WORKSHOP Roots

49th Hour Workshop began like any other non-profit in the education space, on a mission to do the impossible; we had no clue what we were getting into. Our goal was to create space for creatives who otherwise would not have the time nor opportunity to explore their creativity via artist residencies, workspaces, scholarships, arthouses, etc... Now that we have had time to reflect, it is in large part due to the two people pictured above. Bear Paw ( left ) , aka Rufus Peterson, is founder James Jennings’ great grandfather, who taught him to live an honest, giving, and authentic life. Nana ( right ), aka Anne P. Jennings, Bear Paw’s daughter, raised James with love and a deep focus on education. 49th Hour Workshop clearly has both of their ancestral fingerprints all over it.

We went left at 49th with publishing. We went right with intern coordination. Regardless of direction or accuracy, we’ve always been focused on creating jobs, retaining value, curating real exchange with credible story tellers, learning / unlearning, and a truth-to-light ballast of universal education ( with the humble goal of overtaking the New York Times ). 49th Hour Workshop barely got a chance to launch before we went under. “Life events,” they call them. The 2018 Inspirations Tour fundraiser to save 49th had the goal of raising $49K. We successfully raise $400. Lemon’s to lemonade, we’re still here in 2023 consulting, coordinating, connecting, and coaching. There is also storytelling, educating, and partnering. We wear many hats. No one said it would be easy. Sometimes you’re the favorite. Other times you might be the substitute runner, and the shoes don’t fit, and you might have to decide whether to run the 26.2 miles with bad sneakers or barefoot just to get your point across. Speaking of which, have you heard the Abebe Bikila story?

49TH Journey

We had a lot of missteps. Classic, cliche mistakes. We continue to aim forward. We don’t regret much because it made us who we are today and we were able to help a lot more people by being real in our process rather than pretending we were something we are not. We embarked on artist residencies in Morocco, Paris, Noyer, New York City, Martha’s Vineyard, and Mexico City. We co-worked and/or consulted at Impact Hub NYC, Wework, Creata, and 345 Dean Street. Research and development. Our journey included planes, trains, subways, elevators, petit cabs, and far too many uber/lyfts. We spent over $10K on hotels alone. We’re still very much on the move, documenting what we can via youtube mostly. Social media still feels a bit creepy. We try. Click the link if you like thinking big and talking about leading edge idea ( or if you want to here Coach babble and spaz about any and all things ).

We began our journey with a small education grant consultation in a tiny office at School of the Future, an NYC public school while Coach James was still deaning and coaching basketball ( In a strange twist of fate he’s now coaching basketball again at School of the Future ). From there we journeyed to Northern Africa to force ourselves to produce a digital product ( click here to see ). We tried. We learned more about ourselves than Casablanca or Rabat. Lesson learned? It’s not easy creating content.

From Morocco we went to Paris. Call it part duex. In Paris we found a groove and produced at scale largely because Coach James holed up in the 17th arrondissement at the Art Hotel for a month, recording religiously, and painting like a mad man. To be fair, 49th Hour Workshop at that point was a one-man operation with dreams of “We”. See what we did there? Paris, France. We. Wi.

From Paris we landed in Mexico City, thanks to Francisco Goldman and Jon Lee Anderson at the infamous 53 Plaza Rio De Janeiro for two months. Click the following link to read Frank’s New Yorker piece, A History of My Mexico City Home, In Earthquakes. Jon Lee wrote a piece too but we’re struggling to locate it. Stay tuned.