Our founding members (clockwise from lower left), Sophie, Ancival, Rebecca S’manga Frank, Melle Powers,
Anya Pearson, Erica Jensen, Naomi Lorrain, (not pictured, Talibah Newman).

Hello, My name is Melle and I am the Founder and Creative Director of The Make Good Project, Inc., a New York City based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for women of color deeply rooted in three pillars:

Creativity. Community. Wellness.

In this introduction to our monthly newsletter, I want to invite you into our family through the pathway that is the right fit for you:

Your TIME - reading our newsletter; engaging with the writing prompt at the end of every newsletter as a way for you to begin YOUR first draft, no matter who and where you are (your access to your imagination is a gift to the world); attending one of our events
Your TALENT - joining Make Good for a Community Writing Workshop or during a 10-Week Writing Workshop
Your TREASURE - sharing this newsletter with someone you believe would enjoy it; sponsorship; financial investment; in-kind donations; your time

Our Background Story:

During the summer of 2020, immersed in uncertainty, fear, and isolation by the onset of Covid, horror at the murder of George Floyd, and flatlined by the divisiveness of the elections, I dreamed of Make Good. I wanted to build space for artists - specifically women of color - to dream, nurture community, create art and engage in authentic self-care.

I am very proud to say that this seed of an idea has been nurtured into a beautiful sapling. We are budding a grove. Germinating a forest. At Make Good we strive to be fully engaged with the world - balancing art-making, work, family AND taking time to hydrate, meditate, and move our bodies. Above all else, we want to make good things: art, people, communities. And make good on our potential to build a more creative and connected world.

If you are reading this newsletter, you have most likely crossed paths with Make Good in the recent past. Some of you supported us by partnering to host a retreat or community event. Others of you heard about our writing workshops and asked how you could get involved. Maybe you attended a community postcard writing event during the run-up to the election or were involved in a reading we worked on as Producers. Or perhaps you know and support our members in a million other impactful ways.

In whatever way you found us, you are a welcome part of our community - and now, more than ever, community is where we will revel in our joy and nurture our individual and collective power with ferocity.

You can help us continue to grow.

Your tax deductible donation will offer support for our programs. Teed up for 2025:

Producing two developmental writers workshops with public presentations
- your investment helps to pay for:
  - actors/director/dramaturg/staff
  - rehearsal and performance space rental.
A series of free community workshops on writing and wellness
- including classes focused on personal storytelling; yoga and nutrition; on-camera coaching; youth writing
Our Annual Writing Retreat
- we are exploring options for our 2025 retreat, support will be allocated toward:
  - associated fees (housing, transportation, meals) for 15 artists
    - financial donations, sponsorships, or in kind donations of housing and/or space are welcome

Click to Donate

Here are some of our proud accomplishments:

In August 2023 we partnered with Barrington Stage Company to host our first writers retreat where we birthed stories and practiced yoga on rolling green hills in the beautiful Berkshire mountains.

During the first half of 2024 we hosted a monthly writers group.
In August 2024 we partnered with Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health for a sponsored week of writing, nature, body work, and lots healthy food.
During the fall of 2024 we have hosted a 10-Week Writing Workshop with the goal of the completion of a draft of work.
Leading up to the Presidential election we partnered with NiLu - a Black owned gift shop in Harlem - to host 2 non-partisan voter engagement events.
From 5am-6am, Mon-Fri we host a Zoom writing accountability meetup (Yep - that’s how dedicated we are to carving out time and space!)
Make Good Producing projects:
- 29 hour professional development workshops of 2 of Anya Pearson’s plays in her 4 play cycle (The Clytemnestra Cycle) - a re-imagining of the classical Greek work “The Oresteia,” around a Black family in the Bay area from 1969-2020 as U.S. policy shapes their lives.
  - Casting by Erica Jensen, CSA
  - Produced by Sophie and Melle

Upcoming ways we will Make Good:

A public presentation of work from the fall 10-Week Writing Workshop

A series of open community drop-in writing workshops
Over the winter of 2025 we will hold the second iteration of our 10-Week Writing Workshop.
We will choose two playwrights to provide with resources for a workshop and public reading of their work (Spring/Summer 2025)
Our annual writers retreat during the Summer of 2025
A series of youth writing workshops over the course of 2025
A monthly newsletter curated by our members with writing excerpts from us and prompts for those of you who want to write along with us and more!

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ Founding Member Spotlight ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Company photo from the 29 hour workshop reading of Anya’s “Without a Formal Declaration of War.”
Casting by Erica Jensen, CSA; Produced by Sophie and Melle

Here is (some of) the work that has been accomplished during our time together: Naomi has completed work on a commissioned play, Rebecca has finished work on a commissioned play and started work on another, Melle has written a short film and begun work on a tv pilot, Sophie has started work on a children’s book and another piece is in formation, Talibah has developed a generational story about her family, Erica has completed a draft of a play she has been trying to find the time to work on for 4 years, and Anya has polished up 2 plays in her 4 play cycle and continues to work on another. And more….

Lastly, I leave you with an excerpt of something I wrote and a prompt for your own writing journey:

Some background:

When we first gathered in August of 2023, I had not really written in about 8 years. 8 YEARS! So I felt VERY creaky. As an exercise, Rebecca had us open an art book and find an image that spoke to us. We then had 30 minutes to incorporate that image into some writing. I had been thinking about writing (thinking about writing had been a popular hobby of mine) a piece about a fundraiser at the elementary school I attended as a child, and I used the image as the jumping off point for that piece. This is a FIRST DRAFT of a bigger piece. We are big on first drafts at Make Good, because without a first draft, there is no second draft.

********************************************

Written 8.26.23

“See the Moon for 2 tickets” the sign outside the makeshift cardboard hut proclaimed. A telescope protruded from the crudely sawed out window. I looked up at the sky, curious. “Isn’t the moon free?” Even though it was only 4pm, I could see the moon, winking down from the cloudless sky directly above me quite clearly. And I didn’t have to pay 50 cents of my hoarded lunch money to do it. I kept walking.

“Put your pitching skills to the test. 8 tickets for a chance to dunk Mr. Leland*!” Well this had promise! Mr. Leland was our gym teacher, universally well-loved and a great sport. He was the faculty sponsor of the Galway Elementary school safety patrols, and had appointed me Captain of the Downside after I “showed great leadership” by jumping in and directing traffic after a rushed early dismissal during a sudden snow storm left the busiest intersection unattended by our adult crossing guard. Nowadays, a 10 year old directing traffic might be met with a lawsuit by a group of helicopter parents, but in the free-wheeling 1980s, it got me a promotion.

Being Captain of the Downside had its privileges: My bright orange safety belt got an instant upgrade when my ‘Lieutenant-Red’ badge was replaced by shiny ‘Captain-Blue’; I got dismissed from school 10 minutes earlier than everyone else so that I could make sure all of my corners were covered; and I got my first real taste of power, yelling at my peers who dared to run down the hallways at school or on the sidewalks of my neighborhood: “Walk or you’re reported!” If they didn’t immediately slow their pace, I had a ticket book in which I would mark their offense, giving them a copy “for their records,” sending the duplicate to Mr. Leland, like points on their proverbial licenses. Only instead of a speeding car, they were being ticketed for their youthful joy. Basically, I was a narc. And I LOVED IT!

But, my megalomania was marred by a secretly harbored resentment: I wanted to be Captain of the UPSIDE; a far more prestigious piece of territory. I had been leapfrogged over for that position by Mark Orville. Mark Orville: Boy Scout, Teacher’s Pet, a kid so responsible he got up on his own at 5 o’clock every morning - whizzing through the neighborhood on his Schwinn, delivering 3 pound copies of the Washington Post, ultimately making and SAVING enough money to surprise his parents and buy his own car at 16. A narc’s narc.

While I was powerless to unseat Mark the narc, I could make a play at dunking Mr Leland as an act of revenge. I weighed whether my petty resentment was worth spending 8 tickets - two of the five dollars I had diverted from my weekly lunch money - and decided to wait to see what else was on offer.

[to be continued…]

*all names have been changed to protect my peace.

And now a prompt FOR YOU. I invite you to find a piece of art that inspires you and to use that as a jumping off point.

Creating Space

Topic: Why is it important to have a space to create freely?
Prompt: Write about a space where you feel free to create, a dream space or how you created your own space (physical or psychic).

Special thanks to: Arian Moayed, Joseph Voss, Lizette Daniel, Aja Wiley, Jeremy Brisiel, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Barrington Stage Company, Robert Mulhall and Ava Taylor - Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Katrina Parris - NiLu Gift shop, The Hens (Annemarie Imbornone, Maria Vallejo-Nguyen, Rachael Wells), Designing Our Lives (Tamara Fox, Kimberly Miller, Dr. Angelique Anderson Nunez), The Field, our families, our friends, and scores of others who have provided our seedling with the sunshine to thrive.

An extra, extra special thanks to Olanna Madu - without whom this idea may have withered on the vine.

Welcome to the Make Good Project