49:57 Teddy Minton
history project that they're trying to start. Um, anything like that. Um, talk with them. Say this is what we're going after. We want to tell a story about our theater, and then you can get the students to do the labor of the interviews for you. So if you don't have time to sit down with people for two hours, you can delegate the project to someone else and partner on it. Have their students get the practice and the work of doing history and some of the preliminary research behind talking to people. So you can just sort of work as the in between the institution that's helping support the project, but also benefiting from it. And you can outsource the labor all you want. And then if you have a platform like their story, then the processing on it also is something that you're delegating to a software, and you don't actually have to do the human labor if that's, you know, a concern.
50:45 Stephanie Silverman
And well, it was a graduate student. I think in this case, the walking tour was very much work done by people who are in an educational setting, um, they, they were able to synthesize Teddy's research into this actionable, you know, cool tour that you can walk and drive because it's Nashville. We don't have sidewalks. Um, you know, to really understand film history and, and see the sights, uh, in Nashville.
51:12 Teddy Minton
Yeah, totally. So just look around in your community and see what are the historical groups that are already working in my community and what kind of projects are they doing? Just contact them and say, we're interested in oral history project. How can we partner together? Uh, and, and help coordinate, facilitate, um, people from our community into that project and how can you support it with whatever you have to offer? And so in the case of what Stephanie is saying, they already had a, a nonprofit set up that made these tours. All I did was say, we would love to take this research and land it somewhere where someone can help us make a tour out of this. And they, they were like stoked about it. Um, because they didn't really they didn't have to do the research. They just had to build it out on their website, essentially, and then help us market it. And then we all benefited. So.
52:02 Zack Ellis
Absolutely. Um, and, and I'll say one thing on the tech side related to that is that's also what we're built for when it comes to their story is an easy structure for allowing other people, once you're either to help conduct interviews or then to make sense of the interviews in one searchable platform so that there can be many avenues for those stories to then be, uh, retold. Recontextualized. Um, and you've seen that today in all the various ways that the Belcourt has been able to do that. Um, one thing that I want to come back to is just another reflection. Teddy. If you were to do this project again or Stephanie, you know, what would you do different, uh, or any other advice for anyone if they're starting from scratch already? I've heard you say, you know, start small, start with the people. Um, but what would you do different on this project if you had to do it over?
52:55 Teddy Minton
Definitely. Do you want to take a swing at that first?
52:58 Stephanie Silverman
You know, one thing I just will say that I would not do differently is to give yourself a runway. I'm so grateful we started in 2022 and just were gave it the breathing room to grow. Maybe we should have started in. I mean, we couldn't really have, but maybe we should have started in 2020 or, you know, like given ourselves even more breathing room. Um, but, but it was, um, it was the evolution of the project that I think made it so organically rich and that just needed some space for, for Teddy to grow into it, for us to grow into it, for our programming staff to kind of get their head around it. It was a, you know, a, the full community brain aspect just takes some time.
53:47 Teddy Minton
Yeah, yeah. To piggyback on that, I would say like, you know, a few years out thinking about how you're going to construct something like a centennial, but also you don't necessarily need a centennial to do a project like this. I mean, it's actually worth your while to begin something like an oral history before you get to your milestone, because then you have something to build on. But all that's to say, I think a few years is sufficient depending on the scale. Now, the scale that we were operating on was evolving in real time, and it was kind of overwhelming at times. But, um, yeah, I mean, if you're simply doing an interview based project, I think giving yourself a year to, to start it and keep it going is sufficient to get, I mean, I got most of our, I would say I got 50% of our interviews done in that first year. So, um, I only really just kept it going because we, you know, I could keep it going in the background of all these other projects once I started, um, you know, getting a pretty good amount under my belt. So, you know, and in the case of us and likely the case of you, Once you gather people's stories, you're going to find that they're all connected to all of these different facets of arts and entertainment culture in your city for generations, and in its own way. What you're leaving is a legacy, a story about not only your institution and your community, but your entire town or city. Um, and perhaps if not likely, that's never been done before. And in that case, you're leaving a legacy of one of a kind, like pioneering research. And that is an incredible, incredible opportunity, um, for, for you to be, to be that, that institution, that organization in your community. So.
55:27 Stephanie Silverman
And I, I, it, it just, just from a sort of discipline perspective, I just is really cool to do this through kind of the arts and culture lens, like have this perspective on your community that very much is coming out of a creative and, um, sort of storytelling space at its core.
55:50 Zack Ellis
What? Um. Stephanie. What? What for you. Do you, um. Oh, I see that there's a question in the chat, so I'm going to, uh, preference that over my own. Uh, so Ashley asked, what were some ways you were able to encourage people to come in and interview? What was the most successful?
56:08 Teddy Minton
Do you want to talk about the marketing of it really quick? Stephanie.
56:11 Stephanie Silverman
Yeah, well, we definitely used our screens and our trailer spaces to, to launch it. And then at various points along the way, over the course of three years, we, we would elevate it again. And there were, you know, we would encourage people to start on our website because we had the there we were linked to their story. People could do their own oral histories. There. There were prompts that Teddy had put together. It was a very easy thing for people to do, to share. And then Teddy began to develop deeper dive lists of peoples whose stories we really wanted in more expansive ways and that were recorded live in our space that had some consistency visually and or and audio wise. So do you want to talk about how you developed those folks?
56:56 Teddy Minton
Yeah. So really it just started with like, um, everyone who's worked at the Belcourt the last 25 years. So I'm asking you all who are the most important people? Um, I really started thinking about it first as like, um, how, um, one great way was looking at our point of sale, like back end and seeing who are the people who come to see the movies the most? Because if they're spending the most time here, they have an attachment to it. And then I started reaching out to those patrons saying to them, hey, do you know that you're one of our most active customers? Can I interview you? I want to know why that is. Um, and so, um, what I found was they were more than willing to participate. And then what I found additionally is that a lot of them have all these greater ties, like Stephanie said, to our arts and entertainment and cultural community. And so now what we have, of course, and that is like interviews with people who are filmmakers who are various kinds of visual and musical artists who you know, so that it all kind of feeds into itself. But yeah, I would start with like, what are your own institutional resources? Find out who shows up the most, ask them about why they love your place so much, and then ask them, did your parents, uncles, aunts, anyone come to the theater? And how do I talk to them? And people will opt in.
58:10 Stephanie Silverman
And Teddy, someone's asking about developing. Did you have a a constant set of interview questions or did you kind of develop them? There was for the online for people self-directed.
58:20 Teddy Minton
Yeah. So online, when people go into the portal, they self record their prompts. Everyone gets the same prompt. Um, theoretically I could have changed it out, but I didn't. And um, for interviewees, yeah, I created one that kind of was a rubric that basically everyone followed. It was a good opportunity to talk to people about who they were as historic figures. So I asked people about their own biographies, but I also asked them about their relationship to arts and entertainment, culture and our institution. So now we have a multi-layered history of them, of their relationship to our city and the relationship to our institution. And so depending on how much time I had to do, uh, preliminary research on them in those places like newspapers.com, um, I would change the rubric a bit to reflect what I was able to sort of gather. Uh, but yeah, on and I'll put this in the, um, in the packet of information I want to put together for everyone. But there are resources online of other oral history departments across the country, um, that have, um, rubrics that you can follow and you can kind of make them your own. They also have documents like, um, the, uh, the consent forms that you'll need people to sign, right? Because you'll need people to opt in and know that they have, uh, that they're doing a legally binding interview. Um, but they're pretty liberal basically means they own it and you own it. You do whatever you want with it, or you can retrofit it to however you want to protect yourselves institutionally or your narrator. But all of these resources I'm going to put into this packet of information. Um, but it's all out there. And the good thing about oral historians is they're not, um, you know, they're not, uh.
59:59 Stephanie Silverman
Proprietary.
1:00:01 Teddy Minton
Yeah. Like we, we want these things to be out in the world. We want all of y'all to be historians yourselves. We want you to tell your stories. So we're not trying to blockade, you know, the information. We want to share it and we will. And, uh, but if you want to do your own googling around, you're going to find that there's lots already shared on the internet for you.
1:00:21 Zack Ellis
Wonderful. Um, Teddy. Stephanie, thank you both so much for your time today and sharing your own lived experience of, you know, the history of this project and how it came together. Um, it's incredible for me to see just how you really actualize taking the stories into so many different programmatic areas, how you were able to engage donors through, through this process, um, turning it into a book, having a long term archive with Vanderbilt. I mean, it was for many people, they can go back and study what you've done. And, uh, if they were to, to do half of what you did, it would be value, um, you know, uh, to their time and efforts. I, I really think it's been incredible what you've done. Um, anything that you'd like to say, uh, that you'd feel remiss not to share in, in closing.
1:01:16 Stephanie Silverman
I'd just say that this has been a really fun project across the board for from audience to staff to, to board to everybody. It's just been a really special, uh, thing to kind of dig in deep and in the middle of it, we lost one of our most important supporters and patrons. Um, and that was heartbreaking, but it meant that we had him and his stories and his voice and his love of this theater captured before that happened. And I just feel very lucky. And it's sort of why it's great to just we all hear anecdotally so much how much people love our theaters or our other public spaces. Having it, you know, really recorded and in their own words, is a remarkably special thing.
1:02:04 Teddy Minton
Yeah, 100%. And I, the only thing I would say is just that it's been an honor of a lifetime. But I love arthouse theaters, I love cinema, and I believe that history is built from the bottom up. It doesn't come from the powdered wigs above us making the laws. It comes from people. So don't be overwhelmed. You are capable historians. You are the harbingers of your own community, need and understanding. And this is definitely something that you can do at any scale. You want to do it. But it's as simple as talking to people and listening to what they're telling you. That's truly all it is. And, um, I think you will be overwhelmed with support if you pick up any of this. And, and it'll really be a boon to your institution and your sense of your place in your community and vice versa. So it has been for me. So I've loved, I've loved this. And thanks everybody for coming today.
1:02:56 Stephanie Silverman
Yes.
1:02:57 Zack Ellis
Thank you.
1:02:59 Teddy Minton
Thank you. Thank you Zach, because I really honestly, the scale of this work would not have been possible without something like their story. So I can't stress enough how incredibly useful it shaves hours, days, months off of your life. Yeah.
1:03:12 Stephanie Silverman
Their story was one. Of
1:03:13 Teddy Minton
Of our.
1:03:14 Stephanie Silverman
First phone call, one of our first conversations. So from the from the jump, it has been a great, incredibly important partner on this project.
1:03:22 Zack Ellis
Thank you, thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you Stephanie. Thank you. Teddy. Uh, we'll share the recording afterwards, uh, along with the resources that that Teddy has put together. Uh, really appreciate everyone taking the time. Take care.
1:03:36 Stephanie Silverman
Thank you. Everybody
1:03:36 Teddy Minton
Everybody take care.
