PAR- Quarterly // Issue 03 - (first draft)

PAR-Quarterly
PQ.03
01.23

This Quarterly Contents:
page 3 page 5 page 8
Interview with
Billy Colbert
Letter from
the Director
Designs from
Team B
2023 Exhibitions
Lessons are Learned by Billy Colbert
...through March 31st
Woman, Life, Freedom by Elena Masrour
April 19th - June 17th
PAR-Projects Group Exhibition
July 12th - September 1st
Faith Moves Mountains by Austen Brantley
September 22nd - November 25th
2023 Events
Sunday, April 30th
Beer Burger Brunch
Saturday June 24th, July 22nd,
and August 26th
Summer Stage Series
Saturday, August 5th
Northside Summer Market
Saturday, September 23rd
OUR– Block Party
Saturday, October 21st &
Friday, October 27th
Halloween movie nights
Illustrations by: Henry M. Lindeman and Team B Archicture + Design
Layout: In-House

a conversation with Billy Colbert
and Gabi Roach
Like being inspired by DJs -
hearing how they layer music
and taking this strategy to layer
my photographs and my storytelling.
Yeah, that had a big impact
on my process.
Please give us an introduction
of yourself
My name is Billy Colbert and I
am an artist. For the most part,
with my art, I deal with culture
and race. I put the spotlight on
the unsung hero, the person who
is getting disenfranchised. And
I work in a bunch of different
mediums - photography, video,
painting and sculpture.
Tell us a bit about your background.
Where are you from?
I was born in Baltimore, MD and
spent my childhood in Cumberland,
MD though I have spent
most of my life in the DC area.
Growing up, I was always really
interested in sports but also
creativity and culture. These interests
led me to an educational path in graphic
design. I went to undergraduate at
Frostburg State University and after
working in the corporate sector I realized
I wanted to be an artist more than I
wanted to be a designer so I went back
to school for my MFA at the University
of Delaware.
Can you talk about people or other artists
who are formative for you and your process?
Of course artists like Rauschenberg,
Picasso, and Basquiat were important to
me growing up but one of my influences
is really culture.
Talk about your film archive. Why did you
start collecting and what do you want to use
it for?
The film archive, it’s still growing. It goes
back to the later 1930’s all the way up
until the early 80’s.
What it does is it kind of debunks the
Hollywood theories of how black
people grow up and how life was for
black people. So it’s like a window into
the life of people of that era that a lot of
people never got a chance to see.
Whereas with a lot of the movies that
have gone on, you know, they focus on
various aspects of life, but they’ve kind of
done a one-sided job of telling the story
of people.
So [with that] I like to look at these
and see these almost as like the cave
drawings to black families from that
time. And still the great connector
to us and to people. So it’s like a
window into the life of people of
that era that a lot of people never
got a chance to see.

a word from Jonathan
Looking back at 2022 presents a
myriad of emotions. While day to
day operations at PAR-Projects
stayed fairly consistent — maintaining
gallery hours, keeping
Studeo tenants fulfilled, and managing
an ongoing renovations —
our big splash moments were far
from predictable.
As alluded to in our last issue
of PAR- Quarterly, we were
overcome — filled with joy
— when we received a letter
saying The Cincinnati Business
community had recommended
us for $350,000 of state funding.
So when the very same was
new published in the Cincinnati
Enquirer, we began to believe.
Meetings were a bit more pleasant.
Coffee was less bitter. Cold
food started tasting fresh again.
We caught a break!! … Sadly,
when the rubber hit the road, we
were zeroed out of the budget
and reminded that we have more
work to do. While recognized by
our arts community, PAR is still
FAR from a household name.
The good is that we had a number
of confusing moments, but the state
funding fumble was the only moment
that truly knocked us to our heels
in 2023. And with the help of a few
local organizations like the Greater
Cincinnati Foundation, even that
experience quickly turned around.
In short, looking back on 2022, we
have plenty to be proud of.
We were able to establish six
below-market rental studio spaces
for local artists — two of which are
helping us launch a visiting artist
program that reserves space for
Black & Brown makers. We were
able to open our first new gallery
space, which now boasts a full array
of tech that allows us to host local
presentations, Zoom conferences,
and even hybrid meetings. But maybe
most importantly, we were able to
complete “Part 1” of our capital
campaign’s First Phase — quietly
raising over $300,000, which was the
dollar amount needed to release the
Haile Foundation’s $150,000 match
grant in Q1 of 2023!
So as we enter quarter two, we’ll be
right around a half million raised, with
a path and a bit of sunshine ahead.
! !
Still, I’d be remiss to not mention THE
bit of the confusion. To those readers
who thought, last year, that we would
have broken ground at HQ — our
1900s facility and outdoor space —
please know that we thought so too.
We have a better understanding of
the “why” now. But maybe our second
biggest surprise of 2022 came
when the city asked us to scrap our
original phasing plan. Essentially, we
were approaching the renovation of
our grounds as something that should
grow holistically, and essentially one
permit set at a time. This would allow
us to open more pieces of the campus
sooner, but it relied on using temporary
occupancy permits while transitioning
through each phase.
The objection: During these strange
new times, we could not guarantee
a completion date for the overall
project. Sure… we could have fudged
some numbers to get us going, but
contracting our architects to lead us
in a brand new direction proved to be
the smartest route forward.
So, what about the now?
As you’ll see in the following pages, folks
from Team B Architecture + Design have
helped us locate a new understanding of
today. Instead of activating just the first
floor, we’ll now activate both floors of
HQ’s main building and work our way
from left (North) to right (South).
This step allows us to renovate our
installation-only gallery space; add 2nd
floor offices to HQ; add restrooms for
our guests; and provide a concessions
area to serve our outdoor movie theater
& performance stage.
So what about tomorrow?
Tomorrow is what we are walking down,
as well as the reasoning for our “Oh, The
Places You’ll Go!” inspiration of PAR-
Quarterly, Issue 03. How fast we get
there will be determined by our strategic
efforts and our communities’ willingness
to help us reach our financial destination.
At this point, we are simply excited to
still have a tomorrow. COVID did a number
on us all, so to be in our position
is all the reason to look forward to the
next big splash...

...and then they , ll say
“
KID, YOU , LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
Its a 98 and 1/4 percent guarantee after all.
Thanks for another year,
Jonathan

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Thank you for taking time to flip through PAR- Quarterly Issue 03. // Copywrite © Professional Artistic Research Projects Inc. 2023

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to join our Volunteer Registry // gabi@parprojects.org