by Sandra Beckmeier

Austin's PBS station, KLRU, will start off this February by to bringing audiences the long awaited celebration I'll Make Me a World, a first-rate documentary about how African Americans have redefined and revolutionized art in America. Produced by the late Henry Hampton, executive producer of Blackside, Inc., I'll Make Me a World records the achievements of writers, dancers, visual artists, actors, musicians and filmmakers who have shaped American culture in the 20th century.

KLRU had known for about a year and a half that the program was being developed by the same producers who made Eyes on the Prize (which is regarded as one of the best things ever produced by public television), so efforts began in the spring of 1998 to coordinate community outreach programs designed to jump-start discussion between local artists, scholars, arts advocates and students.

"We knew that this program was going to be important to this country, and to this community," said Karen Quebe, KLRU's Outreach Coordinator. "With almost every public television program that is made available to KLRU there are materials also made available which are developed by the people who produce the show. Part of KLRU's responsibility is to look at the programs and decide which ones are the most important for this community as far as extending the value of the program. We saw this as a tremendous opportunity to develop community pieces.

"The Austin Children's Museum heard about it first and expressed interest, so we decided we needed to pull together a partnership," Quebe said. The partnership between KLRU and the ACM resulted in a handful of artist performances that were geared toward educating kids on African American art and its impact in the community.

After four primary partners came together, including IBM and the Town Lake Chapter of the Links service organization, a long-time African American women's service group, these activities started to grow. Although February is recognized as Black History Month, organizers wanted to focus on January because it gave an opportunity to build conversations early, and involve a larger audience.

I'll Make Me a World is a fast-paced, energetic documentary, yet not at the expense of being sufficiently analytical. It provides a window into the struggles of individual artists, beginning as early as 1900, addressing significant issues like entertainment, jazz, minstrelsy, blackface, stereotype, "vernacular culture" folk art, exploitation/blaxploitation, hip hop, feminism/womanism, mainstream, pride, and revolution. "The program paints a complete landscape of what was happening, and brings home what people went through," Quebe explains. "And part of that landscape is highlighted from the remarkable footage on this documentary."

On January 19, a pre-screening and informal discussion facilitated by Dr. Joni Jones, artist and professor at the University of Texas, opened a community forum as a part of KLRU's outreach efforts, coordinated by Sharon Bridgforth and Karen Quebe. Dr. Jones offered an historic sense of the African American arts aesthetic, then opened a discussion with the hand-picked panel. N.O.O.K., rap artist/educator/activist and founder of Jump On It (Austin's only hip-hop festival); Evelyn Anderson, writer and founder of the Langston Hughes Festival; Boyd Vance of Pro-Arts Collective; Harold McMillan of DiverseArts Production Group; Lisa Byrd of the Dance Umbrella and Theater Critic for the Austin American Statesman; and Eva Lindsey, arts activist and founder of the Institute of Art, Culture, and Entertainment, all relayed their concerns about important issues relevant to the community as a whole, but specifically relating to establishing a network within the Afican-American community.

Each participant was given several minutes to speak about what was or was not working for their projects, organizations, and art, and then the focus turned to audience members for an open forum on possible solutions. Continuing to build a network to support African American artists that focuses on keeping the community moving forward was agreed to as a solid beginning to reaching out into the community.

Also addressed was the need to create community-based projects over time, knowing that developing institutions that will put a structure in place is something that takes the efforts of many. Funding sources are what most people who are doing cultural work have to come to terms with, and to get a project funded requires that an artist go through a rigorous routine, leaping through some uncomfortable hoops in order to get a small amount of money.

"When you choose to institutionalize something and take on the role to see that things are done, it is sometimes the artist themselves in this role. It is like giving birth." Jones said.

Although KLRU did not tape the discussion on January 19th, a conversation between several panel members was aired January 28th on Tom Spencer's public affairs program Austin at Issue. The program was steered toward the spiritual perspective of the arts, as represented by an artist, a funder, and a critic. Considering that I'll Make Me a World clearly explains how artists invent and re-invent American culture, and also that KLRU has invested a great deal of time to ensure that there was community programming locally, it seems strange that all of these efforts and conversations, so vital to the overall health of the Austin arts community, are not aired consistently and "in bulk."

Things are changing at KLRU. As of February, 1998, Mary Beth Rogers was brought in as the station's new CEO. KLRU maintains they have always selected which programs are broadcast, and which get the focus of outreach into the local community. "Most certainly there are always opportunities when a new CEO comes in to reexamine the way you've done things in the past," Quebe said. "We've gone through an intensive strategic planning process. It's important to realize that outreach in Public Television is really beginning to take hold around the country. We're considered a middle-sized station, and for our size we get a lot of mileage for this community. Only a third of public television stations have the resources or expertise to really build strong outreach."

Dr. Jones and playwright Sharon Bridgforth implemented one successful outreach program aimed at Austin youth. With their help, a group of 12 teens from local high schools pooled ideas, talents and vision, and put together a performance piece in non-traditional format (non-linear) that created meaningful celebrations of art and culture, a section of which was later aired on Austin At Issue.

In the month of April, poet Nikki Giovanni will come to the University of Texas to take part in the Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights. This year's symposium, developed to honor Sweat, the first African American to get into the UT Law School in 1949-50, will revolve around African American art and artists. "Organizers heard that I'll Make Me a World would be airing on television," Quebe said. "They thought, 'How perfect to focus on the struggle of the artists during the period.'" Nikki Giovanni is also highlighted in the series.

I'll Make Me a World airs on PBS, Channel 18 February 1-3, from 9-11 pm