the work is hard
the work takes sacrifice
the work takes grit
the work is thankless
the work makes no money
the work is beautiful
the work is magical
the work is powerful
Do the work and the work will get done
Dear Community,
I planned for a grandiose, epic, super-inspiring transformative post to celebrate 540WMain’s third anniversary today but as it goes with life, I’m tired. As I type this post my body and mind is tired ; fatigued actually. My muscles are aching, my brain is foggy and I just don’t feel well. Most of this has to do with living with fibromyalgia and the rest is the result of a super long day filled with networking, responding to emails, meeting with community members, planning for future courses and events, managing my calendar and you know; everything that comes with being the Founding Director of a small but growing non-profit communiversity.
My life, this life I can’t imagine having it any other way and so this third year anniversary post will be relatively low key, short and sweet. There is so much that I want to say but even more that I want to do. And it is the action | the collective action of my team and the community that has been instrumental in getting us to this point and I quite literally can’t imagine having it any other way. The past three years has seemed like a lifetime, mostly because it’s taken an entire lifetime to put me in this place and position that I’m in. So much has been accomplished with very little financial backing but with a lot of drive, passion, vision, action and so much hard work.
I thank each and everyone of you for being part of this journey and look forward to the days, weeks, months, and years to come. And it is my sincere home that you continue to support our work so that we can do the work that needs to get done.
With Love,
Calvin
A Few Things We Have Accomplished in Three Years…
- 540 has grown from one location to managing three locations in three years: 540WMain, 540 at The Yards, Douglass Auditorium at 36 King Street
- 540WMain hired four team members since in three years
- 540WMain brought on it’s first college intern from St. John Fisher College during the past year
- 540WMain has served 15 RCSD students through its Workforce Development, Entrepreneur, & College Preparatory Summer Program
- 540WMain has showcased the work of 30 Featured Artists
- 540WMain held three Gentrification Conferences
- 540WMain launched a podcast, Morethanisms in 2019
A Few Photos…
Three Things We Look Forward To…
- New Commercial ( in production)
- New marketing materials for funders
- Hiring 2 FT Staff + 1 PT grants writer by the end of 2019
How You Can Support
More things we look forward to… new signage, new facade painting, 540Cowork, Diverse Tech Mixers, Pop Up courses with RIT’s School of Individualized Study, more dynamic fall programming, 540 Karaoke and more…
540WMain, Inc. 