The Read on Area Bookstores
Challenge Program Builds Better Futures
Do Coworking Spaces Work?
Man On A MisSion Wilmington’s Richard Raw uses his hip-hop roots to inspire others
ANNUAL SPORTS ISSUE
NOV. 2023 COMPLIMENTARY
–– A not-for-profit arts organization ––
Sons of Serendip
The Moth True Stories Told Live
Masters of Illusion – Believe the Impossible
THUR | NOV 2 |8PM
SAT | NOV 4 | 8PM
THUR | NOV 9 | 8PM
Deadgrass
Menopause The Musical®
The Rock Orchestra Plays David Bowie
FRI | NOV 10 | 8PM
SAT | NOV 11 | 8PM
SAT | NOV 11 | 8PM
Musicians Giving Back A Tribute to the Legends of Motown
The Underwater Bubble Show
Tab Benoit and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
SAT | NOV 18 | 8PM
FRI | NOV 24 | 8PM
THUR | NOV 30 | 8PM
NOVEMBER 17-19 The Playhouse
TheGrandWilmington.org | 302.652.5577 | 302.888.0200 818 N. Market Street, Wilmington, DE 19801 This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com.
All tickets subject to box office service charges. Artists, dates, times and programs are subject to change.
4 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
2 INSIDE 2
Out & About Magazine Vol. 36 | No. 9
START 9 War on Words 11 Art Loop Wilmington 13 FYI 14 Moo Moo at the Movies 17 Challenge Program Builds Better Futures 23 Iz Balleto and the Power of Art
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FOCUS 28 Richard Raw: Man on a Mission 35 Does Coworking Work? 40 The Read on Area Bookstores
Published each month by TSN Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact@TSNPub.com Wilmington, DE 19801 Publisher Gerald duPhily • jduphily@tsnpub.com
DRINK 48 Fiddlehead Comes to Delaware
LISTEN
Director of Publications Jim Miller • jmiller@tsnpub.com Contributing Editor Bob Yearick • ryearick@comcast.net Creative Director & Production Manager Matthew Loeb, Catalyst Visuals, LLC Digital Services Director Michael O’Brian
Contributing Writers Adriana Camacho-Church, JulieAnne Cross, David Ferguson, Mark Fields, Pam George, Catherine Kempista, Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Steve Lanahan, Ken Mammarella, Matt Morrissette, Kevin Noonan, Bob Yearick
28
53 Backtrack Vocals
PLAY
35
57 Fill in the Blanks
WILMINGTON 58 In the City 60 On the Riverfront
On the cover: Wilmington hip-hop artist and educator Richard Raw. Photo by Jim Coarse /Moonloop Photography
EVENTS CALENDAR
Contributing Photographers Jim Coarse, Justin Heyes and Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography, Butch Comegys, Lindsay Rudney duPhily, Joe Hoddinott, Matthew Loeb
Special Projects John Holton, Cullen Robinson, Bev Zimmermann
All new inWilmDE.com coming this month.
All new inWilmDE.com coming this month.
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Printed on recycled paper.
Editorial & advertising info: 302.655.6483 • Fax 302.654.0569 outandaboutnow.com • contact@tsnpub.com NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
7
START
A writer/editor’s slightly snarky and relentless crusade to eliminate grammatical gaffes from our everyday communications
Compiled from the popular column in Out & About Magazine
THE WAR ON WORDS A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to defend the English language against misuse and abuse
THE ‘EVEN STILL’ DISEASE
That’s what I call the tendency of some writers to insert even before the perfectly serviceable still in such sentences as these: •Paul Meyerberg, USA TODAY: “Even still, several factors could derail Georgia’s season.” •Keith Pompey, in The Philadelphia Inquirer: “(Warriors) Coach Steve Kerr basically started resting his starters at the end of the third quarter. Even still, the Warriors had a 26-point cushion.”
DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCIES DEPT.
•During the Ryder Cup golf tournament, TV analyst Paul Azinger used a common redundancy when he referred to “the whole, entire gallery.” His colleague, Dan Hicks, later talked of “the big, massive crowd.” •NBC Today’s Savannah Guthrie, on the Hamas attack on Israel: “It’s almost unfathomable to believe that this happened.” Unfathomable: incapable of being fully explored or understood. In other words, believed.
ICONICALLY SPEAKING
For years, reader Walt DelGiorno has been sending me examples of the random and widespread use of iconic to describe, well, almost anything. I promised him some time ago that I would address this irritant, and that time has arrived. Here’s a sampling of Walt’s submissions along with a couple of mine: •USA Today writer Gabe Hauari called the Grand Canyon “one of America’s iconic natural landmarks.” So, not simply a landmark? •Similarly, during the French Open, Savannah Guthrie referred to the “iconic landmarks in Paris.” •Camp David, according to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, is iconic. •During The Open Championship, an announcer observed, “[Brian] Harman is on top of that iconic yellow leaderboard.” •USA TODAY’s Josh Peter: “Kurt Rambis, the forward who sported iconic black-rimmed glasses as a member of the Showtime Lakers.” •NBC10 noted the death of “iconic actor Bob McGrath from Sesame Street.” •Law firm Swartz Culleton calls its phone number – 1-800-JUSTICE – yep, iconic. •And a Cadillac commercial ends with: “Be iconic. Cadillac.”
By Bob Yearick
FOOTBALL FOLLIES
Football is back in season, and the play-byplay guys and analysts are doing their usual disservice to the language. A couple of early entries: •Kirk Herbstreit, on ESPN's College GameDay: “If you would’ve saw what I just saw.” Kirk got one out of two. Would’ve seen is the correct construction. •A play-by-play guy (I missed his name) on a Big 10 game: “It was a footrace between he and the cornerback.” Should be him, object of the preposition between, of course, but I’m sure the announcer felt he sounded more sophisticated.
MEDIA WATCH
•From The News Journal: “Police on Tuesday honed in on a 2-mile perimeter in Pocopson Township, a residential area near Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, which U.S. marshals described as ‘heavily wooded’ and offering ‘a lot of hiding spots and ravens.’” That should be homed in, and we’re pretty sure the U.S. marshals called those deep, narrow gorges ravines. •From the Williamsport (Pa.) Sun-Gazette: “Horace’s wife, Odelia, worked by his side, often 14-hour days, selling the farm’s wears.” That’s wares. •A reader reports that the network announcer on a Phillies-Marlins playoff game said that “(Bryce) Harper had a historical 2022 postseason.” Harper had a historic (something of great and lasting importance) postseason last year. Historical is used as a general term for describing history, as in “the historical record.” •From CNN, courtesy of reader Jane Buck: “The North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission is a non-partisan investigative body comprised of members appointed by the Chief Justice, Governor, General Assembly, and State Bar Council.” The whole comprises the parts, so the commission comprises members appointed by the Chief Justic, etc. Composed of would’ve been acceptable in this sentence. •Mike Sielski, in The Philadelphia Inquirer: “See, this kind of cloak-and-dagger stuff doesn’t jive with the NFL’s culture of openness and honesty.” Mike meant jibe, meaning to agree with. Jive means a style of dance or glib, deceptive, or foolish talk.
Word of the Month
Vicissitude Pronounced veh-siss-a-tude, it’s a noun meaning 1. A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant. 2. Alternation between opposite things.
Buy The War on Words book at the Hockessin BookShelf (hockessinbookshelf.com) or on Amazon, or email me: ryearick@comcast.net
Follow me on Twitter: @thewaronwords
NEED A SPEAKER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? Contribute $100 or more to the Brandywine YMCA through my donor page and I will present my fun and informative discussion on grammar to your group. My page is at: donate.ymcade.org/fundraiser/4552820. And thank you!
10 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 5pm Start
Next Art Loop:
Friday, Dec. 1, 2023
Complimentary Shuttle RIVERFRONT The Delaware Contemporary 200 South Madison Street 656-6466 • decontemporary.org Artists: ENTER THE SUBCONSCIOUS, Mickayel Thurin, STRIPES ESCAPE, Florence Weisz & WEATHER OR NOT, Margo Allman and Anne Oldach
DOWNTOWN 2nd & LOMA Leasing Office 211 N. Market Street 655-0124 • 2ndandloma.com Artist: Between The Veils by Victoria Lawrence
A program of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs
Freakishly Awesome by Shaun Anthony 825 N. Tatnall Street 275-6994 Artist: Kartoons & Kush By LFA 919 Gallery Market 919 N. Market Street 298-1542 Artist: “Fall in Love with Art” with Three Friends Catherine Colsher, Beth Palser and Susan Bankey Yoder Come meet the artists and enjoy some refreshments from 5-7pm
Chris White Gallery 701 N. Shipley Street 475-0998 • chriswhitegallery.com Artist: Extranjera/o, No soy de aqui y no soy de alla curated by Cony Madariaga
The Grand Opera House 818 N. Market Street 658-7897 thegrandwilmington.org Grand Gallery: “Celebrating City Streets” by Sarah Baptist baby grand Gallery: “Change is the Only Constant” by Jo Redbird
City of Wilmington’s Redding Gallery 800 N. French Street 576-2100 • cityfestwilm. com/redding-gallery Artist: I Am My Hair by Theda Sandiford
Huxley and Hiro 419 N. Market Street 439-0805 Artists: Jimmy Thompson & Eunice LaFate
The Creative Vision Factory 617 N. Shipley Street 312-5493 Artists: New works by Carl Bailey & Friends Delaware College of Art & Design 600 N. Market Street 622-8000 • dcad.edu Artist: For Entertainment Purposes Only by yesterdaynite
presented by
cityfest
Mezzanine Gallery at the Carvel State Building 820 N. French Street 577-8278 arts.delaware.gov Artist: Encaustic Constructions by Ron Meick The Sold Firm 800-B N. Tatnall Street Artist: Liberation Soft Girl Era: Act II by E.Lizé Studio on Market 219 North Market Street 229-7108 Artist: Landscapes and Places by Jeff Herbert
WEST SIDE Blue Streak Gallery 1721 Delaware Avenue 429-0506 Artist: Canopy by Susan Benarcik Howard Pyle Studio 1305 N. Franklin Street (978) 460-8120 Artists: Howard Pyle Studio Group Show
BEYOND THE CITY Arden Buzz-Ware Gallery 2119 The Highway, Arden 981-4811 Artist: Jill Althouse-Wood: All the Feels Bellefonte Arts 803-C Brandywine Blvd 547-2573 Artist: New Member Showcase: Group show exhibiting our newest members Finist & The Owl 811 Brandywine Boulevard 786-228-6638 Artist: A Splash of Color by Eve Me’Chelle Steel The Station Gallery 3922 Kennett Pike 654-8638 • stationgallery.net Artist: National League of American Pen Women 2023 Diamond State Branch Biennial Art Show COCA Pop-Up Gallery 3829 Kennett Pike 218-4411 Artists: Group Show of local artists Delaware Museum of Nature and Science 4840 Kennett Pike 384-3694 • delmns.org Artists: Artistic Safari by The Howard Pyle Studio Group’s Plein Air Adventure
ArtLoopWilmington.org
sweeten your
thanksgiving
Order house-made pastries, seasonal treats, custom cakes, and more; all available for pick-up Thanksgiving week. Visit barreverie.com for a full list of options and to order. 4017 Kennett Pike Greenville, DE www.barreverie.com 12 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
START Things worth knowing
TAPPING INTO DELAWARE’S CRAFT ALCOHOL PRODUCERS
T HELP US FIND THE BOOKS
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ob Yearick’s story on the staying power of bookstores was encouraging news for us who like to read. In fact, we got so excited we loaded up with too much reading material on a recent bookstore visit and dropped four books on the pages of this issue. Help us find the books. Using the subject line “I Found The Books,” email the four pages you find a book to Contact@TSNPub.com by Nov. 11. Three of you will be chosen from the correct submissions to enjoy lunch on us. Congratulations to last month’s winners Sarah and Flora Stein, Maria Iversen and Alaina Vincent. They found El Diablo's Scratch on pages 9, 13, 20, 34.
he Delaware Tourism Office is presenting an updated way for both visitors and residents to support the state’s many locally-owned craft beverage businesses using a new seamless Delaware On Tap Trail interface. Users can explore Delaware’s many breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries, and meaderies all through one platform, which can be easily accessed at VisitDelaware.com/de-on-tap. On the new platform, users can “check in” at various craft beverage sites throughout the state. Each site visit earns the user points on an upgraded points system. Once users accumulate a defined number of points, they can redeem unique Delaware On Tap prizes. To sweeten the deal and encourage users to sign up through the new platform, the Delaware Tourism Office is giving Delaware On Tap t-shirts to the first 100 participants that check-in at 10 participating trail locations. “Delaware’s more than $4 billion tourism industry is a key part of the state’s economy, and the craft beverage industry is an important element of that,” said Delaware Tourism Office Director Jessica Welch. “Finding new ways to draw visitors and residents alike into these businesses is at the core of our office’s mission.” The Delaware On Tap Trail began in 2010 with 12 locations under the name Delaware Wine & Ale Trail. Today, the Trail includes more than 35 participating businesses — breweries, wineries, distilleries, cideries and meaderies.
IT’S BACK! CITY LOOP SERIES RESUMES DECEMBER 9
T
THE OUT & ABOUT MAGAZINE & MOTORCYCLE SANTA
he City Loop Series resumes with the Ugly Sweater Santa Crawl set for Saturday, Dec. 9 (8pm start). The 42-year-old Loop Series is a collection of costumed bar SAT. crawls that has become one of Wilmington’s most-enduring nightlife traditions.DEC. 10 This year, the non-profit group Motorcycle Santas is teaming with Loop organizer 8PM START Out & About Magazine for the Ugly Sweater Santa Crawl. Partial proceeds from the event will benefit Ronald McDonald House. The 2023-24 Loop Series will continue Sat., Feb 10 with the Mardi Gras Loop (Fat Tuesday is Feb. 13). It concludes with the 35th annual St. Paddy’s Loop on Sat., March 9. The Irish Culture Club of Delaware’s annual St. Patrick’s Parade kicks off the day in Downtown Wilmington. For participating venues and other details, visit OutAndAboutNow.com.
PRESENTED BY:
OFFICIAL LOOP STOP
FREE HOLIDAY SHIPPING COURTESY DOWNTOWN VISIONS
T
hose who shop online at select downtown Wilmington retailers will receive free shipping on items purchased through Dec. 31, 2023, courtesy of Downtown Visions. At press time, participating retailers include Al’s Sporting Goods, Esto Premium Denim, LaFate Gallery, Morgan’s of Delaware, Shoe Tech, Spaceboy Clothing and Town & Shore Handcrafted. For a current retailers list, visit DowntownWilmingtonDe.com. NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 13
Out & About's Jim Miller (l) with Moo Moo and Movies on Tap co-creator Ryan Kennedy.
Moo Moo
at the Movies Last year’s star of Movies on Tap may return on Nov. 16
I
n September 2022, during a Movies on Tap fundraising event at Penn Cinema, a spunky gal named Moo Moo stole the show — wowing the audience with her cute looks, hot-pink outfit and natural charm. The 7-year-old canine was up for adoption. Moo Moo had been brought to the event by Faithful Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit animal welfare organization raising money and awareness for new animal care facility they were close to completing in New Castle. Although Moo Moo didn’t go home with a new owner that night, her Hollywood ending was just around the corner. Five months later, Greenville retiree Jim McKinnon would follow the advice of his barber and stop in at Faithful Friends’ just-completed new facilities. For Moo Moo, it was another chance to let her star power shine. “She came into the room with all flags flying, tail wagging, and then on her back, tummy up, wanting to be rubbed,” McKinnon says, “She sold me completely.” Just like that, Moo Moo had a new home. “She adapted so quickly,” says McKinnon with a touch of astonishment in his voice, “I was amazed that in no time at all, she was my dog.” “She’s terrific. She’s house-broken; she sits; she stays; and she’s sweet.” McKinnon is no stranger to dogs. He says his family always owned dogs — as many as six, at one point. When his wife passed a year and a half ago, it was just him and Lucky, the family pit bull, who they had brought home from a shelter 14 years prior. But even a dog named Lucky can’t live forever. In February, Lucky passed. After a period of mourning, McKinnon realized how much he wanted another dog. That’s when he took his barber’s advice. “I would encourage older people such as myself to adopt older dogs,” says the 84-year-old McKinnon. “They seem to realize that they have been given a new chance and adapt quickly to their new situation. Plus, they are wonderful companions.” Moo Moo may make a sequel appearance November 16 at Movie on Tap, which again benefits Faithful Friends. For a $25 ticket, guests see Planes, Trains and Automobiles on the big screen along with two pre-show cocktails created by cosponsor Tito's Handmade Vodka, complimentary popcorn and the warm feeling in their hearts knowing they are helping dogs like Moo Moo find a friendly forever home. And, if we are all lucky enough to see Moo Moo there — remember — she’s taken. — For tickets for Movies on Tap on November 16 benefiting Faithful Friends, visit wilmington.penncinema.com/movies-on-tap.
14 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM | InWilmDE.com
Things worth knowing
THE GIFT OF WARMTH
S
ince 2017, the Delaware KIDS Fund’s Camping Out for Coats campaign has raised enough money to purchase more than 12,000 coats for 12,496 elementary students at 23 different schools. This year marks the seventh year of the fundraiser and on Nov. 17 a Camp Kick-off will take place from 5-9pm at Operation Warm Newport Headquarters (10 S. James St., Newport). Those interested in supporting this effort to provide kids in need of a brand-new coat can camp overnight at Operation Warm Newport, camp at home and make an online donation, or attend the Camp Kick-off and provide a $10 minimum donation. The Camp Kick-off will feature bonfires, food and drink, music by Sam Smick, a silent auction and fire-side chats with local community leaders. Visit CampingForCoats.com.
HISTORIC NIGHT FOR QUAKER HILL PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
Q
uaker Hill Historic Preservation will celebrate 25 years of preservation and education initiatives for one of Wilmington’s most historic areas on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at the University & Whist Club. The evening (6-9pm) will include a performance by Wilmington Concert Opera, silent auction items, recognition awards, and a lecture by keynote speaker Dr. Davis Ames entitled The 2nd Empire Invades Quaker Hill: the case for 401 Washington St. Tickets are $75 and include hors d’oeuvres and a threecourse dinner. Visit QuakerHillHistoric.org.
DELAWARE RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION’S CORNERSTONE AWARDS
N
icola PIzza and the Caggiano family received the Delaware Restaurant Association’s highest award, the Cornerstone Award, for their 52-year contribution to the industry at last month’s 21st annual awards ceremony in Dewey Beach. Lewes Oyster House partners Sean Nick Caggiano Sr. (l) with Kelly Small Corea, Tom LIttle and Tim Bartley were named and Nick Caggiano Jr. at Nicola Pizza. Restaurateurs of the Year. Food Bank of Delaware CEO Kathy Kanefsky received the Industry Impact Award. And veteran Out & About contributor Pam George was honored for her contributions and impact on Delaware’s restaurant industry along with The News Journal’s Patty Talorico and The Cape Gazette’s Bob Yesbek.
36TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF TREES SET FOR BRANTWYN ESTATE
D
elaware Hospice will present its traditional display of decorated trees and wreaths Nov. 17-19 at Brantwyn Estate in Wilmington. Festival of Trees benefits Delaware Hospice programs with each tree and wreath sponsored and decorated by local businesses and individuals. Other activities include a marketplace, bake shop, live music and specialty trees such as Remembrance Tree, Memorial Tree and New Hope Tree. Visit DelawareHospice.org.
LIST YOUR AREA EVENT... FREE!
InWilmDe.com NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 15
16 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
START
Challenge Program Executive Director Andrew McKnight says learning trade skills is just the beginning for many of his students.
Wilmington’s Challenge Program celebrates a new space where they’ll create beautiful furniture while helping underserved young adults succeed
By Scott Pruden Photos by Jim Coarse
T
aking a tour of the buildings that make up the Challenge Program, the vocational training initiative for young adults located along Seventh Street on Wilmington’s Christina River and Brandywine Creek peninsula, is, in a way, a glimpse into the future. All around are the components of what will become beautiful hand-crafted furniture — solid wood slabs for tabletops, custom-machined legs and fasteners — and everywhere lingers the scent of milled wood and a light coating of sawdust. Meanwhile, the participants in the program represent those whose chances at success might have originally been slim, but whose work in the wood shop and the Challenge program’s various projects in the community gives them the foundation to be more employable and ultimately self-sufficient. ► JUNE 2023 NOVEMBER 2023 | | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM XX 17
BUILDING BETTER FUTURES
continued from previous page And just a few hundred yards up the road, the future is even more tangible with the emergence of the Challenge Program’s new wood shop. The massive post-and-beam building will serve as the flagship for the Challenge Program’s enterprise side, CP Furniture, which will offer a range of custom-built furniture for home and commercial applications. Revenue earned from sales of the high-quality furniture will help support the program’s larger mission.
A History of Helping On this steamy summer day, the Challenge Program’s main building is, at first glance, nearly indistinguishable from its neighbors at the Copeland Maritime Center, home to the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel. That’s by both design and happenstance, as the Challenge Program emerged from the original Kalmar Nyckel construction project. In 1995, the Kalmar Nyckel hired Andrew McKnight, the Challenge Program’s executive director, away from the Philadelphia Seaport Museum, where he was teaching boat
The Challenge Program's main building on Wilmington's Seventh Street Peninsula. It's new 14,000-square-foot facility, CP Furniture, will be revealed to the public next month.
construction to underserved teens. The hope, McKnight says, was that he could replicate that program’s success in Wilmington. In 1998, the Challenge Program separated from the Kalmar Nyckel and formed its own non-profit organization, continuing to occupy its custom-built wood shop on the site and expanding to an adjacent cinderblock building situated between the Copeland Maritime Center and Fort Christina Park. It was the former home of a yachting furniture company. The training program as it exists today — serving young adults from 18 to 24 — started in 2000 and has been going ever since. The primary goal, says McKnight, is to create an environment where young people who are out of school but whose prospects are unsteady can both gain the skills that will make them more employable and develop the stability in their personal lives to enable them to get and keep good paying jobs.
18 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
A Pivot in Focus
building the foundational skills related to work After beginning as a that many of us take for program to build vocational granted. The program helps skills for teens ages 13 to 18, participants feel secure it became clear that it was enough in their personal lives those past high school age to become reliable workers, who benefited most from says McKnight. what Challenge had to offer, For many of the younger McKnight says. Helping graduates, that means adults rather than middlemoving into full-time work and high-school students also in something outside the allowed for more in-depth building trades. But as they training and higher pay for The Challenge Program began in 2000 as a vocational program focused on teens ages 13-18. grow into the responsibilities trainees. it serves young adults ages 18-24 with a focus on providing the skills and stability of young adulthood, he said “And then it took another Today, necessary to retain a good-paying job. he sees many of them making three or four years for me the transition to higher to figure out that it’s not the technical skills training, but the case management that is really the most effective aspect of paying jobs — occasionally in the trades and with union wages. For those who don’t step into an employment path the program,” he says. “The technical skills are what bring immediately, McKnight says another of the Challenge Program’s [the trainees] in and keep their interest, but what makes them employable is barrier busting: paying off fines, getting a driver’s benefits is its longevity. He’s been active in the program since license, getting a GED, or finding stable housing to be ready to its inception, and one of his instructors is a 25-year veteran. If enter the workforce in a real way. You have to take care of some former trainees need help or support, they know McKnight and of those basic needs, and most of the population we serve, they his team will still be available to provide it. Vernon Laws, 21, a participant in the Challenge Program, don’t have anybody to do that.” In other words, the Challenge Program focuses less on says he’d been interested in a career in construction or carpentry creating a constant flow of trained craftspeople and more on since he was a child, and that discovering the program after ►
What’s holding you back from building what’s next? Some have taken a wait-and-see approach toward their next move. But we never stopped building, healing, and making Delaware. And when it comes to the value and quality of education that Del Tech provides, there’s never been a better time to join us. Start a conversation with an academic advisor today. Visit dtcc.edu.
NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 19
BUILDING BETTER FUTURES
continued from previous page high school has helped him put that dream into action. “Once I heard about the program, I decided that it was a good opportunity for me,” he says. “The Challenge Program really gave me the experience to do this as a career. They helped me figure out stuff I’d never figured out before.”
Building Futures
The Challenge Program's new production facility will allow it to have a total of 20 employees, enabling it to provide expanded one-on-one training — not to mention meet increasing demand for its services.
LET LEAVES
As another next step, a select number of Challenge Program graduates are eligible to participate in the pre-apprenticeship program at CP Furniture, the Challenge Program’s social business enterprise. CP’s earnings go back into the Challenge Program coffers to allow the program to be self-supporting. Currently, the Challenge Program is funded by private industry sponsors such as Capital One, Barclays US, TD Bank as well as public sources such as the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Workforce Development Board and the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Their Families. McKnight says the success of CP Furniture and the ongoing demand for the products it provides will, once the new woodshop is completed, create a steady stream of income that will help the overall program thrive and flourish. The new space will also allow the Challenge Program to further expand the ways it can help graduates better their work prospects, says McKnight. The plan is to have a total of 20 employees on-site, among them seven mechanics mentoring a maximum of seven trainees for a 1-to-1 student/ supervisor ratio. That maximizes learning opportunities and enables the shop to fulfill its orders, says McKnight. That ability to provide products was a major hurdle once the furniture
FALL
NOT CIGARETTE BUTTS
DON'T BE A FLICKER
www.KeepDelawareBeautiful.com 20 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
— Jim Ennis The UBP’s shop features custom wood paneling from the Challenge Program that would have been prohibitively expensive from anyone else, Wilburn says. “They bring a really cool aesthetic, and all the time since renovating the shop people come in and say, ‘Wow, it’s so cool in here. We had no idea.’ It’s just a bike shop, but it’s a really cool space.” In addition, a centerpiece of her Wilmington rowhome is a custom-made dining room table she and her husband commissioned from the program. “We’ve worked with them in lots of different ways over the years and always had a great relationship,” she says. “We did a program where their trainees were able to learn some mechanical skills to work on their own bikes to use for transportation, and a number of our trainees went over there to get training on welding.” However, as the demand for their products quickly outpaced the program’s ability to provide inventory, it became evident that the relatively small Challenge Program woodshop would need to be replaced. Fortunately, the site two lots down at 1136 E. 7th St. was available from the City of Wilmington, and using money from a federal Urban Development Action Grant, the Challenge Program bought the lot and brought in Digsau Architects, which had designed the original Challenge Program headquarters — formally known as the Construction Training and Education Center — on the Kalmar Nyckel site. ►
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The size itself makes a huge difference. The physical size not only allows us to build more stuff, but also to hire more people.
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BASH AY BD
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side of the program began to grow after its inception in 2014. By 2018, restaurants and other businesses had been reaching out to add the woodshop’s unique woodworking creations to their own spaces, but the shop struggled to scale up. Travel around Wilmington and Philadelphia and it’s not hard to see furniture and products the program has produced. The Queen Theater, University of Delaware, Barnes Foundation, Longwood Gardens, the Discovery Center in Philadelphia, CSC Station, Deco, Talula’s Garden, Yards Brewery, Le Cavalier, La Pizzeria Metro, Wilmington Brew Works, Bardea Steak, Chancery Market, Scout Coffee and Sleeping Bird Coffee, among others, have all benefited from the skill and creativity of Challenge Program participants. Laura Wilburn, executive director of the Urban Bike Project (UBP) in Wilmington, has not only benefited from the program’s craftsmanship both on an organizational and personal basis, but has returned the favor by trading knowledge between her group and Challenge Program trainees.
RE SHOP U S A PE E R T
BUILDING BETTER FUTURES continued from previous page
Jim Ennis, one of the Challenge Program supervisors and the person in charge of construction of the new shop, has high hopes for the new space. “It’s going to make a big difference because a lot of our guys are coming from troubled backgrounds and are looking for the means to improve themselves,” he says. “The size itself makes a huge difference. The physical size not only allows us to build more stuff, but also to hire more people.” Those points are the key to the Challenge Program’s future, McKnight says. “We're trying to turn into a production furniture shop,” he says. “The idea is once we move, we will be able to take on more and that volume should make us a little more profitable. So that's kind of the idea behind the move.”
Celebrating a New Space
The new 14,000-square-foot building was originally scheduled to be completed in spring of 2020, but COVID delayed those plans. Now in the home stretch of construction, the Challenge Program will reveal the new building to the public an inaugural celebration called Tastings Under the Timbers at 6:15 p.m. on Dec. 7 (a pre-event reception for VIPs begins at 5:30 p.m.). Construction of the new building — particularly during pandemic conditions — has been a challenge in itself, says McKnight. But with the experience of working in both a custom and a repurposed building, he and his team brought ample experience to the project. “After building [the Construction Training and Education Center], we were like, these are the mistakes we're not going to make again,” he says. “So, we've very carefully thought out the layout, what tooling we need, where the dust collector's going to go. Everything. It's exciting.” —Learn more about the Challenge Program at challengeprogram.org and CP Furniture at cpfurniture.org. For tickets or sponsorship information about Tastings Under the Timbers, visit tastingsunderthetimbers.cpfurniture.org. 22 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
START
Iz Balleto currently serves as community engagement specialist at the Delaware Art Museum. But he's been a community activist all of his adult life.
‘Making People Visible’ Iz Balleto learned the power of art as a child growing up in New York City. He’s spent a lifetime showing people how it can uplift and motivate. By Catherine Kempista Photos by Joe del Tufo
S
imply put, Iz Balleto takes care of people. And those who have been lucky enough to cross paths with him through work, volunteerism or friendship, all share the same sentiment. “He is lifting up so many people right now. There aren’t too many people like him, so when
he talks, I listen,” says Jet Phynx, CEO and founder of Jet Phynx Films and The Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival. Balleto, community engagement specialist for the Delaware Art Museum, has been an activist and community organizer in Wilmington for decades, sharing messages of love, peace and empowerment. In his current role, he has brought his activist and community organizing skills to the museum and is laser focused on creating programs that add to a living archive of the artistic and cultural contributions of Delaware’s BIPOC communities. ► JUNE 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 23
‘MAKING PEOPLE VISIBLE’
continued from previous page “I knew I needed to get my foot in the door at the art museum because I found out what you do in the art museum, or what happens on the walls, they put it in the archives,” he explains. “As somebody that's been a migrant, somebody who's been invisible, I need to make my people visible.” Balleto has made a name for himself in Delaware for bringing a new and diverse array of programs to the art museum, which, in turn, has brought new and diverse audiences to the institution. But connecting people to their histories and empowering individuals is nothing new for him; it’s who he’s always been.
Early Influences
Born in Peru and raised in New York City, Balleto found a sense of place and identity in both the museums of the city and the foundational hip-hop scene of the late ‘70s and ‘80s. “I saw the value in art because as a child growing up in New York City, the art museum was a place where I learned so much about different peoples’ culture, different ideas, different minds,” says Balleto. “And hip-hop was my father, hip-hop was my mother. In that era of hip-hop culture, hip-hop music had a lot of knowledge.” In fact, Balleto credits hip-hop music for helping him learn English. “You had groups like Public Enemy, X Clan, Guru, Gang Starr, that were speaking and educating, so that helped me see who I needed to be as a person. Being repetitive with the music and listening, that's the way I learned,” says Balleto. Emerging from what he describes as “a troubled youth” and difficult living conditions, he moved to Delaware in 2001 to support a family member who has recently relocated to the First State. He was 27. “I moved to Delaware without knowing Delaware. I’d never heard of the state,” he says. “And I decided to start fresh.” In 2003, Balleto started working at the Wilmington Riverfront as a porter, cleaning restrooms and picking up trash. Here, he met Abundance Child and the Delaware Art Museum’s Joyce Schiller — two people who helped lay the foundation for his next chapter.
Planting the Seeds
“He was working at the Riverfront and was really cool with my stepdad," says Abundance Child, founder/owner of Drop Squad Kitchen, formerly Molly’s Old-Fashioned Ice Cream. “He was always in the store. We had this love of hip-hop, and I had never seen someone like him before.” Balleto, who had always been active in the hip-hop scene in New York, had sought out something similar in Wilmington but came up short. To fill the gap, he hosted parties at his apartment, freestyling with friends and playing everything from mainstream hip-hop to underground artists. “My apartment would be filled, and we would just be freestyling over beats,” he says. “One day, Abundance walked in because her brother invited her. She said, ‘Would you mind doing this at my spot?’ Abundance Child gave me a chance.” From that point forward, Balleto became the head of her street team for Thorough Thursday open mic hip-hop nights at her venue in Wilmington. While drumming up attendance, they 24 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
Grateful to have an opportunity to work at the museum, Balleto understood the importance of the museum not just as a cultural institution but for its role in preserving history. “I need to help the community understand that this is their museum, too, especially for my city that is 70 percent Black and Brown,” he says. Within a few years, he started “planting seeds” with the museum’s staff on different ideas he had to engage the local community in the arts. In time, he would see the fruits of his patient and diligent labor.
‘Lead by Example’
Balleto with Nanticoke Indian Chief Natosha Carmine at this year's Nanticoke Pow Wow.
both hoped to discover local talent and cultivate homegrown artists in Wilmington. “Many people from the neighborhood — from the West Side, from the East Side, North Side — felt welcome,” he adds. “They found a place they could practice their art form. It became a home to many.” Around the same time, he also met Joyce Schiller, curator of American and Illustration Art Collections at the Delaware Art Museum. He was assigned to clean the museum’s offices, which had relocated to the Riverfront during its renovation in the early 2000s. “She was like, ‘You have a way of speaking. And I would love to bring you in,” Balleto says. “She told me to apply to the museum. So, I literally started from the bottom.” He was hired as an operations technician at the newly renovated museum in 2005. Schiller passed away in 2016.
When he wasn’t working at the museum, Balleto stayed busy, immersing himself in a mission to help uplift Wilmington’s communities in any way he could. In 2004, he and Abundance became deeply involved in Guerrilla Republik (GR), a grassroots organization started by Raab Love, which has become one of the largest hip-hop organizations in the world. Through GR, Balleto started organizing community hip-hop events with a focus on service. “I felt the need to lead by example,” says Balleto. “People loved what we were doing because every member of Guerrilla Republik would have to do community service once a month to get on the mic. Back then, promoters would charge artists $200, $300 to perform for 15 minutes. We waived the fee and let them do community service.” In 2007, he also became involved in the Annual Peoples’ Festival Tribute to Bob Marley, co-founded by Genny Pitts, as an event volunteer. ►
The Rossettis Revolution, partnership, love. The major international exhibition of an iconic family of artists comes to Delaware October 21. delart.org/rossettis
This exhibition was organized by the Delaware Art Museum in partnership with Tate Britain and is made possible through support from the Nathan Clark Foundation, the Amy P. Goldman Foundation, the Delaware Art Museum Council, and the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable FoundationThis exhibition is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com. Image: La Ghirlandata (detail), 1873. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Oil on canvas. Guildhall Art Gallery. Photo credit: City of London Corporation.
NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 25
w
‘MAKING PEOPLE VISIBLE’ continued from previous page
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26 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
“One person that really opened my mind was Mama Genny,” he says. “I'd never heard of Bob Marley before. I never knew how powerful love could be. He put the message behind the beat, and you just have to listen. So that helped me grow a different side of me.” To date, Balleto is one of the festival’s longest running volunteers, says Abundance Child. In the ensuing years, he served as a youth volunteer at the Latin American Community Center, founded 302 Guns Down with Michaelena DeJesus and Jea Street, Jr., and became a coach and volunteer with the Roberto Clemente Baseball League in Wilmington. He currently serves as the league’s board vice president. The organization serves children ages 4 to 18 and is Wilmington’s only bilingual baseball league. To honor its namesake, the co-ed league focuses on teaching the children the importance of service and teamwork, in addition to baseball skills. “Iz has brought a lot of awareness to the league with him going around and exposing us to different avenues we would have never had,” says Michael Beltran, board president of the Roberto Clemente Baseball League. “His devotion to us is great.”
Creating a Living Archive
While still in his role as operations tech at the museum, Balleto started seeing his persistence pay off with the educators and curators. In 2016, he played a pivotal role in the composition of My America, My Journey, an interview performance in support of the museum’s Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art exhibit. “We realized we had something with this approach of working together on these programs,” says Saralyn Rosenfield, director of learning and engagement at the Delaware Art Museum. “He helped recruit the voices that participated and helped draw an audience for this performance.” In 2017, Balleto was selected to participate in MuseumCamp, the brainchild of Nina Simon, the former executive director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, for his
submission, Respect to the Queenz, a retrospective on the role of women in hip-hop. The museum flew him to California for the avant-garde experience, which was “instrumental” for him. His proposal idea took center stage at the event that August. Recognizing the interest and the unique talent he brought to the role, the museum transitioned Balleto part-time to the community engagement position in 2020 and then named him full-time to the role in 2021. “He has been given the reins to determine what community engagement looks like at the museum,” says Rosenfield. Because of Balleto’s influence and involvement, the museum has featured exhibitions and events highlighting the culture and contributions of Delaware’s BIPOC communities, including Call of the Sun with Aztec Chief Jose Avila of the Tonantzin Yaotecas; Día de los Muertos: Walking Among the Ancestors; and Indigenous Faces of Wilmington with Andre L. Wright, Jr., among others. Tapping into one of his earliest influences, he just recently collaborated with his long-time friend “Grouchy” Greg Watkins, co-founder of allhiphop.com, and Dr. Traci Currie to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with the Inaugural Hip-Hop Cultural Summit. “The art museum staff and Iz are going above and beyond to make sure everyone is included in the arts,” says Watkins. “Hiphop is an art form and a high art form. The art museum is really showing they are committed to their mission, making sure everyone is included and welcomed.” For Balleto, the new title simply summarizes what he has been doing for decades in Wilmington, in Delaware, and in New York. “My process is being involved in the community,” he says. “I have to make sure they're involved. I just know that they're the bridge. You need bridges to build with people and you need bridges to build with your community.” And for long-time friends, collaborators, and colleagues, he’s doing what he’s always done — uplift and motivate. “He knows how to motivative leaders to be better leaders,” says Phynx. “If I was a Jedi, Iz would be Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
WE TELL THE WORLD’S GREAT STORIES
Next up at the REP “the best theatre in the state, if not the region.” - BROADWAY WORLD
Nov. 2 - 19
Adapted from the book that inspired the Oscar winning lm.
Feb. 8 - 18
Apr. 11 - 28
ROSELLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
NEWARK, DE | 302-831-2204 WWW.REP.UDEL.EDU NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 27
28 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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FOCUS
Man On A Mission
By Pam George
Wilmington’s Richard Raw draws from his hip-hop roots to ‘make things happen’
W
hen Richard Raw was 8 years old, he fell in love with the song “La Di Da Di” by Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. The youngster had good taste — the hip-hop classic became one of the most sampled songs in history. “I heard it, and it blew my mind,” Raw recalls. “The second time I heard it, I memorized it.” The budding performer seized the spotlight at his older sister’s high school graduation party, where he performed the song so well the guests passed a hat for donations. “I was thinking, ‘If I memorized someone else’s song and got money, how about I create my own song?’” says the Wilmington native. “And that’s what led to this whole explosion of me wanting to be a part of hip-hop.” Raw has stayed true to his passion. This month, he is releasing his newest album, The Crown, which he will perform in its entirety on Nov. 18 at the Wilmington Public Library. The artist has lived and breathed the hip-hop culture, which goes beyond music with a beat and rapid-fire rap. It’s about developing a vision, voice and spirit of collaboration. Those who know Raw would agree that he possesses all three. Not only does he write and perform, but he’s also the program director of the Culture Restoration Project, which offers interactive, supplemental educational programs to inspire youth. ►
Photos By Jim Co
arse
Richard Raw hopes that through his music and community engagement, he can positively inspire future generations.
Volpe
NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 29
MAN ON A MISSION
continued from previous “Richard has devoted his life to learning, teaching and uplifting the beauty and significance of African culture globally and in American culture,” says Raye Jones Avery, former executive director of the Christiana Cultural Arts Center and founding board member of Kuumba Academy Charter School in Wilmington. And he doesn’t wait for opportunities. “He’s an initiator; he definitely makes things happen,” says Pamelyn Manocchio, former executive director of The Grand Opera House in Wilmington.
An Early Calling
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Hip-hop was reportedly born at a Bronx house party on Aug. 11, 1973, where DJ Kool Herc toggled between turntables to create percussion breaks. Raw’s other sister became a fan after the family relocated from Wilmington’s West Side to the north to care for his grandmother. Torn from her community, his sister embraced the movement. “It was a culture — it was the way she dressed and the way she talked to people,” he remembers. When someone disrespected her, she let them know it. “She was very vocal,” he says. Raw was no stranger to advocacy. His mother, Barbara Watson, worked for the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Methodist Action Program. She was also director of programming for youth on Wilmington’s East Side. Raw was often at her side when she worked on projects. As a teen, Raw studied under youth mentor Olvan Jones, who taught Black history in his home. Jones has led forums on Aesthetic Dynamics, a theory of history and metaphysics that links the African American experience to spiritual teachings. At Jones’s home, Raw met wife-to-be Shah Jannele, Jones’s daughter. They would later share the same calling to build communities rooted in culture. Raw follows Ifa spirituality, which has African roots, and he received a name that means “Crown of Knowledge.” Hence the name of his new album, The Crown. “It’s the perfect name,” he says. “I love knowledge. When you hear my music, you hear a lot of messages — I try to empower people rather than tear them down.”
More Than Music
If you’re wondering about the difference between rap and hip-hop, think of hip-hop as an artistic movement, not just a genre. It includes breakdancing, graffiti, rap, DJing, theater, literature, and self-knowledge. Early on, Raw was inspired by artists such as Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Public Enemy, who tackled political subjects. He considers his voice his instrument; however, his experience playing trumpet at Mount Pleasant High made him appreciate musical instruments. Indeed, as a hip-hop artist, Raw stands out because he performs with the Word Warrior Band, not a track. “It adds versatility,” he explains. “I’ll put in some funk, Afrobeat. You never know what you’re going to get when you come to one of our shows.” Raw has worked with local jazz artists, including trumpeter Tony “The Big Cat” Smith and saxophonist Alvin Alexander.
Early in his music career Raw was inspired by artists who tackled political subjects, such as Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Public Enemy.
“We make amazing music, blending our worlds,” Raw says. He’s also collaborated on a live performance with Jones Avery’s band for the virtual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. His recent album features multiple collaborators, including singer Hannah Carter. Despite hip-hop’s longevity, there is a stigma, and Raw has experienced it firsthand. In 2015, his show at Theatre N was shut down due to alleged complaints that his music encouraged violence and misogyny. Many scholars maintain that the commercialism of hip-hop has helped perpetuate stereotypes against the performers and Black culture. Nevertheless, artists on the underground scene are pushing the envelope in creative, positive ways to advance the genre, Raw says.
Forging New Paths Through Partnerships
Raw, for instance, thinks creatively regarding performance venues. Manocchio remembers meeting him when she booked a series of park concerts. She vividly recalls his performance in Tilton Park. “He invited other guest performers to join him, and it’s the first time I heard Aziza Nailah — it was a talented group of people,” she says. “We programmed him every year since then, and he’d done a few years of residency work in the Hicks Community Center.” Raw did a live stream performance at the Baby Grand while it was closed during the pandemic, and Manocchio instantly thought of Raw when The Grand decided to join the Soul of the City celebration for hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Although most of the activity was outside, she felt strongly that The Grand’s theater should be showcased. “We put Richard on stage in Copeland Hall and had our front doors wide open,” she says. “I’m glad we were able to do that.” Raw has found allies in other cultural groups. In 2022, the Delaware Art Museum presented Raw and his band at The Queen as part of “Shades of Excellence: The Blackout Experience.” Poets, musicians and dancers told the story of a boy returning to Africa after 400 years to greet ancestors and explore his Indigenous heritage. Raw premiered songs from his album Orisa Soul Music. ► NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 31
He contacted the LaFate Gallery to organize the Paint Party for Children to celebrate Marcus Mosiah Garvey Day on Garvey’s birthday, Aug. 17, 2023. The Jamaican political activist was the founder and first president-general of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. “Richard is very strong on ensuring that our children learn Black History and the importance of Garvey as an economist,” recalls Eunice LaFate. The Christina Cultural Arts Center contracted Raw to implement The Cultural Restoration Project’s “Beyond Those Bars” program, which uses hip-hop to empower youth. It is one of six curriculum-based programs that reach about 500 students yearly in community organizations, churches and schools, including Kuumba Academy Charter School. In “Beyond Those Bars,” the participants choose the emphasis for their project. Violence is a frequent theme, Raw notes. While music is a common medium for their message, they have created public service announcements and found other ways to express themselves. Raw has continued to work one-on-one with some students and several have released albums on streaming platforms. “They’re making money at shows, and I bring them to my shows,” he says proudly. “I’m trying to help the next generation to build quality hip-hop so they can understand that we have to touch social issues and talk about real things that are important in life.”
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Building ComMunity
MAN ON A MISSION continued from previous
Raw’s goal to improve future generations’ lives isn’t limited to music. He is currently working with nonprofits, including Central Baptist Community Development Corp., to revitalize Wilmington’s East Side. His role is to recruit residents who want to shape their neighborhood. Too often, he says, people with vested business interests have had control, not the community. There is a drawback to speaking up. On Feb. 21, 2016, an arsonist set fire to Raw’s home. He and his wife escaped, but the house was destroyed, and the case remains unsolved. Raw refused to be silenced. He organized a week of activities, including a symposium on social change at the Delaware Art Museum. Meanwhile, neighbors and work colleagues contributed to a GoFundMe campaign to help rebuild the home. “People were basically coming up to me and handing me hundreds of dollars,” he says. “We rebuilt everything — and it was the community that did that. They came through. That’s why I never left.” The artist who earned a reputation as a collaborator became the focus of community cooperation. As Avery-Jones puts it: “Together, we go so much further toward our shared purpose than we go alone.” — Richard Raw will be performing in the Funksgiving concert at The Queen on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Other performers include Universal Funk Order, The Word Warrior Band and Big Package.
presents
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BEER WEEK Feb. 27-Mar. 3 A CELEBRATION OF LOCAL BREW
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FOCUS
Colleagues brainstorm in one of CSC Station's state-of-the-art meeting rooms. Photo courtesy CSC Station
Does Coworking Work? Depends on what you’re looking for in a marketplace that is constantly changing
By Ken Mammarella
T
he secret to a successful co-working space is planning it like a city, Rob Herrera believes, with a variety of amenities, a variety of businesses and chances and space for member businesses to grow. Herrera calls that “community building,” and following and adapting that concept, “touching a little bit of everything,” has led him to the top of Delaware’s coworking sector. The Mill, which he began in 2016 in the Nemours Building in downtown Wilmington, will cover 81,400 square feet of space, after the latest expansion is complete. In 2019, The Mill added another location, 20,000 square feet in Brandywine Hundred’s Concord Plaza. And, optimistically in early 2025, there will be another 20,000 square feet in operation in Seaford, as part of a project to revitalize a large, old shopping center and the Sussex County city itself. ►
Volpe
NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 35
IYKYK. CSC Station is the best co-working place in the city. RON BERRY
Managing partner, Social Contract. #1,831 on Inc 5000’s fastest growing private companies in the United States.
CSC Station is incredibly beneficial for small organizations like ours because of their inspiring workspaces, offices, private phone booths for meetings, and open collaboration areas. STEPHANIE JOHNNIE
MS, executive director, Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation
cscstation.com 36 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS
Ron Berry has an unusual perspective on coworking spaces: He works out of two as a managing partner of Social Contract. One is CSC Station, and the other is the Bond Collective in Philadelphia. CSC is next to Wilmington’s train station, and Bond is atop Philadelphia’s Suburban Station, and those locations make for very easy access. He also worked out of a third that’s defunct. Social Contract, a consulting firm that aims to “help communities solve complex social problems,” was No. 1831 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing for-profit private companies in the country. He likes the coworking concept so much that he’s recruited organizations that he thought “would benefit from the entrepreneurial system around social impact” — and add to it. He said the amenities at both are “great,” heaping praise on CSC’s dedicated parking and dedicated floor for conferences and events (although that 20th-floor terrace in Philly is mighty impressive). That sense of community kept recurring in interviews.
Photo courtesy The Mill
DOES COWORKING WORK?
continued from page 35 Of course, The Mill has competition. At least 10 other companies and nonprofits run coworking spaces in New Castle County, and it could be more. “It depends on your definition of ‘co-working,’ ” says Tracy Shickel, associate vice president of corporate engagement at the University of Delaware. “STAR Campus has over 30 companies co-located on our campus.” Of course, there are plenty of definitions. A comprehensive one comes from WeWork, America’s most famous (and infamous) co-working operator. “Co-working space is characterized by shared facilities, services and tools,” it reads in part. “But co-working spaces are more than just a way of reducing overhead. Co-working spaces are community centers, collaboration hubs and social spaces.” “There are different flavors of offerings available,” says Richard Stat, president of Stat International, which for decades has operated 19,000 square feet of “serviced-enhanced office space (what we called ‘Executive Office Center’ and what’s now called co-working)” in downtown Wilmington. “The Mill in particular has done a good job in broadening the market,” he says. “Ours has always been positioned as being for professionals. We have no beer, no ping-pong. Some call ours co-working for grownups, and it provides an excellent business environment for people who need to seriously concentrate on serious work, all in a friendly, supportive, professional environment.” Herrera has concluded coworking spaces need to be big to allow for efficiencies in scale to operate and increase opportunities among members to interact. That’s based on two years of working for WeWork (which he called the first national coworking space company in the U.S.), his college degrees in architecture and infrastructure planning, and eight years of running The Mill. “The more scale you have, the harder it is for somebody else to replicate that energy and vibe of the business we have here,” he says. “We got lucky early on with companies like Fair Square Financial, which got bought recently by Ally Financial for a few hundred million dollars. With wins like that under our belt, people want to be here, be part of us, want to network with our community. And that’s the real secret to success.”
The Mill prides itself on a spectrum of amenities, including draft beer.
“We’ve created a community for individuals and companies,” says Scott Malfitano, who runs CSC Station, a coworking space on the Wilmington Riverfront. “Water-cooler conversations have now been modernized.” The CSC community now numbers 564 members, growing 3% to 4% a month, he says. “The office vibe feels great,” says Roger J. Clappe, founder of WhipFlip, a startup in The Mill that uses artificial technology to instantly let consumers sell their car to WhipFlip. “Just great resources. Companies feed off each other and help each other,” he adds, noting that he’s used legal, marketing and video services offered by other Mill members. “You can never know who can use you or who you can use.” The Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation has been a member of CSC Station for a few months. It became familiar with its setup after a year of meetings with CSC members who were also members of the nonprofit, working to “turn their ideas into action,” says Pete du Pont Freedom Foundation Executive Director Stephanie Johnnie. CSC membership has already paid off in finding new members for the foundation from other people based at CSC. “It’s a foundational space for access and to put down our roots,” she says. The Delaware Technology Park — a nonprofit aligned with the state, the University of Delaware and the private sector — plans to open 5,000 square feet of incubator and coworking space in January on the sixth floor of its Newark building. “We want to energize entrepreneurs who are thirsty to grow but need help,” says incubator manager Pedro Moore, whose experience goes back to founding UD’s entrepreneurship club. The help includes access to the community ecosystem, capital, UD experts, workshop and advice — “whatever it takes to go from Point A to Point Z.” The first books that “praised the power of coworking” date back to 1628, according to Deskmag, a German magazine focused on offices, and coworking spaces in particular. Its timeline then fast-forwards to 1995, with a hackerspace in Berlin, and to 1999, with game designer Bernard De Koven coining the modern version of the term and the creation of a lower Manhattan work club for creatives. By 2007, coworking had an entry in Wikipedia. The timeline skips a Delaware highlight: Stat’s executive office center formed in 1984. ► NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 37
DOES COWORKING WORK? continued from previous page
The leading edge of coworking has tended to be the creative and tech sectors, with corporate America trying to copy their vibe. And that presages even more growth: A third of the 53 tech companies recently surveyed by CBRE, a global commercial real estate firm, expect to more than double what CBRE calls their flex space within a year. The sector, by whatever the name, is surging, CoworkingCafe reported in June, with the number of spaces up 10% for the quarter and the amount of space available up 6% for the quarter. All told, 1.7% of America’s office space is in coworking space. JLL, a company that runs coworking spaces worldwide as part of its Flex brand, “predicts 30% of office space to be flexible in some form by 2030.”
LAW FIRMS WARM TO COWORKING
A Fundraiser Benefiting AIDS Delaware’s Mental Health Programs.
Friday, December 1, 2023 $50
-Beer, Wine, Soft Drinks -Charcuterie Station -Lucky Chance Raffle -Commemorative Wine Glass
38 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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Hiccups on the global growth of coworking included the pandemic. “Covid was stressful,” Herrera says, noting that “shortly thereafter we started getting calls from companies that beforehand would never consider coworking, like large law firms. They see coworking as a way to get their staff to come into the office” yet are reluctant to sign long leases elsewhere. Stat also has seen that downsizing law firms are “looking for a new professional footprint” by moving into coworking spaces. Over the decades, he’s also seen plenty of firms upsizing and moving out of The Hub, and he cited former DuPonter Bill Wood, who founded a lobbying firm with Bob Byrd, and former DuPonter David Marvin, who founded an investment firm with Stan Palmer. Law firms formed part of the market for CSC, a company that for more than a century has helped other companies with Delaware corporate law. CEO Rod Ward had decided to invest in the growth and redevelopment of Wilmington, and the result was buying a building next to the Wilmington train station and turning it into a 49,000-square-foot co-working space on six floors. They already knew that New York and Washington lawyers were taking Amtrak into Delaware, and their new space would provide an easy convenience for meetings. When CSC Station opened in
Photo courtesy The Mill
COWORKING SPACES IN NEW CASTLE COUNTY
Talking shop in The Mill's pantry gathering space.
November 2020, pandemic-related cleanliness was essential. Since then, its offerings have evolved, including the addition of showers and a large conference space, on top of the concierge service, a wellness room, a social cafe and networking events. Johnnie praises the variety of space at CSC, because sometimes she wants to “put your head down and work,” and sometimes she wants to be sociable. Sociability could also be considered a distraction, and that’s one of two big downsides (along with cost) that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce lists for coworking spaces, in comparison to alternatives. CompassRed, a data analytics startup, was a tenant at CSC Station on opening day, and co-founder Patrick Callahan says it was exciting to experience “things we never would have thought of, like a coffee machine that we nicknamed Mustang Sally, to entice workers back to the office.” Although CompassRed was bought in 2022 by LabWare and now shares space near the Delaware Art Museum on northwestern edge of Wilmington, he maintains CSC membership for meetings, for team-building on bicycles along the Jack Markell Trail and for supporting the revitalization of downtown Wilmington. Offerings at The Mill have evolved as well, including adding outdoor seating, phone booths and a wellness room and eliminating the sound system. “You can’t make everybody happy with the music,” Herrera acknowledges, noting that portable equipment can be brought in for specific purposes. And sometimes a key offering is the absence of something. There are no outlets, for instance, in The Mill’s shared pantry. “Nothing kills that vibe" of informal gatherings more than people plugged in, working at laptops, Herrera says.
CSC STATION, 112 S. French St., Wilmington Riverfront, cscstation.com. 49,000 square feet of space, next to the Wilmington train station. $65 annual membership gives access to all services. Coworking space starts at $15 a day, $60 a month. DELAWARE INNOVATION SPACE, DuPont Experimental Station, 200 Powder Mill Road, Building E500, near Wilmington, innovationspace. org. For science-based startups and entrepreneurs. DELAWARE TECHNOLOGY PARK, 591 Collaboration Way, Newark, deltechpark.org. 5,000-square-foot “industry-agnostic” incubator and coworking space planned to open in January at its FinTech Innovation Hub. Pop-up desks start at $250 a month, and offices start at $400. EMERGING ENTERPRISE CENTER, 920 Justison St., Wilmington Riverfront, eecincubator.com. An incubator, with co-working options, in 5,000 square feet by the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. Opened in 2017. THE HUB @ 1201 (AKA ONE COMMERCE CENTER), 1201 N. Orange St. Downtown Wilmington, stat.international/office-solutions/the-hubat-1201. Desks $20 a day, weekly rate $35. Private offices start at $700 per month. Plus virtual services and conference rooms. MIDDLETOWN BUSINESS INCUBATOR AND COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACE, 651 N Broad St., Suite 306, Middletown. maccde.com/businessincubator-collaborative-workspace. Drop-in space and space rentals in the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce office. Opened in 2015. THE MILL, 1007 N. Orange St., downtown Wilmington, and 3411 Silverside Road, Brandywine Hundred, themillspace.com. Community membership starts at $65 a month, virtual office $90, dedicated desk from $250, private office from $850. PLY 1130, Ogletown Road, near Newark, reybold.com/ply. 12 suites, starting at $500 a month, in a historic farmhouse. Opened in 2023. REGUS, 1000 N. West St. and (opening soon) 901 N. Market St., downtown Wilmington, regus.com/en-us/united-states/delaware/ wilmington/coworking. Drop-in and hot-desks in an open-plan workspace, dedicated desks in a shared office, breakout areas and networking events. TKO SUITES, 300 Delaware Ave., downtown Wilmington, and 1521 Concord Pike, Suite 301, Brandywine Hundred, www.tkosuites.com/ location/wilmington. Virtual space (local phone number and other services) start at $99 a month. Dedicated desks downtown start at $250. Also private, lockable offices (75-155 square feet downtown, 100-350 square feet in the suburbs). UD STAR CAMPUS, South College Avenue, Newark, udel.edu/researchinnovation/star. Office and laboratory space for science-based startups and, starting in early 2024, office space for digital technology companies.
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FOCUS
BOOKISH
By Bob Yearick
Resourceful and determined, area independent bookstore owners are surviving and sometimes thriving while serving their communities
S
elling books for a living is not for the weak-willed. But, if you love books, and if your dream is to spend your workday surrounded by them and by others who love them, you find a way. That seems to be the credo of the area’s independent bookstore owners, a small, determined group that is dominated by women, including women of color. And although there may be no yachts or McMansions in their immediate futures, these entrepreneurs are making a living while serving their sometimes disparate communities. The local scene also reflects a national picture that shows the independent bookseller is surviving and in some cases thriving despite presumably overwhelming competition from industry giants Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In their battle with those Goliaths, the indies’ slingshots are loaded with not-so-secret weapons: personal service and, in some cases, events. registering a total of 2,506 stores last year. Once the pandemic dust had settled, James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, sat down for a December 2022 interview with Yahoo! Finance and made two cogent observations about why both the behemoths and the indies had weathered the pandemic rather well. First, he had this take on COVID-19: “Though we were rather terrified when it struck and our stores were closed, it actually turned out to be a fantastic thing for booksellers. People rediscovered reading. Lots, lots more people buying books, and more importantly from our perspective, doing so in bookstores, and our sales have boomed since.” Then, contrary to the widespread belief that social media was killing reading, Daunt uttered this stunner: “No, social media has been our great friend. ► NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 41
Volpe
Trauma-Inducing Debut The entire book industry was traumatized by the debut in 1995 of Amazon.com. Enticed by that technology giant, Americans abandoned bookstores and stayed home, buying their reading material online and leading many analysts to predict that Jeff Bezos’ creation would eat the mom-and-pop sector’s lunch. But the indies proved resilient, and by 2009 had staged a comeback. Between that year and 2018, their numbers grew 49%, from 1,651 stores to 2,470. By 2019, there were 2,524 independent bookstores — an all-time high. Then came the pandemic — the watershed event by which almost all industries are now measured — and the number dropped to 2,100 in 2021. But, aided by Gen Z, many of whom have eschewed e-books in favor of print versions, the segment again bounced back,
Instagram causes people to pour into our bookstores. BookTok, part of TikTok, has been sensational. Posts that have appeared on that have been seen millions and millions of times and actually driven the sales of literally hundreds of thousands of copies of individual titles. So it’s been a fantastic boon to bookstores.” Daunt is understandably sanguine about the industry since his company has a 17% share of the market, while Amazon has 23%. That leaves everyone else, including those 2,506 indies, scratching and clawing for the remaining 60%.
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Formula for Success Successful independent bookstore owners, according to a recent study by Ryan Raffaelli, a Ph.D. in the Harvard Business School, follow a formula he calls “the three Cs”: 1. Community: Owners promote the idea of consumers supporting their local communities by shopping at neighborhood businesses. 2. Curation: Owners focus on curating inventory that allows them to provide a more personal and specialized customer experience. 3. Convening: Owners promote their stores as intellectual centers for convening customers with likeminded interests, offering lectures, book signings, game nights, children’s story times, young adult reading groups, even birthday parties. Some bookstores routinely host more than 500 events a year. Wilmington area booksellers, while giving some attention to Community, have Jen Blab took over the thriving Hockessin BookShelf a year ago from long-time owner Rebecca Dowling. homed in on Nos. 2 and 3 — Curation and Convening — in their efforts to prosper. And nowhere is that more evident than at Hockessin BookShelf, arguably the area’s reigning heavyweight, at least since the demise of Wilmington’s Ninth Street Bookshop in January of 2018. Jen Blab took over the Lancaster Pike business last November from long-time owner Rebecca Dowling, who moved to California. An Alabama native, Blab and her family have lived in Kennett Square since 2004. She has worked in bookstores and libraries her whole life, and she and her two children were frequent visitors to the Hockessin store. “I loved it and I wanted to keep it open,” she says.
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Three part-time employees help her run a 900-square-foot space that is packed with new and used books and is the site of scores of events. On Thursday, Nov. 2, for instance, the store will host a conversation between Cynthia Newberry Martin, author of Love Like This and two other novels, and past Delaware Poet Laureate JoAnn Balingit. On Saturday, Nov. 18, the monthly Local Author Showcase will feature Kasey Fallon and Dave Stockar. The store sponsors two book clubs: Eat Drink Read, which meets monthly at a local restaurant or café, and Mystery Lovers Book Club, whose members gather once a month at the store. Blab leads and chooses the books for both clubs. Hockessin BookShelf has developed an extensive and loyal customer base since its inception, and, unlike other independents in the area, it’s open seven days a week. “Business has been really good,” Blab says. “A lot of people want to support independent bookstores.”
Claymont’s Miss Em Local support has been the lifeblood for Emlyn DeGannes’ MeJah Books, which is nestled in a strip mall at 2083 Philadelphia Pike. Known as “Miss Em” to her customers, the native of Trinidad and Tobago has been serving the Claymont area since 1998, beginning in the now defunct Tri-State Mall. DeGannes, a published author, mentor and speaker who lives in Wilmington, says she has “a passion for books.” “And I have a love for Claymont because I lived here for so many years when I first moved from New York,” she adds. “I know the community well, I know the children well; I’ve watched them grow up, I know their families. It’s been an honor to serve the community.” MeJah (formed from the first letter of the names of DeGannes’ family members) features books by what she calls “authors from the African diaspora” — the worldwide collection of communities descended from Native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly located in the Americas. The store stocks a variety of other items, including jewelry, fabrics and hand-made pieces from Ghana and Kenya, as well as body oils, soaps, and custom T-shirts. DeGannes, who earned a degree in psychology from City University of New York in 1995, is a firm believer in that third C in Raffaelli’s formula. “What keeps a bookstore alive is events,” she says. Spurred by that belief, she has turned her shop into a community center. It’s the site of poetry readings, author readings and signings, roundtable discussions, and political gatherings. Last August, Gov. John Carney was at the store with other officials to sign House Bill 205, DE EARNS, which provides all Delaware workers with a simple way to save for the future. “Owning a bookstore has been a wonderful journey,” says Degannes, “and I’m not exhausted yet.” Nearby: Miss Connie A half mile south of MeJah on Philadelphia Pike, in another strip mall, sits Around Again & Again Books. It’s owned and operated by 83-year-old Connie Maglio, who worked part-time at the store’s precursor, Around Again Books, which was located near the Branmar Shopping Center for many years. ►
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BOOKISH
continued from previous When that store closed in 2017, Maglio, who had retired from the freight transportation business, took custody of the inventory. The next year, thanks to an inheritance from a friend, she opened Around Again & Again Books at the current location. As its name implies, the shop sells only used books. Maglio doesn’t buy books from customers but offers discounts to those whose contributions she accepts. With only one partEmlyn DeGannes, owner of MeJah Books, has been time employee, she inspects and cleans each one herself before serving the Claymont area putting it on the shelf. for a quarter century. And despite Ryan Raffaelli’s findings and Emlyn DeGannes’ belief in the efficacy of events, Around Again & Again simply sells books. The low prices and the vast selection — Maglio estimates that some 20,000 titles jam the shelves in the 1,300-square-foot space — help attract customers from the tri-state area. But perhaps the secret sauce in the store’s recipe for success is “Miss Connie” herself. Hers was the busiest store Out & About visited, and each customer greeted her by name. She took the month of September off to recover from illness, and when she announced her comeback, the store’s Facebook page got more than 90 hits. Maglio says Facebook feedback indicates that her customers are between the ages of 35 and 65 and 80 percent female. “I tell my customers, ‘I need your buddies,’” she says. Like others in the business, the Philadelphia native found that the pandemic boosted reading. “For a year-and-a-half, it was nonstop,” she says. “Then, in September last year, business dropped by 20 percent.” She theorizes that people spent less time at home reading and “went out, and got back to their normal activities.” Her illness, and the month-long recovery, was just a temporary setback for the irrepressible Maglio, and she has no plans to retire. “I love books,” she says. “And people.”
The Peripatetic Bookseller After 44 years, Greg Schauer can lay claim to being the longest-tenured local bookstore owner (Not to mention the only man in a female-dominated market — at least until recently. See sidebar). In 1979, fresh out of Brandywine High School, and with his father as a partner, Schauer decided to open a store, which he dubbed Between Books. “I thought it would be easier than going to college,” he says. Easier? Debatable. Challenging? To be sure. That initial location — in a New Castle shopping Center — was the first of five for the peripatetic business — so far. But the 62-year-old Schauer is soldiering on, despite ever-shrinking floor space from which to sell his wares. Between Books moved to Tri-State Mall in 1980, stayed there for eight years, then moved to a prime spot — Town & Country Shopping Center, on the corner of Harvey Road and Philadelphia Pike in Claymont. The store did a brisk business there until 2013, when Schauer lost his lease after the space was allocated to another tenant. His father retired, and he took a year-and-half off before finding another spot on Philadelphia Pike across from Holy Rosary School. Then that building was sold, and in 2019 Schauer moved to the Oddporium. Located on the edge of Arden at the corner of Marsh and Harvey roads, the Oddporium sells, well, oddities, mostly from medical science and the paranormal. Schauer rents about 300 square feet at the back of the store. Chock-a-block with books, the space is just big enough for him and one, perhaps two customers. “I have a pretty good following,” Schauer says, noting that most of his customers are fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. “I can’t compete on price, but I can compete on knowledge. Once I get to know somebody, it’s very easy to recommend books that they’ll like. I also carry the good books that everybody else forgets about – a lot of small presses.” In his old store, he stocked board games, role-playing games, and other items. “We did a lot of signings, a lot of community events, even tutoring – in math and physics, a little bit of English,” he says. “I’m going to try to put that back together.” 44 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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Sitting on the steps of the Oddporium, smoking his pipe, Schauer says, “Business is almost by appointment now. But that will change. I’m in the process of moving into larger quarters.” He lives in Claymont and would like to find a spot for his store there. His goal is to turn Between Books into a community-owned enterprise. He’s done some research on the subject, and says he needs to change the business structure and raise the necessary funds by the end of the year — hopefully by selling stock, not borrowing from a bank. “I’m trying to do it without going into debt,” he says. “Right now I’m waiting for some answers from the IRS, and they are glacially slow.” Taking another pull on his pipe, he adds, “I’m looking at my legacy. I won’t be around forever.”
The Neighborhood Store At the opposite end of the longevity scale is Ellen Cappard, now in her second year as the owner of Books & Bagels. Located in the heart of Wilmington, at the corner of Seventh and Harrison streets, it is “Wilmington’s new neighborhood bookstore,” according to the website. Cappard, an eight-year Air Force veteran, was an elementary school teacher in Washington, D.C., before moving to the Little Italy neighborhood in 2017. When she and her 14-year-old daughter, both avid book readers, began exploring the city, they were disappointed to find that Ninth Street was the only local bookstore. ►
Ellen Cappard started Books & Bagels, located in the heart of Wilmington, two years ago. Among the many activities at the store was a book signing by David Goodrich, author of On Freedom Road.
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“In Washington,” Cappard says, “there’s a bookstore on almost every block. In fact, they even have a bookstore crawl there.” When Ninth Street closed, the single mother became determined to fill the literary void. She joined Launcher, a 12-week program that helps entrepreneurs build business plans following foundational business operation lessons. After graduation, they receive one-on-one support from program mentors. To date, Launcher has graduated almost 800 entrepreneurs who have opened some 300 businesses and created nearly 600 jobs statewide. (The application window for Launcher’s spring cohort that begins in February is currently open at launcherde.org.) Opening any business in the midst of a pandemic is challenging, even counter-intuitive, but, says Cappard, “People needed space to commune that wasn’t school or work. They were looking for outlets, and there were very few places you could go and just have a relaxed experience.” Cappard has made Books & Bagels work with a creative mix of books — with an emphasis on African American authors — and myriad activities and services (although there are no bagels yet). She has hosted multiple pop-ups with small businesses and partnered with others, such as Barking Dog Farm PA, of Kennett Square, which sells produce that is chemical- and pesticide-free. Her store is a drop-off spot for the farm. Her 650-square-foot space has been the site of what she calls “events that speak to the community,” including “healing events,” such as poetry workshops, following COVID. More recently, discussions have turned to the more practical aspects of life, and there are now weekly “Money Mindset” sessions. November will
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BOOKISH
continued from previous bring a letter-writing workshop. A graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia, the indefatigable Cappard stocks some of her own artwork, including holiday cards, curates book lists for various groups, writes two blogs, and has just written, illustrated, and published a children’s book, Something New Grows. But most important, this entrepreneur is fulfilling the mission she sees for her business: “Independent bookstores are unique in that they really serve the community that they’re in.”
Getting Religion While other area stores have their specialties, none is quite as specialized as Angel Crossing, at 550 S. Colonial Ave. in Elsmere. The store sells only items related to the Roman Catholic faith — Bibles, statues, rosaries, videos, pictures, music, medals, and cards. Michele Lennon has owned the family enterprise for 25 years. She says business is good, adding, “We have a lot of longtime customers.” She too found that the pandemic helped sales. “More people turned towards God during that time,” Lennon says. “We weren’t open, but people would call us and we did house calls, or they would drive here and we would meet them outside the store.” Like some other area booksellers, Angel Crossing does not hold events, but at least two area stores have scheduled events in November. For information check these websites: • Booksandbagelsllc.com • Hockessinbookshelf.com
Ryan Eanes and Claire van de Broek of Huxley & Hiro Booksellers. Photo by Dave Tabler
New Kid on the Block
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ate last month, Wilmington welcomed its first downtown bookstore since Ninth Street Books closed almost six years ago. Huxley & Hiro Booksellers, owned by Ryan Eanes and Claire van den Broek, opened its doors at 419 N. Market St. on Oct. 27. Eanes is a professor of advertising at Temple University who lived in Wilmington for several years. A linguist, literary translator and adjunct professor of literature, van den Broek is from the Netherlands. The business partners and friends will be living above the store in separate apartments. Huxley & Hiro (named after the owners’ pets) stocks a wide selection of new book titles, with an emphasis on local literature. “We want to offer a representative selection of authors who we hope will appeal to Wilmington's diverse population, such as the African American and LGBT members of our community,” van den Broek says. The store also sells art and gifts, including locally made jewelry and other items. Huxley & Hiro has a B Corp certification, meaning it meets high standards of performance, accountability, and transparency, including social and environmental issues. “Our mission is to serve and support the community,” van den Broek says. “We are not focused on making a profit; instead, we hope to create new jobs, highlight local arts and crafts, and offer our space to local non-profit organizations.” The store already has partnered with the Brandywine Zoo and the Delaware Historical Society for events. “We're also seeking out independent vendors such as minority owned businesses with a charitable mission,” van den Broek says. Store hours are: Wednesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday, 10-9; Friday, 10-8; Saturday, 12-8, and Sunday, 12-5. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
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CLASS ACT Fiddlehead Brewing began as a college experiment. Today, it’s one of the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. By Kevin Noonan
Fiddlehead's award-winning IPA accounted for 88% of the brewery's sales in 2022. Photos courtesy Fiddlehead Brewing Company
DRINK
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t’s not unusual for college kids to have beer in their dormitory. Matt Cohen took that a step or two or three further — he had an actual, working brewery in his dorm at Ithaca College. Granted, it wasn’t much of a brewery, but it was legitimate. And it was the start of what has become a successful career in the craft beer industry. Cohen and his wife, Amy, are the owners of Fiddlehead Brewing Company, which made its mark in Vermont and is now a rising star in other East Coast states. “I’m sure if I had a pint of that beer today, I wouldn’t be That includes Delaware, which became the ninth state – and Cohen says probably the last – to sell Fiddlehead and able get through a pint, because it was probably pretty awful,” Cohen adds. “But for back then, for what I was doing, I its flagship India Pale Ale. was really happy with the craft.” According to Matt Cohen, it But even though he had a system all started because he couldn’t get and he a product, his brewing proa convincing fake ID when he was A lot of brewers make cess wasn’t perfect, as Cohen disat Ithaca in the early 1990s. That a mistake by coming covered one night. meant he couldn’t get into local “I was just sitting around bars. And that meant if he wanted out with 20 different my room and all of a sudden — to drink beer (he did) then he would brands. But my whoosh! It was like bombs were gohave to make his own. philosophy has always ing off,” he says. “All of these bottles “I started my freshman year were exploding because I had put brewing in the dorm,” Cohen says, been to narrow our too much sugar in that batch. “and then just continued that after focus, because you’ll “That was one of the early lessons college, when I realized quickly that I learned in home brewing.” that was what I wanted my profesget better results. sion to be.” — Matt Cohen It’s easy to conceal drinking beer Fiddlehead of the Class from college and dorm officials, but Cohen apparently learned well, making it? How did Cohen get away with it? because Fiddlehead has been so successful, he recently built “It was definitely a covert operation,” he says with a a much bigger brewery and canning plant at his headquarlaugh. “There was a communal kitchen in our dorm where ters in Shelburne, Vt. And even though his initial plan was I made the beer late at night, when hopefully everyone was to sell his beer only in Vermont, the success of Fiddlehead asleep. Then I would ferment it in my closet and after fer- prompted him to expand to Massachusetts and then New mentation the beer was put in glass bottles with wing caps. York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Then I’d let them sit for a couple of weeks and wait for Jersey, Pennsylvania and, finally, Delaware, where Fiddlethe beer to carbonate. Fortunately, I had a roommate who head draft beer made its debut this past April. loved beer and was very excited about the whole process of “It’s been really amazing, and we fit in really, really well me brewing beer. with the Delaware market,” says Eric Schmid, ► NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 49
CLASS ACT continued from previous page
Fiddlehead’s sales manager for New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and now Delaware. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from taverns, and our launch strategy was to have only draft beer for a brief period and eventually bring in package. We feel the best way to experience and enjoy Fiddlehead is with fresh, draft beer, and so that’s been our focus.” Cohen says he doesn’t want to expand farther than Delaware because his company prides itself on its beer’s freshness and doesn’t want it sitting on shelves for weeks on end — Fiddlehead’s goal is to have its products go no more than two weeks from production to consumption.
Fiddlehead's new brewery and canning plant in Shelburne, Vt.
So far, whatever Cohen has done has worked. When he opened his modest brewery in 2011 — after years working as brew master for a brewing company in South Burlington, Vt. — his goal was to sell 500 barrels of beer in his first year. He sold 15,000. “So, we were off to the races from the beginning,” Cohen says. And they’re still setting the pace. In 2022, Fiddlehead sold 80,000 barrels and Cohen says that’s projected to go to 100,000 next year. That was enough for Fiddlehead to qualify for the 2022 Brewers Association’s list of Top 50 craft breweries by volume — Fiddlehead was No. 49. And Brewbound, a national trade publication on the brewing industry, named Fiddlehead as its Craft Brewery of the Year for 2022. The Cohens certainly picked the right place to start their business. According to the Brewers Association, which tracks sales and trends of craft breweries, in 2022 Vermont was No. 1 in the nation per capita in the number of craft breweries (15.6 per 100,000 adults 21 or older) and No. 1 in gallons consumed per capita (20.1 gallons per adult 21 or older).
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Keys (and Kegs) to Success
When the Cohens created Fiddlehead, they had a few guidelines they were determined to follow: One, they wouldn’t produce a bunch of different beers at first and instead focus on their IPA, which proved to be a wise move— their IPA accounted for 88 percent of Fiddlehead sales in 2022. They’ve added different beers since then, but the IPA is still their biggest seller. “A lot of brewers make a mistake by coming out with 20 different brands,” Cohen says. “But my philosophy has always been to narrow our focus, because you’ll get better results.” Two, their emphasis would be on fresh, draft beer, although they did expand their canning operations during the covid pandemic. “Temperature and oxygen are the two worst enemies of beer,” Cohen says. “Time Fiddlehead founder Matt Cohen says it's the art of brewing that drew is not on your side when it him to the industry. comes to beer. That’s why we demand cold storage of all of our products.” Three, they would concentrate on putting their beer into ski resorts in Vermont and New Hampshire. The Cohens realized that not only did skiers drink a lot of beer, many of them came from nearby states like Massachusetts and New York. They would discover Fiddlehead and want to purchase it at home, so, when the Cohens were finally ready to expand, the marketplace was ready for them. “We wanted to start slowly and build our brand carefully,’ Matt Cohen says. “Of course, we want to sell as much beer as we can, but we also believe that quality is more important than quantity. That’s why we’ll dump a batch down the drain that doesn’t meet our standards. You can’t be afraid to dump beer. “Really, it’s the art of brewing that really drew me to this. I think of brewing as art meets science and creativity. That’s what makes it so much fun. This is my profession, but it’s also my passion.” By the way, in case you’re wondering where the name “Fiddlehead” comes from, it has nothing to do with a musical instrument. A fiddlehead is the young shoot of an ostrich fern, which tastes something like asparagus and grows in swampy areas of the Northeast, which, of course, includes Vermont. “At first, I wanted to open a regional brewery and that name definitely has a regional meaning, and I liked the sound of it,” Cohen says. “And I don’t even like asparagus.” — For more information about Fiddlehead Brewery and its different beers, go to FiddleheadBrewing.com.
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Since joining Backtrack Vocals, Delaware's Mike Hinkle (2nd from right) has performed as far away as Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Photos courtesy Backtrack Vocals
Harmonizing Around the World Backtrack Vocals has taken Wilmington’s Mike Hinkle from YouTube to the nation’s stages and beyond
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By Steve Lanahan
cappella is defined as “a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment.” Delaware native Mike Hinkle likes to expand on that description. It’s also, he says, “a group of people who imitate instruments to create music. Your brain tricks you into thinking it’s being instrumented.”
Hinkle should know. He’s been a member of Backtrack Vocals since 2017. A five-person a cappella group based out of
New York City, Backtrack got its start on YouTube in 2013 and has appeared on television, in a movie, and in a Broadway production. They’ve performed from coast to coast and as far away as Vietnam and Kazakhstan. Hinkle, who grew up in Wilmington, began performing in community theater when he was 11 and went on to Cab Calloway School of the Arts. A proud "Cabbie," he studied with Marjorie Eldreth, the high school vocal teacher at Cab, and put those skills to work in the Jazz Chords choir led by middle school teacher Marty Lassman. His first experience with a cappella music was in that choir.► NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 53
After graduating in 2010, Hinkle attended NYU, where he majored in drama. He graduated early in 2013 and worked as a restaurant manager while auditioning for productions in New York City. One of those auditions was with Backtrack. “I had to learn songs from the group’s repertoire and chat with them so they could get a fit for personality,” says Hinkle. Two weeks later, he received the offer to join. He accepted, quit his day job, and less than a month later, they performed at the Just For Laughs festival in Canada.
A Primer for Audiences
Backtrack gives its audiences an a cappella primer early in each show. Using the song Stand By Me, they start with the iconic bassline, imitated with “dum” sounds, sung by Xander Teplansky. Next, music director Craig Simonetti fills the drum kit role with beatboxing. Padding — the “dos,” “dahs,” “oohs,” and “ahs”— adds the feeling of a piano, guitar, or strings and is sung by Hinkle along with Melissa Jordano and Chrissy Aloisio. Group members take turns singing the melody, and that final layer brings it all together. “When the melody is added, the last part we sing, this often gets applause,” says Hinkle. Almost every song they perform will include no more than their voices. Something moving, such as a ballad, may get a slight reverb, but everything else is all Backtrack. They also try to include humor in their performances. “I think we’re pretty funny,” says Hinkle. “We put on a show that can make people laugh and cry. We want to move you in a way that is heartfelt and humorous. We’ll perform anywhere
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you would have entertainment, and we’re happy to be there. We also enjoy the educational aspect.” In addition to their live performances, Backtrack runs assembly programs and workshops for schools and choirs. They work with a choir’s existing music or provide suggestions. The group finds that running a clinic on beatboxing, choreography, or vocal improvisation is a fun and informative way to forge connections with students. The group also collaborated with Camp A Capella in Dayton, Ohio, a program founded by Deke Sharon, the music producer of the Pitch Perfect movies. The camps helps students, adults, and music educators improve their performance skills. Before Hinkle joined, Backtrack’s schedule had been more relaxed, with one or two gigs a month, some simple music videos, and busking in the New York City subway. That schedule started to pick up in 2016, and when Hinkle joined a year later, it became a full-time job of touring, live performances, and teaching. Opportunities for television and stage were popping up. The future was looking bright. “Crazy things were happening all of a sudden,” says Hinkle. Then came COVID-19.
Surviving the Shakeup
“The pandemic really felt like hitting a wall,” says Hinkle. Live performances and in-person education were no longer an option in a world under lockdown. Backtrack had to face this unique challenge, as well as members leaving the group who
needed to be replaced. But they managed to find a way to survive, despite the pandemic’s limitations. Says Hinkle, “It was a pretty big shakeup for us, but it also helped us reinstate what Backtrack is. We were always an online identity. It reminded us that we started as a YouTube channel, and that was an opportunity. We contacted schools and worked with them to set up virtual choirs. We’d always done the talking heads videos, so it was our moment again.” Backtrack used those online programs to help reduce the feeling of isolation for their students. After their sessions, they asked students to record their parts individually, and Hinkle would stitch those videos together into full choir performances. Backtrack was among the few in the a cappella genre to use the Internet in this way to keep momentum going. Lockdowns finally lifted, and the group returned to what they love. Working with students became a priority, and in 2022, they ran the first Backtrack music camp in Denville, New Jersey, and enjoyed connecting and singing with the campers. In 2022, a job offer came their way that would mean worldwide travel. American Music Abroad (AMA), a program run by the U.S. Department of State that promotes American music around the globe, recruited Backtrack to perform and educate in Vietnam. They spent two weeks doing shows throughout the country, from major cities to remote villages and at many universities. At the end of the tour, they appeared at BridgeFest 2022 in Da Nang in front of their largest audience so far — more than 15,000 people. “No pressure there at all,” Hinkle says with a laugh. After the success in Vietnam, AMA asked Backtrack to make
Mike Hinkle (center) graduated from Cab Calloway School of the Arts.
a similar tour of Kazakhstan. This time, the group was tasked with running a music camp like the one they conducted in New Jersey. The week-long camp, with 55 students from throughout Kazakhstan, was a tremendous success despite the fact that the majority of the students didn’t speak English. “With the help of our translators, we formed bonds with these students almost entirely through music,” says Hinkle. “It was really cool, one of my biggest takeaways from the experience.” The students performed the songs in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, with the U.S. ambassador in attendance. The group song was turned into a music video, which is available on backtrackvocals.com. “Anything we can do with AMA, we will take,” Hinkle says. “It’s a great organization and we leave these places changed.” ►
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Plan for the Future Backtrack is gaining some traction in the music industry. Spotify added their songs to the All A Cappella playlist, placing them among the bestknown names in the genre. Meanwhile, they are planning a 2024 release of an original album that they’re roughly halfway through recording. They intend to honor their roots as a YouTube channel by releasing a full video album. Says Hinkle, “This is the first time anybody has done this in a cappella. We’re excited to take this project on. The album is going to have a throughline, a storyline. The idea came to us, and we thought we might be crazy, but we put money aside from every gig since then to get our album fund together. We plan on this being big.” The rough cut of the music video for the new song, Craniotomy, is available on backtrackvocals.com. Wanting to give fans a taste of what’s to come, the group shot the video in Jordano’s New York apartment, managing to clean up the mess before Jordano’s husband got home. It will be reshot for the full visual album release. “We really love what we do, and that shows,” says Hinkle. “We’re easy to work with, and I think that people in the industry respect how homegrown our process has been. We show up prepared, and people are excited. That’s always so fun for us.” In November, they will tour Texas, Arizona, and Washington. There are no East Coast tour plans this year, but they will work with schools and perform in private events for the busy New York City holiday season. They also hope to return to Delaware again, where they have fond memories of performing at the Queen for the Do More 24 Fundraiser in March of this year. — Visit backtrackvocals.com for more information, including tour dates. 56 NOVEMBER 2023 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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THE CITY A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO OUT & ABOUT MAGAZINE
MAYOR PURZYCKI WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION
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ilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki announced in early October that he will not seek reelection to a third term in 2024. Mayor Purzycki, who was elected to his first term in 2016, became the City’s 57th Chief Executive after serving as Executive Director of the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC) for 20 years where he helped to transform an industrial wasteland into the Christina Riverfront—one of the most beautiful areas of the City. In a letter to the people of Wilmington, Mayor Purzycki explained his decision and thanked them for supporting his Administration’s efforts to rebuild neighborhoods, control crime, create jobs, encourage entrepreneurship, support education reforms, and keep the City on solid financial footing to help guide its future growth and prosperity. “This administration can be so proud of its successes,” the Mayor wrote. “No objective observer of Wilmington would ever suggest that things have not dramatically improved under this administration’s watch.” He went on to cite the demands of the job at age 78 as well as a desire to spend more time with his young grandchildren as primary drivers of his decision. The Mayor also expressed his hope that “the right candidate” will step forward to run, someone with proven skills, experience, and a positive vision for the for the city who can bring people together. “While many seek to be mayor, few seem to appreciate the skills and experience needed to do the job,” the Mayor wrote. “I finish this term with gratitude to the people of the city who have entrusted me with this enormous responsibility,” the Mayor concluded. “In the meantime, let’s not forget that we still have 15 months left to serve. We can do so much good in that time and leave to our residents a government they can continue to be proud of.”
PHILLIES FANS RALLY FOR RED OCTOBER
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BC 10 and the Philadelphia Phillies brought the Rally for Red October Bus Tour to 10th & Market streets in Downtown Wilmington on October 18th as part of the Downtown Farmers Market. Hundreds of fans grabbed rally towels, cheer posters, and T-shirts while rubbing shoulders and taking selfies with the Philly Phanatic, Phillies ball girls, and former players Milt Thompson and Mickey Morandini. The massive pep rally came as the Phillies went up 2-0 on the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. Although they’d eventually lose the series in 7 games, fans are grateful for another winning season and looking forward to next spring. Thank you, Phillies! The Philly Phanatic parties in Downtown Wilmington. Photo: Tim Furlong/NBC10
CHIEF CAMPOS HONORED
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ilm. Police Chief Wilfredo Campos was honored in October by Delaware Technical Community College’s Stanton and Wilmington campuses for his commitment to the Hispanic community and culture in northern Delaware at Delaware Tech’s 14th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Honoree Celebration. “I congratulate Chief Campos on this well-deserved honor,” said Mayor Purzycki. “I was extremely pleased to name Wilfredo Campos as Wilmington police chief in January, and in the ensuing months Chief Campos has exceeded all expectations as commander of an outstanding police force of men and women committed to public safety who serve our City with courage and integrity.”
Wilfredo Campos, Chief of Police for the City of Wilmington. Photo: Delaware Tech
On Oct. 13, Mayor Purzycki (center) joined in the groundbreaking ceremony for the latest BPG housing project – The Press – at the site of the former News Journal building, 8th & Orange streets, in Downtown Wilmington.
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