A Firebird Production

My name is Phoenix Smith, a student at Howard University and founder of A Firebird Production. Firebird had a great end of the year show that impressed a lot of hearts and minds. Our purpose is to amplify black art and black joy. This upcoming semester, we plan to kick off the school year with a block party called Skate & Bake. We want to use the Benjamin Banneker park near Howard’s campus to host this block party. There, we plan to host vendors, a basketball tournament, a day party vibe, roller skating on the tennis courts and skateboarding at the built in skate park. It is in our plans to rent out the tennis courts because that usually is open and occupied by local recreational tennis matches. We would also have to pay three djs as the park is broken into three sections. We will also have beverage expenses to keep everyone hydrated. The rest of the funds will go towards our tutoring project. It is our goal to spark creativity, freedom, and limitless expression in the youth around DC. We plan to do that by hosting art workshops at local k-12 schools. We plan to provide materials, spaces, and snacks for the kiddos. Teaching youth that they can be more and do more is very important to us. I’m sure there are way more expenses that we will need to cover, and as a start up organization, we need all the help and cushion that we can get. Essentially, this grant request is to cover the entire semester. We have tons of events in mind. Thank you for this opportunity.