives a clue about the dynamic nature of this event:

The weekend was joyous, between impromptu backstage tours and creators meeting one another for the first time. There were so many small interactions between people over art and culture, especially across peoples of difference. My favorite moment might have been when one woman walked in with shopping bags and iced coffee in tow, saying, “I LOVE Downtown Macon! I just decided to come down on a Sunday and walked into this! What am I going to see next?!”

By the numbers:

• Over 40 participating artists
• 12 members of the Artist Council
• Over 375 attendees with a festival button (more if you include volunteers, artists, and those who managed to sneak in without a button!)
• Eight attendees told volunteers or staff it was their first time at The Grand. Even more attendees told us it was the first time they had been back as adults since an elementary school field trip.
• At least one artist made over $1000 in sales from the weekend
• At least five artists made over $500 in sales from the weekend
• At least three artists said it was the first time they had sold their work for pay
• At least two artists said it was their first time leading a class or demonstration

We will have Macon Art eXplosion back this upcoming year! Create. Connect. Explore. To the MAX. Save your calendar for November 11-13th, 2022 – more information about artist submissions coming this summer.

The Grand is an active part of the community in Macon and as a part of Mercer University. We often take on college students as interns and student workers, showing them the ropes at our historic home. Over the summer, we have Leah Duval coming on as a marketing guru intern. Here’s more about Leah:

Hello! My name is Leah Duval. I am currently a senior at Florida State University studying to obtain BA in Music and a BS in African American Studies.

Growing up in Macon, I was immediately engulfed into the arts culture here. As a little girl I took ballet lessons in the heart of downtown, took art classes at many art centers, and eventually, ended up taking voice lessons at Mercer University, where I discovered my love for singing. Performing at the Grand Opera House has always been a big dream of mine. Ever since I was a little girl, I have admired the Grand. It was always a special treat when I got the chance to see the annual Nutcracker of Middle Georgia with my whole family and watch the magic happen on the stage. In 2018, I finally got the chance to perform on the Grand stage. It was such an honor and privilege to be able to perform right where so many icons had performed before me.

When I started studying in college, I realized there was a big disconnect between professional music spaces and opportunities for people of color. The arts can be used for educational enlightenment, mental health coping mechanisms and a form of self-expression – and I want everyone to have access to that. I wanted to find a way to bridge this gap between the arts and people of color and I’ve found that through arts administration. With arts administration, I can help more people of color get into arts programs that will help elevate them all the way through professional music. With this career, I will also be able to decrease the stigma that only certain types of people can be a part of art spaces. With more diversity in the arts world, there will be endless possibilities!

I feel like the Grand is truly at the forefront of this change in the community. They have really transformed the narrative that only certain people are allowed in their space. Working behind the scenes, I have discovered that they have a diverse line-up, special events for all types of people, and making sure the Grand is truly a place for everyone. I am so excited to keep working with the Grand to learn more and also do more for my community!

Meet Leah at The Grand this weekend at the Otis Music Camp final performance – she interns for the Otis Redding Foundation, too!