11:17am | In the first part of my conversation with Eric Leocadio, he shared a part of his personal journey, which helped him to formulate the founding processes and principles of the Catalyst Network of Communities. In the second part, we spoke in general terms about Catalyst, and how its processes and principles have generated new relationships between disparate individuals and groups. In this final part, he talks in more detail about the three main functions of Catalyst, and what some of the Community Networks have accomplished.
I started our conversation by asking him to define ‘catalyst’ in the context of his work.
Eric: A “catalyst” is something that causes or initiates a reaction. It is an agent that precipitates an event and speeds significant change. We’re hoping to create a community of catalysts empowered and working towards social change.
Sander: What are the methods Catalyst uses to produce social change?
Eric: We’ve got three main mechanisms to help people to “connect and affect” – in essence, to empower them to be a catalyst in their community.
The first catalyst mechanism is collaborative communities. Each are comprised of several organizations and individuals that share a common interest area. We call them collaborative partners. They also share a common vision for collaboration and the sharing of resources with each other. Together as a collaborative, their impact can be much more effective in their focus area. So far, we have launched five collaboratives which include Green Long Beach!, LBCreative!, Long Beach Theatre Arts Collaborative, HPSWAP collaborative, and the Teen Empowerment Collaborative. Each of these collaboratives are relational networks – interconnected branches of the broader Catalyst Network.
The second catalyst mechanism is fiscally sponsored community groups. There are many pockets of people that have organized themselves around a common cause but they don’t necessarily have the capacity or desire to establish themselves as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization yet. Some of these groups approached us for support. Catalyst wanted to provide a way to empower these groups of people without really getting in their way. So we decided to adopt some of them into our organization, serving as their fiscal sponsors. That just means they continue their community programming within the Catalyst structure which allows them to raise funds as a non-profit entity – something they wouldn’t have been able to do on their own. We also allow these adopted groups to tap into many other Catalyst resources.
Sander: What organizations have benefited from fiscal sponsorship?
Eric: So far, we have fiscally sponsored eight community groups which include One Imagination, Long Beach Grows, Drum For Love, Long Beach Time Exchange, Stellar Organizational Development’s green career workshops, The Rock Club’s music development programs, So-Cal Gals, and Foundation 101. We’ve also been approached by other groups, including SoCal Harvest. We are currently in conversation to explore ways that Catalyst can support and possibly adopt them.
The third catalyst mechanism is collaborative projects. These are community-oriented projects that Catalyst has initiated with particular collaborative partners. Most of these projects are facilitated by an individual who spearheads activities. So far, we have six collaborative projects which include the Catalyst Space, the HUB community bike center, Urban Rhythm, Dancing with Long Beach, OutFaith, and the East Village Farmers Market stage. We are currently developing two new projects that include the Catalyst Emerging Leaders program and also our Emerging Catalysts program.
Sander: As a ‘case study’ of sorts, can you share what has come from the creation of LBCreative!?
Eric: Sure. LBCreative! has been a wonderful collaboration of artists and arts organizations that are working together to strengthen the arts and culture in our city. In the past year and a half, there have been some amazing collaborative partners that have contributed their leadership, experience, time, and resources to shape what this collaborative is today. Key contributions have been made by Tanya Quinn of T’s Space and also of Sirena Serpentina, Evan Kelly of EPK Vision, MsTmusze of MsTmusze (artist and arts resource), Gloria Zinno of GloWorks, Inc., and Sharreace Baldwin of Solshock. There have been many other collaborative partners too since LBCreative!’s inception that all continue to shape the creative relational landscape of our city.
Earlier this year, the collaborative mobilized over 120 local artists and organizations for Carnival del Corazon – an artist response to the disaster in Haiti. Together, we raised over $4,200 donated to non-profit Yele Haiti, and our community contributed over $12,000 worth of in-kind time and resources towards this effort. The event itself helped our arts community to rally around a common cause and showed them the incredible impact that we can have as grassroots artists/change-agents.
Sander: Didn’t LBCreative! help to organize December’s 2nd Saturday event at Lyon Art Supply?
Eric: Yes. As the year-end holiday season approached, the collaborative called on partners to combine all of our celebration events, and together we hosted MIXMAS – a collaborative celebration of community, arts and culture. It was a fun night of live art, live music performances, local artist vendors (which by the way, I love the Ben Fisher piece I purchased!), a holiday card making workshop, multimedia art projections, a community giving altar, and a food/clothing drive. Presented by LBCreative!, Lyons Art Supply, and Vayden Roi Galleries, the event was hosted at Lyons Art Supply in conjunction with the monthly event “Lyons at Night.”
Sander: LBCreative! also hosts monthly mixers, too. Right?
Eric: Yes, they’ve hosted mixers for the creative community every month for the past year. These mixers are hosted on the last Monday of each month with featured local artists and musicians. The collaborative encourages mixer goers to meet and explore ways of working together. The LBCreative! mixers have recently been funded by the Long Beach Community Foundation Connected Corridor grant supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Transformation Initiative.
Sander: We talked, last time, about Green Long Beach! and their festivals. What else have they been up to?
Eric: The Green Long Beach! collaborative has some fun plans in the coming year to help organizations work together to see a greener Long Beach. Some of their collaborations include the Creative Reuse Day on Feb. 27th, spearheaded and hosted by the Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse. They’re also creating a drought resistant plot outside the Civic Center in partnership with Urban Paradise, and working towards the Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration, spearheaded by Tidal Influence. They’re also planting a plot outside the Colorado Lagoon, hosted by the Friends of the Colorado Lagoon. They’re also organizing Earth Day and Earth Week activities throughout the city, and also the 3rd annual Green Long Beach! Festival in June.
Sander: What have the fiscally sponsored groups been up to?
Eric: One Imagination is a social justice arts collective that Catalyst adopted, and they’ve been working with youth and young adults to hel them find and utilize their creative voices. Next month, they launch their “Holding Up Half the Sky” Women’s Project, a multiethnic and multidisciplinary artistic collaboration between women to chronicle their stories.
Long Beach Grows continues to work towards promoting urban agriculture. Drum For Love is planning an interactive drum circle in February. The Long Beach Time Exchange continues to connect a volunteer community that exchanges time service hours for mutual benefit. Stellar Organizational Development continues to host green career workshops to help people learn how to explore these opportunities. The Rock Club is working with the Veterans Administration hospital in Long Beach (and also in several other states) to help veterans become part of a rock band, learn from industry professionals, and to perform at benefit concerts. So-Cal Gals provides positive social and volunteer opportunities for lesbian women. Foundation 101 continues to develop arts classes for children. The Long Beach Time Exchange, Stellar Organizational Development, and Foundation 101 were also recipients of the Long Beach Community Foundation Connected Corridor grant.
Sander: How has the community been utilizing Catalyst Space?
Eric: The Catalyst Space is a community center, located on the South side 1st Street between Linden and Elm, that offers a space for collaborative planning and connection. Held2Gether is hosting Intro to Improv workshops at the Catalyst Space starting Jan. 15th. It will be a fun and fast paced six week class focusing on acting, characterization, creativity and spontaneity through improvised scenes and theater games. There will be an emphasis on creating a rich, supportive, environment for creativity, making strong choices and increasing confidence.
Karen Reside & Associates is hosting a free two-part monthly grant writing workshop at the Catalyst Space starting Jan. 22nd. A branch of Ananda Los Angeles is hosting weekly meditation on Wednesday nights. HPSWAP will continue hosting their monthly 710 swap events at the Catalyst Space. And there will be many more fun and creative activities hosted at the Catalyst Space to serve residents and hotel guests in the downtown area. The Catalyst Space has received funding from the Long Beach Community Foundation Connected Corridor grant supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Transformation Initiative.
Sander: You mentioned ‘Dancing with Long Beach’ earlier. What’s that?
Eric: Dancing with Long Beach is a fun collaborative project that Catalyst and DatuganDanceTheatre partnered together in. Essentially, we’re hoping to catalyze the art and diversity of dance in our city by sending out dancers throughout the city for seemingly spontaneous dance demonstrations in public spaces. Our goal in taking dance to the people is to inspire new interest, engage new audiences, and encourage them to explore existing dance companies, activities and shows. The collaborative team also includes Trade&Row, Morelly Flags & Banners, Lauren Godlove and the various participating dancers, choreographers, and dance companies. We recently had our first launch of Dancing with Long Beach as we sent out independent dancer Rebekah Davidson, and also a pair from Robert Scott Dance Company, to Belmont Shore’s 2nd Street on a rainy December 18th. We partnered with the Pacific Film Collective, who sponsored the video documentation of this demo, and the modern/contemporary dancers shared their art with shoppers, dog-walkers, and residents.
Sander: OutFaith hosted a wonderful event in November that, sadly, I wasn’t able to attend. Can you talk about that?
Eric: OutFaith is a collaborative campaign that Catalyst and Greater People launched to create dynamic experiences that connect people to the LGBT world of faith. We had our first event this past Nov. 18th hosting Bishop Christopher Senyonjo from Uganda. He shared his story of realizing God’s love towards LGBT people, and his continued efforts to serve and support them despite the hostile climate towards gays in Uganda. This was a good collaborative event too. We partnered with T’s Space who prepared an authentic Ugandan dinner for the bishop, EPK Vision provided photography of the event, Greater People produced the event, and Catalyst provided volunteers and promotion.
OutFaith is currently planning its next community experience for Jan. 22nd where we hope to introduce participants to the range of perspectives about the issue of faith and sexuality. Then, at the end of April, we are preparing a community experience that integrates personal stories, personal inquiry, dance, music, photography, video, and personal reflection. We’re hoping that these community experiences will help reshape the stance that people of varying perspectives have towards one another.
Sander: What about Urban Rhythm? What do they do?
Eric: Urban Rhythm is a show choir comprised of youth and young adults. The project started as a collaboration between Catalyst and Harville Vocal Studios. Harville Vocal Studios has since relocated to Indiana. Catalyst has now partnered with local non-profit H’ARTworks in developing the choir. Urban Rhythm had their first performance on Dec. 17th at the Mandala Center. They performed their rendition of Stand By Me. We had some transition since it’s inception this past summer and so we are looking for a choir director that would like to work with these passionate young artists.
Sander: I keep hearing great things about The HUB.
Eric: The HUB community bike center is now a collaborative project of Catalyst, sponsored by Hancock University. The HUB was formerly facilitated by Catalyst’s Pedal Movement collaborative, and they did a great job at bringing the bike community together for several events this past year, including a partnership with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, organizing Long Beach pit stops for the 10th annual Los Angeles River Ride in June. In early October, Pedal Movement became an independent bike advocacy group and continues its work on their own to bring people together and advocate for cyclists’ rights. The HUB is now focusing on becoming a community bike center that provides services to the community in the areas of bikes, gardening, health and nutrition, and workforce development. Through a partnership with Waste Management, and coordination with Bike Long Beach, the HUB has received recycled bikes from the community and has refurbished about 100 bicyles for redistribution to the community over the past several months.
Sander: I understand you recently partnered wit Justin Rudd’s Community Action Team. What happened there?
Eric: Earlier this month, they sponsored a volunteer appreciation dinner for 40 of Catalyst’s key leader volunteers. Before I established Catalyst back in 2006, I sat down with Justin at the Coffee Bean on 2nd Street and shared some of my ideas for developing relational networks. At the time, I had only a glimpse of the Catalyst vision but Justin graciously invested the time in hearing me and encouraging me. We periodically stayed connected ever since then. That was, in part, what inspired me to do the same in being willing to sit down with anyone who asked, listen to their heart and vision for what they wanted to do in our community, and to offer my encouragement.
So for Justin to offer to host and sponsor this volunteer appreciation dinner just for us, still being a new and partially funded organization, it meant a great deal to me personally. Not only was it amazing for our volunteers from throughout the Catalyst Network to see each other and gain a broader perspective for what they are a part of, but it was also amazing for everyone to see how friendship and partnership can lead to great connections.
As you can see, there is a ton of exciting things happening throughout the Catalyst Network of Communities. All of these are simply efforts by individuals who care about our city and are willing to work together in collaboration and the sharing of resources to help make Long Beach an awesome place to live and to visit. We can’t do it all alone, but we can do amazing things together!
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Community organizations and businesses can visit www.GoCatalyst.org and become a collaborative partner so that Catalyst can more efficiently refer people to them. Anyone with volunteer opportunities should submit them at the website as well. Individuals who want to get connected with social or volunteer opportunities should fill out Catalyst’s Connection Planner so that Catalyst can offer recommendations for how they can get plugged in.