We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jaclyn Parker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jaclyn below.
Alright, Jaclyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project for me is writing, directing, and producing the black history programs I did at Evan’s High School in Orlando FL from 2010 to 2013. I worked at the school as a school social worker/attendance dean. After school I served as a club sponsor for the PBIS club. I’ve always had a passion for singing, dancing, acting, and writing. In at at the school I encountered and served so many talented black youth and saw their potential. I also saw that they did not know a lot about their history. Growing up, my father instilled the importance of black history in my life. I wanted to share that with my school. In my most memorable production I wrote a script that depicted an African couple being sold into slavery. The audience experiences their journey from slavery to the White House as Michelle and Barack Obama exemplifying the struggle of our ancestors to make equality in America. After work I hosted auditions to find students to sing, act, and dance in this musical. After 4 months of preparation it came together beautifully. My male white principal at the time was not pleased with the slavery depiction but the sold out production and positive reviews after showed that despite the truth of America being ugly our African American journey is a beautiful story that must be told.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I am a career social worker with a bachelors degree in psychology and masters degree and social work from the university of Central Florida. I have worked in a public school system so it’s 2006. Serving in both Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona. I am a mother of two daughters and one stepson. I have been married for 20 years. I enjoy family and am focused on helping build legacy for them through my company. I developed the love for the arts stemming from my childhood growing up in the church. I was a part of numerous church productions, choirs, and dance teams. When I became a young adult I lead dance and praise teams in church. As a high school administrator I started creating black history projects for the community. I fell in love with seeing the joy it brought to people’s lives. At this time I also began writing gospel comedic plays and interactive horror gospel based walk throughs.
Those moments lead to the development of the production company. We launched last May with the introduction of the Transformations Mind Body Soul conference. Our first production was “The visit”; a gospel musical comedy.
Our intent is to bring inspiring stories to life and create spaces for people to develop. In our content we want to inspire through Christian content for everyone, not only Christians. We want to spread positive messages and increase knowledge on social issues such as mental health.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is hearing the stories of those who joined in on your project and how your work impacted their life. some of the actors who have been part of one of my play productions, have many comments on how they created family from the cast. Being a part of the production created community for them and helped them realize talents that they didn’t know they had. Some team and cast members have expressed how saying yes to one of my projects helped introduce them to a new way of thinking or living.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I believe this society can support creative and develop a thriving ecosystem by making access to the arts a common practice. When children are in elementary school and preschool, the arts should be embedded within the school programs in addition to the after school care programs. There should be more incentive for businesses to have affordable programming for children connected to title one schools or in challenging socioeconomic communities. Families and these communities rely on affordable healthcare that is often government managed. If more contracts were given to the arts programs and prices for students to be involved in these programs would not eliminate them from having access to an enriching arts environment. I also feel that students that want to study it on a collegiate level should have access to liberal arts degrees that are connected to businesses for them to have gainful employment after graduation. In the working world, wages for persons working in the industry should start at a higher pay rate to reflect the cost of living and to also encourage creative ability with a livable wage.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jjmarsproductions.com
- Instagram: _jjmars_productions
- Facebook: Jjmarsproductions
Image Credits
Angela Torres White