BURN Documentary’s 3rd season at Dupont Underground

Hello, my name is Quaran Ahmad. I am an artist and student attending Howard University in Washington D.C. This year, I created a project called BURN, a docu-series that chronicles the lives of different Howard students and artists located in the area. This project is divided into three separate seasons, spread four months apart. With this method, we are able to interview individuals multiple times throughout the year, to showcase their growth and inspire them to continue pursuing their dreams. We held our first season premiere in March 2023, at The Village in the Union Market area. This event featured performances from local artists, singers, and poets attending Howard University, as well as the premiere of the first few episodes of the show. In September 2023, we held our second season premiere in Georgetown. We were awarded with a grant from the non-profit group, Tour De Force. We transformed their venue for the event, showcasing local painters, sculptors, & photographers' work. We also provided vending opportunities for small, Black-owned businesses. The first three episodes of the second season were later shown. For season three, we are looking to expand even more, and work with your organization to host an event where we can conclude our series in the most imaginative and creative way possible. We are looking to create a fashion show to celebrate local Black designers and models, premiere new episodes of our final season, as well as offer a discussion panel for the essential production crew, as well as filming live interviews at the event. We look forward to hearing from you! We are looking to hold the event in March 29th, 2024 at Dupont Underground. I look forward to hearing from you all. I greatly appreciate the assistance Tour De Force has provided BURN for the second season premiere. I'm excited to continue our working relationship and create an incredible premiere event for the third and final season. Our team interviewed ten people in the beginning of the year, and we will be interviewing the same people once more in May. Within the BURN documentary, we aspire to explore dreams, fears, hopes, and livelihoods in relation to time. This concept was inspired by Quaran's childhood experiences in his neighborhood church, Christ Universal Temple, where he and his mother would participate in a yearly event called "Burning Bowl". The project premiered on April 2nd, 2023, with new episodes launching every consecutive Sunday on our YouTube channel. Every episode will feature commentary from different individuals we interviewed. After our 10 episodes are released, we will take a short hiatus, and then return with new episodes that will update the audience with the current whereabouts of the 10 subjects featured in the earlier episodes. The BURN documentary holds the metaphorical flame that lives within all of us. In this documentary we aspire to convey the dreams, fears, and hopes of each of our interviewees. The evolution of the mind and soul is expressed through two separate interviews with ten people. In these two interviews, we follow the lives of said ten people at the first month of the new year into the depths of spring. Throughout the interview process we show where each person is in life, the development of themselves and their art. BURN is focused on empathy and mundanity. We are all perfectly average. We hold ourselves to high standards and compare ourselves to one another. The BURN documentary allows us to accept ourselves and others for who we are in the present rather than racing towards impossible standards of the future. With this grant, the BURN production team will be able to create an immersive screening experience for artists, students, and patrons alike to enjoy the continuation of the documentary. We are looking for the opportunity to create a beautiful festival-type event where our 10 subjects can exhibit their talents in front of a large crowd, create a supplementary networking space, and provide a safe space for every person.