It was a random night at 55.

I pitched an idea to my friend Gavin while we sat on the stoop. Since being back in NY, I noticed we had a lot of friends that were creators. We would always sit on the stoop and chat about craftsmanship and art. I was interested in shooting artists perform ,Gavin had the idea that we should interview them too.

We didn’t have a budget or a lot of equipment, just an idea to give the artists we knew a platform to tell their stories. We started with a few artists we knew, cut the episode to get the format down, and used it to pitch to other artists. We did this on weekends on and off from November To May (with a huge break for winter lol). We shot 10 episodes, two of which didn’t make the cut.

We were able to capture stories and performances of artist into 8 thought provoking episodes. It was fun and inspirational for us to create, so we knew that we had to show people.

The entire time we shot the episodes people from the neighborhood would stop by and check it out. It was therefore a ‘no brainer’ who our audience would be. Showing the neighborhood what we have done and in truth what they were apart of. We decided to ask the artists who were on the show to come back to the stoop and perform for the community. It was just our luck that we found out about ‘Make Music New York' an entire day where no one needed permits to play music, it was perfect for this mini concert we would throw.

With little time and money we pulled off an amazing show! The response from the community was unforgettable. We had to keep it going no matter what.....

To be continued.

-Stephen Small-Warner 

Director/Co-creator of STOOP55