Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
#299: Jerrilyn Duckworth (Founder of Bridging the Gap) (pt. 2 of 2)
This week on the podcast is part two of our interview with Jerrilyn Duckworth. She founded Bridging the Gap in 2019. It’s a company that focuses on hair & makeup issues that plague BIPOC students and performers in the theatre industry. Jerrilyn dives into the history of hair & makeup, wig prep on natural hair textures, correct language, products, and practical applications that would set any performer or creative artist up for success. Her goal is to create an inclusive environment for all performers.
Her designs have been on the stage at venues such as the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Theatre in Cincinnati, and the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival. We hope you'll tune in to hear Jerrilyn share her wisdom on a variety of theatrical topics! https://bridgingthegapintheatre.com/
Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast. Making art work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts Andy Heiss and Nick Petrella.
Speaker 2:Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heiss and I'm Nick Petrella.
Speaker 3:Jerrilyn Duckworth is on the podcast today. She founded Bridging the Gap in 2019. It's a company that focuses on hair and makeup issues that plague BIPOC students and performers in the theater industry. Jerrilyn dives into the history of hair and makeup wig prep on natural hair textures, correct language products and practical applications that would set any performer or creative artist up for success. Her goal is to create an inclusive environment for all performers. Jerrilyn's designs have been on stage at venues such as the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, indiana Repertory Theater, ensemble Theater in Cincinnati and the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival. We'll have Jerrilyn's website in the show notes so you can read more about her and her activities. Thanks for coming on the podcast, Jerrilyn.
Speaker 4:I'm super excited to be here today. Thank you.
Speaker 2:You mentioned that a lot of your workshop clients or customers or whatever are repeat customers, which is a testament, again, I think, to the value of the work that you do. Have you had performers or people come up to you after your workshops or shows that you've worked on and shared their experience working with you and how that compared to past experiences?
Speaker 4:like their experience working with you and how that compared to past experiences. Yes, so the best emails and the best experience of those to say, you know, hey, my professor tried to match foundation, she took your workshop. It was really great. Or, you know, jenna, thank you so much. I've been performing for a decade and no one's ever cared to ask about my hair products or, you know, and and some of my theater jobs. I do ask for expanded budgets because I know that the $200 you've allotted to me is not going to cut. It's not going to cut it for you know, this huge production. And so, um, I I do get those emails and I was like, okay, that's great, it's working, and I would say my goal is to one day to work myself out of a job that theater will be, this landscape that's, you know, all encompassing inclusive makeup like and not feeling like a problem.
Speaker 4:Um, and yeah, I still got some work to do, um, but slowly but surely it's change is happening and, like I said, the kids especially and I say kids very lovingly, I know they're grown college students, but the kiddos write in to me and they say you know, oh my god, makeup class is so much more enjoyable. There were examples that reflected my skin tone. There were references made in research that they looked like me, and so people really underestimate what representation means.
Speaker 3:So I'm going to ask this question and it is going to highlight my ignorance, but I would have assumed that production companies, theatrical companies, would have, for lack of a better way of explaining it. When you go to a hardware store or a paint store, you see all these different hues. Why wouldn't they do that for just a variety of different skin tones and sell right?
Speaker 4:So it's one of those things. People know what looks like them, and that's to no fault of anyone's own. When my mentor taught me about hair and makeup and I learned how to ventilate, she lovingly told me. She said, you have to learn what doesn't look like you. You have to be able to do both or you won't work, and so that's something that I took to heart. I had to learn hair that didn't look like mine.
Speaker 4:I had to learn foundation undertones and different things that didn't look like me, and so a lot of folks you know, coming up through some of these programs, they're just learning what looks like them. They're just turning in research of what looks like them. They're just turning in research of what looks like them, and again, that's what they're being taught, and so that's why I spend so much time in workshops about research and stepping outside of that box, going to a library and sitting there and looking at photos. I love a library, I love the smell of a book, and I just want the next generation to at least know that there is some fantastic research within the walls of a library and then just pressing upon having a multi-world, multi-cultural view of what's out there and knowing that your cast will be reflective of that.
Speaker 3:Sure, and and so when you're using the different foundations and stuff like that, different makeups, are you just are you making them customizable in any way, or are you just using what's in the container?
Speaker 4:Sometimes you have to mix. I'll add in pigment to deepen it or to counteract colors, and so rarely ever do I use it straight out of the canister or the tube. It's one of those things you personalize it to who you're working with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great, and that's that's where the, that's where the art is, isn't it?
Speaker 4:The color theory is ever so important and not a lot of folks know about color theory and how corresponding colors make council balance, do all of those things. So I do teach a lot of like what color theory means when we're looking at like color correcting and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so there's a video on your site where you're making a wig from scratch. I just assume all those wigs were pre-made. Do you do a lot of that, and where did you learn wig making?
Speaker 4:that I always say what you see on Broadway, a lot of folks are in wigs and I would say you've done your job. If you don't know that person's wearing a wig, if it looks that realistic, you know that you have done your job well. So I don't get to make wigs from scratch that much anymore, from scratch that much anymore, um, just because I am so busy and wig making takes. It's tedious. You're tying maybe three to four little hairs, um, into lace and tying knots. It's not as bad as you think. I will put on a netflix show and just sit there and and tie knots, uh, but it is a long, tedious process and the quicker you are, of course, great. If you can tie lovely knots that aren't the big, huge ones, even better. So mustaches and sideburns, all of those things can definitely be ventilated.
Speaker 4:But I learned wig making my second year of my grad program. Martha Ruskye, who would later become my mentor, who I worked under, and different things like that she took me under her wing, taught me how to ventilate and then it's something that I continued on through the rest of my second year and my final year of my grad program. I had more interest in it, so I went off to, uh, pennsylvania shakespeare festival after I graduated and worked in the week uh, the weak side of the theater. So there was. It was a good training ground. To let me know if I really liked it. Um, it was sweetie that summer. So it was like 90 plus wigs, facial hair extensions. So you got a drive through of the gamut and I was like, oh, I like this, I think I can do this, and so either I get hired in for both, or one or the other. So it's been, it's been great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's excellent it's been.
Speaker 2:It's been great. Yeah, that's excellent. Theater is such a collaborative field as we've been talking about. Can you can you talk about how you work with directors, costume designers and other creatives to ensure that the BIPOC performers feel represented and respected throughout that process?
Speaker 4:Yes, so I love the collaboration that happens. I always say the director is the person that's driving the train and we are the supportive cast that helps us make it to the destination. And so we started in the early artistic meetings with research and looking at the authenticity that happens when we look at a set. I can remember looking through when we did the Ripple, the Way that carried me home just recently, and the early artistic meetings were some of the best ones I had, because it was like we made references to like 90 sitcoms, like what did the Family Matters house look like on the inside? What you know grandma's couch, and everybody in the room was like my grandma had a version of that couch. It was either an ivory green, she had plastic over it. So just looking at those references was fantastic, and so that was like a true collaboration.
Speaker 4:Even down to the music. It's like what did your parents make you listen to on that car ride to grandma's? And so we threw out songs and different things like that. And so when we presented these ideas to the cast, we knew it was something that they could relate to and it wasn't just showing photos, showing sketches, it was. This is what inspired me, and it wasn't just showing photos, showing sketches, it was. This is what inspired me, and I find that some of the most productive design conversations with performers comes from that inspiration. And as actors are crafting characters, it's like, oh, you were inspired by, like Sidney Poitier, or you were inspired by Laura Winslow, and so those are names that people can stick to, and so, as a designer, inspiration is everything, and that's something that when I have these one-off conversations or present designs, I say this was my inspiration, or a world of show is what I like to call it.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's that's, you know, just thinking about like I don't know, from again sort of my perspective. You think about makeup and hair and makeup and that sort of thing in a theatrical. It's very surface level, but none of that really matters If, to your point, that drive, that inspiration isn't there, if it's not inspired.
Speaker 4:it's like if I can't give you an inspiration behind it, um, if I know amount of makeup.
Speaker 2:It's not.
Speaker 3:It's not, it's not gonna put you in that character yeah, do you have a portfolio of your work for prospective clients?
Speaker 4:yep, yep. So, like we mentioned before, um, I have three separate websites. Oh, they need to be updated. Terribly bad. That's like we're going to push that some more as I get like other shows design, but yes, I do. My design website has costumes and it has the wigs and makeup stuff in it where I just show pictures of like process shots which I heart to students all the time. Please take your process shots. Employers love to see that and it's like after first dress. I forget, and even as someone who's been in the industry for the year 12, I think I still suck at taking process photographs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I was wondering what you include and what you would tell others to include in their branding or portfolio, if they want to do what you do, or if there's a particular way when you're talking headshots. Is there a direction or something that you look for?
Speaker 4:I think variety, variety, is the spice of life. I try to have a musical, small shows. Everyone wants to know can you work with a big cast? And so those are things that I try. I just I did the color purple this summer, so I got the photos back from that.
Speaker 4:There was 50 million people, 50 million costumes, to see paperwork and how you organize. Like, what does organization look like? Um, because, in my opinion, as a designer, yes, you draw the pretty sketch, but hey, you take a show through a shop. Um, how do you work with a cutter draper? How do you work with a costume shop manager? Well, you got to have people skills. Uh, because you're dealing with performers in a vulnerable state. They're coming in, they're trying on clothes, they'll tell you about insecurities. Can we nip and tuck here? Can we do this? Talking about like undergarments is another subject of just. You have to be able to manage people as well, and I tell students all the time yes, you can draw a lovely picture. Can you take this show through a shop? Let me give you these skills to try to help you do that.
Speaker 3:That's great. You're a very empathetic person. It really comes across.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Are there any new products or techniques that you're excited about that could make this whole your charge of helping BIPOC performers feel comfortable.
Speaker 4:Deeper tone foundations. Every time I see those pop up, if I'm scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or if I'm in Target and I was like, ok, let me see what they have on the shelf. Or if I'm in Target and I was like, okay, let me see what they have on the shelf. And so if that's something that I can recommend, I will try it. I live in a very humid climate, and so I will test out these foundations and I feel like, if we can make it in Mississippi's 100 degree heat and 100% humidity, the stage is nothing, because I know the theater will have you know air conditioning.
Speaker 4:So good foundation, because that's still something that's lacking within the industry being able to color, match and any new type of wig technology or prep. I'm always scrolling through YouTube looking at, you know, folks putting on wigs. Is this something that I can implement? That will make my life easier in theater? So I try to learn new techniques to teach them to the folks that I'm giving workshops to.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Where do you think bridging the gap will be in five or 10 years from now? For instance, do you think you'll get into TV or films or maybe fashion shows?
Speaker 4:So we're in year five right now and we're still working as if I'm in year one, if that makes sense. We I've expanded and to doing like more theaters and looking at the different kind of communities that are there too. In 10 years from now, like I said, I hope to have worked myself out of a job, but I would love to get into fashion. I think fashion has another set of just issues that need to definitely be addressed as well. Film I've done some independent film work down on the coast where I live, so it's interesting. It's more about like, who do you hire to put on set? Just making sure that that's just making sure that that's diversified as well, and so I think in 10 years maybe I've written a couple books.
Speaker 4:I might still be speaking about research. I'm thinking about getting a doctoral degree, so and just looking at what that looks like, and I do hope to have a nonprofit out for Bridging the Gap, to be able to give away scholarship money, because I know not everyone has the luxuries of having like parental support or folks in their life that can buy art supplies and different things like that. So I hope to be able to give away like stuff for tech to be like an iPad pen design programs to put on there. So that's the evolution that I see Bridging the Gap going in as the nonprofit to be able to help BIPOC students, you know, go to school for the arts and be able to thrive and not have to worry about how am I going to be able to afford this and, you know, how am I going to be able to pay for this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's good for you. I mean, I like to say talent is everywhere, access is not no, and no matter where you travel, you see that.
Speaker 4:Yep, yep yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, Gerilyn, we've reached the point of the interview where we ask all of our interviewees the same three questions, and the first question is what advice would you give to others wanting to become an art entrepreneur?
Speaker 4:I would say do it, take the leap of faith. And I always say when I started this process I couldn't see the whole staircase, but I took the first step and it's one of those things where you just have to do it. You never want to sit and say I wish I could have or what would have happened if I did this. It's okay to fail. I have failed a couple times and I've picked myself up to do it again. And younger folks they're like oh, I don't know how to start Email folks You'd be surprised in the power of an email and asking questions to people that are working in the industry.
Speaker 4:I love getting those emails because if I can share any knowledge that I've learned to make your process easier, I would say I'm leaving the door open with a boulder in front of it so you can come right on. You can come right on through. So I say, take that first step, have a plan as best you can and just know that you may need to use plan B, plan C and have plan D hanging out in the wind somewhere. But just you gotta, you gotta start. You have to just start.
Speaker 3:But just, you got to start. You have to just start what?
Speaker 4:can we do to ensure the arts are more accessible and reaching the widest possible audience? Look at how we're pricing things. We have the conversations all the time what it costs for folks to go to conferences, what it costs for people to have accessibility to shows, the cost, especially in today's economy and climate, and what things cost. That's important too. And talking to the people that are coming to see your shows, and like those patron surveys, look at those, listen to those, because that's how people feel and so I feel them out every time they're emailed to me. Even if I'm like going to see a show on a comp ticket, like these are some things that I feel like you could have made better. But that accessibility cost it's it's. It bars a lot of people out of having a chance to experience theater.
Speaker 2:Lastly, what's the best artistic or entrepreneurial advice you've been given?
Speaker 4:You are enough. You can do whatever you want to do in this industry. The color of your skin. Don't let anyone tell you that, oh, nobody, especially being a Black woman, nobody Black you know has ever did this. Or why do you want to do this? And it's like you are enough. You owe no one any explanation for doing what you love and, like I said, you just have to go. You just have to do it.
Speaker 3:Well, Gerilyn, it's been inspiring to hear your empathetic and selfless approach to collaboration with all aspects of theater, and especially for what you're doing to help the next generation. Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 4:Awesome. Thank you so much for having me today. This was fun.
Speaker 2:Thanks, gerilyn, so much for having me today.
Speaker 1:This was fun. Thanks, sherilyn. Thanks for listening. If you like this podcast, please subscribe. Visit artsentrepreneurshippodcastcom to learn more about our guest and how you can help support artists, the arts and this podcast. Thank you.
