Full Transcript for SALVAGE

00:04:08.319 And from that moment on, I was like fascinated 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:16.389 by what was in the ground. and I went out to 00:04:16.389 --> 00:04:18.569 look for more over the years and I found more 00:04:18.569 --> 00:04:20.990 and then I started finding other things. So not 00:04:20.990 --> 00:04:24.389 just arrowheads, but historical artifacts. And 00:04:24.389 --> 00:04:28.290 then when I was digging up bottles, I decided 00:04:28.290 --> 00:04:30.230 I can't keep all these bottles. So I did a flea 00:04:30.230 --> 00:04:33.310 market and I made some good money on some of 00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:36.209 the bottles. And then I found out from other 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:38.129 vendors that they went to auction houses and 00:04:38.129 --> 00:04:39.790 did cleanouts and they were able to make money 00:04:39.790 --> 00:04:42.329 with other things. So I decided, all right, I'm 00:04:42.329 --> 00:04:44.189 going to go to auctions and I'm going to find 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:47.990 ways to source secondhand stuff and resell. And 00:04:47.990 --> 00:04:50.910 I did that and then that's it. I'm like, I was 00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:54.610 hooked. Finding things, reselling things, bringing 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:56.209 things out to the world that we're not doing. 00:04:57.430 --> 00:05:00.230 So, you know, here we are with a Thunderbird 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:02.949 salvage business based off of finding one arrowhead 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:07.410 when I was a little kid. And that's why I'm into 00:05:07.410 --> 00:05:12.099 the Native American symbolism and history. philosophies 00:05:12.099 --> 00:05:15.379 I could say that the Thunderbird is very important 00:05:15.379 --> 00:05:19.939 because it correlates with the Phoenix which 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:22.579 is from ancient Egypt and it means three specific 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:25.920 things creation rebirth and transformation so 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:27.980 the Thunderbird is the Native American version 00:05:27.980 --> 00:05:30.779 of the Phoenix and those three things are what 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:33.199 we do here creation rebirth and transformation 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:42.019 of everything that we get The challenges of doing 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:43.839 this salvage work in the city is that there's 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.740 so much stuff that I'm overwhelmed getting so 00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:49.920 many calls. And then a lot of people are like, 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:51.319 hey, how come you're not answering your phone? 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.160 I have this job for you. I'm getting like 10 00:05:55.160 --> 00:06:01.560 calls a day sometimes to pick up stuff. And now 00:06:01.560 --> 00:06:04.959 people just want to give it to me. And I'm trying 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:08.079 to keep up with it all. So that's a challenge 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.019 because there's more stuff than not. And I encourage 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:14.740 more people to do this. Start a small business 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:17.560 and I actually would, I'm passing on stuff to 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:22.480 other people now that can resell. I'm like, please, 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:26.680 save this thing. I don't even want to cut. I'm 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.160 overwhelmed with what I'm doing. I have networked 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:34.120 with lots of realtors and insurance brokers and 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:38.339 property dealers. And when they get a property 00:06:38.339 --> 00:06:41.959 that's loaded with items, a lot of people know 00:06:41.959 --> 00:06:45.040 that there's value in that. So it goes to the 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.519 person who is dealing with those estate items 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:51.240 to say, okay, what is of value here and can I 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.300 sell this stuff? They ask that question themselves. 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.399 A lot of times I've recently been doing buyouts 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:59.720 because today people know how to sell stuff. 00:06:59.980 --> 00:07:02.259 It's easy. Facebook Marketplace and Instagram 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:05.660 and Craigslist. So people can make money. Anybody 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:08.079 can make money. but they realize that there's 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:09.779 so much stuff that they can't get rid of at all. 00:07:09.779 --> 00:07:11.899 So I'll do a buyout of an estate for like $2 00:07:11.899 --> 00:07:15.459 ,000 when one item might be worth that because 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:17.240 I'm getting some good mid -century furniture. 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:20.740 But they're happy that they're getting something 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:22.920 for it because they know it's worth money. But 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:25.379 they're also happy that they're passing everything 00:07:25.379 --> 00:07:29.259 on. I'll get paid for jobs and I'll have to buy 00:07:29.259 --> 00:07:33.019 estates. And it depends on what stuff there is. 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:37.819 Everything to a warehouse, we stage it all in 00:07:37.819 --> 00:07:41.399 big piles. Basically, you know, every estate 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:44.939 gets its own area and we'll pile up boxes and 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:46.980 then process those boxes. And if it's furniture, 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:50.040 we'll pile up the furniture and then we'll come 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.560 back to it, assess it. We have a sorting station 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:57.019 where stuff goes to auction houses or we donate 00:07:57.019 --> 00:08:00.560 stuff or it comes here because we cannot bring 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.339 it all here. There's too much stuff. And then 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:06.529 we have our scrap. inventory and our scrap metal 00:08:06.529 --> 00:08:09.269 we separated down to its fullest potential copper, 00:08:09.449 --> 00:08:12.189 brass, aluminum. So everything gets processed 00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:14.850 to its fullest potential that we can do to keep 00:08:14.850 --> 00:08:18.310 it out of

the landfill. And I've developed these 00:08:18.310 --> 00:08:21.149 ideas over the years through learning about what 00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:25.170 each piece has the potential to go to. When I 00:08:25.170 --> 00:08:28.449 get big architectural salvage, I don't have the 00:08:28.449 --> 00:08:32.169 ability to fit it into my storefront here, but 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:34.960 I will sell it. And there's places in the area 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.820 that I've either traded or sold big bulk items 00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:42.700 to. There's a place in southern Delaware. I'll 00:08:42.700 --> 00:08:44.860 take a big truckload down to a place called Jane's 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:48.240 Reliable, and that's in Dagsboro, Delaware. And 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.299 they have a beautiful architectural salvage store 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:53.440 down there. And it's a big hit down there. So 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:57.059 as long as I'm getting it out to be saved and 00:08:57.059 --> 00:09:00.139 reused, I feel good about it. But I can't display 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:04.529 all this stuff. Circle Thrift actually was, we 00:09:04.529 --> 00:09:06.809 were working together for years where they would 00:09:06.809 --> 00:09:09.990 get so many electronics that they would give 00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:11.990 it to me because I was scrapping them. I was 00:09:11.990 --> 00:09:16.070 separating out the gold and silver out of like 00:09:16.070 --> 00:09:18.509 phones and laptops and things and they would 00:09:18.509 --> 00:09:23.669 rather have that than not. And then yeah they 00:09:23.669 --> 00:09:26.110 get stuff, they'll get stuff and give it to me 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:28.950 because if they have it for too long they want 00:09:28.950 --> 00:09:31.659 to have it have a good home. And then sometimes 00:09:31.659 --> 00:09:33.399 if there's so much trash that they get, I'll 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:35.860 pick up their trash and I'll get rid of it because, 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:40.720 you know, we're working together here. More gets 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:46.019 saved than not. In my estimate now, because actually 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:48.000 I've been taking on better jobs, I don't need 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.559 to take on jobs full of cockroaches and bed bugs, 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:52.919 which I've done in the past, which everything 00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:56.679 had to be thrown away. But now 80 % gets saved. 00:09:57.399 --> 00:09:59.820 And what doesn't get saved is some particle board 00:09:59.820 --> 00:10:03.200 furniture that nobody would buy anyway. And it's 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.539 funny because all this particle board furniture 00:10:04.539 --> 00:10:08.960 is modern furniture, which is what is only available 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.440 mostly at these stores now. So, you know, but 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:18.259 we're doing a good thing, I believe. Yeah, furniture, 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:20.240 unfortunately, is big and bulky and people are 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:23.740 losing the space to be able to keep it. And storage 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:27.019 costs money. In some cases, storing an item costs 00:10:27.019 --> 00:10:30.779 more than it's worth. So what's sad is that I 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:34.080 go to the dumps in Philadelphia on a regular 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.600 basis, like every few days, with a dump truckload 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:39.700 of stuff that nobody will buy, because trash 00:10:39.700 --> 00:10:43.480 is trash. And I see people dumping truckloads 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.539 of good merchandise, unfortunately. And it's 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:48.960 continuing every day. So I'm talking to these 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:53.440 landfill companies. They can't keep up with the 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.879 amount of stuff being dumped. So unfortunately 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.539 there's not enough small businesses that are 00:10:58.539 --> 00:11:03.080 taking this on and While a lot of stuff does 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:06.419 get saved most of it doesn't so we're losing 00:11:06.419 --> 00:11:09.240 this stuff every day which means we need more 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:12.299 small businesses to come up and Save this stuff 00:11:12.299 --> 00:11:15.820 and and make secondhand stores, but that requires 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:18.919 work So we need we need people to want to work 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.600 and and believe in it Because once you get into 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:26.019 it, any second -hand business will be successful 00:11:26.019 --> 00:11:29.580 if you put the time into it. It's everywhere. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.820 People now give me stuff for free. Over the past 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:34.620 couple years, I haven't even had to buy much 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:37.179 because people just keep giving me stuff. Or 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:39.379 I basically get into an estate and just take 00:11:39.379 --> 00:11:41.519 everything. We'd like to see it go to a good 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:44.559 home rather than the dump. And I'm like, let's 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:49.480 do it. There was a house that I did and there 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:51.440 must have been thousands of pounds of vintage 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.279 clothes in there because he hoarded clothes and 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.720 out of that house We were able to to profit on 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.940 that. We you know That there was thousands of 00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:03.580 dollars being made and we're wholesaling the 00:12:03.580 --> 00:12:07.480 stuff. I Didn't want to sell the clothes. I can't 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.659 stand the clothes It was always so much there 00:12:10.659 --> 00:12:13.519 was so much and it was so much time to do processing 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.259 of the clothes I would just donate the clothes 00:12:16.750 --> 00:12:19.470 But over the years I realized that the vintage 00:12:19.470 --> 00:12:22.450 clothing business is a big business. So

I started 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:26.750 saving them all and then processing them, going 00:12:26.750 --> 00:12:29.789 through them, cleaning them. Now we have a big 00:12:29.789 --> 00:12:31.850 vintage clothing area in the store and it's our 00:12:31.850 --> 00:12:35.009 biggest seller. And I never ever would have expected 00:12:35.009 --> 00:12:37.129 clothes to be our biggest seller from what we 00:12:37.129 --> 00:12:41.169 have been sourcing. But textiles right now are 00:12:41.169 --> 00:12:43.509 not being produced very well and textiles of 00:12:43.509 --> 00:12:46.539 the past produce way better. nicer stuff so that's 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:50.600 why it's a big business and that's part of sustaining 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:53.659 all this these old textiles is important so I 00:12:53.659 --> 00:12:56.919 get it I have mountains of clothes right now 00:12:56.919 --> 00:13:00.940 to go through mountains so yeah and then what 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:04.000 clothes we can't use I made a relationship with 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.039 someone who sources them all from this whole 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:11.059 entire country and makes giant bells and then 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:14.179 distributes them across the world and then these 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:17.100 places that they go to, they'll either scrap 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:20.860 what's in it or reuse it to low -income people. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:25.080 And so every piece of clothing that I get gets 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:34.759 reused, which is awesome. Most of the time I 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:38.940 believe that people don't want to keep producing 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:43.220 trash, as in, you know, our... economy keeps 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:45.399 producing these things that we'll go out and 00:13:45.399 --> 00:13:47.779 buy and then we use them for a short period of 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:50.200 time and then throw them away. When we're sourcing 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:53.539 all these old things, we are saving them to be 00:13:53.539 --> 00:13:55.659 reused and a lot of times they're built better 00:13:55.659 --> 00:13:58.519 and can last longer and that's what people want. 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:01.159 So the people are tuning into that fact that 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:04.080 these items that we save can be continued to 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.500 be used for so much longer than today's items 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:11.700 being produced because Nature is not giving us 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:13.940 continued materials to keep making these things 00:14:13.940 --> 00:14:16.980 in the way we do, so why not go in the past and 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:20.480 keep sourcing and sustaining these items for 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.960 our future? Basically, none of this stuff is 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:26.799 being made anymore that we have sourced. And 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:29.700 to go into a Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond, 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:32.440 you're not going to see this stuff. And that's 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:34.679 what people want to see, stuff that was produced 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:53.690 many years ago and available now still. That 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.029 is a challenge the city streets working in the 00:14:56.029 --> 00:14:58.850 city streets and the sidewalks and doors and 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:03.009 up and down steps The labor is so intense if 00:15:03.009 --> 00:15:04.669 we're up in a big apartment building. We got 00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:08.309 to go down a hallway down elevators Down to the 00:15:08.309 --> 00:15:13.110 street. It's a very hard thing to do. I Have 00:15:13.110 --> 00:15:15.429 a fleet of trucks. I have four box trucks three 00:15:15.429 --> 00:15:19.070 dump trucks a cargo van and They'll go out and 00:15:19.070 --> 00:15:23.440 jobs every day And I can't get permits every 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:24.980 day to do these. Sometimes I get a call, just 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:26.299 get this stuff out of the house. So I have to 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:28.720 block the street. And sometimes I have to block 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:30.320 the street. We get like 20 minutes. I'll have 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:32.580 to drive around the block every 20 minutes to 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:34.559 let cars through, because that's the illegal 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:40.580 time sometimes to block a small street. And sometimes 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:42.580 when people find out that I'm Thunderbird Salvage 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:45.080 and I'm saving stuff, they stop arguing. And 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:46.480 they're like, OK, you're doing a good thing. 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:48.580 But they don't know what I'm doing at first. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.679 Sometimes they don't care. but I think that it'd 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.139 be nice if there was a city number to call that 00:15:57.139 --> 00:16:03.940 had a place where basically like a fleet and 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:08.320 a standby group of people that can come out and 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:11.679 pick this stuff up and take it to a sourced warehouse 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:16.240 where then maybe stuff's available available 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.860 for sale, but also small businesses have access 00:16:18.860 --> 00:16:23.440 to it could buy and resell the stuff and You 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:25.740 know, let's say fill up a furniture bank would 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.399 be a place that could start setting that up While 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.019 they source all this furniture for people that 00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:34.419 are low income and can't have access to this 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:37.679 stuff There is so much stuff there right now 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.179 that I think there's an opportunity for other 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:43.440 small businesses to come in and make sure that 00:16:44.110 --> 00:16:49.049 and save this stuff and redistribute it. You 00:16:49.049 --> 00:16:54.210 know, it's possible. You can hear

how many times 00:16:54.210 --> 00:17:01.009 my phone's ringing right now. Stuff, yeah. So 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:03.429 I work with a community, with small businesses, 00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:06.609 and that's part of being a circular economy. 00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:11.690 That's what they talk about doing. And in order 00:17:11.690 --> 00:17:17.259 to be productive and useful and successful. Everybody 00:17:17.259 --> 00:17:20.059 needs to work together. I've worked with RiverWards. 00:17:20.619 --> 00:17:25.539 I helped Vince start his storefront by getting 00:17:25.539 --> 00:17:29.000 items that he couldn't move. And I moved them 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.700 in there because I have a big moving truck, trucks. 00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:37.940 Like that, that's a big truck. And then so, you 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:39.539 know, he, cause I know him, we know, you know, 00:17:39.539 --> 00:17:42.299 that's part of being in the community, like networking. 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:44.240 He said, hey, can you help me move some of these 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.960 big refrigerators? And then he gave me stuff 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.119 like we bartered. He gave me some things to eat 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.339 for me moving stuff, which is like awesome. And 00:17:54.339 --> 00:17:57.019 I'm happy to do that. Events are very important. 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:02.279 We have a big vendor following. So events are 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:04.579 basically a way that we can market our business 00:18:04.579 --> 00:18:08.079 and then help other small businesses with marketing 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:10.279 their business. A lot of the vendors are small 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:14.150 business. vendors. So we bring them here and 00:18:14.150 --> 00:18:15.769 then everybody is getting good marketing out 00:18:15.769 --> 00:18:21.869 of it and making some income. Fila Flee is another 00:18:21.869 --> 00:18:23.930 business separate from ours and now in that marketplace 00:18:23.930 --> 00:18:28.950 I work with Steph Irwin who helped me start my 00:18:28.950 --> 00:18:30.970 business and market it all these years. She has 00:18:30.970 --> 00:18:33.950 her own business and sources all these awesome 00:18:33.950 --> 00:18:36.660 vendors and brings them all together. There's 00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:38.640 two businesses, one's at Hackett School, which 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.019 is right behind us, and one's around our block 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:43.420 of our store. And we're the center point at Thunderbird 00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:46.220 Salvage. And then past couple years, I've been 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:48.759 having a Christmas pop -up sale at our other 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:50.740 location, which is a mile north from our main 00:18:50.740 --> 00:18:53.339 store here. And it's been pretty successful. 00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:56.640 All the Christmas stuff I get in that form, I 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.339 can save it and redistribute it. But nobody takes 00:18:59.339 --> 00:19:02.279 Christmas stuff. They don't want it. So I'm like, 00:19:02.339 --> 00:19:04.160 all right, I got to deal with this stuff somehow. 00:19:04.820 --> 00:19:07.500 95 % of the Christmas stuff gets taken and then 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:09.740 5 % that doesn't, we just box it up and reuse 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:11.920 it the next year. Or I'll give it away. I'll 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:15.059 put it out for free. Which people love free bins. 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:17.339 But hey, people care about Christmas. That's 00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:21.259 why we can sell it. Actually, was it yesterday? 00:19:21.339 --> 00:19:22.440 Somebody was like, hey, are you going to do a 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.259 Christmas pop -up again? I was like, yeah. She's 00:19:24.259 --> 00:19:27.539 like, oh, I'll volunteer to help. I want to do 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:29.859 that. I'll even set up your whole store if you 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:32.920 want me to. I'm like, OK. You can volunteer. 00:19:43.450 --> 00:19:45.930 Yeah, there was so much stuff produced in the 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:50.109 past that it's still out there every thing about 00:19:50.109 --> 00:19:53.569 every house and Estate whatever you want to say 00:19:53.569 --> 00:19:56.710 Still has all this stuff inside and it's just 00:19:56.710 --> 00:19:59.369 being stored and I think a lot of humans are 00:19:59.369 --> 00:20:02.150 hoarders So they hoard this stuff because I think 00:20:02.150 --> 00:20:05.430 it's gonna be valuable and guess what it is So 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:07.150 they've ordered it for a good reason because 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:09.930 it can be reused not just for them, but for everybody 00:20:09.930 --> 00:20:14.069 So I always say thank you to the hoarders in 00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:15.869 the world that have saved all this good stuff 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:18.329 that we can reuse. I mean, obviously it gets 00:20:18.329 --> 00:20:21.869 a little out of hand, but if it wasn't for hoarders, 00:20:22.289 --> 00:20:24.190 saving all this stuff, we wouldn't have as much. 00:20:24.430 --> 00:20:26.609 If we stopped producing stuff currently, my business 00:20:26.609 --> 00:20:29.410 would still last hundreds of years. Hundreds. 00:20:30.450 --> 00:20:35.589 I'm not gonna say thousands. I'm not sure. There's 00:20:35.589 --> 00:20:37.190 stuff, though, out there in the world. It's constant, 00:20:37.269 --> 00:20:46.339 yeah. Sometimes it's easier to just go to a store 00:20:46.339 --> 00:20:49.700 like IKEA and get something and bring it in your 00:20:49.700 --> 00:20:55.859 house and not search it out. To search it out 00:20:55.859 --> 00:21:01.380 takes time, energy, but if you want to have fun 00:21:01.380 --> 00:21:04.240 with it and we need to have more fun, that's 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.680 what it's about, then go out and look for this 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:12.809 stuff. You know, it's about energy, enthusiasm. 00:21:13.529 --> 00:21:16.109 You have

to like it. You have to want it. And 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:21.670 that's the key. If you can be a sustainable minimalist, 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:25.910 that's a great idea. Because obviously we don't 00:21:25.910 --> 00:21:28.549 need to keep all this stuff around us. We just 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:32.170 really need what we can use. But if you appreciate 00:21:32.170 --> 00:21:34.089 historical artifacts and you collect stuff like 00:21:34.089 --> 00:21:41.019 me, that's another world. that's appreciating 00:21:41.019 --> 00:21:44.480 the past and collecting items and displaying 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.359 them. And I encourage that, because unfortunately 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:50.579 that stuff's getting thrown away too. So I went 00:21:50.579 --> 00:21:53.180 out on a construction site one night. I had permission 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:56.980 to go on there to dig up antique bottles. And 00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:59.319 I'm at one part of the site and I started noticing 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:02.819 bones everywhere. And then I realized they dug 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:06.400 into a graveyard. So I'm looking around and I 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:08.180 pull up some dirt and then all of a sudden this 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:12.029 skull rolls out. And this is like 15 feet down, 00:22:12.529 --> 00:22:15.130 and then I realized, wait a second, this is a 00:22:15.130 --> 00:22:18.069 historic graveyard. And then I went back the 00:22:18.069 --> 00:22:20.710 next night, and they filled it all in. So they 00:22:20.710 --> 00:22:22.670 were scared that they didn't want nobody to see 00:22:22.670 --> 00:22:26.109 it. So I got this skull that just rolled out 00:22:26.109 --> 00:22:29.849 of this, and I'm like, I'm not going to bury 00:22:29.849 --> 00:22:32.549 it back. I decided I needed to save it because 00:22:32.549 --> 00:22:35.349 it was so perfectly intact. And I took it to 00:22:35.349 --> 00:22:36.589 the Mudder Museum, and they're like, this is 00:22:36.589 --> 00:22:38.470 one of the greatest specimens we've ever found. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.240 you have seen because it's so well preserved. 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.619 So, you know, save what you need and also save 00:22:46.619 --> 00:22:49.220 things that are of interest of our past that 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:52.299 could be appreciated art, like art. We just saved 00:22:52.299 --> 00:22:54.460 all this art from the University of the Arts 00:22:54.460 --> 00:22:56.380 that the people who bought the building were 00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:59.859 not going to really care for. Why do they want 00:22:59.859 --> 00:23:01.380 to deal with it? They just need to finish their 00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:05.000 job. But I came in and I decided I need to save 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.559 that art and people care about that art. While 00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:12.859 you can't be using it to survive, you can appreciate 00:23:12.859 --> 00:23:22.099 it and hang it up and get inspired from it. This 00:23:22.099

--> 00:23:24.859 store, it came about because we had so much good 00:23:24.859 --> 00:23:29.019 stuff that we wanted to pass on. Before this, 00:23:29.059 --> 00:23:32.099 I was doing flea markets, going out to flea markets 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:34.819 and reselling, and it's too much work. So I decided 00:23:34.819 --> 00:23:41.009 to ground. my business to one location and this 00:23:41.009 --> 00:23:44.329 is what came out. This church was actually abandoned 00:23:44.329 --> 00:23:47.150 at the time and I was working for a company called 00:23:47.150 --> 00:23:49.849 Metropolitan Property Management doing demolition 00:23:49.849 --> 00:23:54.869 and trash pickups. At the time, he hired me to 00:23:54.869 --> 00:23:56.490 gut it out because he was gonna put apartments 00:23:56.490 --> 00:23:59.589 in it and that was in 2017. And then I asked 00:23:59.589 --> 00:24:02.529 the owner of this building, I said, do you have 00:24:02.529 --> 00:24:05.069 any storefronts? Because I already have inventory. 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:08.279 He's like, take the church. And I'm like, why 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:09.799 am I taking the church? We're going to gut it 00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:11.539 out. He's like, I'm holding off on that project. 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.420 So you can lease that. We'll take it year to 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:17.799 year. And again, this was 2017, and now it's 00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:23.720 2025. So we've been working it out so that he 00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:26.180 hasn't gutted out and put apartments in here. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:31.539 When we do an estate cleanout or a big commercial 00:24:31.539 --> 00:24:35.910 property, A lot of things are organized in those 00:24:35.910 --> 00:24:38.869 properties where there's a theme in the rooms, 00:24:39.250 --> 00:24:40.849 like, you know, there's a living room, a dining 00:24:40.849 --> 00:24:44.710 room, kitchen, basement full of tools. You know, 00:24:44.710 --> 00:24:47.849 and then this is almost transferred as an estate 00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:51.630 where you can go in and there's areas where things 00:24:51.630 --> 00:24:55.009 are themed and you can find those things. So 00:24:55.009 --> 00:24:59.630 it's not just absolute chaos. So people come 00:24:59.630 --> 00:25:01.720 in and say, wow, this is like a museum. or this 00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:04.420 looks like my grandmother's house, which everything 00:25:04.420 --> 00:25:05.720 that was cool in my grandmother's house, but 00:25:05.720 --> 00:25:07.960 I don't see that anymore. So they're like that 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:11.660 nostalgic factor. So you can find everything 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:15.019 from a full estate in there and other weird things 00:25:15.019 --> 00:25:18.660 like oddities and artifacts that are unusual. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.079 So that's what my favorite thing is, strange 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:25.460 and unusual artifacts. So they get sprinkled 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:39.869 in with everything else.

I found a lot of strange 00:25:39.869 --> 00:25:43.750 things over the years. One of my hobbies is I 00:25:43.750 --> 00:25:47.609 excavate privy pits and that's just because my 00:25:47.609 --> 00:25:50.410 passion is archaeology. So I always wanted to 00:25:50.410 --> 00:25:53.349 be an archaeologist and this is what came of 00:25:53.349 --> 00:25:57.349 that. Every yard before plumbing existed had 00:25:57.349 --> 00:26:01.369 an outhouse and these outhouses underneath them 00:26:01.369 --> 00:26:05.690 had a pit dug deep in the ground like a well 00:26:05.690 --> 00:26:08.619 where they would poop in and then throw all their 00:26:08.619 --> 00:26:10.819 trash. And all the trash that they've thrown 00:26:10.819 --> 00:26:14.019 in from the past that is handmade. So it's handmade 00:26:14.019 --> 00:26:17.160 glass, pottery, other historical artifacts that 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:20.119 are interesting. And when we find that stuff, 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:22.779 it's very hard to find them in the real world 00:26:22.779 --> 00:26:25.279 anymore. So in these privy pits is where it's 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.240 a time capsule full of these awesome artifacts. 00:26:27.619 --> 00:26:30.500 And I always get permission when I excavate them 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:35.099 on like, you know, private land. unless there's 00:26:35.099 --> 00:26:36.759 a construction site where they're tearing into 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:39.440 them and they destroy them. So then I'm like, 00:26:39.539 --> 00:26:42.299 hey guys, we need to salvage these artifacts 00:26:42.299 --> 00:26:45.059 before you guys build on them. So I've done that 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:47.900 over the years. So I have a big collection of 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:50.339 antique bottles and historical privy artifacts, 00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:54.019 which I'd like to open up a museum to display. 00:26:56.180 --> 00:26:59.119 Saving these artifacts from the past shows who 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.900 we were in the past, what we were capable of. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:08.079 and how time gets so altered. Like our artifacts 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:13.200 today are not very worthy of saving, in my opinion, 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:16.640 but back then they were so beautiful. Even like 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:20.059 things that were trash then were just made so 00:27:20.059 --> 00:27:25.099 well and with high beauty that, you know, they're 00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:27.819 just displayable and they're fascinating. So 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:29.640 today, you know, yeah, there's some cool stuff, 00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:34.650 but not as much. I currently don't own this historic 00:27:34.650 --> 00:27:38.369 church. I rent it. And it's a beautiful historic 00:27:38.369 --> 00:27:41.970 church. This is exactly what we need in this 00:27:41.970 --> 00:27:45.750 area to survive. A lot of the churches, they're 00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:50.390 not getting attention and they're losing their 00:27:50.390 --> 00:27:53.269 structures. And basically they're just falling 00:27:53.269 --> 00:27:56.769 apart and they're getting knocked down. And we're 00:27:56.769 --> 00:27:58.609 not gonna let that happen. So I'm gonna buy it 00:27:58.609 --> 00:28:00.869 and I'm gonna fix it. But I need to have a fundraiser 00:28:00.869 --> 00:28:03.690 to do that. so I'm gonna set up a fundraiser 00:28:03.690 --> 00:28:07.450 within the next few months and I'll make it known 00:28:07.450 --> 00:28:11.029 and it's just to help us buy this place and keep 00:28:11.029 --> 00:28:15.130 it here for the long run and then I purchased 00:28:15.130 --> 00:28:17.529 a property a mile north and I call it Thunderbird 00:28:17.529 --> 00:28:20.529 Hall which was an old secret society meeting 00:28:20.529 --> 00:28:23.390 hall and I want to use that to help with the 00:28:23.390 --> 00:28:25.349 fundraisers but that's also going to be a second 00:28:25.349 --> 00:28:29.849 storefront and used for venues like music And 00:28:29.849 --> 00:28:33.849 so stay tuned for Thunderbird Hall. It's all 00:28:33.849 --> 00:28:37.190 one business, but it's two separate locations 00:28:37.190 --> 00:28:40.170 and a lot of cool things are happening with them. 00:28:44.109 --> 00:28:46.789 That was George Mathis from Thunderbird Salvage. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.920 Just thinking about all those cleanouts, especially 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:52.480 the UArts building, makes me exhausted. Same. 00:28:52.819 --> 00:28:55.079 Although I was the beneficiary of Thunderbird 00:28:55.079 --> 00:28:58.059 doing that UArts cleanout, I got a new -to -me 00:28:58.059 --> 00:29:01.519 drafting table chair in great condition. Thunderbird 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:04.940 salvages and sells just about anything, but some 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:08.519 places are more specific and just salvage textiles, 00:29:08.819 --> 00:29:11.539 furniture, or architectural materials. What else 00:29:11.539 --> 00:29:13.670 am I missing? Well, on episode five, we heard 00:29:13.670 --> 00:29:15.910 from Karen Jarrett at the resource exchange about 00:29:15.910 --> 00:29:18.009 how wasteful the film and theater industries 00:29:18.009 --> 00:29:21.069 are. She saves some things from sets, but another 00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:23.529 group is focused on helping theatrical productions 00:29:23.529 --> 00:29:26.789 reduce their waste too. That's right. Philadelphia 00:29:26.789 --> 00:29:29.910 Scenic Works supports performing arts organizations 00:29:29.910 --> 00:29:33.349 and individual artists by taking back sets from 00:29:33.349 --> 00:29:36.609 productions and creating new sets or making those 00:29:36.609 --> 00:29:39.829 materials available to other organizations. Executive 00:29:39.829 --> 00:29:42.230 Director Nathan Renner -Johnson tells us all 00:29:42.230 --> 00:29:46.710 about it. My name is Nathan Renner -Johnson and 00:29:46.710 --> 00:29:48.589 I'm the executive director of Philadelphia Scenic 00:29:48.589 --> 00:29:52.410 Works. We are

a non -profit scene shop. We're 00:29:52.410 --> 00:29:54.549 the first non -profit scene shop in the country 00:29:54.549 --> 00:29:57.769 and what we do is we build projects, custom projects, 00:29:57.990 --> 00:29:59.569 for arts organizations in the greater Philadelphia 00:29:59.569 --> 00:30:03.450 area that help to advance their missions for 00:30:03.450 --> 00:30:06.390 different arts organizations. So that's theaters, 00:30:06.609 --> 00:30:08.549 high schools, we do some stuff for the flower 00:30:08.549 --> 00:30:11.910 show every year and we have a wood shop and metal 00:30:11.910 --> 00:30:14.690 shop paint shop in West Philadelphia where we 00:30:14.690 --> 00:30:18.799 build all these projects. And at the same time, 00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:23.579 we are invested in our workforce and the artists 00:30:23.579 --> 00:30:25.319 who make this work and kind of creating a home 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.740 for them. A lot of the arts organizations that 00:30:27.740 --> 00:30:29.599 we work with don't have the capacity or need 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.079 for full -time skills or people, but they need 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:35.019 those skills when they need them. And so by having 00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:36.779 a home and combining the work of many different 00:30:36.779 --> 00:30:38.319 organizations, we can put that all under one 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.920 roof. And then I think most applicable to this 00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:44.319 conversation, we are... working on innovative 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:47.759 ways to have resource sharing and to reduce financial 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:53.180 material waste in the industry. The impetus for 00:30:53.180 --> 00:30:55.160 Philadelphia Scenic Works, which actually predates 00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:57.299 me being the executive director here, was that 00:30:57.299 --> 00:30:59.140 the person who was building scenery for a bunch 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:02.000 of small companies, his wife got pregnant and 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.339 he decided that he didn't really want to do a 00:31:04.339 --> 00:31:06.339 job that forced him to work 60 hours a week and 00:31:06.339 --> 00:31:09.440 had a whole bunch of stress. And so he decided 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:10.740 that he'd much rather be a stay -at -home dad. 00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.329 And so he... was like I can't do this for you 00:31:14.329 --> 00:31:15.890 guys anymore and so those theater companies came 00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:18.809 together they fundraised a bunch of money and 00:31:18.809 --> 00:31:21.369 and created this community shop and and this 00:31:21.369 --> 00:31:23.609 idea was always like let's have a shop that's 00:31:23.609 --> 00:31:25.650 got a mission to work for all of us it's a joint 00:31:25.650 --> 00:31:29.069 effort and it's not just you know relying on 00:31:29.069 --> 00:31:30.769 a commercial operation but something that's really 00:31:30.769 --> 00:31:32.269 invested in the in the mission of Philadelphia 00:31:32.269

--> 00:31:34.950 and as that idea started to develop and grow 00:31:34.950 --> 00:31:39.319 there became all of these pieces of it that were 00:31:39.319 --> 00:31:40.940 sort of revealed or that were part of the dream 00:31:40.940 --> 00:31:42.640 of like oh well we can have an education program 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:44.579 in a way that an individual company can have 00:31:44.579 --> 00:31:46.779 an education program and we can share resources 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:48.619 amongst these companies in a way that you know 00:31:48.619 --> 00:31:50.519 when we when a company only does three years 00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:53.259 three shows a year we don't have the opportunity 00:31:53.259 --> 00:31:58.200 to you know use various materials but when we've 00:31:58.200 --> 00:32:01.319 got you know PSW doing 50 shows a year there's 00:32:01.319 --> 00:32:03.579 a lot more sharing opportunities to be able to 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:05.299 you know, navigate amongst different companies. 00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:07.940 And so at the time that this started happening, 00:32:08.039 --> 00:32:09.539 I was a production manager working for a company 00:32:09.539 --> 00:32:10.940 that really only did one show a year. And so 00:32:10.940 --> 00:32:13.039 I really saw the need for a shop that we could 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:15.880 turn to as we needed them and didn't need to 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:17.740 employ someone full -time because every year 00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:19.799 we were looking for a new group of set builders 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:22.559 and technicians. And by having a consistent resource 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:27.000 to rely on, we could really see the benefit of 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:29.299 that. And so that's how I got involved and sort 00:32:29.299 --> 00:32:31.200 of grown my role throughout the last couple of 00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:37.769 years in that way. We've got about a dozen companies 00:32:37.769 --> 00:32:40.650 that we build for multiple times a year, sort 00:32:40.650 --> 00:32:44.130 of in a regular way. In our eight -year history, 00:32:44.309 --> 00:32:46.049 we've worked with over 100 companies and done 00:32:46.049 --> 00:32:49.170 over 200 projects. So a lot of those 200 projects 00:32:49.170 --> 00:32:50.490 are the same companies, and then there's a lot 00:32:50.490 --> 00:32:52.410 of one -off things for different folks here and 00:32:52.410 --> 00:32:58.750 there, too. And we like to sort of talk about 00:32:58.750 --> 00:33:02.119 everything you see on stage. is part of the set, 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:05.240 the world that things are living in. And there's 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:06.779 a different department called props, and we kind 00:33:06.779 --> 00:33:10.000 of divide props and set into two different categories. 00:33:11.019 --> 00:33:12.619 If you're renting a house or you're buying a 00:33:12.619 --> 00:33:15.240 house, everything you get with that house is 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:17.119 the set, and everything that

you bring in, the 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.200 furniture, the curtains, the decor, that's all 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:20.579 props. And so that's sort of how we divide it 00:33:20.579 --> 00:33:22.400 out. So we're building a lot of walls, a lot 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:26.099 of platforms, flooring, things like that, doors, 00:33:26.339 --> 00:33:29.400 windows, structures. And so it's all big things, 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:31.420 things that are really hard to kind of do on 00:33:31.420 --> 00:33:33.619 a small scale in your basement or in your garage. 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:36.220 They really need a big warehouse and a big space 00:33:36.220 --> 00:33:38.160 and tools. So that's a lot of what we're doing. 00:33:38.259 --> 00:33:42.700 And that extends into curtains and big scenic 00:33:42.700 --> 00:33:44.819 curtains, draperies and things like that, tracking 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:46.859 and wheels and casters and all sorts of the things 00:33:46.859 --> 00:33:48.700 that make things move around on stage. That all 00:33:48.700 --> 00:33:53.259 comes under our purview as well. There are big 00:33:53.259 --> 00:33:55.180 commercial shops and there's some really fantastic 00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:57.279 shops around the greater Philadelphia area that 00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.980 are servicing Broadway tours and Broadway itself 00:33:59.980 --> 00:34:01.920 and cruise ships and things like that. Those 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:05.240 tend to be really expensive and they're not focused 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:08.199 on the same folks that we are focused on in terms 00:34:08.199 --> 00:34:11.860 of the smaller. I've had shops tell me, I'm not 00:34:11.860 --> 00:34:13.380 going to look at a show if it's less than $35 00:34:13.380 --> 00:34:17.000 ,000. I won't even think about it. And that's 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:18.960 the people that we serve, is the smaller guys 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:23.320 and folks like that. And then there is a commercial 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:25.340 shop that's a little bit more of our scale that 00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:26.679 popped up actually about the same time that we 00:34:26.679 --> 00:34:28.619 did because the need was so great. And we've 00:34:28.619 --> 00:34:30.539 both been operating simultaneously just because 00:34:30.539 --> 00:34:33.880 there's so many organizations who need this kind 00:34:33.880 --> 00:34:36.800 of work. The other thing that companies do is 00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:40.519 either hire someone in -house. or kind of adjust 00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:42.380 the scope of what they're doing on the stage 00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:44.719 so that they can do it entirely in house or do 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:47.079 it with a reduced capacity, right? So they might 00:34:47.079 --> 00:34:49.800 not be able to do beautifully painted backdrops 00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:51.940 like we can, and so they'll change the designs 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:53.579 or not focus on designs that need beautifully 00:34:53.579 --> 00:34:55.280 painted backdrops, or they might not be able 00:34:55.280 --> 00:34:57.079 to build a full house inside, so maybe they'll 00:34:57.079 --> 00:34:59.559 do one that's more representational with some 00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:01.460 furniture and a couple of doors and like that. 00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:04.659 And a lot of them are doing this before we existed, 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:06.340 too. And some of them still do it now, which 00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:09.139 is that you hire someone who's freelancing. The 00:35:09.139 --> 00:35:11.480 challenge with that is that a freelancer might 00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:12.679 be there one year, and then the next time you 00:35:12.679 --> 00:35:14.380 do a show, they've moved on to another job, or 00:35:14.380 --> 00:35:16.320 they're not available. Or you might not have 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:19.280 enough freelancers in the market. One of the 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:22.219 core pillars of our mission is about investing 00:35:22.219 --> 00:35:23.719 in our workforce. And I think this goes a lot 00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:26.659 back to the freelance labor. And without us here, 00:35:27.099 --> 00:35:28.820 We have companies who are looking for someone 00:35:28.820 --> 00:35:30.880 to fabricate their sets, but we also have artists 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:32.300 who are looking to do this work and are really 00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:34.000 interested in supporting this work that's happening 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:35.940 in small companies. And there's sort of a mismatch 00:35:35.940 --> 00:35:39.539 of timing and skills and support that happens 00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:41.980 without us here, where, like I said, there's 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:43.480 these really busy times and these really shallow 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:47.980 times. And we are kind of able to make a consistency 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:49.960 and a regularity for a lot of these artists where 00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:52.010 we can be their home. And by working with our 00:35:52.010 --> 00:35:53.949 partners to work out in advance, we can make 00:35:53.949 --> 00:35:55.710 sure that we're building the things in those 00:35:55.710 --> 00:35:58.590 dip points and then ready to go in the sort of 00:35:58.590 --> 00:36:00.690 the busy points with all of the sets in the background. 00:36:00.889 --> 00:36:02.690 And so it's about consistent work. It's about 00:36:02.690 --> 00:36:05.449 livable work. It's about having a home that's 00:36:05.449 --> 00:36:07.789 got the artistic resources that we need, which 00:36:07.789 --> 00:36:09.909 is the right tools, the right safety gear. And 00:36:09.909 --> 00:36:11.389 then it's also about investing in the pipeline 00:36:11.389 --> 00:36:15.949 and developing folks skills who are interested 00:36:15.949 --> 00:36:18.250 in this work. So our longest educational initiative 00:36:18.250 --> 00:36:22.489 is a... workshop series, a free workshop series, 00:36:22.590 --> 00:36:25.219 where we do one day workshops. that

are skills 00:36:25.219 --> 00:36:27.920 based and those can be anything from a specific 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.000 paint technique to how to build a flat for theater 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.719 to we've done one in financial literacy and we 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:35.340 did one with a Narcan training and so it's really 00:36:35.340 --> 00:36:37.019 a broad expansive thing and the whole point of 00:36:37.019 --> 00:36:39.199 these workshops is that they're free and they're 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:40.880 supposed to be designed to learn a specific skill 00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:42.539 so we've had people who are just breaking into 00:36:42.539 --> 00:36:44.260 the industry come to these workshops and we've 00:36:44.260 --> 00:36:45.960 had people who are much more seasoned but don't 00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:47.820 know how to do the skill that we're teaching 00:36:47.820 --> 00:36:49.360 and so they can come and it's a little bit of 00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:51.420 professional development which is so hard for 00:36:51.420 --> 00:36:54.590 freelancers to get. We also do a lot of partnering 00:36:54.590 --> 00:36:56.929 with organizations that have internship and apprenticeship 00:36:56.929 --> 00:36:59.309 programs. We run an after -school tech theater 00:36:59.309 --> 00:37:01.309 club for high schoolers. It's free. Finally, 00:37:01.329 --> 00:37:03.809 we have our own in -house apprenticeship program 00:37:03.809 --> 00:37:07.750 to really help someone go from kind of entry 00:37:07.750 --> 00:37:10.230 -level to really hireable because I think one 00:37:10.230 --> 00:37:12.769 of the other things that we see in this world 00:37:12.769 --> 00:37:14.969 of small companies and high schools is that there 00:37:14.969 --> 00:37:17.090 isn't a lot of opportunity to bring entry -level 00:37:17.090 --> 00:37:18.670 people in and so folks who are interested in 00:37:18.670 --> 00:37:23.239 getting into this work don't have a paid opportunity 00:37:23.239 --> 00:37:27.239 to kind of grow into someone that can be hireable. 00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:30.280 When you're a small company, and you need a set 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:32.199 builder, you need them to, you're probably only 00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:34.000 gonna hire one person if you're not hiring us, 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:36.699 and maybe two, and you don't have the ability 00:37:36.699 --> 00:37:37.880 to hire someone who doesn't have skills yet, 00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:40.179 right? Like your budget is just so limited, you've 00:37:40.179 --> 00:37:41.880 gotta get the person who's already got all the 00:37:41.880 --> 00:37:44.260 expertise. But so where do those people who... 00:37:44.219 --> 00:37:46.360 have minimal skills or not enough skills yet, 00:37:46.579 --> 00:37:48.119 where do they learn to get the bigger skills? 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:50.380 There aren't as many opportunities for that and 00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:54.059 so we're really trying to create a place for 00:37:54.059 --> 00:37:58.280 that and to build people up to that level. So 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:00.039 all of our partners sort of pay for the cost 00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:04.039 of their projects and then we, they contribute 00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:06.579 to overhead expenses like our rent and our insurance 00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:09.039 and then we also get donations to cover rent 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:10.940 and insurance and then our education initiatives 00:38:10.940 --> 00:38:13.679 are almost completely grant funded. What's really 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:15.440 interesting is the seasonality of the theater 00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:17.940 world in the city, and especially with high schools 00:38:17.940 --> 00:38:20.420 in that mix, you know, summers tend to be a pretty 00:38:20.420 --> 00:38:22.780 low time, and then starting September, October, 00:38:22.820 --> 00:38:25.139 we get a huge spike, and then again in January, 00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:26.719 right after the holidays, everyone comes back, 00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:28.940 wants their set sometime in January. So we have, 00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:32.099 you know, 10 load -ins in the first six weeks 00:38:32.099 --> 00:38:34.300 of the new year, which is a crazy amount for 00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:40.960 us. There's a couple of different ways it can 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:42.960 work. We like to say that we are a full service 00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:45.420 firm, but we will meet our partners where they 00:38:45.420 --> 00:38:47.940 are in terms of what they need. So the full process 00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:50.380 looks like a design is created based on the script 00:38:50.380 --> 00:38:53.559 and the show and the space and the artistic vision 00:38:53.559 --> 00:38:57.239 of that show. We then take that design and we 00:38:57.239 --> 00:38:59.219 cost it out and create a bid or a quote for how 00:38:59.219 --> 00:39:00.840 much it's going to cost. And there's usually 00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:02.639 a process of value engineering it to get it into 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:06.079 the budget that the partner has. And then once 00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:09.070 it's green lit, we start to do all of our pre 00:39:09.070 --> 00:39:10.909 -production, which includes ordering materials. 00:39:11.250 --> 00:39:13.469 We do build drawings for everything. We basically 00:39:13.469 --> 00:39:16.070 create our Ikea instructions for how everything 00:39:16.070 --> 00:39:18.610 needs to be built for our carpenters to take. 00:39:19.159 --> 00:39:21.119 then it goes into build, then it finally gets 00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:23.139 painted or whatever the treatments are, then 00:39:23.139 --> 00:39:25.059 it goes to the load -in process where we bring 00:39:25.059 --> 00:39:27.960 it to the theater and the show runs for however 00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:29.380 long it runs and then we come and take it away. 00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:33.480 Different organizations need different pieces 00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:35.780 of that. So for example, a lot

of our professional 00:39:35.780 --> 00:39:37.800 theater partners hire an outside designer, a 00:39:37.800 --> 00:39:40.059 third party designer who can really be more embedded 00:39:40.059 --> 00:39:42.699 into the process and spend more time creating 00:39:42.699 --> 00:39:47.070 a very specific vision for that production. And 00:39:47.070 --> 00:39:48.849 oftentimes that's a show that isn't done frequently 00:39:48.849 --> 00:39:50.989 and that there isn't sort of a vernacular for. 00:39:51.670 --> 00:39:54.309 And it just allows there to be more artistic 00:39:54.309 --> 00:39:56.590 care put into that product. But for our high 00:39:56.590 --> 00:39:58.150 schools, we actually have a lot of Mamma Mia's. 00:39:58.369 --> 00:40:01.389 We now know what the Mamma Mia set wants to be. 00:40:01.449 --> 00:40:02.670 And so it's all about kind of figuring out what 00:40:02.670 --> 00:40:04.630 the best version is for that high school. So 00:40:04.630 --> 00:40:06.210 we can put together a proposal for them and we'll 00:40:06.210 --> 00:40:07.929 do the design work. Similarly, there are a lot 00:40:07.929 --> 00:40:10.489 of union houses where the labor in the venue 00:40:10.489 --> 00:40:14.010 is part of Atsi Local 8. we can't do the load 00:40:14.010 --> 00:40:15.469 in there. So we'll just drop the set off and 00:40:15.469 --> 00:40:17.289 then they'll do the load in themselves. So we'll 00:40:17.289 --> 00:40:18.730 kind of meet wherever our partners, wherever 00:40:18.730 --> 00:40:20.510 they are, giving them whatever part of the puzzle 00:40:20.510 --> 00:40:22.070 that we need to fill. We'll fill it for them. 00:40:23.230 --> 00:40:26.389 But we are trying in, you know, in relation to 00:40:26.389 --> 00:40:29.550 this work to not have to build as many custom 00:40:29.550 --> 00:40:31.429 things every single time as we can, because the 00:40:31.429 --> 00:40:33.690 problem in this industry specifically is that 00:40:33.690 --> 00:40:36.090 we do these shows. It's a full stage, the full 00:40:36.090 --> 00:40:37.929 world that we're creating. And then at the end 00:40:37.929 --> 00:40:40.590 of it, you know, after a three week run, most 00:40:40.590 --> 00:40:42.610 of that ends up in the dumpster going away because 00:40:42.829 --> 00:40:44.389 They're not going to do that show again. There's 00:40:44.389 --> 00:40:47.010 no need to for, you know, 10 years, if ever. 00:40:48.150 --> 00:40:50.610 Even two companies who are doing the same show, 00:40:51.110 --> 00:40:53.369 for example, our high schools, we often see trends 00:40:53.369 --> 00:40:55.889 in the shows that they're doing. They have vastly 00:40:55.889 --> 00:40:58.690 different spaces. And so what works for one high 00:40:58.690 --> 00:41:01.449 school feels itty bitty on another high school 00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:03.829 stage, or one high school has, you know, a much 00:41:03.829 --> 00:41:05.610 bigger cast than another, so it needs more room. 00:41:05.949 --> 00:41:08.130 And

so we really have to adapt and adjust those 00:41:08.130 --> 00:41:10.760 to each individual. production. And when we get 00:41:10.760 --> 00:41:12.619 into our professional partners, they're often 00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:14.559 doing shows that no one's ever heard of before 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:16.980 or shows that are not done often. And so there's 00:41:16.980 --> 00:41:18.719 a really specific setting or really different 00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:21.980 setting. And so, for example, for Interact Theatre 00:41:21.980 --> 00:41:24.179 Company, we just built them a forest on stage 00:41:24.179 --> 00:41:27.360 and a cabin in the woods. And that was, you know, 00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:28.940 the trees had to go exactly to the ceiling, but 00:41:28.940 --> 00:41:30.460 no taller than the ceiling. And so it's all very 00:41:30.460 --> 00:41:34.440 custom specific things. And so a lot of what 00:41:34.440 --> 00:41:36.639 happens is that we get this raw material, it's 00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:38.500 built, it's thrown away in the trash. And so 00:41:38.500 --> 00:41:40.380 what we try to do in all spaces of the process 00:41:40.380 --> 00:41:44.320 is figure out how can we make the most of this 00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:46.219 out of the stock and existing things that we 00:41:46.219 --> 00:41:48.519 already have. So we try to stock very specific 00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:51.050 sizes. So even if you need a wall that's... you 00:41:51.050 --> 00:41:53.750 know nine feet tall we might start with our stock 00:41:53.750 --> 00:41:55.429 eight foot tall walls and then add a little piece 00:41:55.429 --> 00:41:57.309 of one foot at top to get to the height so then 00:41:57.309 --> 00:41:59.150 the amount that we're making new and having to 00:41:59.150 --> 00:42:01.349 throw away is much much less and we can keep 00:42:01.349 --> 00:42:05.809 reusing the things that we we already have. Our 00:42:05.809 --> 00:42:09.010 biggest limitations are money which then impacts 00:42:09.010 --> 00:42:11.090 time because all you know we are all professional 00:42:11.090 --> 00:42:12.590 folks and all other people get paid so anything 00:42:12.590 --> 00:42:14.969 that takes more time takes more money um and 00:42:14.969 --> 00:42:18.980 it's it's uh It's a limiting factor. And so I 00:42:18.980 --> 00:42:20.500 say that because there's a community theater 00:42:20.500 --> 00:42:23.199 out here. I live out in Delaware County. There's 00:42:23.199 --> 00:42:25.320 a community theater that I'm a huge fan of called 00:42:25.320 --> 00:42:28.519 the Players Club of Swarthmore. And they have 00:42:28.519 --> 00:42:31.199 almost no scenic budget at all. All of their 00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:32.679 labor is volunteers, people who are working on 00:42:32.679 --> 00:42:35.679 the shows, but they are experts at reuse and 00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:37.420 recycling because they don't have money to buy 00:42:37.420 --> 00:42:39.400 a bunch of whole new materials, but they have 00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:41.079 really, really, really, really free or cheap 00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:44.219 labor. And so they're constantly able to make 00:42:44.219 --> 00:42:47.039 things completely different by... paint and treatment 00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:48.679 and taking things apart to their composite parts. 00:42:49.780 --> 00:42:51.539 For us in sort of this professional space, we 00:42:51.539 --> 00:42:54.300 try to make these sort of reusable modular items 00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:56.380 that we can modify over and over and over and 00:42:56.380 --> 00:42:58.800 over again. But at the end of the day, a lot 00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:02.019 of the modifying an old item, the time that it 00:43:02.019 --> 00:43:03.539 takes to do that is more expensive than buying 00:43:03.539 --> 00:43:05.840 a new thing, which is sort of the big problem 00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:08.719 at writ large is that it's so cheap to just throw 00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:10.780 things away. And so we're trying to find ways 00:43:10.780 --> 00:43:16.340 to bring that cost down of reuse. We definitely 00:43:16.340 --> 00:43:18.219 do accept donations. Because of the limited space, 00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:20.059 we have to be really conservative about what 00:43:20.059 --> 00:43:23.400 we can take in, just because if it doesn't, you 00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:25.699 know, sort of match our normal workflow or things 00:43:25.699 --> 00:43:28.000 like that, it just takes up room in the shop. 00:43:28.460 --> 00:43:30.139 But a lot of times, like smaller things, like 00:43:30.139 --> 00:43:31.659 we get a lot of soft good donations, which are 00:43:31.659 --> 00:43:34.280 easy for us to store. Like big curtains, like 00:43:34.280 --> 00:43:36.699 the black fabric that you see hanging on stage, 00:43:36.800 --> 00:43:38.699 or the main curtain that you see coming in and 00:43:38.699 --> 00:43:41.260 out, things like that. And we give a lot of... 00:43:41.500 --> 00:43:44.179 second lives or third lives or fourth lives to 00:43:44.179 --> 00:43:45.760 soft goods that you know maybe were made for 00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:48.519 one really specific trade show or event or theater 00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:50.820 show and then we're able to pull them out and 00:43:50.820 --> 00:43:53.500 we've used these same like we have silver shimmer 00:43:53.500 --> 00:43:55.900 curtains that we've reused many many times now 00:43:55.900 --> 00:43:58.739 because they're just gorgeous and every time 00:43:58.739 --> 00:44:00.219 I have to like sew them a little bit differently 00:44:00.219 --> 00:44:02.199 to make them work for whatever the need is but 00:44:02.199 --> 00:44:05.039 it's a much more economical and environmental 00:44:05.039 --> 00:44:08.400 use of those things. And that's where it gets 00:44:08.400 --> 00:44:10.519 to the next piece of it, which is about space, 00:44:10.619 --> 00:44:12.639 right? So even if we are doing the same show, 00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:15.860 you know, year after year after year, we don't

00:44:15.860 --> 00:44:18.079 have the space, because again, space is money, 00:44:18.340 --> 00:44:20.940 to store 50 sets for the 50 most commonly done 00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:23.840 shows. And so every Mamma Mia that we've done, 00:44:23.900 --> 00:44:27.019 we've had to reconstruct from scratch. Now in 00:44:27.019 --> 00:44:29.579 some cases, we're reusing old platforms and flats 00:44:29.579 --> 00:44:32.039 and things like that, but it's still a new design, 00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:34.480 it's still a new concept because we just don't 00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:36.670 have the room to store all of... the stuff until 00:44:36.670 --> 00:44:39.469 the end of time. And so space becomes a really 00:44:39.469 --> 00:44:42.809 big, a really big issue, where even if the thing 00:44:42.809 --> 00:44:45.070 has been done before, you know, we don't know 00:44:45.070 --> 00:44:46.750 what the show, we don't know what the design 00:44:46.750 --> 00:44:48.849 is going to hold for six months from now or for 00:44:48.849 --> 00:44:50.090 a year from now, so we don't know what to save 00:44:50.090 --> 00:44:51.829 and what to hold on to. And we can't hold on 00:44:51.829 --> 00:44:53.949 to any everything. And so unfortunately, we have 00:44:53.949 --> 00:44:55.369 to get rid of most of the stuff to make room 00:44:55.369 --> 00:45:00.739 for the next thing coming in. Curio Theater, 00:45:00.860 --> 00:45:03.300 which is a West Philly based theater, Paul Kuhn 00:45:03.300 --> 00:45:05.460 is great at sort of like building everything 00:45:05.460 --> 00:45:07.219 in a way that can be broken down to its ultimate 00:45:07.219 --> 00:45:09.519 composited part. So he's going back to the level 00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:10.880 of lumber that you might find on the shelves 00:45:10.880 --> 00:45:14.780 at the store. We typically don't do that. And 00:45:14.780 --> 00:45:17.989 part of the reason is because we are not... around 00:45:17.989 --> 00:45:19.909 for our show. So we go and we drop all the show 00:45:19.909 --> 00:45:22.909 at a high school, we install it and we walk away 00:45:22.909 --> 00:45:24.469 and we have to know when we walk away that it 00:45:24.469 --> 00:45:26.969 is 100 % safe. It's not going to crack or fall 00:45:26.969 --> 00:45:29.150 apart on these students. And what that means 00:45:29.150 --> 00:45:31.590 is working with glue and binding materials so 00:45:31.590 --> 00:45:34.269 that the product can hold up over the weeks or 00:45:34.269 --> 00:45:36.250 months that they have the set. And so what we 00:45:36.250 --> 00:45:39.309 generally do is we build stock pieces that are 00:45:39.309 --> 00:45:41.269 really strong that are glued together that we 00:45:41.269 --> 00:45:43.010 can then attach in temporary ways with bolts 00:45:43.010 --> 00:45:45.090 and with screws and things like that. And so 00:45:45.210 --> 00:45:47.269 we'll break those down to those composite parts. 00:45:47.550 --> 00:45:49.110 But if we were gonna try to break it down

further 00:45:49.110 --> 00:45:51.030 than that, the glue would hold onto the materials 00:45:51.030 --> 00:45:54.530 and we wouldn't be able to reuse it. The dream, 00:45:54.530 --> 00:45:56.230 it would be to be able to break everything down 00:45:56.230 --> 00:45:57.829 back to its raw wood form because then it can 00:45:57.829 --> 00:45:59.590 be used to build anything of any shape and size. 00:45:59.769 --> 00:46:01.510 And then you get a lot more options in terms 00:46:01.510 --> 00:46:03.650 of your customization and your flexibility. If 00:46:03.650 --> 00:46:05.230 you draw it, you're not locked into those four 00:46:05.230 --> 00:46:07.949 by eight shapes, but it then becomes more work. 00:46:07.989 --> 00:46:10.110 And there's a negative in terms of safety there 00:46:10.110 --> 00:46:12.670 that we're not able to accept for the kind of 00:46:12.670 --> 00:46:15.400 work that we do. We're using a lot of plywood, 00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:17.599 which is also harder to recycle because it's 00:46:17.599 --> 00:46:18.860 got all those layers of glue in it, but it's 00:46:18.860 --> 00:46:21.659 much stronger and more durable than sort of plain 00:46:21.659 --> 00:46:24.519 raw wood. We do work with metal sometimes, generally 00:46:24.519 --> 00:46:27.239 on these shorter runs. It doesn't make a lot 00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:29.119 of sense to use metal because it's so expensive 00:46:29.119 --> 00:46:32.420 to both buy and to weld, and then you're getting 00:46:32.420 --> 00:46:33.619 rid of at the end. But the nice thing about metal 00:46:33.619 --> 00:46:36.699 is it's much easier to recycle. So we can actually 00:46:36.699 --> 00:46:38.519 make money by taking metal to a recycling plant. 00:46:38.699 --> 00:46:40.199 And then the other thing that's big is foam, 00:46:40.300 --> 00:46:42.900 and we'll carve it into whatever shape, which 00:46:42.900 --> 00:46:44.780 is really nice. because it's light and so it's 00:46:44.780 --> 00:46:48.719 good for scenic pieces that have to move. Very 00:46:48.719 --> 00:46:50.960 rarely is a set coming back and everything is 00:46:50.960 --> 00:46:55.239 getting saved and go back into stock. But as 00:46:55.239 --> 00:46:57.659 opposed to a fully brand new set that is fully 00:46:57.659 --> 00:47:02.300 going into the dumpster, probably at least 50 00:47:02.300 --> 00:47:06.239 to 70 percent of the sets that we do are coming 00:47:06.239 --> 00:47:10.420 back into stock. I have an environmental science 00:47:10.420 --> 00:47:13.019 degree and so like this the work of Circular 00:47:13.019 --> 00:47:15.219 Philadelphia really struck a chord for me. And 00:47:15.219 --> 00:47:20.739 I think PSW is definitely, you know, not, you 00:47:20.739 --> 00:47:23.519 know, it's not our primary mission in terms of 00:47:23.519 --> 00:47:25.260 like what we're working on when I look at some 00:47:25.260 --> 00:47:27.380 of the other organizations who are in the network, 00:47:27.380 --> 00:47:30.420 but it's very core

to kind of both our structure 00:47:30.420 --> 00:47:33.840 and our ideals and our purposes. And so I'm really 00:47:33.840 --> 00:47:36.619 interested in like how we can all work together 00:47:36.619 --> 00:47:39.280 and collaborate and how that all, you know, can 00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:44.889 be a sharing. environment. There's also just 00:47:44.889 --> 00:47:47.110 a sort of a side note there's a resource sharing 00:47:47.110 --> 00:47:48.949 working group amongst the theater community here 00:47:48.949 --> 00:47:51.369 in Philadelphia that I'm a member of and then 00:47:51.369 --> 00:47:53.210 there's also representatives from other theater 00:47:53.210 --> 00:47:55.389 companies and producing organizations all over 00:47:55.389 --> 00:47:56.969 the city who are a member of and we're all kind 00:47:56.969 --> 00:47:58.710 of working together to figure out how we can 00:47:58.710 --> 00:48:02.349 share resources as a group better and more efficiently 00:48:02.349 --> 00:48:05.429 and so that means resources like materials like 00:48:05.429 --> 00:48:07.730 raw materials but it also means resources like 00:48:07.730 --> 00:48:10.409 knowledge and so we put together a database of 00:48:11.420 --> 00:48:13.860 spaces in the city that are rentable for artists 00:48:13.860 --> 00:48:16.539 and that's searchable and that's on our website 00:48:16.539 --> 00:48:18.659 and things like that. We also have a database, 00:48:19.179 --> 00:48:20.579 really not a database, it's sort of a list of 00:48:20.579 --> 00:48:22.079 resources for theater artists that are on our 00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:24.519 website. You know, everything from like ticketing 00:48:24.519 --> 00:48:29.260 softwares to scene shops to EDI practices, like 00:48:29.260 --> 00:48:31.860 everything is on there. And it's just a way to 00:48:31.860 --> 00:48:35.440 like kind of help people. There's a vast, tremendous 00:48:35.440 --> 00:48:37.559 amount of resources that are out there that you 00:48:37.559 --> 00:48:38.619 might not know about or you might not know where 00:48:38.619 --> 00:48:40.039 to look. And so this is a place where you can 00:48:40.039 --> 00:48:41.639 start and have all those resources available. 00:48:43.119 --> 00:48:45.099 Karen and I from Resource Exchange spoke a few 00:48:45.099 --> 00:48:47.239 years ago as part of a conversation with this 00:48:47.239 --> 00:48:49.079 resource sharing committee. And one of the things 00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:51.760 that she said that really stuck with me over 00:48:51.760 --> 00:48:54.579 time is that they don't have a problem getting 00:48:54.579 --> 00:48:57.280 donations in. They have a problem getting people 00:48:57.280 --> 00:48:59.340 to come take them. And so for a while, they were 00:48:59.340 --> 00:49:02.559 actually taking... movie sets and tv sets and 00:49:02.559 --> 00:49:04.219 having volunteers break them down and take the 00:49:04.219 --> 00:49:06.340 staples out of them and they could not get people 00:49:06.340 --> 00:49:09.500 to come and take that lumber because it and i 00:49:09.500 --> 00:49:11.820 can as the now working for steve i can see why 00:49:11.820 --> 00:49:15.380 like if i need you know sticks of one by four 00:49:15.380 --> 00:49:17.780 i need 50 of them and i need them at eight feet 00:49:17.780 --> 00:49:21.500 and i need them to be darn straight and so going 00:49:21.500 --> 00:49:23.619 to get you know driving over there to get three 00:49:23.619 --> 00:49:26.400 sticks or maybe finding three sticks is just 00:49:26.400 --> 00:49:28.480 not a cost -efficient use of my time but i think 00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:33.579 we see this in in this sort of the reuse economy 00:49:33.579 --> 00:49:36.980 question writ large, is it's easy to get the 00:49:36.980 --> 00:49:41.179 materials in. It's hard to get people to come 00:49:41.179 --> 00:49:43.719 and take them. And I think the only way that 00:49:43.719 --> 00:49:47.000 we can get people to think of us as a place to 00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:50.000 get materials is if you have enough that it's 00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:52.139 worthwhile making the shopping trip. And in order 00:49:52.139 --> 00:49:53.519 to be able to have enough, you have to be able 00:49:53.519 --> 00:49:55.500 to store enough and have enough space. But we 00:49:55.500 --> 00:49:59.199 did a... a textile exchange, the Resource Training 00:49:59.199 --> 00:50:00.539 Committee, over the summer, and we were able 00:50:00.539 --> 00:50:02.619 to get a lot of donations in of costumes, clothing, 00:50:03.119 --> 00:50:05.380 fabrics, things like that, and very few people 00:50:05.380 --> 00:50:06.900 showed up to actually shop it and take things 00:50:06.900 --> 00:50:09.420 out of it. I've talked to, you know, when I talk 00:50:09.420 --> 00:50:11.940 to costume designers about these sorts of initiatives, 00:50:12.099 --> 00:50:15.679 they're like, I love the idea, I'm so strapped 00:50:15.679 --> 00:50:18.079 for time, I just need to be able to go online, 00:50:18.639 --> 00:50:21.300 buy something, buy the exact same thing in three 00:50:21.300 --> 00:50:23.550 different sizes so that I can... so that I can 00:50:23.550 --> 00:50:25.489 bring it in, fit it on an actor, and then return 00:50:25.489 --> 00:50:29.230 the ones that I'm not using later. I cannot spend 00:50:29.230 --> 00:50:30.769 all of my time, even thrift shopping, I can't 00:50:30.769 --> 00:50:32.630 spend all my time thrift shopping to maybe find 00:50:32.630 --> 00:50:35.690 one ideal piece that may or may not fit or that 00:50:35.690 --> 00:50:39.030 I have to then edit the size of, which is gonna 00:50:39.030 --> 00:50:41.590 take more time. And so there's a really big gap 00:50:41.590 --> 00:50:45.550 in terms of the ease of buying stuff from a new. 00:50:46.190 --> 00:50:50.010 But if we were to have a 20, 30 ,000 square foot 00:50:50.010 --> 00:50:52.409 warehouse where we could store construction materials 00:50:52.409 --> 00:50:55.349 and

scenic pieces and things like that or props 00:50:55.349 --> 00:50:57.210 or costumes or any of that sort of stuff. It 00:50:57.210 --> 00:50:58.809 would be an incredibly valuable resource. There 00:50:58.809 --> 00:51:01.590 was a prop shop called Anything But Costumes 00:51:01.590 --> 00:51:03.889 outside of New York up in New Jersey that closed 00:51:03.889 --> 00:51:06.469 during the pandemic that was incredible and everyone 00:51:06.469 --> 00:51:07.969 loved them because they had so they had everything 00:51:07.969 --> 00:51:10.269 you could ever possibly need for any show. And 00:51:10.269 --> 00:51:12.469 we just don't have the space and we've looked 00:51:12.469 --> 00:51:15.289 into getting the space. It's just not worth we 00:51:15.289 --> 00:51:17.969 can't make the money back to pay for the square 00:51:17.969 --> 00:51:21.269 footage, at least not anywhere close to Philadelphia 00:51:21.269 --> 00:51:25.010 Center. I mean, I think there are lots of pie 00:51:25.010 --> 00:51:27.289 in the sky ideas, but the one that sticks out 00:51:27.289 --> 00:51:30.230 to me as the most doable, because New York has 00:51:30.230 --> 00:51:32.130 something like this, is the Materials for the 00:51:32.130 --> 00:51:33.469 Arts. And Materials for the Arts, I don't know 00:51:33.469 --> 00:51:35.469 if you know it, but it's this wonderful New York 00:51:35.469 --> 00:51:38.190 organization that I believe is partially, or 00:51:38.190 --> 00:51:39.730 mostly funded by the Department of Sanitation 00:51:39.730 --> 00:51:43.230 in New York, that is a warehouse that... lots 00:51:43.230 --> 00:51:46.429 of companies donate things to and it's office 00:51:46.429 --> 00:51:49.269 supplies and it's fabric and it's set pieces 00:51:49.269 --> 00:51:53.570 and it's Raw materials every shape sort and kind 00:51:53.570 --> 00:51:56.590 and any nonprofit arts organization can sign 00:51:56.590 --> 00:51:58.329 up for a slot to go shopping there and get materials 00:51:58.329 --> 00:52:01.030 for free and then as part of that they get they 00:52:01.030 --> 00:52:02.289 you know, they basically write a donation letter 00:52:02.289 --> 00:52:05.289 back to the back to the donating company so they 00:52:05.289 --> 00:52:07.329 can get the the tax benefits of the donation 00:52:07.329 --> 00:52:12.559 and Yeah, but it needs a massive space and you 00:52:12.559 --> 00:52:14.300 need a crew of people who can sort donations 00:52:14.300 --> 00:52:16.420 that are coming in and to manage the shoppers 00:52:16.420 --> 00:52:19.239 who are coming in coming out. But it's something 00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:21.199 that works in New York and we have a very robust 00:52:21.199 --> 00:52:25.079 art scene here. It could work here too if there 00:52:25.079 --> 00:52:26.980 was sort of the political will and the money 00:52:26.980 --> 00:52:37.150 behind it to make it happen. We're trying to 00:52:37.150 --> 00:52:38.489 keep stuff out of the landfill, right? Like we're 00:52:38.489

--> 00:52:41.190 trying to be more eco -friendly and not contributing 00:52:41.190 --> 00:52:45.570 to sort of our global climate problem. That's 00:52:45.570 --> 00:52:48.070 obviously important to a lot of people in a philosophical 00:52:48.070 --> 00:52:49.610 way, but really a hard sell when you're looking 00:52:49.610 --> 00:52:52.989 at the bottom line budget. And so I think the 00:52:52.989 --> 00:52:55.630 easier one to make a priority is that if we can 00:52:55.630 --> 00:52:58.130 adjust our design or design within the confines 00:52:58.130 --> 00:53:01.090 of existing materials, it can save a lot of time 00:53:01.090 --> 00:53:03.130 and money. And of course, time for us is money 00:53:03.130 --> 00:53:07.619 because it's people's labor hours. And so for 00:53:07.619 --> 00:53:09.659 our small companies, that's sort of our biggest 00:53:09.659 --> 00:53:12.460 selling point is like, we see your design, if 00:53:12.460 --> 00:53:13.679 we can adjust it this way, this way, and this 00:53:13.679 --> 00:53:15.320 way, we can use some stock items, and then we 00:53:15.320 --> 00:53:17.019 can bring your total cost down as well. And so 00:53:17.019 --> 00:53:19.199 you can get more bang for your buck by doing 00:53:19.199 --> 00:53:22.150 it with more stock materials. Because we are 00:53:22.150 --> 00:53:24.130 supporting so many partners, especially in this 00:53:24.130 --> 00:53:26.050 time of the year, it also allows us to take more 00:53:26.050 --> 00:53:27.630 partners on. If we're not having to spend all 00:53:27.630 --> 00:53:30.369 this time building new things for one person, 00:53:30.530 --> 00:53:32.949 we can do three or four shows with using stock 00:53:32.949 --> 00:53:35.110 materials because it takes us less time to create 00:53:35.110 --> 00:53:37.590 those, to create that full set by using things 00:53:37.590 --> 00:53:41.369 that we've already made. But it really depends 00:53:41.369 --> 00:53:43.010 on the set. So there's a show running right now 00:53:43.010 --> 00:53:45.369 wishing to grow up brightly at Theater Horizon 00:53:45.369 --> 00:53:49.739 up in Norristown. And that show is... whole bunch 00:53:49.739 --> 00:53:51.719 of flats and I would say about 80 to 90 percent 00:53:51.719 --> 00:53:54.360 of them are reused flats that we We pulled from 00:53:54.360 --> 00:53:55.860 another show and are gonna get reused again after 00:53:55.860 --> 00:53:57.619 that and then there's probably ten percent that 00:53:57.619 --> 00:54:02.079 that's that's brand new We did a show at Philadelphia 00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:04.079 Theatre Company a few months ago. That was all 00:54:04.079 --> 00:54:06.360 these really custom cutout shapes It had to be 00:54:06.360 --> 00:54:07.840 a hundred percent new because everything was 00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:10.219 so incredibly custom and and and that's what 00:54:10.219 --> 00:54:12.480 the design called for and so we try to balance 00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:14.400 out as much as we can like

whatever we can reuse 00:54:14.400 --> 00:54:17.300 and make reusable we will and then we'll try 00:54:17.300 --> 00:54:20.590 to I hope that, you know, compensates for the 00:54:20.590 --> 00:54:23.110 stuff we have to build anew. If it's just like 00:54:23.110 --> 00:54:26.809 sort of a boxy set, there's sort of a level of 00:54:26.809 --> 00:54:29.389 unprofessionalism or just sort of like, you know, 00:54:29.449 --> 00:54:31.090 because it's the cheap and easy way to do it, 00:54:31.269 --> 00:54:34.610 that's what you get in a lot of places that don't 00:54:34.610 --> 00:54:36.070 have as much money or don't have as much time. 00:54:36.230 --> 00:54:38.710 And so it's associated with being cheaper or 00:54:38.710 --> 00:54:40.750 easier. And so by having that extra level of 00:54:40.750 --> 00:54:42.630 detail and that extra level of quality, it really 00:54:42.630 --> 00:54:44.269 elevates the experience and makes it feel more 00:54:44.269 --> 00:54:49.159 special and can help to tell the story. And sometimes 00:54:49.159 --> 00:54:51.840 stock materials doesn't necessarily mean not 00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:54.079 being able to make it custom and things like 00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:56.519 that. It's more about, so a great example is 00:54:56.519 --> 00:54:59.159 that we're working on a set right now. The designer 00:54:59.159 --> 00:55:01.619 drew 14 foot walls and all of our stock stuff 00:55:01.619 --> 00:55:03.619 comes in four by eight because that's the standard 00:55:03.619 --> 00:55:07.320 sheet good size in America. 14 foot walls means 00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:09.159 that we can use eight foot walls to get to eight 00:55:09.159 --> 00:55:10.920 feet. We can turn one on its side and then all 00:55:10.920 --> 00:55:13.019 of a sudden we get 12 feet, but we have to make 00:55:13.019 --> 00:55:15.800 something to get to that 14 feet. And so we actually 00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:18.280 suggested going to 16 foot walls so we can put 00:55:18.280 --> 00:55:20.019 two eight foot things on top of each other. And 00:55:20.019 --> 00:55:22.139 all of a sudden we've gone from needing a whole 00:55:22.139 --> 00:55:24.260 custom thing to need no custom things at all, 00:55:24.840 --> 00:55:26.860 which really helps with all of our goals in terms 00:55:26.860 --> 00:55:37.230 of reducing financial material waste. I love 00:55:37.230 --> 00:55:40.230 stuff that's big and theatrical and detailed. 00:55:40.449 --> 00:55:43.710 In some cases, it's just more interesting and 00:55:43.710 --> 00:55:45.670 exciting, right? Like it's just to go see a story 00:55:45.670 --> 00:55:48.030 and to see something that you've never seen before 00:55:48.030 --> 00:55:50.389 on stage and to walk in and to have that like, 00:55:50.530 --> 00:55:53.289 that wow moment of like, oh, that's really cool. 00:55:53.309 --> 00:55:55.530 That's a different, interesting, engaging idea. 00:55:56.190 --> 00:55:59.170 It's really part of the magic of the storytelling 00:55:59.170 --> 00:56:01.630 and the magic of the specialness of the experience. 00:56:04.400 --> 00:56:07.219 That was Nathan Renner Johnson from Philadelphia 00:56:07.219 --> 00:56:09.579 Scenic Works. You can see their work in theaters 00:56:09.579 --> 00:56:21.539 all across the Philadelphia region. Thanks for 00:56:21.539 --> 00:56:23.900 joining us for episode seven of the Circle Up 00:56:23.900 --> 00:56:26.579 podcast. For more information on Thunderbird, 00:56:26.659 --> 00:56:29.659 check them out on Instagram at Thunderbird Salvage. 00:56:29.880 --> 00:56:32.139 And for more information on Philadelphia Scenic 00:56:32.139 --> 00:56:35.579 Works, visit philadelphiascenicworks .org. Join 00:56:35.579 --> 00:56:38.059 us for the next episode where we're going big! 00:56:38.679 --> 00:56:40.639 With all the development happening in Philly, 00:56:40.780 --> 00:56:43.139 do you ever wonder what happens to all the construction 00:56:43.139 --> 00:56:45.760 materials you see in those dumpsters? We'll be 00:56:45.760 --> 00:56:49.739 talking about just that in episode 8. The Circle 00:56:49.739 --> 00:56:52.559 Up podcast is presented by Circular Philadelphia. 00:56:53.019 --> 00:56:55.699 It was produced by Meredith Nutting at Cool Goon 00:56:55.699 --> 00:56:58.730 Productions. This podcast was supported by a 00:56:58.730 --> 00:57:01.210 grant from PennTree Special Services District. 00:57:01.829 --> 00:57:03.610 If you want to learn more about the circular 00:57:03.610 --> 00:57:06.250 economy, go to circularphiladelphia .org.